Business leaders from left, Vanessa Di Palma, David Ibarra of e-LeaderTech Inc., and Don Salazar...


Prominent Utah Latinos were told Friday they should adopt a larger perspective in their roles as leaders of a growing minority population.


Latino leaders from business, government and community groups gathered in Salt Lake City for a summit that included speeches, panels and workshops on leadership principles.


Silvia Castro Thomas, director of the Utah Office of Hispanic-Latino Affairs, told the gathering that as the number of Latinos increases, leaders must expand their thinking about their roles.


"As the Hispanic population grows in the state, I think we need to not limit ourselves and think of ourselves only as Hispanic leaders," Castro Thomas told the summit, which had 150 people registered to attend. "We need to think of ourselves as community leaders. We need to be part of the general state makeup, to be at the tables where decisions are made at all levels."


Castro Thomas pointed to the expectation of change brought about by the election of President Barack Obama, due in part to the support of Latino voters.


"The question is, with all this change in the air, with all these new possibilities, are we taking advantage of this time?" she said. "Are we setting ourselves up to be part of the change? There's opportunity there."


She pointed out that minorities will make up 50 percent of the U.S. population by 2020.


"We are the future of this country," she said. "We are the future of this state."


The summit also heard from three successful officers in business: CTI Construction CEO Don Salazar, DPR Communications managing partner Vanessa Di Palma and e-LeaderTech Inc. CEO David Ibarra.


Speakers at the daylong event included M. Russell Ballard, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; Deborah Bayle, president and CEO of United Way of Salt Lake; LeeAnne Linderman, executive vice president at Zions Bank and chairwoman of the Utah Bankers Association; Joe Reyna, regional president of Zions Bank; and Sylvia Haro, senior vice president of Zions.


Zions Bank hosted the event at its downtown Salt Lake City headquarters.

tharvey@sltrib.com