MERRILLVILLE | Business leaders Thursday discussed the benefits of diversity in the workplace during the Diversity Job Fair & Business Symposium at the Radisson Hotel at Star Plaza.

The symposium, sponsored by The Times and the Hispanic Organization Promoting Excellence, featured several guest speakers. Among them were Tony Kirkland, director of the Indiana Civil Rights Commission, and Kathy Reehling, owner and president of CREW Technical Services, an Indianapolis company whose work force is 67 percent female.

"This is something very near and dear to my heart," Reehling said. "I'm very committed to diversity. It's made my own company so much stronger. We're a small company and it's hard in this day and age to compete with the big boys, and by having a really diverse work force it's allowed us to come up with some really creative ideas to be faster, more flexible and to offer our customer services they can't get anywhere else."

Reehling is taking Spanish language lessons because that's what some of her employees speak.

"I'm flexible. I have to continue to learn, to continue to grow," she said.

The symposium included interactive panel discussions with representatives from BP Whiting Refinery, Horseshoe Casino, U.S. Steel Corp. and NiSource. The event was the result of discussions between a group that included Jose Arredondo, executive director of HOPE, and Lorraine Guillen-Wentz, business chairwoman and an employee of The Times.

"We're living in the 21st century and things are changing very rapidly," Arredondo said. "This is a perfect opportunity for people throughout Northwest Indiana to have these large corporations come in and talk to them about the way the work force is changing. Corporations today are looking for a lot of minorities."