The Connector: Carmen Arce-Bowen
Mentoring is cyclical. And in Boston, it’s possible that no one knows that more than Carmen Arce-Bowen LLM’06.
Arce-Bowen serves as the chief operating officer of The Partnership Inc., a nonprofit organization dedicated to the development of increased diversity in Boston businesses and corporate America—which is a simple way to describe the impact she has made on Boston’s multicultural and underrepresented communities.
“Boston is a majority-minority city, and we know that diversity spikes innovation, and we know that we’re better off when we are together,” she says, highlighting the importance of a more diverse workforce, especially in leadership positions. With the U.S. Census Bureau estimating that people of color in the United States will outnumber Caucasians by 2042, corporate leadership that reflects the actual population is vital to business success, she argues.
In her role as COO, Arce-Bowen manages finances, events, program content, and recruitment for The Partnership’s leadership development programs. The organization was founded in 1987 to focus on the advancement of African Americans in corporate Boston, an issue that has long been a challenge for the city and its business community. Over time, The Partnership has evolved to focus on helping a broad range of organizations build racially and ethnically diverse leadership pipelines while helping multicultural professionals rise and thrive in the workforce.
Arce-Bowen is emerging as an important voice among a new generation of leaders in Boston who are focused on increasing opportunities for professionals of color.
Arce-Bowen mentors a diverse group of people, helping them tap into networks and find opportunities to work with corporations, nonprofits, political organizations, and, most importantly, the communities they represent.
“That is something that in many ways comes naturally to me—that’s what other people have done for me,” she says.
Elizabeth Tran, director of constituent affairs at the Massachusetts State Senate, met Arce-Bowen through a career mentoring program. Tran says Arce-Bowen helped her consider opportunities ranging from applying to the Peace Corps to exploring graduate programs and attending Asian American political advocacy events.
“The incredible characteristic of Carmen as a mentor is that she listens to my goals and then digs into her expansive network to connect me with helpful people and resources that can provide guidance and information,” Tran says. “I am incredibly fortunate to have her as my career mentor.”
In the arc of her own career, Arce-Bowen notes the influence of Carol Fulp, former president of The Partnership. “Carol has been the most impactful mentor I have had in my career. She is a person who deeply cares about developing the next generation of leaders in our community,” she says.
Fulp, who received an honorary doctorate from Suffolk’s Sawyer Business School in 2017, is now CEO of her own diversity consultancy. Fulp explains that Arce-Bowen reflects the next generation of leaders in Boston. “She is diverse, energetic, innovative, and global in her thinking. She’s incredibly committed, and brings a broad perspective,” says Fulp of Arce-Bowen.
When Arce-Bowen moved to the U.S. from Mexico in 2005, she struggled at first to understand the challenges and racial disparities facing American communities of color. “We talk about class more than about race,” she says of her native land. “When I came here, I didn’t have all these thoughts about race—or preconceptions … When [my peers] faced a challenge, at the beginning I asked them, ‘Why is that happening?’” And she wondered, would she start to have similar experiences?
She saw race issues through a slightly different lens, and that view has ultimately become an advantage.
“I almost feel like I’m able to see race relations from the outside and then from inside,” she says.
That ability to be both outsider and insider, sometimes simultaneously, may stem from the communities she has embraced over the years. There’s her family in Mazatlán, Mexico; her academic community in Guadalajara, Mexico, where she earned her LLB at Universidad Panamericana and met her now-husband, James Bowen JD’06; her Suffolk Law community; and the professional communities she developed as director of personnel and administration for Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick.
Arce-Bowen has long felt a pull toward community building, which led her toward nonprofit service and work with a number of social justice and grassroots organizations. Suffolk Law’s deep roots in local communities were an important draw for her, she says.
Arce-Bowen says it’s never too early to start setting goals and building a network.
She’s determined that her 9-year-old daughter, Pilar, will understand that the sky isn’t even a limit. As a family, they are exploring Pilar’s current dream job: space researcher.
“I just want her to know that anything that she wants is possible as long as she really wants it. And she can always find a way to make those hopes and those dreams come true,” Arce-Bowen says.
And you’re never too young to start making your way. When Pilar gripes about only being 9, her mother responds, “Kid, I want you to start learning how to tap into your own network!”