UTC Named INROADS 2014 Top Strategic Partner

Technology Innovator Tops List for 8th Consecutive Year

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Dec 18, 2014, 05:08 ET

ST. LOUIS, Dec. 18, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- INROADS, Inc., a multi-cultural non-profit organization specializing in leadership development and career opportunities for high potential, underserved youth, has announced its Top 10 Strategic Partners. United Technologies Corporation (UTC) leads the list. INROADS develops diverse, and highly skilled youth to become Corporate America's future business, science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) leaders.

"UTC has a long history of supporting INROADS. UTC has placed more than 3,500 interns in STEM-related opportunities over the course of our relationship," says Forest T. Harper, CEO of INROADS. "Through partnership with INROADS, visionary companies like UTC have helped maintain a sustainable, diverse workforce of future business leaders." The Top 10 Strategic Partners were selected based on the number of INROADS internships they sponsored in 2014. They include:

1. United Technologies Corporation
2. Kaiser Permanente
3. Travelers
4. MetLife
5. General Electric Company
6. Deloitte Touche
7. Lockheed Martin Corporation
8. PricewaterhouseCoopers
9. JCPenney
10. PepsiCo

"UTC has partnered with the INROADS organization since 1986 because of our common goals and shared commitment to diversity and inclusion, and the continued advancement of this effort. Through INROADS, we have benefited from key engineering and business talent, both critical to our future. As an INROADS customer and board of directors member, I am delighted to be part of a legacy that is focused on developing future leaders and improving the communities in which we operate," said Nadia Villeneuve, Pratt & Whitney's Vice President, Human Resources.

INROADS helps leading Fortune 500 companies grow pipelines of high-potential future executives, preparing and equipping promising students – rising high school seniors, and college freshmen and sophomores – for corporate readiness with business soft skills and leadership development. Increasingly, students pursuing STEM majors are filling those pipelines.

Eighty percent of INROADS Top 10 Strategic Partners have filled at least 20% of their internships with STEM majors. "Since the industry's disclosure of its lack of diversity earlier this year, reports from seven major technology companies make one thing clear: the lack of diversity in technology is endemic," said Harper. "As a result, demand for STEM diversity is growing; INROADS is meeting that demand." Of the current 1,468 INROADS interns across all sponsoring companies, 39% are STEM majors, 47% are female, 47% are African American, 22% are Hispanic/Latino and 32% represent other ethnic/racial groups.

About United Technologies

UTC is a dynamic global corporation operating at the leading edge of commercial and military aviation, aerospace systems, climate control, elevator design, security and fire protection. UTC's reputation for innovative thinking and pioneering technology is unsurpassed. UTC has employees around the world, operates in approximately 71 countries and trades in every major market. As a worldwide leader in manufacturing and technology, UTC is always searching for experienced, innovative professionals to create new products and develop unique solutions to challenges in the aerospace and building systems arenas.

About INROADS

The Mission of INROADS is to develop and place talented underserved youth in business and industry and prepare them for corporate and community leadership. Founded in 1970, INROADS, Inc. is the nation's largest non-profit source of salaried corporate internships. INROADS has placed students in over 127,000 paid internships throughout its history, providing students with the skills and competencies necessary to be successful in advanced careers, and graduated over 27,000 Alumni into full-time professional and managerial positions with over 1,000 Corporate Partners. With over 35 offices throughout the U.S., Mexico, and Canada, INROADS has consistently been named one of "America's Top 10 Internships" for over 15 years. Currently, INROADS serves nearly 1,500 Interns and over 230 Corporate Clients. To learn more, visit http://www.INROADS.org.

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SOURCE INROADS Inc.