2018 Ethics in Action Award: Jorge Riopedre
A special Platform presenting the 2018 Ethical Society of St. Louis Ethics in Action Award to Jorge Riopedre, president and CEO of Casa de Salud, a clinic providing high-quality, low-cost clinical and mental healthcare to the uninsured, focusing on the new immigrant community.
Jorge says, “The Internet and social media have made it easy to connect and given us a megaphone to express ourselves on every topic imaginable, and yet our isolation from each other has increased; we seem to be less willing or able to actually do something to drive change. Actions, not words, are what the world needs from us, and what we need for ourselves.”
Listen to Jorge’s acceptance speech.
After earning a degree in Broadcast Communications from Loyola University in New Orleans, Jorge launched a media production company specializing in the Hispanic market, which he successfully ran until becoming executive director of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan St. Louis in 2010, for which he also served as chairman and president from 2008 to 2009.
Jorge is a 2015 Eisenhower Fellow, having traveled to Germany and Mexico to study the healthcare systems of those countries, and is now president of the Eisenhower Fellowships St. Louis chapter. Jorge co-founded the St. Louis New American Alliance, which provides referral services to foreign-born individuals throughout the region. He serves on the University of Missouri-St. Louis Arts & Sciences Leadership Council, the Brown School of Social Work Advisory Committee, and the Mid-America Transplant Medical Advisory Board, as well as the community advisory boards for iHeart Media, the Nine Network, the Deaconess Foundation, and St. Louis Children’s Hospital.
The recognitions Jorge has received include the Diverse Business Leader Award from the St. Louis Business Journal, the Norman A. Stack Community Relations Award from the Jewish Community Relations Council, and the Michal J. Garanzini Award for Outstanding Community Service from Saint Louis University.