I recently returned from Washington D.C., a place often full of enmity, strife and gridlock. There is a lack of cohesiveness and of certainty, which negatively affect private-sector investment.
However, while there, I met the American dream: Jose Mas. He is well-educated, professional and humble. He is also CEO of a multibillion-dollar wireless telecom infrastructure corporation headquartered in Miami.
But that is only the beginning of the story. His father came to the United States as a Cuban immigrant and immediately volunteered for the U.S. Army. Coincidentally, he was part of a battalion involved in the ill-fated invasion of the Bay of Pigs. He wanted to give his fellow Cubans the opportunities that America had given him.
After the military, he went to work at a small telecom-infrastructure company. Through persistence and dogged determination, they built what would become one of the leading and most diversified infrastructure builders in the country known, Mas-Tec.
In just one generation, that company would become a major provider to mega American communications entities such as AT&T and Verizon. Enter son Jose. After graduating from the University of Miami, Jose started in the field and then assumed several leadership roles, before becoming CEO. In just five years, during the worst and most persistent recession since the Depression, Mas-Tec has seen revenues double and earnings triple.
When some companies were outsourcing and downsizing, MasTec was growing.
What a legacy to his own father and to our American forefathers who welcomed all of us to these shores to build our own American dreams.
Perhaps our leaders in Washington might want to look south — outside the Beltway — to find a jobs plan that is working. They might even want to call this son of a Cuban immigrant. Just look for him under “the American dream.”
Hon. Deborah Taylor Tate is a member of the MMTC Board of Directors, co-chair of Healthy MEdia: Commission for Positives Images of Women and Girls, and a former FCC commissioner.
