Kathlene Contres - Hispanic Recruitment Advocate

Hispanic Recruitment Advocate

Contres is an advocate of Hispanic recruitment for the Navy. Whenever she addresses a group of Hispanics (Latinas) she always stresses the possibilities for advancement and self-improvement that the Navy offers. She has been quoted as saying:

"The Navy is really big on education,” “We have scholarships that basically give college students a paycheck if they get good grades, and allow them to start accruing their years of service towards retirement."

In 2007, Contres, who currently resides in Melbourne, Florida, was the recipient of the prestigious HENAAC Santiago Rodriguez Diversity Award. HENAAC (Hispanic Engineer National Achievement Awards Conference), is a national non-profit educational organization promoting careers in science, technology, engineering and math, has been honoring and documenting the contributions of Hispanic Americans since 1989. The winners in each current category represent the nation’s best and brightest. They were selected by an independent group of representatives from industry, government, military and academia.

She is a member, serving on two sub-committees, of the congressionally mandated Military Leadership and Diversity Commission. Since 2000, she has been a member of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Civilian Human Resources) Advisory Council on Hispanic Employment.