INROADS Announces 2010 Top 10 Providers of Corporate Internships for Minority Students

ST. LOUIS, Jan. 24, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- As INROADS celebrates its 40th year of developing and placing over 125,000 high performing minority students in salaried corporate internships with some of America's leading companies, it is pleased to announce United Technologies Corporation (NYSE: UTX) once again tops its list as the largest provider of corporate internships for the fourth year in a row.

INROADS is the nation's largest non-profit source of salaried corporate internships, providing diverse students with the business soft skills and competencies necessary to be successful in advanced careers. Since the UTC/INROADS sponsorship began in 1986, UTC has remained firmly committed to attracting and retaining diverse employees. In 2010, UTC hired 207 INROADS Interns in a variety of fields, including engineering, finance, legal, and human resources. UTC's Sikorsky Aircraft company was awarded the 2010 INROADS Conversion and Corporate Plus Award in the New England Region. Also, UTC's Hamilton Sundstrand unit was honored by the Pacific Southwest Region and Hamilton contractor Dwight Mitchell was recognized with INROADS' Business Coordinator of the Year Award.  

"United Technologies continuously seeks the best and the brightest employees from diverse backgrounds to support our global operations," said J. Thomas Bowler, UTC Senior Vice President, Human Resources and Organization. "UTC's strong 25-year partnership with INROADS is an important element in attracting the diverse talent that acts as a catalyst for innovation across our companies."

The leading ten corporate sponsors providing minority internships in 2010 through INROADS are:

1. United Technologies Corporation
2. Deloitte
3. MetLife
4. Qwest Communications International
5. PricewaterhouseCoopers
6. Kaiser Permanente
7. Boeing Company
8. KPMG International  
9. Lockheed Martin Corporation
10. Travelers Companies

"We salute all of our partners for their continued commitment to affording top performing diversity Interns the opportunity to gain corporate experience that will develop them for future business success," shares Tina Marie Bradley, Chief Operations Officer of INROADS.

"Companies like UTC understand the value of building their talent pipeline early and developing Interns to become future leaders. UTC is truly a model example of how a talent management and diversity strategy can yield great results," she continued.

For the past 40 years, INROADS has earned the trust of many of the leading Fortune 500 companies providing them with a talent pipeline of high-potential future executives.  These top companies share strategic relationships with INROADS that allows the non-profit leadership development organization to save them time and resources to recruit, screen, train, and place talented diversity students in corporate internships.

INROADS Interns do "real work, not make-work," as one former Intern put it. They are mentored throughout their assignments by INROADS advisors and employees of each participating company. In the end, many of the Interns go on to become successful business leaders.  

Founded in 1970, INROADS, Inc. is the nation's largest non-profit source of salaried corporate internships for excelling Black, Hispanic/Latino and Native American Indian college students.  INROADS has placed youth in over 127,000 paid internships throughout its history, providing students with the skills and competencies necessary to be successful in advanced careers.  With over 35 offices throughout the U.S., Mexico, and Canada, INROADS has consistently been named one of "America's Top 10 Internships" since 1993. Top corporate clients of INROADS include United Technologies Corporation, Deloitte, MetLife, Qwest Communications, and PricewaterhouseCoopers. To learn more, visit http://www.INROADS.org.

United Technologies Corp. [NYSE:UTX] provides energy efficient products and services to aerospace and building industries. UTC's products include Carrier heating, air conditioning and refrigeration, Hamilton Sundstrand aerospace systems and industrial products, Otis elevators and escalators, Pratt & Whitney aircraft engines, Sikorsky helicopters, UTC Fire & Security systems and UTC Power fuel cells. DiversityBusiness.com ranked UTC 12th on the list of "Top 50 Organizations for Multicultural Business Opportunities" in 2011. UTC has been a member of the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes since the indexes began in 1999, and was named the "greenest" aerospace & defense company by Newsweek in 2010. To learn more, visit http://www.UTC.com.

Contact: Fabiola Fleuranvil

Email: [email protected]

Phone: (404) 437-0078

SOURCE INROADS, Inc.