Hispanic Executive #72

“You

So Many” the of

The Leading Latinas

featuring Danielle Karczewski, Monica Manotas, Abigail Franco, and more P94

Presenting the

FEATURING

DANIELLE KARCZEWSKI Eisai Inc.

CYNDI RAMIREZ-FULTON Chillhouse

JOMYSHA DELGADO STEPHEN Barnard College

NATY FIGUEROA bp

MELISSA URIBES Trimble

ABIGAIL FRANCO T-Mobile

MARIE QUINTERO-JOHNSON The Coca Cola Company

MONICA MANOTAS Thermo Fisher Scientific

ADELA CEPEDA BMO Financial Group

PAULITA PIKE Ropes & Gray

EMMA RODRIGUEZ-AYALA LGIM America

Latinas are the backbone of our community and the country. In this special issue, we honor the power, impact, and legacy of Latina executives, innovators, and community leaders. P94

CONVERSATIONS AT THE TOP: VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS

For the first time in our magazine’s history, we interview a member of the US government’s executive branch. Her immigrant heritage and many “firsts” make her an emblem of the American Dream.

Contents

DEI AS A COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

Carlos E. Calderon leads financial strategy and a new initiative to elevate minority-owned businesses as CFO at Ariel Investments, the first African American-owned asset manager

LEGALLY ELITE

Puerto Rican and Afro-Latina Rosevelie Márquez Morales beat the odds and became law partner by the age of thirty-five. She now leads DEI across the Americas at Hogan Lovells.

BANKING ON MARKETING

With a military mindset and a heart of gold, First Citizens Bank Executive Director Steve Ramirez prioritizes a strategy for our digital times

THE LATINA LEADING THE LIFE SCIENCES

As SVP and president at Thermo Fisher Scientific, Monica Manotas brings a global perspective to science, leadership, and life

THE MULTI-ACT CAREER

As he approaches early retirement, Booking Holdings Inc.’s Eduardo N.T. Andrade shares the lessons he learned in his nearly two decades at the company

MORE THAN THE ROLE

MetLife VP Evelyn Kudlak says career conversations are vital along our journeys and that natural curiosity drives personal and organizational results

Dare to Be First

GROWING UP MY CAREER PLAN WAS TO BECOME president of the United States. My parents encouraged such bold life planning and dreamt alongside me about how I could help our community, especially undocumented immigrants like them. There was no position of power too big for their daughter. In their eyes, and that of most immigrant parents, their children can do anything they set their minds to, including becoming the first Latina president of the United States.

As you flip through the pages of this issue, you will come across many leaders who pursued their specific career paths because they too wanted to improve the world around them. In doing so, they paved new roads and became the first in their families to achieve the unimaginable.

Fellow Ecuadorian Carlos E. Calderon became the first Latino CFO of Ariel Investments (p.14), which also happens to be the first African Americanowned asset manager in the country. Boricua Rosevelie Márquez Morales not only became the first Afro-Latina law partner at Hogan Lovells (p.36), but also did so before the unheard-of age of thirty-five.

And, of course, our esteemed cover star Kamala Harris became the first woman and woman of color to serve as vice president of the United States (p.80).

Michele Cantos Garcia Managing Editor Hispanic Executive

Our Leading Latinas issue is an annual celebration not just of how far we’ve come but also of how we have done it. Each of our featured executives (p.94)

has dared to be first and, in doing so, have achieved extraordinary feats. Adela Cepeda, Paulita Pike, and Emma Ayala (p.134), for example, share how Latinas are mentoring one another in the world of mutual funds investments. Monica Manotas (p.130) praises her mother for encouraging her to venture beyond the borders of her native Colombia, and that led to her saving countless lives thanks to her work on a COVID-19 vaccine at Thermo Fisher Scientific.

While I may not have followed my childhood dream of becoming president—though I might reconsider if the White House were to give me a call and Hispanic Executive were to offer me a four-year sabbatical—I am moved at my good fortune. I have the distinct honor and challenge of penning my first editor’s letter and my first cover story with the vice president and our 2023 Leading Latinas as the subject.

In our cover story, I take you behind the scenes of our team’s whirlwind day with the VP aboard Air Force Two. I opine on her interview with our Publisher Pedro A. Guerrero for the New Majority podcast, and I share some personal reflections on what her ascent means for many of us.

When you read that story, I ask you for two things:

First, remember that Hispanic Executive remains a nonpartisan publication while I, unfortunately, remain human. Whatever your politics, I hope you can extend some grace to this new editor when her own politics

are too transparent. As the daughter of immigrants, I grieve our nation’s long and storied mistreatment of immigrants and will continue to hold elected officials accountable through my mighty Latina vote. But as a multicultural American myself, I also know that the only way to build political bridges is to create tension through the pull and stretch of our hearts and minds. In my view, Vice President Harris is a worthy emblem of our multicultural American Dream, and her courage and strength of character has brought us closer to a future where a Latina, Latino, Latinx, Latine, etc., president is possible. And you now know how I feel about that possibility.

Second, I ask you to join Hispanic Executive in taking a seat at one of the most powerful tables in the world. That you see yourself inching closer and closer to living in a society where you hold proportionate power. Our mission is, after all, to amplify the voices of Latino leadership in America and what better place to do so than the executive branch.

To our 2023 Leading Latinas in particular, I hope that the vice president’s renown and long list of “firsts” will elevate and inspire you. And that you remember her words in moments of doubt: “You are never alone when you walk in that room. You carry the voices of so many people who are proud of you, who have struggled, and dreamed of the fact that you would be in that room.”

Hispanic Executive

Masthead

About the Cover

Senior Photographer Cass Davis followed Vice President Harris for a day, documenting her work as she traveled across the US on Air Force Two. This cover image brings an historic and photojournalistic tone to this issue of Hispanic Executive. In it, we witness her descending from the aircraft, lit beautifully by the New Mexico sun and embodying a sense of grace and power as a global leader, on her way to connect with every day Americans in their communities. Designer Arturo Magallanes used a sophisticated, light, and feminine serif typeface to evoke a message of hope and inspiration. He paired that typeface with a sprinkle of tall, condensed sans-serif that communicates strength and authority. These two contrasting ends promote harmony and complement one another—much like the leaders featured in this issue including the VP and our 2023 Leading Latinas.

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Connor Shiositta Pickett

Andrew Tamarkin

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Sydney Churchill

DON ’ T PANIC... IT’S JUST HIS-PANIC!

Have you ever gotten frustrated at someone who doesn’t know the difference between “año” and “ano”? Have you gotten offended at a Hispanic colleague who showed up late to your party, or wondered what the heck is up with all the new Latinx/Latine variants?

If so (or if you’re simply looking for a bit of a laugh), check out Laura Martínez’s new Hisplaining column. She began writing the column in 2022 to help today’s leaders smoothly navigate the multicultural business world, and Hisplaining has quickly become a favorite of our readers. But be warned—this column is handled with a serious dose of humor.

CHECK OUT LAURA’S COLUMNS ON OUR WEBSITE:

Art is a Moment

WORDS AND INTERVIEW BY PUBLISHER PEDRO A. GUERRERO

MY FRIENDSHIP WITH EDRA SOTO GOES

back to our graduate school days at the Art Institute of Chicago, where I was an admirer of her work. She had an ability to connect her culture with her art with a subtlety that encouraged curiosity and invited people in. Her art stuck with me. In time, when the idea of bringing the arts into this magazine took shape, reconnecting with Soto to curate Hispanic Executive’s Arts section was an obvious partnership. She already ran a distinguished arts space in Chicago and always prized celebrating other artists.

For the past two years, Soto has thoughtfully showcased the work of Latino artists who are transforming the art world. For our annual Leading Latinas issue, I felt it appropriate to turn the spotlight on her work and showcase our very own curator.

We sat down in Hispanic Executive’s Chicago office to talk about addressing grief in a creative way, finding kindness, and getting back in the studio.

Who are the artists inspiring you right now?

I love all kinds of art, but too many artists to list. I don’t think that is really inspiring, but there’s been a lot of transition and transitional stages in my family, in my life. My mother being ill, and I had two dogs that were close to me who passed. I’ve been addressing grief in a creative way. And I also have been inspired by the coming and going, the constantly traveling to Puerto Rico to see my mom and brother. That is my life. They are my center.

I asked you what artists inspire you and you [shared] your mom’s illness, going home. I’m [perhaps] placing more of a positive emotion on inspiration, because your mother ’s illness isn’ t something positive.

It’s interesting because everything is motivated by love. I think my love is generative. I feel like I just experienced that through other things that are not my mother. I experience it and then I see, wow, that is it. It heals. It helps.

Through life, in general, it’s the way I try to conduct my life. I run a project space called the Franklin and organizing exhibitions for other artists is very inspiring to me, seeing their involvement throughout the years. This work that I do with you, writing about other artists, is important to me because I couldn’t do this career without celebrating others.

Tell me more about celebrating others. Art is a manifestation of the most kind of intimate and personal things that you connect to in life. It could be really about anything, right? But those very personal feelings, I couldn’t really validate them if I didn’t understand that they have a place in society. [That’s] their cultural value, [and that’s] what I work on. How do I present them in a way that they speak to others in the larger sense?

That’s beautiful. I see that connection [in] the work that you did highlighting and thinking about your mom. This act of love and celebration, especially with your mom’s Alzheimer’s.

[That] work that I’ve been doing is about migration and the constant coming and going, the distance. I found a very natural kind of place for manifesting this relationship and under this

Casa-Isla | House-Island, Sintra, aluminum tube, pressure treated wood, latex paint, 14’ x50’ x12’, 2022

time between the geographical distance, the physical distance, and [even] the emotional distance that occurs through her illness.

It’s daunting. It really changed me. It made me aware that I don’t want anything to compromise the way I feel. The way I feel about things, the way I want to be surrounded by people that truly care, that are kind. There’s a part of the art world that is ruled by things that have nothing to do with kindness.

[There is] this act of traveling to Puerto Rico to get close to the island, your people. [Then there] is this act of creating artwork in celebration of your mom. Do you feel like that ’s a way to also get closer to her, or the memory of her?

Yes, I’m not sure how to explain it. Closure? I think it’s seeking closure, but this particular illness doesn’t provide that. So, [this] is an acceptance exercise. I’m able to talk about it because it’s been a long time. It’s been more than a year that it’s very clear, the path, and she’s in a place that provides care and love. That was something that she never stopped recognizing. She wanted affection, she wanted people to hold her, hold her hand.

And when I go visit her, she can look very confused or won’t know who I am. But she looks at one of those nurses and her face lights up. And it kind of gives me peace. Gives me some sort of relief that she’s finding love. That she’s in a place where they’re being very kind to her.

Did you come from a creative household?

Yeah, my mom became a professional baker, cake maker. She [would] make birthday cakes and quinceañera cakes, wedding cakes. Most of the memories of my childhood are kind of reaching to these wires that she lay out perfectly. She was a perfectionist, which I’m not.

Your art seems pretty precise. It’s an illusion. I never see it that way. I try to

make the best presentation possible but it’s never perfect, and I think I’ve been dedicating myself to reveal the perfect aspects of it in a way that makes sense. That tells the story because sometimes I feel like it actually might be a little diluted by the seemingly perfect appearance.

You’re a curator for projects and shows but, for [our magazine], why have you chosen these artists? What draws you to them?

I was trying to gather the best, the most successful, the risk takers. Artists that are even hard to classify sometimes. These are artists that I think are just remarkable. For example, the last artista that we highlighted, [her work was] very hard to classify. To put her in a category, she’s a force of her own, she has unique [vision];

Screenhouse, Cast concrete blocks, paperstone, 11’ x16’ x9’, 2019

Edra Soto Artist

she’s talented. I just feel privileged that we are connected through our culture. And she is Puerto Rican, and very easy to drop a line, and [now] we are friends.

So, you’re back in the studio?

Yes, very much. I needed it. I think I’ve been wanting to do that, and I just didn’t know how. Everything is [about] your ability to perform. And I felt really stuck. Like, how do I release this?

Did you need a reason to get back into studio, or you’re in the studio and it just wasn’ t clicking?

It was not. I have to kind of have a belief that [it’s] the right path, the right thing to engage in. And I tend to overanalyze things. So, I’ve been so used to working in projects that have a long-term plan and [through that] come to completion.

[Lately], I’ve been actually generating work inspired by my way of planning. I will do sketches [with] a particular aesthetic, and I'm like, “Wow, I'm going to make artwork that [uses] this way of working.” And, so, I have done that [along] the way. This one is feeling good because I feel I have a clear connection to the work that I’ve been doing all this time. It feels like it’s a part of a transition.

Aesthetically?

Yes, using the same elements, I was able to express myself with the material, just creating these narratives that make perfect sense for the kind of work that I’ve been doing in the public art [space]. It’s sort of like, “Oh, I found it! I found that! Yeah, this feels right.”

And then once I started, I was able to kind of completely let loose in the studio. It’s like, “Put this! Take this! Wow, this is so good. Can I do this? How long can I do this?”

Oh, I love that. You’re inspiring me. What ’s the work you’re most proud of?

I love my work at the Millennium Park. [The

installation] at the botanical garden was special because it integrated an element of the garden. It was a very hard piece. I don’t even think it’s beautiful, [or that it] intends to be beautiful. I’m very proud of it, of what it means, and what it’s trying to do.

And I consider the work at Millennium Park, this screen house, my first proper public artwork that, in my mind, is a moment. It’s a moment that will find a completion when others inhabit it, when other artists activate

it. It needs that hand connection to be fully realized. And it’s still there.

It wasn’t meant to be there at this point because [it’s a part of] temporary projects, and those [projects] are dedicated to continue bringing local artists to Millennium Park.

But it went through that pandemia , and it’s still there.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. The full interview is available at hispanicexecutive.com.

Graft | Knoxville, Corten steel, Tennessee marble, 12’ x16’ x 4’, 2022

FINANCIAL FUTURES

HISPANICS AND LATINOS CONTRIBUTE NEARLY $3 TRILLION TO US GDP AND HOLD ANOTHER $2 TRILLION IN PURCHASING POWER. THESE FINANCE EXECUTIVES ARE STEWARDING OUR COMMUNITY’S VAST RESOURCES AND POWERING OUR FUTURE.

14. Carlos E. Calderon, Ariel Investments 20. Jorge A. Celaya, Liquidity Services

25. Marc Juan Lopez, MONAT Global 29. Albert Gonzalez, Lockton Companies

DIVERSITY AS A

Ariel Investments CFO Carlos E. Calderon knows inclusion and ESG are the future. That’s why he’s leading financial strategy at the first African American-owned asset manager and its newly launched private equity initiative elevating minority-owned businesses.

COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

BY ZACH BALIVA

PORTRAITS BY SHEILA BARABAD SARMIENTO

CARLOS E. CALDERON

CFO

Ariel Investments

CARLOS E. CALDERON HAD ONE THING MOST high school freshmen dream of—an invitation to the prom. He didn’t have much of the one thing needed to make it happen—money. As a first-generation student, Calderon knew there was no way he would ask his hardworking Ecuadorian parents to help him pay for the dance. They were already working multiple jobs and taking extra shifts to make ends meet.

Instead, Calderon made a deal with a local business owner and agreed to shine shoes in exchange for a free tuxedo rental. He eventually took a job pressing and cleaning suits and later worked on cars at the local Honda dealership. Today, Calderon is CFO of Ariel Investments, where he focuses on positioning the firm for growth and making an impact so that minorities can obtain financial opportunities he never had.

Even at that young age, Calderon had already learned a lot about financial management. Some of it he learned from watching his parents. “It took a group of immigrants to help raise a family, and they all sacrificed their own dreams and ambitions to give my brother and I what we needed to give us a better shot in life,” he says.

The rest, he learned through organizations like Junior Achievement. The nonprofit organization came to his elementary school to teach work readiness, financial literacy, entrepreneurship, and leadership skills. As Calderon learned about bank accounts and the basics of economics, he envisioned himself creating business strategy and leading a corporation.

That vision propelled Calderon through an undergraduate program in banking and finance and into the professional world as a controller and finance manager with industry juggernauts like BNY Mellon, State Street, and Eaton Vance. In 2021, he made a drastic change by leaving those large organizations to join Ariel Investments, LLC. Ariel Investments, the first African American-owned asset manager in the United States, is a global value-based investment firm founded in 1983. The firm serves individual and institutional investors through five mutual funds and nine separate account strategies—several of which have the longest track records in their categories.

Calderon’s previous employer, Eaton Vance, had over $600 billion in assets under management; Ariel Investments was around $18.4 billion. “I made a purposeful decision to come to a more focused organization in order to effect change,” he explains. “The bigger employers I’ve seen are challenged to be as nimble to execute on the vision that the founders of Ariel Investments are pursuing together.”

That vision is simple. Co-CEOs John W. Rogers, Jr. and Mellody Hobson take an active, patient, and intentional approach to

both investment management and the firm’s operations. In 2019, as part of Ariel’s enhanced approach to operational excellence, Hobson created the firm’s first Operating Committee, of which Calderon is a member. Since the firm’s founding, before “ESG” became a widely known acronym, Ariel has integrated environmental, social, and governance issues as “potentially material to business outcomes” and encouraged portfolio company CEOs and boards to prioritize diversity at all levels of their organizations. Ariel uses its role as a shareholder in companies to encourage public company leaders to narrow the wealth gap in America and to bring financial equity to women, people of color, and other minorities.

While he hasn’t been with the organization long, Calderon says he’s found his professional home at Ariel. “This place is a unicorn in the investments world, and it’s one that demands excellence at the same time. I’m surrounded by the best, who motivate me to do my best for, as Mellody tells us, ‘people

who are counting on us,’” he explains. As chief financial officer, Calderon leads financial planning and analysis, accounting, treasury, billing, and shareholder relations. He also helps guide Ariel’s overall business strategy along with the firm’s Operating Committee.

It’s a big task for a young financial professional, but Calderon remains unfazed by the weight of responsibility. Afterall, the ability to face adversity is in his DNA. “I was very lucky. It was a beautiful way to grow up, where I was cared for by a community that protected me, and no matter what I do, I can never work as hard as them. Hard work is just ingrained in us because of the immigrant journey my family took,” he says. When Calderon’s parents were working, aunts made dinner, uncles helped him with his homework, and cousins drove him to events. Family filled the top floors of their apartment in Worcester, Massachusetts. A professional network and mentorship helped, too. Calderon joined the Association of Latino Professionals for

“WE’RE OUT TO PROVE THAT THERE’S A COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE IN ESG AND DIVERSITY AT LARGE, AND WE’RE JUST GETTING STARTED.”

America (ALPFA) early in his career, and still serves among its regional leaders.

And his colleagues and partners reap the rewards of all of his learnings. “In my work with Carlos on structuring credit for Ariel’s private equity initiative, Project Black, I have been struck by how he so clearly brings the values of DEI to life,” said Fiyaz Khan, managing director for the private capital aolutions group at Northern Trust. “This openness extends to bringing differentiated solutions to the table.”

The last couple of years have been significant ones for Calderon and Ariel Investments. In early 2021, they launched Ariel Alternatives, a first-time private equity endeavor designed to scale sustainable minority-owned businesses. Calderon says Ariel will use the fund to acquire companies with potential of becoming tier-one suppliers to the Fortune 500. By virtue of Ariel’s ownership, those companies that are not already minority owned will become so and help partners further enhance their ESG impact.

Ariel’s newly minted private equity initiative, Ariel Alternatives, recently made its first majority investment in a $1.3 billion translation software company that serves deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals. When Ariel invested in the company, it only had one diverse executive on a thirty-four-person leadership team. Six months later, that number has grown to thirteen, due to Ariel’s ownership and encouragement. Ariel hopes to close up to ten similar deals in the coming years. “We’re out to prove that there’s a competitive advantage in ESG and diversity at large, and we’re just getting started,” Calderon says.

Although Calderon has worked mostly in Massachusetts and Florida, he is settling into life in Chicago and looking to build his personal and professional networks. For now, he’s enjoying the Windy City with his wife and young son. He encourages those just

starting out in finance to be bold, daring, relentless, and purposeful. “Have a goal but realize there are many paths you can take to reach that goal, and always remember that you are the author of your own story,” he says. “So be sure to make it a good one.”

Northern Trust collaborates with clients and their advisors to offer holistic wealth management services for individuals and families, privately held businesses, family offices, and foundations and endowments. We are recognized for innovative technology, service excellence and depth of expertise across all aspects of financial planning, including wealth transfer, banking, insurance, investments, tax management, philanthropy, family communication, and more.

19 Hispanic Executive

Cuban CFO and longtime public company executive Jorge A. Celaya offers his two cents on business transformation and questions leaders need to ask

BY MARCOS CHISHOLM

QUESTIONS FROM THE CFO

JORGE A. CELAYA EVP and CFO Liquidity Services

Like any executive on a tight schedule, Jorge A. Celaya cuts to the chase.

“As much as I like to go as fast as possible . . . I’ve learned over the years to be more patient,” says Jorge E. Celaya.

The Cuban American—executive vice president and chief financial officer of Liquidity Services—does more than just manage financials. He has been an integral part of leading business transformation, while also leading teams that execute, manage, and analyze business and financial results. Liquidity services is a B2B e-commerce company with over $10 billion transacted. While his experience across varying industry sectors and executive roles has been extensive, Celaya has been on the forefront of technology-enabled business services for three decades, architecting processes to support the growth of tech-enabled services and operations and developing and implementing strategic objectives. And he hasn’t let his day-to-day responsibilities impede innovative change.

“Complacency can sink a business,” Celaya explains. “You should embrace change while finding what you do well and then do more of that. What you don’t do so well, have the courage to stop doing. One has to adapt. And the more one asks why, the more insight one has into what strategic course to take. Do not be afraid of change, and be uncomfortable without it—that is how transformation works best.”

While “innovative” is not the first word one might use to describe a CFO, Celaya fits the bill and feeds his passion for results-driven transformation. Because he is relentless when it comes to pursuing constructive change for the long haul—and simultaneously tries to anticipate and manage risks—he is constantly balancing his financial expertise with operations and business acumen to bring unique leadership to an organization.

When Celaya joined Liquidity Services in 2015, the B2B e-commerce marketplace

was just kicking off its own digital transformation, with planned investments in software and R&D. Celaya saw this as a great opportunity to contribute to a broader business transformation and use underlying financial data to support strategic change. As Celaya likes to say, “The numbers tell a story.”

Hispanic Executive caught up with Celaya in 2018 just a few years after he joined the company. At the time, he was focused on relentless improvement—and he is still at it today.

And here’s the icing on the cake: when the COVID-19 pandemic took hold, Liquidity Services was well positioned with the platform, tools, and resources it needed to allow its clients to transact remotely and to allow employees to support customers remotely.

“The interesting thing is that this multiyear strategic transformation was hitting its stride right before the pandemic hit, which made our business ready for transacting in remote environments,” Celaya says. “People could continue to work, transact, and get access to the products and assets they needed. We had our core technology platform in place by the end of 2019, ready to service our customers. We had executed on our strategy.

“Transformation, by definition, requires change. It’s hard to make change happen if you don’t get people to buy in,” Celaya

continues. “As a CFO, you should use your skills as a financial expert to give confidence in the strategic direction and move the needle.”

Buy-in is also how Celaya identifies and uses information that matters. He makes time to bounce ideas off his coworkers because he values their feedback. Then he leverages their feedback and inches closer toward a solution that shapes a winning strategy. For Celaya, this means validating performance in the numbers. “Accountants put numbers together, but one has to get into the analytics and move the numbers to look at them in all kinds of ways—varying angles, upside down, whatever—and

then ask questions. Ask why,” Celaya says. “Ask a lot of questions to ensure that the business can connect what they’re doing and what the company does for a living with reality.”

With Liquidity Services entering the next phase of its business evolution, Celaya can fall back on his own advice.

“I’ve found the better approach is to own up and not be afraid to say that you haven’t understood. So be inquisitive,” Celaya says. “Even if you think you do know, dig in to make sure it makes sense. Whether it’s an engineer or a marketing person, assume they know their business and ask questions to see where they take you.”

“I’VE FOUND THE BETTER APPROACH IS TO OWN UP AND NOT BE AFRAID TO SAY THAT YOU HAVEN’T UNDERSTOOD.”

Great leaders inspire us

We congratulate Jorge Celaya on his business achievements and salute his commitment to excellence.

S E E ING

BEYOND BUDGETS

BY ZACH BALIVA

For Marc Juan Lopez of MONAT Global, his work as CFO is not just a job, it’s a way to serve and give back to the community

TALK TO MARC JUAN LOPEZ FOR MORE THAN A FEW minutes, and you’re likely to hear the veteran financial leader mention three things: development, integrity, and legacy. Those concepts guide him as CFO at MONAT Global and overlap with how he lives his life as a devoted husband, father, and advocate.

At work, Lopez is known as a results-driven partner who promotes fairness and empowers his colleagues as they expand and grow the billion-dollar premium beauty and wellness brand. At home and in his community, he’s known as a passionate teacher, leader, and coach.

“There is no Marc at work and Marc at home,” he says. “Work is a way to contribute to society, but family defines who I am, and there is a strong connection between what I do in my personal life and what I do at work.”

Lopez’s passion for all things numbers and finance started early in life. He grew up in Barcelona, Spain where he spent many mornings sipping a hot café solo and reading the popular Spanish business newspaper Expansión

The early interest grew and led Lopez to start his university career in Spain, where he studied economics and business administration and where he earned his MBA. During that time, the young student started to see the direct impact finance had on any organization. “Finance plays a central role in how businesses rise or fall, and I wanted to eventually be in a role where I could influence overall strategies and outcomes,” he explains.

The realization and desire informed Lopez’s approach as he started his career with KPMG. He moved into the firm’s external auditing practice and built a reputation as a rising star. Lopez pursued every chance to learn and take on more work. He was

MARC JUAN LOPEZ CFO MONAT Global

promoted twice in a year and subsequently promoted to a managerial role in KMPG’s London office during an international assignment in the UK. The move gave him exposure to global markets and allowed him to learn from various leaders, cultures, and functions.

After seven years in external audit, Lopez was thriving but ready for more professional development. He targeted a new type of role and moved to the American company Hillshire Brands where he would manage finance internal audit. During those years Lopez continued his agenda of continuous development, and he obtained several certificates and training programs including the strategic decision and risk management program at Stanford. The move and efforts paid off, as the combination of internal and external audit experience prepared him for more senior positions. In his last role before joining MONAT, Lopez was responsible for a $3.5 billion- and one-hundred-person accounting and reporting team at Mondelez International.

Now at MONAT, Lopez is leveraging lessons learned at other large public companies together with his international experience to help build and drive future growth. Although the company has seen a spike in

products and revenue, it is still a relatively young organization. That means Lopez can help establish robust processes, controls, better governance and strengthen risk management processes to make a real business impact through finance. Monat started operating in the US back in 2013 and revenues grew to almost $1 billion in 2020.

He joined the company for that chance and for the chance to give back. Lopez is a board member of MONAT’s public foundation, MONAT Gratitude. Leaders created the group to encourage their fellow employees to find creative ways to empower others and serve in their communities. MONAT Gratitude partners with innovative nonprofit organizations in its local communities that

support efforts under its three pillars: families, children, and education.

Since Lopez’s arrival, MONAT has focused on ambitious international expansion to countries like Canada, the UK, Poland, Ireland, Spain, Lithuania, Australia, and New Zealand. As CFO, he’s helping the company grow without creating unnecessary complexity that might impede its progress. He’s also introducing tech-driven automations and emphasizing recruitment and retention of top employees.

A strong culture helps. As in his home life, Lopez highlights the importance of honesty, integrity, and transparency at MONAT. “Integrity is key,” he says. “You might have the best team ever that performs exceptionally

“YOU MIGHT HAVE THE BEST TEAM EVER THAT PERFORMS EXCEPTIONALLY WELL AND ACCOMPLISHES GREAT THINGS, BUT WITHOUT INTEGRITY, YOU HAVE NOTHING OF VALUE.”

BDO’s core purpose is helping people thrive, every day. We focus on working with, for and in the service of our people, clients and communities. We offer a sophisticated array of assurance, tax and advisory services, as well as the resources and capabilities of our global organizations.

well and accomplishes great things, but without integrity, you have nothing of value.”

When it comes to leadership style, Lopez looks to provide vision and empower teams to develop their own ideas and styles. He believes people are at their best not when they are told how to do something but when they are instead given a business problem to solve.

With a strong financial foundation in place and a clear roadmap ahead of them, the teams at MONAT Global are looking to take the company to new heights. They want to reach the multibillion-dollar level together. But for Lopez, it’s about more than financial outcomes.

“Financial goals are great, but we’re also looking to make an impact in the lives of our employees and our communities,” he says. It always goes back to those three foundational principles— learning, development, and legacy.

Accountants and Advisors www.bdo.com

“ We’re bringing in BDO. The partner’s already on it.”

People who know, know BDO.SM

Joaquin Urquiola, Partner jurquiola@bdo.com

¡Felicidades Marc Juan Lopez!

BDO USA is proud to work with Monat Global.

IN THE

As SVP and head of tax at Lockton Companies, Albert Gonzalez became one of the most accomplished tax counsels in the US by helping companies embrace digital transformation

BY MARCOS CHISHOLM

TAX DIGITAL AGE

BEFORE ALBERT GONZALEZ EMERGED

one of the most accomplished in-house tax counsels in the US, he began his legal career at Arthur Anderson in 1998. Just two years later, he left the accounting firm and joined Leboeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae, LLP (now Dewey & LeBoeuf), a global law firm where he climbed the ranks and attained partner status. Over the course of a decade, he specialized in mergers and acquisitions and asserted himself as an expert in tax planning and reorganization.

While working on the tax controversy team in Albany, New York, and Stamford, Connecticut, he worked on many significant projects in which he facilitated communications between General Electric (GE) and the government as well as helped to successfully resolve many complex issues. When GE migrated its tax department in a partnership with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), PwC named Gonzalez as a principal at the Big Four accounting firm’s Boston offices in 2017.

In January 2020, Lockton Companies recruited him to serve as the independent insurance brokerage’s first global head of

tax. In this role, Gonzalez was tasked with modernizing Lockton’s tax function and developing a department that would be a strategic partner in fostering Lockton’s tremendous global growth. Fortunately, he inherited a highly skilled tax team that has been instrumental in implementing his vision of a value-driven tax department dedicated to highest standards of quality and integrity.

Tax, not unlike other corporate functions, has been slow to embrace the revolution in big data. “I would say tax as a whole was late to the data game,” he says. The SVP reflects on the evolving field and notes that it has missed out on the benefits of automation and strategic use of automated data processes for some time. Fortunately, at GE and PWC, Gonzalez watched the Fortune 500 companies prioritize data and empowering their teams to leverage it for strategic decision-making. When Gonzalez joined Lockton, the company was on a mission to evolve its tax function into a modern, digital-first department. His data-focused insights and mindset made him the perfect fit for the team, and a strategic player in bringing Lockton’s vision to life.

ALBERT GONZALEZ SVP and Head of Tax Lockton Companies

Hispanic Executive

“In working with my team members and analyzing their processes and tools, we came to the conclusion that if we wanted to become a truly modern tax department, we needed to make some enhancements,” Gonzalez remembers. From that point forward, with the support and resources of our company, the team focused on identifying process automation opportunities, leveraging data management tools, and filling any skills gaps to empower use of these tools expertly.

“We prioritized providing associates with the developmental opportunities they need to become modern tax professionals,” he explains. “Key to implementing these changes is having a team that is excited to learn and grow, and which embraces challenges as opportunities, not as obstacles, as well as having a company that believes in your vision and will provide the resources needed to accomplish that vision.”

Identifying skill gaps and providing development opportunities was key for Gonzalez. “It’s the equivalent of hiring a brilliant engineer to build you something, except you tell

them that they can only have one sheet of paper, they can have a pencil with no lead and no other tools, so go to work,” he says. “The engineer is there saying, ‘I’m super smart; I’m brilliant. But I can’t do what you want me to do with what you’ve given me.’ You have to give people the tools.”

By the time the eager tax team finished their assessment of the tax department’s needs, they spearheaded a series of initiatives that made their modern tax department dreams a reality. They resolved to gain buy-in across the organization, consulted with tax compliance specialists at Ernst & Young (EY) to help, and streamlined processes for employees to pull metrics with ease. The team prioritized training sessions focused on modernizing their skill sets to better enable the use of their new tools.

“Al is respected by all the professionals with whom he interacts,” says Paul Philips, global client serving partner at EY. “With his stature, demeanor and technical knowledge, Al commands the respect of client corporate management and directors, as

well as of his own staff and colleagues, while remaining approachable and able to communicate and transfer knowledge in a seamless, nonintimidating manner.”

And as everyone who works with data (and tax) knows, the work is never done. “This is an ongoing process. We have made improvements, but we are far from done.” And the same goes for the paramount work of diversity, equity, and inclusion, which he is just as passionate about.

“We rely on multiple viewpoints,” Gonzalez says. “Everybody on my team understands that if they have a view, then I want them to share it. As I tell them, we hired you for your brain, and so I want to know what your brain is thinking. I want to know how your brain is looking at something. If I don’t get that, I’m not doing my job, then our department is suffering.”

Gonzalez may not be the first leader that strives to foster a culture of diversity,

open-mindedness, and transparency. Neither is he the first executive to champion a direct communication style that champions feedback. Beyond the benefits that performing his job with those values can bring him, it’s his experiences as a first-generation college student, as well as a Latino in the workplace, that inspire him to ensure his coworkers feel included.

“You don’t want people to think less of you, so you’re a little bit more reserved in how you approach things,” he comments on his journey through college and corporate America.

He continues, “As I got more comfortable in my skin and I got a little bit older, what I learned was our relationships with the individuals, or people that I work with in my mentoring of those people, those ended up being some of the most rewarding aspects of my career, my professional life. We may be different people. We may have different experiences, but there’s a little bit about what you’re going through that I do understand.”

“IT’S THE EQUIVALENT OF HIRING A BRILLIANT ENGINEER TO BUILD YOU SOMETHING, EXCEPT YOU TELL THEM THAT THEY CAN ONLY HAVE ONE SHEET OF PAPER, THEY CAN HAVE A PENCIL WITH NO LEAD AND NO OTHER TOOLS, SO GO TO WORK

MISSION

When one’s work makes an impact in the community, it transcends employment and becomes a calling. These executives have answered their call.

36. Rosevelie Márquez Morales, Hogan Lovells 41. Richard Ramirez, DTE Energy 43. Roldan Aguilar, San Antonio Regional Hospital 47. Alexandra Esparza

Latinas and Black women make up less than 1 percent of partners in US law firms. Puerto Rican and Afro-Latina Rosevelie Márquez Morales beat the odds by the age of thirty-five, and now leads DEI across the Americas at Hogan Lovells.

BY MARCOS CHISHOLM PORTRAITS BY PETER GARRITANO

Legally Elite

Rosevelie Márquez Morales DEI Director of Americas Hogan Lovells

WHILE TODAY ROSEVELIE MÁRQUEZ Morales is the diversity, equity, and inclusion director for the Americas at Hogan Lovells, her parents never graduated from college. Her mother had always valued education and dreamt of becoming a lawyer, even getting as far as starting college in Puerto Rico with an infant Márquez Morales in tow. However, family circumstances prevented her mother from continuing her education, and the family promptly relocated to Brooklyn.

Call it those infant college classes or watching her godmother travel the world as a teacher, but Márquez Morales always knew attending college was a key to unlocking greater opportunities. Without any insight into the college application process, she relied on her high school counselor Marianne Finn to help guide her and set her on the path to Columbia University and Barnard College. Ms. Finn, as her students addressed the educator, contacted Barnard and convinced them to visit the high school and meet Márquez Morales. After meeting the young woman, Barnard invited her to tour the campus.

“We walk in through these beautiful iron gates, and we go into the hall, and they have everything set up for a dinner,” Márquez Morales recalls. “I knew what college was, but not what it looked like.”

A borough away from Márquez Morales’s Brooklyn home, the gates at Barnard College looked like the entrance to heaven. They opened doors for new opportunities. Barnard, along with the help of Ms. Finn and ASPIRA of New York (a Latino youth college access and leadership development nonprofit), inspired the future lawyer to earn a full scholarship to Barnard.

But as an Afro-Latina and first-generation college student at a predominantly white institution, Márquez Morales faced

more adversity than most of her new peers. In turn, she made friends with fellow Boricuas on campus to preserve her roots and advocate on their behalf. She stayed connected on campus by working with ASPIRA, helping other students access their college dreams. Márquez Morales now serves as chair of ASPIRA NY, in which role she continues to guide Latino youth toward college access.

Because Márquez Morales—who was a mock trial wizard in high school—enjoyed crafting up a strong argument as much as

she did advocating for her gente, she also applied to Fordham University School of Law to become a trial lawyer. Once the young Márquez Morales got accepted, she enrolled in the school’s JD program. Yet, despite leaving Brooklyn behind for Manhattan, she walked alone and felt the repercussions of being a first-generation college student again.

“No kind of mentors. No real role models in this space,” Márquez Morales remembers. “I tend to just let myself be guided by the system. And by that system, I mean when you go to law school in your first year, you’re quickly thrown into the interview thing. It’s not like I had anyone guiding me in how to research the firm or what the differences were between the different practice areas.”

Make no mistake, Márquez Morales graduated from Fordham on time and started her legal career as a pharmaceutical defense attorney at Harris Beach in 2002. Still, she lacked the road map that many of her peers seem to have found in law school. Add the fact Márquez Morales had to navigate Harris Beach as the only woman of color and only

Latina lawyer, and she knew she had to get support. She refused to go through her legal career on her own.

Márquez Morales contacted the Puerto Rican Bar Association, a professional network that supports Boricua and Latino attorneys and asked to form their first ever Young Lawyers Committee. Outside of her office hours, she has dedicated twelve years to the support and development of Latino lawyers, initially as the second youngest president of the organization from 2011 to 2012 and later as part of the Executive Committee of the Hispanic National Bar Association (the latter service has included roles as corporate secretary, general counsel, and now chief compliance officer).

Recognizing the importance of cultivating the pipeline of Latino lawyers, Márquez Morales was instrumental in formally launching the Sonia and Celina Sotomayor Judicial Internship Program, which places high school, college, and law school students in judicial internships. Márquez Morales had the privilege of serving as its first president.

The busy lawyer also developed a knack for representing companies in trials. In other words, the more she won legal cases, the more she rose through the ranks at the law firm. By her early thirties, Márquez Morales had overcome another learning curve—i.e., becoming a partner at a New York firm, where she was still the only one that looked like her. Nevertheless, she attained partner status less than a decade after her law school graduation.

While pharmaceutical law was not in her line of sight initially, she is thankful for the opportunities she had to develop as an attorney at Harris Beach, while finding her passion for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Latina and Black women make up less than 1 percent of partners in US law firms. What she accomplished puts her in an elite territory.

Before Márquez Morales knew it, the best law firms in the world were recruiting her. Sidley Austin LLP, the Chicago-based law firm where former US President Barack Obama once worked, extended an offer for Márquez Morales to become its East Coast diversity director. Whereas most attorneys would balk at the notion of changing their careers, Márquez Morales pounced at the opportunity to boost representation for diverse talent across law firms.

“As a DEI professional, I have the opportunity to impact the careers of many diverse

“

I was seeing students coming in, and they’re thinking about diversity in one way. What diversity looks like in the workplace is very different.”

lawyers through my guidance and advocacy, while also working with leadership toward cultural change that creates more inclusive environments,” she says. The director went to law school with the intention of being a stellar advocate for her community, and she has achieved that noble goal.

After Márquez Morales joined Sidley Austin LLP in 2015, she solidified herself as a leader who spearheads DEI strategies and implements policies, processes, and procedures to effectively recruit, retain, and develop talent. In 2020, amid a global pandemic, she accepted an offer from Hogan Lovells to lead DEI across the Americas.

Since Márquez Morales took on her current role at Hogan Lovells, she has worked to foster changes in leadership and culture across the law firm. The firm is focused

on strategies to recruit, retain, and develop diverse talent including a campaign and a sponsorship program that aims to place more diverse lawyers and business services professionals in leadership positions.

Meanwhile, Márquez Morales lends her legal expertise closer to home. The former Fordham University School of Law student is an adjunct professor, teaching courses like “Fundamental Lawyering and Diversity, Equity & Inclusion in Law Practice,” a class she developed to address the gaps that law students face while transitioning to early career attorneys.

Preparing the next generation of diverse lawyers requires a different approach to DEI: Márquez Morales has moved beyond representation to teaching the business of law and how to navigate it as a diverse lawyer. “I was

seeing students coming in, and they’re thinking about diversity in one way,” she says. “What diversity looks like in the workplace is very different. They’re not understanding that there is bias in the workplace, that there is bias in the feedback.”

And that’s not the only reason Márquez Morales returned to academia. As a mother of two daughters, she wants to model the behavior that will inspire her daughters to reach their highest potential and foster a society that is accessible and inclusive.

“Now, my daughter just started high school, and I’ve already started taking her to schools,” Márquez Morales says. “We stopped at Berkeley. We stopped at UCLA. But she’s going into ninth grade, which shows the difference in my experiences and how I can support her differently.”

The Art of the Possible

BY FRANK DIMARIA

WORKING FOR CLEAR CHANNEL

Communications in the mid 2000s, Richard Ramirez led a team that developed the algorithm at the core of iHeartRadio, a product for which he holds a number of patents. Ramirez enjoys developing technologies that unlock potential within individuals and pulls together “a set of disparate people to solve a problem that previously seemed unattainable and send it off into a long-distant future,” he says. Bringing the art of the possible into the now gives him “extraordinary joy.”

Today, Ramirez is head of innovation and technology for corporate social responsibility (CSR) at DTE Energy in Detroit, where he creates opportunities for their technology and its technologists to interact with and create opportunities for DTE’s 450 communities. Force for Growth, as DTE calls their CSR agenda, is run by its public affairs group and requires each department to take responsibility and lean into community. “It’s really about doing work and impacting our community for community benefit,” says Ramirez.

Ramirez feels at home at the intersection of technology and CSR, arriving there

by way of his upbringing. At a young age his parents taught him to always “leave wherever you are a better place than you found it.” With that mindset he’s sat on numerous nonprofit boards throughout his career. Identifying his unique skillset—one that allows him to “speak” technology, nonprofit, and business—DTE’s leadership tasked him with heading up Force for Growth.

Each year DTE reevaluates its corporate priorities to determine how it can impact the community in the realms of education, economic development, workforce development, and environmental stewardship.

“How are we going to lean in to meet and make those impacts. Yes, there are financial ones, but how can we bring our talents externally? It’s great to volunteer, but it’s that much more impactful if we bring our professional skill sets to bear in the community,” says Ramirez. In 2021 DTE’s IT volunteers alone impacted 177 nonprofits.

One of DTE’s most impressive initiatives occurred during the pandemic when it delivered fifty thousand laptops to economically disadvantaged students forced to study

Richard Ramirez Head of Innovation & Technology for Corporate Social Responsibility DTE Energy

At the intersection of technology and corporate social responsibility, Richard Ramirez uses DTE Energy’s technology and technologists to create opportunities in the community

from home in Detroit. As Ramirez’s team was planning its internal response to the pandemic, working to keep its customer’s heat and lights on, Detroit Public Schools contacted Ramirez imploring him to help high school juniors and seniors connect to the internet from their homes. DTE’s response spiraled into a “moonshot,” as it provided laptops to all students in Detroit who needed them.

Ramirez gathered DTE volunteers to support various phases of the endeavor and employed its multimedia resources to create how-to instructional videos on connecting to the internet. “Making sure that the logistical components are supported as this initiative goes on and that there is continual volunteer support from our IT staff, as well as from a broad DTE perspective,” says the department head.

In addition to the city-wide laptop initiative, DTE’s Force for Growth has a number of STEM initiatives in the broader community. It partners with TechTown, a nonprofit considered Detroit’s entrepreneurship hub that provides programs, education, and resources for early- to growth-stage small businesses and tech entrepreneurs. “We’ve done some strategic consulting . . . with nonprofits with how they make some of the digital transformation changes in support of growth in their own industries,” says Ramirez. For example, DTE helped a food bank transition from filing paper-based government reports to filing them electronically.

Ramirez’s background as a technologist and volunteer also gives him “a deep understanding of the disability community.” With this understanding Ramirez research-

es assistive technologies provided by companies like Microsoft, IBM, and SAP. “What’s out there today and what do we have opportunity to improve tomorrow and what can we begin actioning on,” says Ramirez. He has worked with DTE’s disability employee resource group, Abilities in Motion, over the past six years.

As he looks back on the successes of his thirteen-member team, Ramirez says he is uniquely proud of the work they did during the pandemic, delivering new tools, technology, and solutions to DTE’s eleven thousand workers in the field and its community of consumers, helping to keep the lights on by “going one hundred miles-per-hour when the rest of the world stopped.”

The energy sector, Ramirez says, is an old industry that is “highly entrenched and regulated.” One of his team’s biggest challenges is managing and changing both DTE’s culture and external infrastructure. “You’re always trying to push the envelope so you can get to the goal faster, but you have to balance reliability and resiliency that is needed on a day-by-day basis,” he says.

Vectorform congratulates Richard Ramirez on this well-deserved honor! We are proud of our longstanding partnership with Richard and the entire DTE team on their innovation journey towards creating a more planet-friendly future with first-class customer products and experiences. Learn more about how Vectorform closes the innovation-execution gap™ at vectorform.com.

“It’s great to volunteer, but it’s that much more impactful if we bring our professional skill sets to bear in the community.”

Leading Loyalty WITH

BY MARCOS CHISHOLM

Executive Director of Strategic Operations at San Antonio Regional Hospital Roldan Aguilar helps the

hospital reach new heights by caring for

his local community

BEFORE ROLDAN AGUILAR WORKED as a healthcare executive, he aspired to become a physician. He grew up with humble parents, who taught him the value of hard work. Roldan credits his older sister as being his biggest role model; she set the example and encouraged him to always pursue his education.

After Aguilar discovered the wide range of careers in healthcare, he contemplated whether he needed to pursue medical school at all. He worked as a healthcare recruiter and at a local urgent care/occupational health clinic until he figured out his next chapter.

Once he got word that San Antonio Regional Hospital (SARH) was searching for a community outreach specialist, he applied for the opportunity. Roldan was familiar with San Antonio from living in the community and from his wife’s grandmother, who volunteered at the facility. Even if the role involved more public relations than medicine, he relished the opportunity to step into the industry. Within a few weeks, Aguilar landed his first full-time opportunity at SARH.

Since his arrival thirteen years ago, he’s held a wide range of titles, including physician and employer relations coordinator, manager of business development and physician relations, and director of physician business development. Now, he’s the hospital’s executive director of strategic operations.

As one of the strategic executives at SARH, Aguilar works with the executive management team at the hospital to turn million-dollar initiatives into reality. In addition to overseeing marketing and business development projects, he’s responsible for supporting the performance of service lines at SARH by recruiting and developing relationships with key physician specialists.

When Roldan was promoted to his current role, SARH was focused on elevating the level of care it offered patients by bringing in additional specialties to better serve the community.

“We’ve always asked ourselves what [we can do] to really impact our patients and our team and continue to bring those services

Roldan Aguilar Executive Director of Strategic Operations San Antonio Regional Hospital

here so that patients don’t have to commute into Los Angeles, into the San Gabriel Valley, or into Orange County to seek those services that they perceive might be better, when in reality we’re achieving the same results or better,” Aguilar says.

This included strategic partnerships with City of Hope for cancer care and Cedars Sinai for advanced heart failure care.

As an independent regional hospital, SARH had a limited budget to hire full-time physicians, but Roldan vouched to boost the impact of its medical staff. He recruited as many independent physicians as SARH could support.

Of course, to pretend Aguilar waves a wand and makes results appear out of thin air would be ridiculous. However, there is a bit of magic in his leadership approach. One challenge SARH faced was to lower the number of patients who need to be readmitted to the hospital. Many times this has to do with patients not having access to timely and appropriate follow-up care.

“How do we take better care of our patients throughout their entire continuum of care, not just be here in an emergency?” Aguilar asks. “I was recently asked by our CEO,

John Chapman, to help open our first 1206D post-discharge/ primary care clinic right on campus. I’m super excited about it. This is a great step in providing these additional services and reducing hospital readmissions, which also frees up the emergency room for other patients. It’s a win-win all around for the community, our patients, and our hospital.”

Aguilar also was recently tapped with overseeing operations for the hospital’s satellite urgent care facilities and is in the midst of opening a fourth urgent care location in Ontario.

In an era where employee attrition is trending, Roldan’s loyalty to SARH gives him a throwback flair that is hard to find in rising leaders. Yes, it might have been more convenient for him to work for a larger hospital system with more resources. But he stayed true to his purpose. He served his own community. “I’m driven by the motivation to serve,” Aguilar says. And the future of SARH is looking bright.

“

How do we take better care of our patients throughout their entire continuum of care, not just be here in an

”

Choose Your Own Adventure

BY ZACH BALIVA

After a meteoric rise in investment banking, Alexandra Esparza is ready to pursue her true passion: business ownership and advocating for other minority entrepreneurs

FOR ALEXANDRA ESPARZA, LIFE HAS always been like one of those paperback books that lets the reader make a series of choices that determine everything and everyone the main character will encounter. Her journey took her into investment banking, where she helped emerging companies find investors and grow iconic brands. But now, Esparza is writing a new chapter as she prepares to leave the lucrative world of Wall Street to explore passion projects.

The Chicago native navigated the Windy City’s public school system with adventure in her DNA. “I always knew I wanted to do a bit of exploring and see new things,” she says. That wanderlust took her across the country to Stanford University. Although Esparza once intended to study medicine or English, she pivoted to humanities and discovered a new passion for philosophy and literature. That drove her to study abroad in Oxford, expand her horizons, and realize that

Alexandra Esparza Entrepreneur

there are “so many ways to effect change and improve the world.”

That became something of a personal mission statement for the young student, and one that remains intact today. Before her graduation, Esparza found a growing interest in banking, technology, and healthcare. She interned at a private equity firm and took a job in sales and trading at Oppenheimer & Co, where she focused on hedge fund and mutual fund clients with connections to hospitals, biotech, and medical tech.

After leaving Oppenheimer to complete an MBA at Yale University, Esparza went to a global small cap hedge fund before returning to Oppenheimer in 2017 to bridge the gap between healthcare startups, Silicon Valley tech leaders, and private investors.

In recent years, Esparza has had the unique opportunity to work with innovative companies and steer funding to traditionally stigmatized areas. It all started in early

2021, when she noticed record-breaking investments going to “femtech” companies that develop software, solutions, and products to address fertility, menstruation, sexual wellness, pregnancy, and other women’s health issues.

“I wanted to help unite female leaders in healthcare, biotech, and technology to serve women-focused companies,” she explains. In response, Esparza assembled an all-women investment banking team and rolled out a series of networking events to highlight opportunities in femtech.

It’s just one of many ways Esparza is using her voice to help others find theirs. She’s also part of the newly formed AWSM. Pronounced “awesome,” AWSM stands for A World Serving Many and is a nonprofit organization created to help underrepresented founders level up, close their skills gaps, and prepare to attract, receive, and implement funding. AWSM’s bootcamps, seminars,

“I wanted to help unite female leaders in healthcare, biotech, and technology to serve womenfocused companies.”

courses, and events help founders engage like-minded owners, find accountability, interact with coaches, and unlock funding.

Esparza spent the last few years advising similar groups and tackling these endeavors as she built and led the digital health and wellness investment banking practice at Oppenheimer. After twelve years, she was ready to walk away from investment banking to pursue dreams that had been on the back burner for some time. She’s working toward the launch of a tech-enabled degendered clothing line dedicated to body positivity, radical inclusion, and comfort.

Why will this new venture succeed? Esparza says it fills a gap in the marketplace

and fits the current cultural moment. Plus, she can leverage everything she’s learned throughout her career. “The years I’ve spent advising start-ups and helping friends and colleagues showed me how good companies are built, how they get funded, and why they take off,” she explains.

Still, it can be tough. Esparza admits she’s at least a little bit scared to leave the well-trodden path of investment banking for the uncertainty of life as an entrepreneur. “The need for thrill outweighs the need for safety, and I don’t want to look back and realize I missed my chance,” she says. For Alexandra Esparza, the real adventure is about to begin.

STRATEGY

What is your secret to successful leadership?

The impressive executives featured here share theirs, and they are strategies that engage both the mind and the heart.

52. Steve Ramirez, First Citizens Bank 57. Iris Rosario, Choice Hotels International 62. Noah Garcia, The Kansas City Southern Railway Company 67. Gil Gomez, Deloitte Consulting LLP 70. Mark Chavez, Ocean Point Terminals 76. Christopher Garcia, Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP

BY MARCOS CHISHOLM

With a military mindset and a heart of gold, Steve Ramirez of First Citizens Bank prioritizes a strategy for our digital times

Banking on

Marketing

Steve Ramirez

SVP and Executive Director of

Digital Marketing Strategy

First Citizens Bank

STEVE RAMIREZ WAS A STUDENT AT the University of Texas at San Antonio trying to pay for tuition. No matter how much he was falling in love with his future wife, he knew he could fall into just as much debt if he wasn’t careful.

Yet when his fiancé’s parents explained they wanted to continue to pay for her college tuition once the couple married, the pair turned them down. Not because they didn’t value the offer from his future in-laws, but because they felt determined to handle the challenge on their own.

Other college students would have accepted the gift and celebrated like they won the lottery. But a sense of accountability and integrity kicked in for Ramirez: he had to do right by his family, old and new. So, when he learned the Army National Guard offered a monthly stipend to undergraduate students, he volunteered and enlisted.

“That paid for a lot of my school,” Ramirez says. What began as a decision driven by money turned out to be one of the best choices of Ramirez’s life. Besides remaining in school, he discovered he had a knack for

military life. From the structure and team environment it provided to the discipline and intensity it demanded, he appreciated the foundation it gave him.

Oh, and one more thing: Steve married his best friend, later graduating with her.

While serving in the Texas Army National Guard for six years, Ramirez again needed a means to keep the lights on. He accepted an offer to work as a part-time bank teller at USAA, where he mastered one role after the next. He started working in the drive-thru, and later he led a team of 350 customer service agents and ended up managing digital marketing efforts at the corporate level.

After spending seventeen years at USAA, Ramirez honed his digital marketing expertise with financial institutions like Discover, Key Bank, and BB&T. Now, he serves as the executive director and senior vice president of digital marketing strategy at First Citizens Bank.

First Citizens Bank—one of the top twenty US financial institutions—built its more than $100 billion in assets by delivering fiscal strength; ethical stability; and strategic,

long-term planning to its individual, business, commercial and wealth management customers. Operating a national direct bank, as well as 550 branches in 22 states, First Citizens employs personal customer care and powerful digital and analytical tools to help customers accomplish more with their money and make more of their future.

When Ramirez arrived at First Citizens in 2018, the bank was embracing digital marketing and banking and sought to connect with a wider virtual audience.

Knowing he could help, Ramirez started by creating teams with people he knew and trusted, recruiting former coworkers from previous career stops. Then he doubled down on a strategy to demonstrate the return on investment that his department delivers to the organization.

“We never let up on that,” Ramirez says. “Even though they trust us, and they’ve given us more budget.”

Once he persuaded executives that content marketing is valuable, he earned their buy-in by sticking to a budget and empowering employees to establish digital

marketing as a viable channel. Because Ramirez obsessed over the customer experience as much as he did when he was a bank teller, he built teams for digital marketing, user experience and user interface design, website and search engine optimization (SEO), and digital operations.

“We want to make sure we’re good stewards of every single dollar entrusted to us,” Ramirez says. “[We] want to make sure we give them much more than that on the return. So, that’s where we are today.”

What drives Steve Ramirez is a commitment to empathy, and to understanding how it connects people to each other and to their goals. He may not brag about why this perspective is valuable, but his staff sing his praises.

Mike Le, COO and cofounder of CB/I Digital believes Steve is, “among the best leaders we’ve worked with.” He goes on, “Steve creates a culture of respect and trust

where everyone inside and outside the organization can thrive and deliver their best work. As a trusted digital marketing partner, we’re proud that our SEO strategies help contribute to the excellent growth for the bank.”

“I would say that when you get to know your team members, and you create that environment of trust and mutual respect, they really deliver at a different level,” Ramirez says. “They perform at a higher level. They want it. They want to be there and do the right thing for you and for the customer.”

“Over the years, I’ve hired hundreds of employees, so I’ve been able to really get some pretty cool notes back from people that have enjoyed a lot of success [and] gotten promotions,” Ramirez says. “I get to see their lives on Facebook and how great they’re doing. So, for me . . . I get so much joy hearing and watching people progress and perform at a high level.”

“We want to make sure we’re good stewards of every single dollar entrusted to us.”

Making the Right Choice

BY KEITH LORIA

Iris Rosario, senior counsel of franchise for Choice Hotels International, credits her upbringing with helping her find a career in law

Iris Rosario

Senior Counsel of Franchise

Choice Hotels International

Rosario, senior counsel of franchise for Choice Hotels International, found an interest in law early

Rosario’s grandparents came to the US mainland from Puerto Rico in the late 1950s. With her grandfather working the fields of grape farms outside of Buffalo, it wasn’t long before both her parents joined; working the fields, as well as working in factories and other odd jobs.

When Rosario was born, she became the first generation of her family to be born in the mainland, speaking Spanish at home and around her community, but learning English in school.

“We moved around quite a bit, from Buffalo to Puerto Rico to some other states, though the majority of time was in the Buffalo, New York area, in a predominant Spanish community,” she recounts. “As one of the few in my family who speaks English—my parents speak broken English—you become a translator and review documents for family, as well as neighbors.”

That experience led her to think about law. Even her high school friends wrote in her yearbook greetings wishing her well in her legal career, knowing that’s where she

would be headed. In the early ’90s, Rosario got a job in Washington, DC with the National Puerto Rican Coalition, working on advocacy issues, including housing, and trying to figure out if she truly wanted to go to law school.

“There was no one to support me financially with law school, so I wanted to make sure it was something I really wanted to do,” she explains. “It took me a good five years to get around to deciding to make that investment.”

She headed to American University’s Washington College of Law, while working full-time during the day to pay for her education so she wouldn’t be saddled with a big debt upon graduation. Those jobs included a few boutique law firms specializing in telecommunications law, a stint at the US Attorney’s Office to get a taste of criminal law, and working on automotive environmental issues for the Environmental Protection Agency.

“I was figuring out what I wanted to do,” Rosario says. “I was thinking I wanted to have more of a transactional regulatory

Iris

in her life.

career and ended up taking litigation classes to make sure this is what I wanted to do, and really enjoyed it.”

Around 2002, the telecommunications market hit rock bottom, so Rosario transitioned into litigation. She found a job at a firm with attorneys that later joined Gray Plant Mooty, a Minnesota-based firm specializing in franchise law.

“I started working with a group of attorneys—many former prosecutors—on franchise matters, which touched upon all areas of law, including employment, tax, underreporting, and immigration issues,” the senior counsel recalls. “I was really enjoying the litigation portion and did that for about fifteen years.”

In 2019, Rosario had the opportunity to work on franchise issues at Little Caesars in a secondment role (also known as a job rotation) while still at the firm and enjoyed her taste as an in-house attorney. Around

this time, a friend invited her to join the legal team at Choice Hotels International. Thrilled, Rosario came on board.

But then COVID hit, and she found herself laid off for the first time in her life and experiencing her first-ever summer off since she was young.

“Along with my parents and grandparents and other family members, I started working the farms of Western New York when I was 14, picking strawberries and grapes and other fruits,” she says. “So, I enjoyed this unexpected time off during COVID-19.”

It didn’t take long for Choice Hotels International to call her back, and Rosario is now senior counsel of franchise for the company, providing legal counsel on franchise regulatory matters and titanic mergers and acquisitions.

“Day-to-day, I support the development team when it comes to the Cambria and

“I started working with a group of attorneys—many former prosecutors—working on franchise matters, expanding into all areas of law, including employment, tax and immigration issues.”

Ascend brands, so I’m there to help them negotiate agreements and ensure we represent the best interest of the company, and the contracts reflect what the parties have negotiated,” she shares. “Beyond that, I oversee the team that works on the company’s secondary amendments and get involved when things become tricky.”

She also supports the Cambria operations team, working on hotel management agreements and a lot of other facets of the hotel business, be it operations or anything else requiring contracts or legal advice.

“I feel grateful for what I’ve accomplished; it’s been a lot of hard work,” she shares. “There was a lot of support along the way from my husband, family, and friends and a lot of luck. Just thinking back to where I started, and not expecting to achieve what I have so far. I feel grateful for the opportunities and loving support of my husband and family.”

In 2023, Rosario hopes to do more pro-bono work, something she did a lot of for Gray Plant Mooty and something that has always been an important focus of her law career.

She remembers working on an asylum application for a man from El Salvador, who had experienced first hand the civil war in that country. Being one of the few attorneys at the firm who spoke Spanish, she helped him get what he needed to stay in the US and to start the path of allow ing him to bring his family. She also worked with homeless veterans, helping them obtain the help they needed, as well as families living on section 8 and other social programs, who were facing eviction and homelessness.

“It reminds me of the community that I came from,” she notes. “It’s something I definitely want to do more of and that is important to me, in addition to my daytime job at Choice Hotels.”

Liz Dillon Franchise & Distribution Practice Group Leader

This is an advertisement. The choice of a lawyer is an important decision and should not be made based solely upon advertisements. Neither the highest state courts nor state bar associations review, recognize, or approve certifying organizations, certifications of specialties or specialist designations in the practice of law. The certificate, award or recognition is not a requirement to practice law. Lathrop GPM LLP, 2345 Grand Blvd., Suite 2200, Kansas City, MO 64108.  For more information, contact Cameron Garrison at 816.292.2000.

BY MARCOS CHISHOLM

Noah Garcia has heard every negative stereotype against Latinos, but the senior corporate counsel for the Kansas City Southern Railway Company overcame them all by becoming the mentor he needed

Mentorship Matters

Noah Garcia Senior Corporate Counsel

The Kansas City Southern Railway Company

TO THOSE OF US WHO HAVE THE PLEASURE of meeting him, Noah Garcia is an award-winning lawyer, a dedicated mentor, and senior corporate counsel at the Kansas City Southern Railway Company. But Garcia grew up as the target of bullies who picked on him because of his race, and he still has the scars to prove it. With one racist microaggression after another, his classmates bullied him because he was moreno Privately, they vouched to make his life a living hell while in public, they pretended as if nothing were happening.

“A lot of my peers put me down and made fun of me for being Hispanic. That’s how kids were,” Garcia says. “I don’t have an explanation for it, but they equated not being very smart with being Hispanic.”

Garcia turned to his high school teachers for hope. Despite his subpar grades and lack of ambition, they recognized his potential. Not only did they boost his confidence, but they inspired him to pursue a career in teaching. After Garcia finished high school, he enrolled at Emporia State University (ESU) and majored in education.

When Garcia arrived on campus at ESU, he excelled in his coursework. The more he breezed through his classes, the more he realized his high school teachers were right. He started to reconsider his career options. And once he changed his major to prelaw, the rest was history. Garcia graduated magna cum laude from ESU in 2009 before earning his JD from the University of Kansas School of Law in 2012.

Garcia was thriving and beginning to put the bullies of the past behind him. However, early into his legal career, he encountered more passive-aggressive racism.

“Early in my professional career, I was asked if I speak English,” Garcia says. “I’ve been told I don’t sound like a Garcia. I get asked all the time if I speak Spanish, but I’m not offended by that question. But then, one time, I got a follow-up question of ‘Can you at least order Mexican food at a restaurant in Spanish?’ My response to that was, ‘I know I am the most qualified professional for this job and none of those qualifications are ordering Mexican food in Spanish.’”

While Garcia was unsure of how to respond back then, he searched for solutions. Even if there wasn’t a cure for bigotry, he refused to remain silent. So, he decided to mentor diverse law school students. “A lot of the time, just sharing my story will help,” Garcia says. “Or at least in my mentoring and interactions, sharing my story of how I once had an interview start off with somebody saying, ‘Taco, burrito. That’s the only Spanish I know.’” Garcia committed to becoming the mentor he wished he had in law school, and he’s proven to be an invaluable resource.

“It’s really letting them know that you can be successful being a minority,” Garcia says. “There are passive DEI strategies, and there are active DEI strategies. If that is important to you, make sure that your core values align with your employer or what you’re going to be doing.”

Meanwhile, Garcia also emphasizes there are law firms and companies that will recruit his mentees for the right reasons.

“There are good companies out there that have a legitimate interest in developing young, diverse attorneys,” Garcia says. “Not just because they want them to be diversity hires or anything like that but because they’re interested in them because they value diversity of thought. They value diversity of opinions, and they really want their counsel to represent their employees, workforce, and the communities they serve and operate in.”

Of course, Garcia knows that fighting for a more diverse legal industry is not enough. He holds himself accountable for fostering equity and inclusion in law firms. Still, he points out that diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) is just the beginning.

“I like that it’s DEI: diversity, equity, inclusion. But I saw another company call it diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging, and I really liked that addition of making people feel like they belong, because a DEI strategy is meaningless if your people do not feel like they belong,” Garcia says.

One time, I got a follow-up question of ‘Can you at least order Mexican food at a restaurant?’ My response to that was, ‘I know I am the most qualified professional for this job and none of those qualifications are ordering Mexican food in Spanish.”

Germer congratulates Noah Garcia and his remarkable career. We are proud to partner with you in Texas as KCSR’s outside counsel.

Germer is an established statewide law firm o ering a broad range of legal services by experienced and respected attorneys. With o ces throughout Texas, and with more than ninety attorneys, Germer possesses the talent, resources, and flexibility necessary to provide quality representation in a variety of legal matters.

Innovative connections Partners in your success.

At Husch Blackwell, client relationships are our highest priority. We take pride in our longstanding relationship with client Noah Garcia, Senior Corporate Counsel, Labor and Employment, Information Governance, and are pleased to partner with him to deliver legal insight and business leadership to Kansas City Southern Railway Company.

For his collaborators in and beyond the organization, Garcia’s passion and dedication to building a respectful and empowering work culture is evident. “I enjoy working with Noah because he listens carefully, questions wisely, and makes clear and concise decisions that provide sound guidance in complex matters,” says J. Mitchell Smith, principal at Germer PLLC. “He sets clear goals and outlines simple paths upon which one can reach those goals. Complicated and stressful litigation does not rattle him in the least. He remains calm and in charge. Noah is the epitome of strong, effective leadership.’’

civil legal services to junior-enlisted service members (and their families) stationed worldwide. In his casework with the network, Garcia helped create a law in the state of Kansas that gives active-duty service members additional protections from being served a lawsuit at their place of residence rather than where they are stationed.

Jeff Simon jeff.simon@huschblackwell.com

816.329.4711

Mike Nolan

michael.nolan@huschblackwell.com

314.480.1770

huschblackwell.com

Beyond what Garcia accomplishes as an advocate, he carves out time to lend his legal expertise outside of the Kansas City Southern Railway Company.

Garcia is a member of the ABA Military Pro Bono Project and Operation Standby, a national network of attorneys that provides pro bono

In September 2022, Garcia received an In-House Counsel Award from Missouri Lawyers Media (MLM). It should fit right in next to the MLM Diversity & Inclusion Award and the Super Lawyers Rising Stars plaques in his collection. Yet those will never compare to his greatest accomplishment.

“For many years, people did not believe in me. They put me down because of my race and ethnicity. Frankly, it was hard to have that belief in myself. And so, once I really believed in myself, things really switched around.”

A management consultant with SAP and DEI savvy, Gil Gomez elevates conversations around analytics and diversity

BY MARCOS CHISHOLM

The Diversity of Consulting

Hispanic Executive

GIL GOMEZ REACHED FOR THE STARS and aimed for the sky. While growing up in El Paso, Texas, just four hours away from where his parents were raised in the Mexican state of Chihuahua, he dreamed of becoming a pilot in the US Air Force. Whether or not his primos across the border teased him for that has yet to be confirmed.

However, he learned the value of hard work at their abuela’s ranch just like they did. And he had a knack for school. When he found out that he couldn’t join the US Air Force as a pilot because he wore glasses, he turned to his golden ticket of a plan B: a full academic scholarship to the University of Notre Dame.

“The first time I was ever on an airplane was when I left for college at eighteen by myself,” Gomez says. “My parents really couldn’t afford to drop me off a thousand miles away across the country.”

With his family shaping his work ethic and emphasizing the importance of education, Gomez used his scholarship to study finance at Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business. After he graduated, he worked at Baxter Healthcare for five years before he found his niche as a consultant with SAP.

Then he lent his SAP experience to several management consulting firms and wellknown brands over the next two decades. He now holds the title of managing director and SAP analytics leader at Deloitte Consulting.

“I think maybe when I changed careers, I really took my business experience and coupled it with my affinity for technology,” Gomez says. “I’m not a technologist, but I leverage technology to solve business problems.”

As a go-to specialist for Deloitte on SAP, Gomez oversees a diverse portfolio of clients and advises them on projects that expand their access to data and analytics tools. Whether he’s advising a small start-up as it scales up its data infrastructure or navigating a Fortune 500 company through the chaos of digital transformation, he provides expert help at each stage of their journey. Plus, he represents Deloitte in its strategic alliance relationships with SAP, Google Cloud, and other technology providers within the SAP ecosystem.

Despite being far removed from the summers he worked on his grandmother’s

“I’m not a technologist, but I leverage technology to solve business problems.”

ranch, Gomez goes above and beyond to put his people in positions to succeed. Ever since Deloitte appointed him as an executive sponsor for Hispanic and Latinx recruiting, he has taken steps to address the lack of diverse representation in the industry, where just 8.3 percent of management consultants are Hispanic or Latino. When he speaks at Deloitte networking events dedicated to Hispanic and Latino professionals, he reminds guests why they belong in the industry.

“Consulting is very diverse by nature,” Gomez says. “I believe it’s a perfect job

for somebody with a diverse background because there is no specific prototype or profile for a consultant.”

Gomez also believes raising awareness of what management consultants do will be key to boosting the community’s representation in the sector.

“People go to college to be a doctor or lawyer. No one says they want to be a consultant, and this is necessary,” Gomez says.

Even if the managing director takes pride in carving out a path to success for his SAP clients and aspiring coworkers, no amount

of career accomplishments will replace his most painful loss. His father died in 2019. Yet Gomez still wishes he could appreciate the legacy he left behind for his kids.

“Growing up in El Paso, Texas in the late eighties, where the high school dropout rate was still very high, he and my mom raised three kids, and we all have advanced degrees,” Gomez says. “I’ve got an MBA. My sister has an MBA. My brother has an MFA, and he’s now getting his MBA as well. I don’t think my parents ever realized how proud they should have been about that.”

Gil Gomez Managing Director and SAP Analytics Leader Deloitte Consulting LLP

A Lawyer’s Path to the Energy Sector

BY CLAIRE REDDEN

Since setting his sights on the law, Mark Chavez spent twenty years building his career in the energy sector—ultimately becoming the general counsel at Ocean Point Terminals

Mark Chavez

General Counsel and Corporate Secretary

Ocean Point Terminals

OPEN-MINDED LEADERSHIP

As a leader, Mark Chavez stresses the importance of being openminded. “I’ve always tried to give opportunities to candidates with unique backgrounds or those who have demonstrated tenacity in their lives. Maybe they aren’t exact fits for a particular role, but for the most part, people want to succeed. When given an opportunity, people take advantage of it—and invariably, they’ve met or exceeded my expectations.”

This trust extends to his management style, where his goal has always been to allow employees to create their own paths. “Perhaps the way that they’d solve a problem isn’t how I would do it, but that’s where trust comes into play. You need to give your employees the freedom to exercise autonomy in their work. There’s no better way to support someone’s potential than to demonstrate that you trust their judgment and ability to get the job done,” he says.

MARK CHAVEZ NEVER PLANNED TO become an attorney or to go to law school.

In fact, he began his academic journey at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he studied biology. But, without the financial wherewithal to continue, Chavez turned to his musical abilities and joined the Army’s official ceremonial service band to pay for his undergraduate degree.

“The classes that were available to me at the time were more general, so I ended up getting a business degree instead of continuing to pursue biology. Then once I started evaluating what I would do long-term, I found myself in law school. I thought maybe I would be a lobbyist or go into business,” Chavez says.

Despite the circumstances, Chavez enjoyed law school. So after he finished, he made his way back home to Texas, and started working in a major law firm. It was inevitable that he’d find himself working in the energy sector. “I didn’t necessarily plan on it, but it became something I was increasingly interested in because of the diversity of work. Given that I always love a new challenge, it fit my personality perfectly.”

Working in energy, Chavez has learned more about the law than he ever could have imagined: pivoting from energy litigation in his early career to working on finance, creating testing, purchase and sale agreements, and learning a wide range of legal areas—from environmental laws to the legal regimes that affect energy investment in different countries.

“I’ve never allowed myself to internalize limiting beliefs. I’ve always believed that I could achieve anything I wanted if I worked hard, but I’ve also had to take risks,” explains Chavez. “Changing jobs and putting myself in positions where I had to stretch my abilities to meet expectations pushed me to be better than I thought I could be.” Luckily for him, those risks paid off, ultimately landing him where he is now.

Today, as the general counsel and corporate secretary at Ocean Point Terminals, no two days are the same. He might work on an arbitration matter one day and preparing for court the next; another day he might put together a commercial agreement or speak with opposing counsel the next. There’s no such thing as a typical workday for Chavez.

“I love not knowing what issue will come across my desk on any given day. I thought that after twenty years, I would’ve seen everything, but this industry keeps surprising me and bringing new challenges for me to tackle,” says Chavez.

In his current position at Ocean Point, he oversees the company’s environmental matters and is responsible for all legal issues that arise between them and the community they operate in. However, instead of viewing environmental consciousness and business viability as separate matters that should be balanced, Chavez sees them as one and the same.

“There is no business viability if you don’t conduct your business in an environmentally conscious way. If you’re unable to meet your environmental obligations, that’s going to compromise your relationship with your regulators and the communities in which you operate, and it can even impact your ability to raise capital.”

Ocean Point Terminals has also recently consummated a deal that will add a ten megawatt solar farm to their facility, a plan that will significantly reduce their emissions and bring additional clean, renewable energy to the US Virgin Islands. Beyond their contributions to advancing education in the community, since 2017, Ocean Point has donated more than one-and-a-half million dollars to various nonprofit organizations that support education, environmental stewardship and community sustainability.

There’s also the aspect of social responsibility that is closely tied to environmental consciousness—something that Chavez and Ocean Point have made a priority during their time operating in the US Virgin Islands. “Our company and employees have made supporting our community a key pillar of our

KEVIN RUNGE

Hispanic Executive

Leading the Way

Vinson & Elkins proudly recognizes Mark Chavez for his contributions as Ocean Point Terminals’ General Counsel and within the Hispanic community. We are honored to assist him in crafting effective, strategic legal solutions that help drive the industry forward.

business, and we think that just makes business sense. It’s all part and parcel of being a good corporate citizen,” he explains.

Each year, Ocean Point Terminals provides more than one hundred thousand dollars in scholarships through their fellowship program, contributing over six hundred thousand dollars in scholarships since 2017. Additionally, through a partnership with the Virgin Islands Department of Labor, the company hosts several on-site internship programs and contribute around $140 thousand annually for training through the University of the Virgin Islands’ Process Technology Program.

Even though the general counsel’s path up until law school was unexpected, he believes having a plan is an important part of building a successful career. “Generally, success doesn’t happen by accident. Once I got into law and decided that this was going to be my career, I developed a clear vision of where I wanted to go,” he says.

For this reason, Chavez’s advice to others is to develop a road map of their goals. “Having that clear idea of where I wanted to go and how to get there was very important for me. Of course, there will always be detours and challenges, but if you have a plan, you can turn anything to your advantage, and keep on course.”

Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP congratulates Mark Chavez on this well-deserved honor! With 900-plus lawyers, we serve clients across a broad range of complex transactional, litigation, and regulatory matters. Our mission is to build a diverse, inclusive professional community that fosters a culture of respect, collaboration, involvement, and empowerment.

BakerHostetler: “Mark is the epitome of the American dream. For years, he has worked tirelessly to hone his skills and rise up through the energy ranks. Chief among his skills is the unique talent to boil down complex regulatory matters for executives and offer practical legal advice. Congrats, Mark!”—Greg Saikin, Partner

“There is no business viability if you don’t conduct your business in an environmentally conscious way.

An Energy Star

Congratulations, Mark Chavez – a valued partner, accomplished energy executive and exceptional legal advisor. Your star will continue to shine brightly.

Serving Defending AND

BY ZACH BALIVA

Weil, Gotshal & Manges Partner Christopher Garcia protects some of the world’s largest corporations against securities fraud allegations, insider trading, and other white-collar offenses

Christopher Garcia Partner Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP

SERVING AND DEFENDING OTHERS IS something that came naturally to Christopher Garcia long before his time as a partner at Weil, Gotshal & Manges. While neither of his parents graduated from college, they both found ways to make important contributions to society. His mother was a receptionist in a district attorney’s office; his father was a fire marshal and arson investigator for the City of New York. For a time, the elder Garcia was part of Rescue 1, New York City Fire Department’s elite special operations unit.

The younger Garcia grew up on Long Island, and as he watched his parents work their jobs and live their lives, he noticed something: they did both in a special way. “My parents showed and taught me that helping others was just the right thing to do,” he explains. “I’ve always been involved in community service because that’s the example that was set for me.”

As Garcia navigated his teen years, he quickly saw law, government, and politics as valuable vehicles to advance his interest in public service. He completed his undergraduate studies at Harvard University, where he was cochair of the Institute of Politics.

Upon graduation, he took a year off to edit a magazine in Washington, DC, and returned to Harvard Law School, where he was president of the Board of Student Advisers and senior editor for the Journal of Law and Public Policy.

While at Harvard Law, Garcia nurtured a growing interest in criminal law, which he attributes to the ongoing theme of serving the public interest. After gaining four years of experience at Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, he spent nearly a decade in the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. As chief of the securities and commodities fraud task force, he managed a team of thirty-five prosecutors and agents working together to stop insider trading in the world of commerce.

He prosecuted hundreds of cases, many of which were related to the 2008 financial crisis. One of Garcia’s cases in that era brought $554 million in recovery while another generated a $1.2 billion settlement. “I became a lawyer at the US Attorney’s office,” Garcia says. “Being

under pressure requires one to either develop or fail, and the talented people around me there helped me and pushed me to succeed.”

In 2012, Garcia joined Weil, Gotshal & Manges to build the law firm’s global white collar defense, regulatory, and investigations practice. He now focuses on defending people and corporations against regulatory and criminal investigations.

Although Garcia has now “switched sides” from prosecution to defense, he is still performing an essential duty to uphold the justice system by ensuring due process and advocating for defendants. His Weil clients include leaders in financial services, technology, and other industries.

One such client is Alonzo Weems, Eli Lilly & Company’s vice president and deputy general counsel, and corporate legal and general counsel for the biomedicines business.

When asked about Garcia, the VP says, “I’ve known Chris for a few years and he has proven to be among my most trusted outside counsel. He brings a sharp mind,

“

My parents showed and taught me that helping others was just the right thing to do. I’ve always been involved in community service because that’s the example that was set for me.”

deep insights from government and private practice, excellent judgment, and an ease in connecting with people—all to bear to help resolve the matter at hand.”

Garcia, who also conducts internal investigations and litigates securities class actions, has had many notable representations over the last twelve years. He successfully defended a top Wall Street firm in a two-week jury trial in which a Russian billionaire alleged insider trading. He also represented a large media company in a Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation regarding wire fraud and protected a Fortune 500 company against alleged price fixing.

As Garcia progresses in his career, he remains committed to service. Today, he sits on the board for the Legal Aid Society of New York. He also works with the Puerto Rican Bar Association and cochairs Weil’s diversity committee.

“The firm’s leaders are committed to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion. These steps take time to develop at big firms, but they are important,” he says. Garcia and his colleagues have put processes and benchmarks in place, including a partner diversity report card, to drive outcomes in recruiting, retention, promotion, and partnership.

While Garcia coaches rising Latinx professionals, he also looks to mentor people from other backgrounds. It’s a lesson he learned from James W.B. Benkard, his first mentor at Davis Polk. Although Benkard and

Garcia shared no natural commonalities, the veteran lawyer still took the time to invest in the young Garcia. “It showed me the importance of looking for and providing mentorship everywhere instead of only seeking people who look like you,” Garcia says.

Famed investor Warren Buffet once said, “You don’t find out who’s been swimming naked until the tide goes out.” Garcia uses that phrase to describe what’s happening in white collar crime today. Plenty of people have been skinny dipping, and tides are shifting as a new presidential administration tightens the reins.

The DOJ, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and other governmental bodies are taking a hard look at the crimes and violations they are willing to pursue. Robust enforcement is likely to follow as the groups become more aggressive in how they prosecute cases and punish lawbreakers. Every firm with a white-collar practice is now in a building mode, and thanks to the work Garcia has done, Weil stands ready to serve its clients and grow its practice.

Conversations at the Top with Michele Cantos Garcia: Vice President

KAMALA

A behind-the-scenes look at Hispanic Executive’s whirlwind day with the VP aboard Air Force Two, her interview with our Publisher Pedro A. Guerrero for The New Majority podcast, and what her ascent tells us about our nation’s future

PHOTOS BY CASS DAVIS

VP Kamala Harris moments before taking the stage University of New Mexico. at a moderated discussion on reproductive rights at the

Kamala Harris VP The White House

FEW AMERICAN CIVILIANS HAVE THE honor of flying aboard Air Force Two, the modified Boeing C-32 aircraft allocated for use of the vice president of the United States. I think it’s safe to assume that even fewer Latinos have flown that high. In October 2022, three members of the Hispanic Executive team had the once-in-alifetime opportunity of joining Vice President Kamala Harris for a day in her life as the second-highest executive officer of the United States.

VIEW FROM THE TOP

One of the lucky three, Vianni Lubus recalls her hours aboard the aircraft with reverence. “You don’t go on Air Force Two without a profound understanding that you’re breathing rarified air,” says Lubus, the vice president of Hispanic Division and head of audience and engagement at Guerrero, publisher of Hispanic Executive. “To

Conversations at the Top

witness firsthand what the vice president does on a daily basis left an imprint on me.”

In Lubus’s decade-long career at the publisher, she has secured high-profile covers stars including actors Zoe Saldana, Jessica Alba, and John Leguizamo; business leaders Sol Trujillo, Christy Haubegger, and Daniel Lubetsky; and politicians Julian Castro and Bob Menendez, among others. However, for my Puerto Rican-born colleague, landing a sitting vice president topped all expectations.

“What most people fear doing even on occasion, be it speak onstage to hundreds of people or on a media interview, she must do every single day,” Lubus says. “And she must make it look effortless. She succeeds in that effort, above and beyond. As a business leader, as a woman, and most of all, as a Latina, I was left with nothing but deep admiration.”

That fall, the Biden-Harris administration had been in power for just under two years, and Harris had borne witness to

an eventful new decade as the first woman and woman of color to serve as the US vice president. There was the first COVID-19 vaccine rollout a few months after inauguration, a regional return to war in Europe after seventy years of peace, and national issues that include a mass exodus of Central and South American immigrants and refugees at the southern border and the Supreme Court’s landmark decision that the US Constitution does not confer a right to abortion.

A MULTICULTURAL EMBLEM

During her interview with CEO and Publisher Pedro A. Guerrero for The New Majority podcast, Harris reflects on the significance of her position at a time when a woman’s right to choose is overturned.

“One does not have to give up their faith or deeply held belief to agree that the government should not be telling that woman what to do with her body,” Harris

“You are never alone when you walk in that room.”

VP Kamala Harris descending Air Force Two at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, NM.

—VP Kamala Harris

“California is a microcosm of the United States. We have a huge agricultural community, which boasts half the fruit and veggies in the US. We have rural and urban communities and every nationality—one out of two has a parent born outside the US, me included. It’s a diverse state, representative of who we are as a country.”

—VP Kamala Harris

remarks on the Dobbs v. Jackson ruling. “That is a decision for she and she alone to make and, if she chooses, in consultation with her priest, pastor, rabbi, [or] with her loved ones.

“So much [of] the strength of our nation has been about the expansion of rights,” she continues, “and this was an example of a restriction of rights. We should see what the trajectory of this might be and it should concern us all.”

Harris also spoke about the role of business owners and corporate leaders in stepping up where the government has not. “Business leaders have been doing the work

to allow their employees to have their benefits be used for the purpose of travel, if the healthcare they need is not available in their state,” she says. “Business owners have been standing up in their community to speak up, because business leaders are also civic leaders, and [they are] taking a stand that: government should not be interfering in such private and personal decisions.”

Guerrero was the second lucky person to travel with the vice president on Air Force Two. When asked about the experience of flying alongside the most powerful woman in America, and getting a (literal) front row seat on the life of an historic leader, Guerrero is

humbled. “I was struck by the vice president’s warmth and authenticity juxtaposed with her command of the room.”

I imagine he, ever the pragmatist, is trying to extract every nugget of wisdom available so he can take it back to the Latino executives he meets daily. “I was thoroughly impressed and convinced she has the gravitas and experience to lead our nation if ever called to do so,” the publisher says.

Our team saw the unique opportunity to create a new bridge between Latino business leaders and the White House, and we interviewed and featured the VP as a multicultural protagonist in the story of the new

VP Harris waves to the crowd at Joint Base Andrews in Washington, DC.

The VP shaking hands

with an Air Force Officer.

majority, to borrow our popular podcast’s name. Our conversations with Vice President Harris have, at least for me, reinforced the importance of sharing the rich stories of multicultural Americans, whether they are in the White House, in the C-suite, or in their community. And of continuing Hispanic Executive’s mission of amplifying the voices of Latino leadership in America. In my own life, these stories have served as an anchor and motivation in times of trepidation.

YOU CARRY THE VOICES OF SO MANY”

While I was not among the three to meet the vice president—our staff photographer Cass Davis rounded out the trio—I have been working alongside them in what was a months-long

storytelling saga. As I thought about the story I’d write, I thought back to a cold and dreary day a few months into my freshman year of college, when a friend and I drove six and a half hours from our northeastern college town to Washington, DC, to witness the inauguration of America’s first Black president.

I was still a minor and couldn’t vote, but nevertheless I was defining my political values and character outside of my family and community. My Brooklyn upbringing had not prepared me for the realities of life in a predominantly white institution, so the Obama-Biden calls for hope and unity, as well as the wave of racism and bias hurled at Obama and his family during the election, mirrored my hopes and fears about the US and my future in it.

We all know her story by now. Harris is the daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants. As children, Harris’s mother taught her and

her sister that there was a “wealth of possibilities available” to the girls, that they “could do anything,” and that they should “never let the limited views of others hold them back.”

Yet when she is asked what it’s like to have achieved the highest levels of power as the daughter of immigrants, I am surprised at how quick she is to encourage.

“You are never alone when you walk in that room,” she tells Guerrero. “You carry the voices of so many people who are proud of you, who have struggled and dreamed of the fact that you would be in that room. So walk into those rooms chin up and shoulders back knowing you carry the voice of so many people who are applauding you each step of the way.”

I imagine that the powerful woman in the pantsuit—who today has hundreds of staffers, secret service agents, and others helping mobilize and protect her—has had

The VP greeting Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller (D-NM) and US Representative Melanie Stansbury (D-NM) on the Kirtland Air Force Base runway.

Hispanic Executive

VP Kamala Harris welcomes and speaks aboard Air Force Two. with Hispanic Executive Publisher Pedro A. Guerrero

“I was thoroughly impressed and convinced she has the gravitas and experience to lead our nation if ever called to do so.”

Ahead of the moderated discussion at the University of New Mexico, the VP was surrounded by her team. You can see how she transforms from talking with her team to preparing to walk out onto the stage to meet Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham and Dr. Eve Espey, the chairwoman of the university’s Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

—Pedro A. Guerrero, CEO of Guerrero and Publisher of Hispanic Executive

to give herself that same pep talk many times before. And I am reminded of that first Obama inauguration and how his election changed the course of US history. Of how it broke a centuries-long streak of impossibility and set the stage, a little over a decade later, for the first woman and the first woman of Black and Asian descent to become vice president.

Harris brings a pragmatic mindset to her position in the Biden administration, and it influences her approach when addressing key concerns of the Latino community like the economy.

“[In] the first twenty-two months we took office, millions of people were unemployed, Latino unemployment went from 8 percent

to 3 percent. Our [tax] act and infrastructure law made a difference. We kept the economy going with these laws,” she says.” Looking to the future, she adds, “in the coming months, I’m excited about the billions of dollars from the infrastructure law going to fix roads and bridges. Latinos are one-third of the construction workforce (as contractors and workers), [so] the economic benefit will make it easier to get and go to work and more good paying jobs.” The VP also vouched to continue working on addressing healthcare, paid family leave, and affordable childcare.

When asked about her home state of California, where almost half of the residents are of Hispanic or Latino ancestry, and what the state bodes for the future of

the nation, the VP speaks authoritatively.

“California is a microcosm of the United States,” she says. “We have a huge agricultural community, which boasts half the fruit and veggies in the US. We have rural and urban communities and every nationality— one out of two has a parent born outside the US, me included. It’s a diverse state, representative of who we are as a country.”

She continues “[Latinos are] a very integral part of the history of America . . . the embodiment of the American Dream.” And, in closing, she assures Guerrero that the story of Latinos in the US will be enduring. Perhaps Harris’s groundbreaking appointment will lead to the first Latina, Latino, Latinx, Latine, etc., in the Oval Office.

91 Hispanic Executive

The VP speaking at a moderated discussion at the University of New Mexico.

Governor of New Mexico Michelle Lujan Grisham, Air Force Officers, and local representatives await the VP’s descent.

Our

2023 Leading Latinas are pioneers who paved their own path—from Wall Street to Main Street—and now light the way for the next generation

In-House Counsel THE LONG ROAD TO

Danielle Karczewski, assistant general counsel at Eisai

Inc., shares how the many challenges she’s faced have made her a better lawyer and a better person

BY ZACH BALIVA

Danielle Karczewski Assistant General Counsel of Employment and R&D Eisai Inc.

LONG-TERM SUCCESS IN AN IN-HOUSE legal role requires one to pivot, adjust, and reinvent oneself time and time again.

Danielle Karczewski, an assistant general counsel of employment and R&D at Eisai Inc. since 2011, is up for the challenge. She’s been through the fire and knows how transformative a challenge can be.

“I’ll admit that I’m a work in progress,” Karczewski says candidly. “I’ve had to navigate plenty of difficulty, and I like to think that each adverse situation makes me stronger as a lawyer and as a person.”

Karczewski, who is of Puerto Rican descent, was born in the Bronx and lived in the borough until she moved with her parents to New Jersey at age nine. Although she prefers to think that she honed the skills of logic and debate in her childhood, others told her that she simply liked to argue. Either way, the young Karczewski got the idea of going to law school by middle school.

FIVE SIMPLE RULES FOR LIFE

Shortly after her time at Rutgers Law School, Karczewski joined Lowenstein Sandler PC as an attorney. While she loved the firm and many of her colleagues, she experienced her first major test when she realized how much she disliked litigation. “I thought I wanted to leave the legal industry and wondered if I had made a horrible life choice,” she explains. Self-doubt crept in. Did she follow others’ expectations? Had she even considered other options? Was she good at her job?

At the same time, Karczewski felt a lot of pressure. After all, she had “made it” as a female minority. She had a prestigious job, a supportive firm and bosses, and a law school degree, with all the student loan debt that went along with it.

After a period of reflection, Karczewski decided to stay in her career but pivoted to an in-house role to move away from the gamesmanship of litigation and the stress of firm life. “When I moved in-house, I found something that catered to my passion of actually practicing law from my strengths. I was able to focus more on giving strategic advice to help a company fulfill its mission and carry out its vision,” she says.

Eisai Inc. is a human healthcare (hhc) company bringing together science, technology, and real-world expertise to positively impact the lives of people living with cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, and other neurodegenerative diseases. Its brands include Halaven, Lenvima, Fycompa, Banzel, and Dayvigo. Its parent company Eisai Co. Ltd., headquartered

In recent years, Danielle Karczewski has learned a lot about her work, her family, her coworkers, and herself. Here are a few reflections from the journey that she tries to implement daily: Learn to read the room. There is a time to speak and a time to sit and observe. Maturity is knowing how to change your delivery based on your audience.

when you don’t know something—nobody should shame you for it. Be honest. Be willing to learn. Stay humble.

Don’t be afraid to crack jokes and have fun. Otherwise, your days will be miserable.

to navigate plenty of difficulty, and

like to think that each adverse situation makes me stronger as a lawyer and as

in Tokyo, Japan, has more than ten thousand employees worldwide and nearly $760 billion in annual revenue.

Eisai is focused on more than manufacturing pharmaceuticals and delivering medicines to patients. The company’s CEO has developed the company’s human healthcare mission. This concept means to give one’s first thought to patients and their families, to increasing the benefits that healthcare provides, and to addressing diverse healthcare needs worldwide. The hhc concept places patient satisfaction before revenues and earnings and asks employees to put patients first, to listen to and learn from them. The hhc mission also means that doing what’s right for patients should drive business results.

After more than a decade at Eisai, Karczewski now has a broad role that uses

the full range of her expertise. She is involved in employment issues, R&D matters, ecosystem solutions, privacy, and internal investigations. In her role, she supports business partners and leaders across the organization. Since the start of the pandemic, she has also worked with cross-functional colleagues to address COVID-19 issues at the company and develop related processes.

During her tenure, Karczewski has looked for opportunities to help contribute to the hhc mission. “Legal may be a support function at a pharmaceutical company, and although we don’t get daily patient contact, we can still use our legal skills to further the mission of this organization in a way that impacts the people we serve,” she says. In recent years, Karczewski has helped create a wills clinic in which legal team members

“

I’ve had

I

a person.”

“I’VE NEVER BEEN AFRAID TO RAISE MY HAND FOR NEW THINGS. I’VE LEARNED THE IMPORTANCE OF SAYING YES.”

volunteer to draft wills, trusts, and other important legal documents for people impacted by cancer and other serious conditions. This wills clinic is now Magnolia Purpose in Planning, an important part of Eisai’s Magnolia program, which is itself the embodiment of the hhc mission to help meet the evolving needs of patients and their families.

The diversity of work that comes through the legal department keeps Karczewski engaged. She’s pushed herself to learn, evolve, grow, and change over more than ten years by volunteering for new assignments.

“I’ve never been afraid to raise my hand for new things. I’ve learned the importance of saying yes,” she says.

Karczewski originally responded to a job posting for an employment lawyer but quickly agreed to also

take on R&D responsibilities when the role evolved during the recruitment process. She’s since generalized her legal support, at one point even serving the company’s Brazilian affiliate. She and her team have also learned to support a growing company as it “thinks beyond the pill” and moves into creating innovative devices, tools, and resources for new and existing customers.

Karczewski has faced other trials as she’s built her career. As a former board member and current general member of the Hispanic Bar Association of New Jersey, she remembers a time when she was one of the few diverse women attorneys at her law firm. Back then, she felt a self-imposed need to stay quiet and blend in. Now, she’s found her voice and confidence.

She draws on that confidence to navigate other challenging situations. Karczewski worked hard to help develop and lead parts of Eisai’s COVID-19 response when the pandemic hit. At the same time, she was dealing with parenting an energetic toddler, navigating divorce and co-parenting, selling a house, buying another, and moving.

What has the era taught her? “Compassion for others,” she says. “I’m more empathetic today, and that fits at Eisai because empathy is woven into everything we do here.” Karczewski knows that conflicts and challenges will likely continue to come her way, but she’s survived a tough period. Now, she’s ready to help Eisai continue to fulfill its important mission of improving outcomes for people with cancer and neurodegenerative diseases.

CREATING HOPE THROUGH INNOVATION

At Eisai, everything we do is guided by a simple principle: patients and their families come first. We spend time with them. We listen and we learn about their lives, their desires and their greatest needs. We call this human health care or hhc, giving first thoughts to patients and their families and helping increase the benefits health care provides.

In her role as Assistant General Counsel, Danielle Karczewski embodies our hhc mission: putting people first to help address unmet needs within the communities that we seek to serve. Congratulations, Danielle!

Lewis P.C. Attorney Advertising | jacksonlewis.com

the Queen of Chill ALL HAIL

Self-made founder, restaurateur, and influencer

Cyndi Ramirez-Fulton shares lessons on the art and business of self-care and making wellness accessible

BY BILLY YOST

Cyndi Ramirez-Fulton Founder and CEO Chillhouse

SUCCEEDING IN BUSINESS AND IN LOVE

Cyndi Ramirez-Fulton and her husband, Adam Fulton, are business partners who built a blossoming business (and a family) in the middle of a pandemic. The power couple met while working in hospitality and have nurtured a way of working that works for them both.

“It took us a long time to get to a good place as business partners. We have complementary skills which make us good partners. He’s not aware of some of his flaws, and I have no flaws,” she says, laughing, “but I think we’ve made this work very well.”

TTHE FOUNDER AND FACE OF CHILLHOUSE, a beauty and self-care brand with flagship locations on either side of the Atlantic Ocean, wants to make a self-care routine affordable to more than just those with the luxury of time and money. Cyndi Ramirez-Fulton remembers the not-all-that-long-ago Goop days when the idea of wellness and beauty was only one afforded to those with six-figure incomes and higher.

“Chillhouse has flipped that idea on its head,” Ramirez-Fulton says. “Self-care is for everyone. I think we’ve built a space that people were really, really needing.”

Chillhouse is both a physical location and an incredibly successful product brand. The company’s biggest success to date is its long-lasting press-on-nails, but there is a growing list of nail, skin and body, and lifestyle products as the young brand continues to evolve and expand.

While the products may not break the bank, Chillhouse has sought to create a high-end experience for its brick-andmortar customers. Along with its flagship store in New York City’s SoHo district

(where customers can partake in face, nail, massage, and infrared sauna services), Chillhouse opened a second location in Paris. Housed within Galeries Lafayette’s Wellness Galerie, the official opening coincided with Fashion Week in Paris in September 2022.

“We’re excited to see if we can be part of shifting and shaping trends in the heart of fashion,” Ramirez-Fulton says. “I’m curious if we can get the Parisians to love nail art and press-ons as much as we Americans. That’s a personal fascination of mine, and it’s been a very fun project to take on.”

It’s important to consider just how young of a brand Chillhouse is. Its press-on nails launched in August 2020 and were immediately picked up by Urban Outfitters. “Urban [Outfitters] has always been really quick to jump on interesting brands,” RamirezFulton reflects. “That’s part of why I love them, and it seemed like a perfect match for us right out of the gate.”

The press-ons have been such a success that they’re nearly outselling Chillhouse’s brick-and-mortar services. It’s an incredible accomplishment for a brand that was initially

place for people.

concerned more with creating an experience rather than a product.

“What we prided ourselves on was our one-on-one interaction with our clients,” Ramirez-Fulton says. “You have a curriculum in place and a relationship established. With products, you don’t get to have that one-onone interaction with every person that comes in contact with your brand, so it can be a little scary. You need to make sure that whoever is selling your product is doing your brand justice. But to be honest, I can’t believe we’ve made it this far this quickly.”

Ramirez-Fulton jokes that she dropped out of fashion marketing school twice. As the daughter of an aesthetician, Ramirez-Fulton knew she belonged in the space. She just wasn’t sure how. “Frankly, I was a bit of a party girl,” she admits. “I bartended for several years, and I loved the hospitality space. But the hours were killing me and weren’t what I wanted from my life.”

She was able to wrangle a valuable internship in a fashion technology consultancy through a connection that was willing to take a chance on her. It was her first and only full-

time job, and it would set the tone for the rest of her future. Two years later, Ramirez-Fulton would make the leap into entrepreneurship.

It took a few tries, but Chillhouse would come to life. It’s not just a location, and it’s not just a product. Ramirez-Fulton created The Chill Times, a media branch of Chillhouse where subscribers can learn about beauty, health, and wellness. It had to go into hibernation during the pandemic, but the founder is hoping to bring it back with a broader focus. “I want it to be a giveback element and incorporate more mental health resources,” she says.

The founder and CEO continues, “I think it’s important for brands to have more substance than just what they’re selling. There are so many conversations we can have with our community, and that’s why I’m excited to build a new hub for it and get it back into the world.”

Chillhouse is already on the right track. Ramirez-Fulton says that seeing the different shapes, shades, and backgrounds of the people at its physical locations reminds her that there needed to be a more inclusive and holistic place for people to learn about beauty and self-care, a place they could afford to visit. “I want people from all backgrounds to feel at home walking into a Chillhouse,” she says. “You don’t need to feel guilty about having a bad day or not taking care of yourself today. Sometimes what you need is a conversation, not a face mask. We want to be able to be that place for people.”

“

Sometimes what you need is a conversation, not a face mask. We want to be able to be that

”

PROTECTING THE

Jomysha Delgado Stephen, EVP and general counsel at Barnard College, helps her historic alma mater prepare the next generation of women leaders

BY ZACH BALIVA

Alma Mater

Jomysha Delgado Stephen EVP of the College and General Counsel Barnard College

WHEN IT OPENED ITS DOORS IN 1889, Barnard College was one of the only places in the United States where women could receive the kind of high-quality education usually reserved for men. Then, its fourteen female students met in a brownstone building near Grand Central Station. Now, the college has about three thousand undergraduates and is known as one of the best liberal arts schools in the nation.

With 10,395 applicants and 1,192 admits in the class of 2025, Barnard is one of the most selective colleges around. Students clamor to study at renowned academic centers like the Barnard Center for Research on Women, the Digital Humanities Center, and the Athena Center for Leadership. Over its more than 130 years of history, Barnard College has built a strong reputation in higher education and produced notable graduates like Joan Rivers, Martha Stewart, Twyla Tharp, and Zora Neale Hurston. It also produced Jomysha Delgado Stephen who says, “the experience at Barnard was transformative and [gave me] access to things that I didn’t even know.”

Today, Delgado Stephen is the college’s executive vice president and general counsel. She joined the organization in a professional

capacity in 2003, but the four years Delgado Stephen spent studying Russian language and literature at the college most inform the work she does as Barnard’s chief administrative and legal officer.

In that role, Delgado Stephen develops policies, provides legal guidance, and oversees offices like those of the president, human resources, emergency services, and community accountability. As a former Barnard student, Delgado Stephen is inextricably linked to the college’s mission. The historic college was once a “unique place,” says the EVP. “We [were] providing learning to women, who might not have been able to attend other institutions. Now, we are the most selective women’s college in the country with an 8 percent admissions rate. Despite the ability to go anywhere, our students still choose to come here.”

Delgado Stephen grew up in a Puerto Rican family living in New York City. She

attended the city’s public schools and seized the opportunity to go to its specialized Bronx High School of Science. In Barnard, the first-generation college student found a new world filled with wonderful mentors, gifted faculty, and dedicated students. After a foundational four years, she continued on to Columbia University School of Law before starting her career in commercial real estate law at some of the top firms in NYC.

Walk into her office on campus today, and you’ll see a framed piece of art that poses one simple question. “What would you do if you were not afraid?” The sign reminds Delgado Stephen to be bold in her professional and personal lives alike. At work, she’s leading teams and shattering barriers as the first Latina to hold the top legal seat and the highestranking Latina in the college’s history. At home, she’s raising two problem-solvers and future leaders of her own. Both jobs

require attention and focus. While Delgado Stephen maintains a healthy balance between work and life, she also communicates her work commitment to her children.

“I’m thoughtful about how I spend my time, and I’m very dedicated to the work I do for Barnard,” she says. “My kids know that this is not just work for me, it’s a mission.”

In regard to her acceptance of this prestigious, mission-driven role, she says, “As counsel we keep the doors open, and this is a college with a great mission of educating young women to be next generation of leaders. As a Latina who benefitted as a part of this community, I wanted to be part of that.”

That mission comes with inherent challenges. A college campus operates as a miniature city of its own with a wide array of lurking legal issues that could surface at any time. Those working in higher education often find themselves on the leading

“MY FAMILY COULDN’T HELP ME ACCESS AND NAVIGATE COLLEGE, BECAUSE THEY DIDN’T KNOW IT, SO TODAY I GET TO ENSURE BARNARD CONTINUES TO BE ACCESSIBLE TO PEOPLE LIKE ME.”

edge of the day’s most controversial issues years before they hit the corporate world or other spaces. Barnard’s experts have been tapped to provide expert opinions on affirmative action, women’s reproductive rights, and other key topics. The school started admitting transgender women in 2016. In October 2022, officials announced that Barnard will give students access to abortion pills. Delgado Stephen was an integral part in both initiatives and leads the team working to address Barnard’s response to the SCOTUS decision on affirmative action.

As a child, Delgado Stephen lived just blocks away from Barnard. She says that although she lived within walking distance, a top-level college education seemed out of her reach. “My family couldn’t help me access and navigate college because they didn’t know it, so today I get to ensure Barnard continues to be accessible to people like me,” she says. Delgado Stephen leverages her reach as EVP to create pathways for professional development throughout the entire college, as well as in her own legal department. Fifty percent of Barnard’s 891

employees are non-white, and 17 percent are Hispanic or Latino.

Wednesday, May 17, 2023, will be a special day for Barnard. Degree candidates will cross the commencement stage to receive congratulations as they graduate with majors like biology, computer science, political science, and history. When the ceremony is over and the degrees are conferred, Delgado Stephen will take a short break. Then, she’ll get back to work and prepare herself to welcome the next class of future leaders coming to campus in the fall.

A NET FUTURE Zero

Naty Figueroa is a key player in bp’s commitment to net-zero carbon emissions and an example of first-generation determination

BY FREDERICK JERANT

RISING FROM HUMBLE CIRCUMSTANCES requires grit and determination. In Naty Figueroa’s case, it also required a willingness to take some atypical paths.

“Both of my parents were born in Puerto Rico,” says the vice president of refining and products trading Americas at bp. “They came to the United States in their teens and were factory workers. At the time, neither of them had completed high school, but they insisted that I would go to college, and that I could be anything I wanted to be.”

She did well in high school, but the specter of college tuition haunted the family. “I was pretty naïve,” she recalls. “I could have applied for scholarships but didn’t and I also didn’t want to go into debt.”

Her solution? An eight-year stint with the Illinois National Guard. “The Guard paid for my college education, which I wouldn’t have been able to afford otherwise,” she says. Her service commitment was relatively smooth. After enlistment and training, Figueroa was

called up for brief periods each year. “My longest stretch was serving in Germany, which was an amazing experience. The military has values similar to bp’s as far as respect, being courageous and speaking up, striving for excellence in what you do, and realizing you have leaders who lead, but it’s the whole team that wins,” she says.

Her exposure to military life benefitted her in other ways, like teaching her to think things through, encouraging her to overcome adversity, and inspiring her to develop a sense of courage and integrity. “I also saw different types of leadership, which helped influence my own style,” she says.

Figueroa earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Northern Illinois University and landed an internship with a prominent accounting firm. She joined bp in 2002 as a crude settlement and inventory analyst. But she saw numerous opportunities to apply her accounting background in different areas of the company and went after them.

Over the next twenty years, she secured roles in accounting, credit, inventory reconciliation (the scheduling and movement of bp’s products all over the world, including West Africa, Latin America, Europe, and the US) as well as roles focused on trading strategies, marketing and origination, and organizational and financial analysis activities. She also earned her master’s degree in accounting and financial management from the Keller Graduate School of Management and became a certified public accountant.

In her current role, the VP is responsible for regional commercial performance and risks for bp’s oil and refined products (gasoline, jet fuel, diesel, etc.) within Canada, Latin America, and the US, including all regulatory and compliance issues. Her scope also includes an operations team, a marketing and origination team, and various indirect reports from supporting functions.

Figueroa and her team are also a key player in the company’s new ambition to be a net-zero

Naty Figueroa VP of Refining & Products Trading Americas bp

company by 2050 or sooner, and to help the world get to net-zero. In a prior role as global biogas senior manager, she was involved in efforts mitigating their carbon footprint. “We were given a blank page,” she says, “and the chance to develop emission-reduction tactics.”

But in 2020, the company announced its ambition to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, and not only in the products it sells: it aims to be net-zero on an absolute basis across its entire operations and in its upstream oil and gas production—even lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions—by that year.

That represents an enormous opportunity. As Figueroa explains, the company will work closely with customers to support their own decarbonization goals. Pointing to her experience in biogas as an example, she says, “We might work with a city to take methane gas emitted by its landfills and process it into a renewable source of natural gas, eventually building a portfolio of low-carbon products.”

Figueroa is a strong advocate for diversity in the workplace, particularly when it comes to women, Latinxs, and military veterans. “I’d love to see my trading floor be more diverse,” she says, “so that it better reflects the community in which we live and work. We’re not there yet, but we’re making progress. The early careers team recruits heavily at major schools, but I often remind

bp’s ambition is to become a net zero company by 2050 or sooner, and to help the world get to net zero. bp has a larger economic footprint in the United States than anywhere else in the world, investing more than $130 billion in the economy since 2005 and supporting about 245,000 jobs

For more information on bp in the US, visit www.bp.com/us.

them to also check out the talent in our own backyard.”

She’s also supportive of bp’s commitment to working with community and educational partners to encourage students and underrepresented minorities to pursue science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). The company provides digital resources from science experiments to college and career guides.

“Engineering is obviously important to our business,” she says, “but science, technology, and math also play key roles in our development and progress.”

The company’s support of STEM parallels Figueroa’s own professional life. “Early in my career, I learned that it’s important to work hard—but just as important to build a network of people you can count on. Someone who will always pull you along when you need it. I wouldn’t be where I am today if I hadn’t had that kind of support,” she says.

“I always want to be mindful of underrepresented people,” she adds, “whether in terms of gender, ethnicity, or military status. I’m always eager to give advice to anyone who asks for it.”

Figueroa advises potential leaders to build solid networks. “If you want success, you must meet with different kinds of people,” she says. “Show them who you are and what you know because if they don’t know you, they won’t be able to help support you in career progression.

“Be ready to make a little noise about your accomplishments,” she continues. “I’m an introvert, so I know that can be difficult, but you need to get out of your comfort zone.”

And don’t be afraid of failure. “Everyone has fears, and everyone fails— but that’s when you learn the most. We always put pressure on ourselves, and that kind of vulnerability can really work against you.”

I’d love to see my trading floor be more diverse so that it better reflects the community in which we live and work. We’re not there yet, but we’re making progress.”

Person A PEOPLE

Trimble and Melissa Uribes are paving the way, not just in industrial technology but within the organization with new initiatives designed to target bias and increase diversity

BY GIOVANNI PERRY

MELISSA URIBES HAS NEVER BEEN A FAN of the term talent acquisition. “I don’t think it’s about acquiring people,” she muses. “I think it’s really about presenting opportunities where people can contribute, grow, be part of the organization, and feel challenged.” As vice president of talent, diversity, equity, and inclusion at Trimble, Uribes does not want employees to simply pass through the doors on their way to something else; she wants to be a driving force, helping to grow their careers as a part of the Trimble organization.

Trimble is an industrial technology company based out of Westminster, Colorado. Uribes has been there for seven years, having transitioned into her new VP role two years ago. Uribes stresses the importance of such a forward-thinking brand: she utilizes her position to ensure Trimble and its technology are well known within different communities.

“We’re not a flashy company,” she says. “We speak up intentionally. Our company is very focused on digital transformation because we work with some of the most important industries in the world right now.

Our technology solutions are making the world more efficient, safer, and more effective at providing positive outcomes.”

In today’s world, food supply is a topic of importance and farming is a profession that is struggling to attract next-gen workers—but Uribes says Trimble’s technological endeavors can shift that narrative. “These are actually very technologically sophisticated industries, and Trimble is at the forefront of bringing that tech to those industries. It’s not old farming, or construction—there’s technologically enabled ways to do the work and it’s a pretty rewarding job if you want to be in tech and do something that makes a bigger difference in the world.”

One new initiative takes forwardthinking to a new level: the introduction of a talent and recruiting platform technology is one way Trimble is working to “cast a wider net” for candidates who would otherwise get lost in the shuffle. “Historically, companies look at a résumé and are often looking for a specific profile of a person who has been successful in that job,” Uribes explains. “This

can often lead to unconscious bias because we’re only looking for candidates that have the same background, same experiences, and same types of education that we’ve seen for many years. By using a cutting-edge, well configured technology platform, rather than focusing on a specific profile, we can search for skills that may come from a variety of unique candidate experiences and combat unconscious bias.

“We, of course, still use interviews to meet the candidates and make selections,” she continues, “and the addition of new technology is increasing our ability to identify a broader range of diverse talent pools.”

Entrepreneurial even at a young age, Uribes constantly imagined being in business. “I always thought that I was going to go start a product, invent something, or buy a small business and do really well with it.” Understanding the importance of experience and wanting to learn from her seniors, Uribes began working for several large corporations.

She worked a variety of HR roles, from benefit program management to recruiter to labor relations. She was pleased to find that she was

Melissa Uribes VP of Talent, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Trimble

particularly skilled when it came to partnering with businesses to help them understand the “people side” of their business strategies, and it fostered the innovation and entrepreneurial mindset she craved early on. “Your company is only as good as your people,” she says. “If you don’t have a strategic focus on how you create positive experiences for the people who work for you, then I don’t think your business can be successful in the long run.”

Uribes is savvy both in people and business, and under her leadership DEI has begun partnering with those whose full-time mission includes helping to represent low-income and underrepresented communities. One partner is ActivateWork, a nonprofit recruiting, training, and coaching firm based out of Denver, Colorado. “We’ve been very proud to be a strong partner of theirs,” the VP says. “One of the things we did was sponsor a class where they took nontraditional applicants and put them through an eighteen-week training program, and now we’re hiring a subset of those candidates within Trimble. They’re starting at the end of this month in July. We’re excited to have these employees join Trimble!”

Collaborating is what Uribes does; she loves it. “In my work, sometimes I’m helping an executive, sometimes it’s a front-line manager, sometimes it’s a new employee. I don’t think there are many positions like HR where you get the opportunity to get to know people from A to Z.” So, it’s no surprise that her leadership style is one that hinges on two equal parts, the first being collaboration. “In order for people to follow you, they have to feel like they’re a part of it with you. A lot of people in leadership are tasked with implementing changes. The only way to get through change is by being really collaborative.”

The second part? Communication. “You have to communicate frequently—but it’s not always easy,” Uribes says. “Some people respond differently; some people require different forms of communication. But I think it’s key. You’re never going to over-communicate; I don’t think that exists.”

As a Latina, Uribes says the lack of opportunities and the disparity gaps within the community still discourage her. “My dad is Mexican American. He immigrated to the US. My mom was a multigenerational Latina

in the US. It’s personal to me because, like everyone, I want my kids and grandkids to have opportunities and not be limited based on access, income, or education.” This, says Uribes, is what motivates her every day in leading Trimble in powerful new initiatives designed to help their company reflect the diversity of global groups as well as those within their own communities.

When asked how she manages to push through adversity and opposition, Uribes stresses the need for vision and resilience. “If you know where you want to go, you can make a plan to get there. It won’t always be easy, but if you’re resilient you can keep going.”

Uribes credits her parents with teaching her this skill. “I had amazing parents,” she says. “They’ve been my heroes in so many ways. They raised me and my siblings to be intentional and very resilient. That resiliency I learned at home, but also in business. It takes time.” Uribes says she once heard an interview in which Jennifer Lopez simply said, “Keep going.” The sincerity of the phrase resonated with her. “I’ve always liked that,” Uribes says, laughing. “You have hard days and you have really great days too. You just have to keep going. A motto I share with my teams is to focus on ‘relentless progress forward’: as long as we’re moving forward, we should be proud of our work on any given day.”

That’s exactly what Uribes plans to do. The VP says technology isn’t going anywhere in future. “It’ll be really important to figure out the balance between leveraging technology while not losing the importance of the ‘people connection.’ I’d love to continue exploring how companies can do that really well.”

“If you don’t have a strategic focus on how you create experiences for the people who work for you, then I don’t think your business can be successful in the long run.”

ABIGAIL

Abigail Franco Senior Director of Digital Product & Innovation T-Mobile

AbigailFranco BECOMING

Despite incredible accomplishments, it took years for the T-Mobile senior director to understand her true value as a leader

BY BILLY YOST

IF THERE’S ONE THING ABIGAIL FRANCO could change, it would be the time it took to realize her own potential. It’s been there since the very beginning when Franco was sent to live with her brothers and sisters in the United States, away from her native El Salvador where civil war and the threat of violence were all too present.

The now senior director of digital product and innovation at T-Mobile was imbued with responsibility at the young age of ten. Franco had to enroll herself in school, act as her own cheerleader and tutor, and navigate all the complexities of an immigrant growing up in another country with only the oversight of siblings who were also trying to find their own way.

“I knew that my family had made a great sacrifice to get me to this country, and failure was not an option,” Franco explains. “I became obsessed with making my family proud. There was never anyone asking me about school or how it was going, so I had to do it myself.”

While pursuing her undergraduate degree in computer engineering, Franco became used to being the only woman, let alone woman of color, in the room. Fortunately, it provided the future leader with a passion for how technology could fundamentally change the lives of people around the world—a passion Franco has leaned into throughout her career.

Driving innovation at T-Mobile includes always trying to anticipate what humans will be living like five-to-ten years from now. The metaverse, Web3, virtual reality, and finding ways to create meaningful connections between consumers and products are all top of mind.

Franco’s teams are working to develop ways to help customers experience shopping in a different way, like being able to digitally accessorize a product with their favorite outfit from the comfort of their own home. “We’re looking at all sorts of interesting ways to help our customers interact with products in a way that feels real and personal to them before they even get into the store,” Franco says.

How could someone with such drive, self-determination, and capacity for achieving great things ever doubt themselves? Try being a woman in the 2000’s tech ecosystem.

The list of isolating and dehumanizing experiences Franco experienced in her rise are too many to count. She says the experiences could fill pages, but she only mentions them now in hopes of creating a more equitable path for women in the tech space.

Franco has been told to her face that she doesn’t “look like a director.” She’s been constantly interrupted and talked over in meetings where her experience and position should have been prized. But it wasn’t about rank or hierarchy to Franco. “I don’t think you should have to mention your title for people to pause and let you speak,” she says.

“I think it’s sad that I’ve noticed having a little more room to speak as I’ve risen up the chain, and I don’t think things have changed as quickly as they should. That’s why I’m so passionate about mentoring other women.”

Fortunately, Franco is determined not to let history repeat itself. Her true moment of self-actualization came after attending Google’s #IAmRemarkable training, a workshop designed to help women and minorities better adapt to challenge the social perception around self-promotion and increase the capacity for self-advocacy. “I just learned that if I don’t see myself as valuable, I cannot help others who need help recognizing their own worth,” she explains. “I am my own worst critic, and I think a lot of people put up barriers in fear that others will see what we think we see.”

Franco’s empathetic and people-focused leadership has been emboldened by recognizing her own worth. The senior director has created several groups for women within the organization she’s worked for to connect, communicate, and come together to realize that they’re not alone. And when it comes to formal mentorship, Franco has so many consistent mentees that she has to secure additional mentors due to the overflow. “Even though I’m mentoring so many people right

I just learned that if I don’t see myself as valuable, I cannot help others who need help recognizing their own worth.”

now, I’ll still always take the call or meeting and learn about the person and then think of someone I can connect them with,” Franco says. “It doesn’t matter what level you’re at, I think you can also provide important mentorship to someone else.”

The senior director adds that she wishes she would have understood the value of mentorship earlier in her career. It’s like investing in a stock: the earlier you get in, the higher the payoff will be.

“We have worked with Abigail on multiple digital transformation and innovation programs over the years,” says Anand Swaminathan, executive vice president and global industry leader of communications, media, and technology at Infosys. “What stands out is her unique leadership style driven inclusivity, love for customers, and encouragement to innovate. She has always moved the team forward and delivered exceptional outcomes.

Her vision to bring growth opportunities to underrepresented communities is an inspiration to each and every one of us.”

Franco is excited to have T-Mobile headquarters hosting the Latinas in Tech Seattle chapter for an upcoming event, yet another chance to create networking opportunities, share experiences, and embolden women of color in the technology space to rise.

It may have taken Franco some time to believe in her own capacity, but she now wants to be an advocate for others. It’s selfless leadership, true empathy in action, and the sign of someone who has experienced struggle and has emerged as a better person.

“Trust yourself, build your self-confidence, and never speak to yourself in a way that you wouldn’t talk to someone you love and care about,” Franco says. “It took me too long to see the person I am, but that doesn’t have to be the case for you.”

“IT DOESN’T MATTER WHAT LEVEL YOU’RE AT, I THINK YOU CAN ALSO PROVIDE IMPORTANT MENTORSHIP TO SOMEONE ELSE.”

Shaping The Digital Fabric By

Weaving The Threads Of People, Planet, Prosperity & Partnerships

To Produce Lean, Purposeful, And Digital Growth

Communications, hi-tech, media, and entertainment industries form the foundational layer of our society's digital reality. Infosys, as the ecosystem integrator, weaves together a synergetic digital fabric that addresses common challenges and ampli es their opportunities.

www.infosys.com

After

BY NATALIE KOCHANOV

A Sparkling PAST AND FUTURE

thirty years at the Coca-Cola Company, Marie Quintero-Johnson is as excited as ever about the company, its beverages, and its ongoing evolution in the global marketplace

MARIE

Marie Quintero-Johnson VP and Director of Global Mergers & Acquisitions, Insights, and Real Estate The Coca-Cola Company

E

EVEN BEFORE SHE JOINED THE Coca-Cola Company in 1992, Marie Quintero-Johnson had a strong fascination with the brand—so much so that Coca-Cola was one of the only places she could envision herself working after graduate school.

“At the time, Roberto Goizueta was the CEO. He was Cuban, so he was an icon to the Cuban community,” says Quintero-Johnson, whose parents immigrated to the United States from Cuba. “I grew up drinking way too much Diet Coke––well, I don’t know if too much is ever a thing, but a lot of Diet Coke. So I always had a great affinity for the company.” And it’s no surprise, as Coca Cola is the import of choice throughout Latin America. The average Mexican, for example, drinks more than seven hundred cups of Coca-Cola a year—nearly double what Americans drink.

Beyond her genuine love of Coca-Cola’s products, Quintero-Johnson appreciates the global reach of the beverage corpora-

tion. As head of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) for the past two decades, she has played an undeniable part in both extending that reach and evolving the company’s business strategies to align with ever-changing markets the world over.

Before landing at Coca-Cola, Quintero-Johnson studied accounting, international business, and French at Georgetown University. When she realized that public accounting was not for her, she returned to school, earning her MBA from the University of Virginia. It was during her graduate studies that she first connected with Coca-Cola on a professional level. “They needed someone who spoke Spanish to intern in their finance area,” she says. “I started my journey with Coca-Cola working in financial services, supporting a Latin America team.”

Quintero-Johnson’s early experiences at Coca-Cola exposed her to a variety of areas across the finance function. She handled

management reporting at first and then pivoted, first to treasury and ultimately to M&A. After a few years as executive assistant to the CFO, she stepped into her current role as vice president and director of global M&A, insights, and real estate.

“I’ve been in my role for twenty years, which sounds like an extraordinary period of time, but we’ve had the opportunity over that period to evolve the strategy of the company,” Quintero-Johnson says. “I’ve been able to support that shift in strategy through my role in M&A, which has allowed me to keep learning about not only the global world in which we live and all things digital and all things sustainability but also the evolving portfolio of the Coca-Cola Company.”

One major evolution was Coca-Cola’s decision in 2000 to become a total beverage company, no longer limiting itself to sparkling drinks. “We had to learn how to identify brands outside of sparkling and how to identify which ones were going to create value for Coke,” Quintero-Johnson explains. She led that effort from an M&A perspective. “Fifty percent of our current portfolio is made up of brands that we acquired,” she notes.

Furthermore, Quintero-Johnson has facilitated Coca-Cola’s increasing investment in sustainability practices and digital capabilities. “We continue to evolve our M&A priorities based on consumer preferences and on where the industry is moving, in order to remain ahead of the curve in terms of competitiveness,” she emphasizes. “We’re very conscious of providing portfolios that meet the needs of local consumers and building capabilities or operating models that make sense for each market.”

Her work at Coca-Cola keeps Quintero-Johnson plugged into the world at large, but she places just as much value on what’s happening closer to home.

“I always tell people that your work should fit into your life; your life shouldn’t fit into your work.”

Thinking back to her own childhood in the tight-knit Cuban community of Miami, she embraces her Hispanic heritage in all areas of her life. “I have beautiful twin girls who are fourteen years old. They know their Cuban grandmother and great-grandmother, so they’ve had the benefit of that history, and they share my passion and fire for the Hispanic and Cuban identity,” she elaborates.

At Coca-Cola, Quintero-Johnson has always been unapologetically herself. She cosponsors the company’s Hispanic business resource group and dedicates herself to supporting and uplifting Hispanic talent within the organization. Even as she encourages rising leaders to work hard, she urges

them first and foremost to recognize their own priorities––and prioritize their own happiness. “I always tell people that your work should fit into your life; your life shouldn’t fit into your work,” she adds.

Quintero-Johnson gives the same advice to her daughters, who have witnessed their mother exercise her faith and resilience in her personal life as well as her career. “Whether you have an accent or you don’t have an accent, whether you have a family of twenty or you have a family of one, you have to bring your whole self to work,” she says.

“The fabulous thing about Coke is that it’s always allowed me to do that, which is a good thing because I wouldn’t know how to do it any other way.”

“You have to bring your whole self to work.

The fabulous thing about Coke is that it’s always allowed me to do that, which is a good thing because I wouldn’t know how to do it any other way.”

LATINA LEADING

The in the Life Sciences

Colombiana Monica Manotas is SVP and president at Thermo Fisher Scientific and brings a global perspective to science, leadership, and life

BY DAVID GURRIEL PORTRAITS BY NICOLE LOEB

Monica Manotas SVP and President of Life Sciences & Laboratory Products Thermo Fisher Scientific

FOR AS LONG AS SHE CAN REMEMBER, Monica Manotas has always been a curious soul. Different customs, languages, perspectives, and foods from other world cultures often drove her curiosity while growing up in what she describes as a traditional setting in Barranquilla, Colombia. While tradition can often dictate a specific path for Latinas, Manotas’s sights were being set beyond a life in South America. From a very young age she was encouraged to think differently from the most unlikely family member—her mother.

“Although my mother chose not to complete her studies, there was never any question that everyone in my house would go to college. So I knew my path would be much different from hers,” says Manotas, senior vice president and president of life sciences and lab products at Thermo Fisher Scientific, a life sciences company with more than 120,000 employees and $40 billion in annual revenue. “I remember as a young girl my mom opened a bank account for me and my siblings, and when it was time to make a deposit, she would

take us to the bank. It was a big deal. She was teaching us to be independent.”

Her mother’s guidance and encouragement to strive for excellence would eventually serve Manotas in more ways than one. It not only deepened her desire to see the world but also led to opportunities and experiences—professional, personal, and culinary—that have shaped her work and approach to leadership.

“For me, it has always been important to bring different perspectives into work,” Manotas says. “Maybe it’s because of my heritage, but my focus has always been on cultivating diversity. I identify with the sense of belonging and always want to create a team that feels comfortable with one another.”

Since graduating from Barranquilla’s Universidad del Norte with a degree in industrial engineering in 1995, Manotas has journeyed far beyond life in Colombia. Her professional roles have enabled her to live in four US cities and three European countries,

each offering her the opportunity to soak up the local culture and learn from business perspectives that differ from her own.

Manotas got her first taste of life in the US when she took a role as a financial analyst at Xerox in 1997. She was based in Rochester, New York, where she experienced very cold winters and snow for the first time in her life.

“I found I really enjoyed myself. I missed my family, but I also realized I liked being independent,” Manotas says. “In a country like the US, you get to see so many cultures—Europeans, Asians, other South Americans—all in one place. It ended up being a great experience.”

The role at Xerox also shifted her career focus. She enrolled at the University of Rochester where she earned her MBA in finance in 2000, a decision that led her to a now twenty-two-year career at Thermo Fisher.

“Business school was an opportunity to learn what it was like to work in the US culture,” Manotas says. “For example,

being direct isn’t always in my nature, but in the States, it is a more direct and informal culture whereas in Colombia there’s a more formal culture at work. Not that one is better than the other. It was just easier to work in a more informal way, like being able to call my bosses by their first name.”

Since joining the Waltham, Massachusetts-based life sciences company, Manotas has led multiple teams across North America and Europe and has held leadership roles in finance, operations, and general management. Her tenure in Europe exposed Manotas not just to new cuisines (Italian is her favorite by far) but to even more business perspectives from her peers and the teams she led. It was at that point that she realized the power of drawing from her team’s cultural differences to help address issues or to develop creative solutions.

“I always want to ensure I get the best out of the various cultures represented around the table,” Manotas says. “That’s why I build teams that are diverse. I’m a true believer in

“I always want to ensure I get the best out of the various cultures represented around the table. That’s why I build teams that are diverse. I’m a true believer in the fact that diversity makes the team stronger and more efficient.”

the fact that diversity makes the team stronger and more efficient. It’s about bringing people together that complement one another.”

In 2020, Manotas found herself on the front lines in the fight against COVID-19. As president of laboratory products, she was responsible for scaling the production of critical plastics, like pipette tips used for COVID19 testing, and ultra-low temperature freezers, which were needed to store the world’s supply of the new mRNA-based vaccines.

Today, Manotas’s role has expanded even further as the leader of a multibillion-dollar organization at Thermo Fisher focused on providing innovative products, services, and chemicals that are foundational for developing advanced therapeutics and pioneering medical research. Most notably, her business continues to play a critical role in supplying key components for PCR-based diagnostics, instrumentation for cell and gene therapy,

and laboratory consumables for infectious disease and cancer research.

Curiosity and independent thinking may have been the catalyst for Manotas’s career as a globe-trotting executive, but she is quick to acknowledge others who have contributed to her success in biotech, and offers Latinos her advice.

“Call them mentors or coaches, but having good managers that understood me really helped me throughout my career,” the SVP and president says. “You usually can’t have these success journeys on your own. You need those supporters around you.

“Also, embrace your uniqueness, and learn how to make it understood and valued,” she says. “I’ve never lost my roots in Colombia, which can happen if you don’t stay connected. It’s about maintaining a balance between remaining open to learning new cultures without losing your identity.”

Investment MUTUAL

Adela Cepeda, Paulita Pike, and Emma Rodriguez-Ayala hope to bring more Latinos and Latinas to the mutual funds space

BY BILLY YOST

Adela Cepeda Board Member and Chair of Capital Committee BMO Financial Group

THE DISPARITY IN INVESTING IS ONE of the more pronounced inequities across racial lines. According to the Pew Research Center, about 61 percent of white US households own some stock while only 28 percent of Latino households can claim the same.

The facts just don’t add up when one factors in that nearly 50 percent of all businesses from 2007 to 2017 were started by Latinos. As the largest minority group in the US, one growing all the time, Latinos represent the future of capital on both sides of the equation: those creating the wealth and, ideally, those managing it.

But Latino representation in investment areas like mutual funds is also incredibly rare, so rare it’s hard to find quantifiable data on exactly how many Latinos work in the space. But there are three Latinas who have spent considerable parts of their careers working to change that. Adela Cepeda (board member and chief of the capital committee at BMO Financial Group), Paulita Pike (partner at Ropes & Gray), and Emma Rodriguez-Ayala (general counsel,

chief compliance officer, and board secretary at LGIM America) are three incredibly accomplished Latinas whose career achievements are only eclipsed by their commitment to bringing more representation to a space where they themselves have often been the only women and only Latinas in the room.

“If there is any space where I think it should be obvious to have representation, I think it’s mutual funds,” Pike says. “Mutual

funds are the democratization of investments. They were created to give access to people of limited means. The vast majority of that $30 trillion [currently in mutual funds] represents money invested in 401(k) plans, retirement plans, and in college savings plans. It makes sense for people of all backgrounds to be involved in this space, whether it’s on the legal side, the investing side, or the board side. This space should be representative of the public that is creating this capital.”

CHARTING A PATH TO SUCCESS

With great respect to both Pike and Rodriguez-Ayala, Cepeda is sort of the reigning queen of driving Latinos to the investment space. This is a fact that both Pike and Rodriguez-Ayala mention independently. Cepeda has been striving for more representation before it was even a concept.

“Our first real challenge wasn’t about being Latina, it was about being women,” Cepeda says. “As the only woman in the room, I was always so conscious of how different my voice sounded. It’s so hard to be heard in a room full of men. It was such a challenge that I didn’t even start thinking about my background until later on.”

Rodriguez-Ayala faced those same kinds of challenges earlier in her career. She decided she would always be the most prepared person in the room. “In hindsight, I think I spent a lot of my time and mental energy in a way that wasn’t necessarily very healthy,” Rodriguez-Ayala says. “I was so worried about how I would come across to a room full of men

that I would spend three hours preparing for a twenty-minute presentation. That time could have been used so much more productively, but it’s how I tried to earn my way into a place I didn’t always feel like I belonged.”

While Cepeda and Rodriguez-Ayala were carving out space in the investment sphere, Pike was earning a reputation as an attorney and international expert in registered funds. She’s regularly quoted in publications such as the Financial Times, BoardIQ, and MarketWatch. “She is a voice in the industry,” Cepeda says. “I just saw her quoted on a major issue somewhere this morning.”

MORE MENTORS—AND FAST

Pike says her own trajectory was forever altered by a mentor. Paul Dykstra, retired Ropes & Gray partner and adjunct law professor, was an invaluable guide to Pike throughout her entire career. Both Pike and Dykstra teach two law classes at the Notre Dame School of Law and Northwestern Pritzker School Law.

Paulita Pike Partner Ropes & Gray

“He is a perfect and powerful example of allyship and sponsorship, and he is a white male,” Pike explains. “When we talk about promotion and sponsorship of diverse individuals, there are those of us who have to work to pay it forward. But it also takes a great deal of involvement from non-diverse individuals. We need more people like Paul stepping up.”

The sheer dearth of Latinas in the investment space has created a very small community of over-extended mentors. According to Rodriguez-Ayala and Pike, Cepeda is somehow always involved.

“Adela is the mentor that many of us Latinas had,” Rodriguez-Ayala says. “Because of her, there are more Latinas in investments and finance. She is the first call for so many people, including myself. There was a point where I had accomplished these things by keeping my head down and working hard. Adela was the one who told me that the lack of fulfillment I was feeling was because my community needed me. I needed to be advocating for others.”

“Adela is a superhero,” Pike says. “She is a role model. She is incredible. But, again, we need so many more of her. It can’t just be her doing this work.”

Pike has been known to bring her summer associates to board meetings—held in different cities, and attended on the firm’s dime—to get them exposure, to show them what they can work toward, and to inspire them by the diversity that can exist at organizations that are more forward-thinking in their efforts.

“That inspiration is so important,” Pike says. “You can see women, you can see Latinos, you can see people of color, and know that it could be you someday.”

Pike also says she’s watched Rodriguez-Ayala become an incredible mentor in her own right. “Emma somehow discovered thirty-five hours in the day, because I really don’t know how she does it,” Pike says jokingly. “She’s been so committed to increasing representation from what really seems like the start of her career. As soon as she had the opportunity, she became a strong voice and a strong sponsor.”

“Mutual funds are the democratization of investments. They were created to give access to people of limited means.”

—Paulita Pike

Emma

THE ELEVATOR PITCH

Cepeda, Rodriguez-Ayala, and Pike all highlight the work that the Latino Corporate Directors Association and Angeles Investors do to develop and support Latino leaders and businesses. Both Cepeda and Rodriguez-Ayala currently serve on Angeles’ board of directors, in which roles they’re able to continue connecting Latinos in the industry, source financing for investments, and place more Latinos on boards where they can accumulate necessary experience.

Rodriguez-Ayala says that whenever she has the potential to present an elevator pitch encouraging someone to move into mutual funds, she starts much broader.

“If you want to talk about who is deciding what pension plans look like in fifty years or how your kids are going to be able to pay for college, or how their 401(k) plan is doing, the only industry that’s going to actually manage that is investments,” Rodriguez-Ayala explains. “You don’t just have to know a single company. You have to know markets. There is a passion that comes with this kind of work.”

“She’s right,” Cepeda says. “There’s an elation that can’t be replicated when the market is favorable. When it goes down, you have to learn to handle the swing. But it’s fascinating. It’s human. It makes work fun.”

“There is a passion that comes with this kind of work.”

—Emma Rodriguez-Ayala

Rodriguez-Ayala General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer, and Board Secretary LGIM America

INSIGHTS

The philosophies of innovative leaders have the power to inspire and spark change. Read on for the thought-provoking insights of these successful executives.

140. Miguel Angel Garcia Tamargo, Avangrid 146. Victoria Soto, Steves & Sons 150. Mari Carmen Pizarro, Whole Leadership Systems, Inc. 154. Camila Villa, Baxter 158. Monica Nichole Rodriguez, United Rentals 162. Armand Aponte, Nikko Asset Management Americas

Who Puts People First VP

BY ANDREW TAMARKIN

Miguel Angel Garcia Tamargo serves Avangrid like a client

For Miguel Angel Garcia Tamargo, people are the greatest resource.

With a résumé spanning industries and crossing international borders, Garcia Tamargo’s approach to connecting with the market is grounded in his ability to manage people. As vice president of general services at Avangrid, his people-management skills, positive leadership style, and commitment to diversity have yielded healthy department synergy and effectively disrupted the industry at large.

The idea of home includes many places for Garcia Tamargo, who was born in the north of Spain.

“I think you can feel [at home] anywhere you are happy,” he says. “When you have lived in different places, your roots are [in] more than one place . . . and I love that feeling.”

His teenage passion for soccer took him on his first international escapade, where he played in Scotland and the Netherlands.

Later, he studied political science and law in Madrid. Inspired by the array of people he had met while traveling for sports, he thought diplomacy was an appropriate goal once he was in school. “I was a young person who focused on public policy and [trying to] save the world,” Garcia Tamargo reflects.

He spent summers in different African countries working with nongovernmental organizations on projects focused on helping children.

After completing an MBA in public administration, Garcia Tamargo worked for the regional government of Madrid, where he focused on land management and real estate. Later, he transitioned to private sector work for a large real estate company, also in Madrid.

In 2006, he accepted a position as international market director at Iberdrola, a

multinational utility company based in Spain. There, he cultivated an expertise working in international markets. By 2010, he became the portfolio director and reported directly to the CEO.

In 2017, he was asked to join Avangrid, Iberdrola’s American subsidiary, to run the optimization of its real estate portfolio. This meant relocating to the United States for one year. “I came alone without my family. My plan was: finish the project and return to Spain,” he reflects. “[Then] I got an offer to take responsibility of the whole asset management team [and] I extended my commitment to three years.”

A year and a half ago, Garcia Tamargo accepted his current position as vice president. His entire family has since relocated to Connecticut, where he resides now.

The scope of Garcia Tamargo’s role extends across corporate services. This includes oversight of building asset management, fleet operations, land management,

with

environmental remediation, workplace experience and workplace services, and performance and budget management systems. “We are service providers for the company,” Garcia Tamargo says. “In the United States, we have seven thousand employees. That means we have seven thousand internal clients every day.”

Garcia Tamargo and his team consistently support and respond to an array of requests, complaints, and daily concerns across Avangrid’s 256 buildings, 4,500 vehicles, countless cell phones and tablets, and any company property. “I manage assets, buildings, vehicles, and devices,” he explains. “But at the end of the day, I love working with people, [and] that’s the most important part of the job.”

As a leader, this means maintaining positivity, leading by example, making effective decisions, and being resourceful. In turn, he expects his team to do the same. “Today, I had lunch with our technicians because

Working

a diverse team—with different languages, with different views of the world—is interesting. You learn every day.”

they were working on a specific project here,” he says. “Creating these types of personal relationships is the right way of leading people. We don’t [focus] on hierarchies, but [instead] work together.”

Even when confronted with little data, Garcia Tamargo makes quick, informed decisions and takes responsibility for unforeseen consequences.

If resources are limited, he imagines solutions and actively takes innovative steps. “I like to fix things,” he says. “[When] something isn’t working, I talk to people, find a quick diagnosis, and make decisions.”

Garcia Tamargo’s colleagues and partners also praise this work. Ariana Durollari, manager of corporate marketing at Savills, congratulated Garcia Tamargo: “We are extremely proud of your work for many years at Avangrid. You have built an amazing

and talented team to execute very challenging real estate transactions. I know your team is appreciative of your leadership and we, at Savills, are as well.”

Currently, Avangrid is adapting its workplace to a post-COVID-19 hybrid model. Dubbed “Working Better Together,” this initiative welcomes remote work and cultivates a better life-work balance.

In accordance with the company’s current environmental social and governance (ESG) plans, Avangrid is also working to reduce its environmental footprint by investing money into the electrification of its fleet, its buildings, and into solar panels. For Garcia Tamargo, this kind of positive industry disruption stems from having a diverse and representative team at the decision-making table.

“Diversity is a real requirement of a company who wants to be successful

Our client relationships begin because of what we can do— they continue because of what we can do together.

today because we are working in a market and in communities that [are] diverse, so you need to understand the diversity around you to be successful,” he says.

On his 180-person team, around twenty countries are represented—including Spain, the United States, Romania, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Russia, and Ukraine. “Working with a diverse team—with different languages, with different views of the world—is interesting,” Garcia Tamargo adds proudly. “You learn every day.”

His positive attitude is reflective in his personal life, too. He enjoys traveling, hiking, and spending time with his wife and three children. “Enjoying the moment—it’s like therapy for creating positive energy . . . that you can later serve on your team,” he says.

Business Services is a team that is eager to support Miguel Garcia Tamargo’s goals, and proud to see his success. We share his vision, and aim to provide administrative services that are operationally appropriate, consistent between office locations, and scalable to support growth.

“I like to fix things, [When] something isn’t working, I talk to people, find a quick diagnosis, and make decisions.”

People. Place. Performance.

We deliver actionable strategies and passionate advocacy with one goal – helping you get more from your real estate.

Answeringth e

Call

BY MARCOS CHISHOLM

A former first responder, Victoria Soto operates under pressure and aids frontline workers as director of HR & safety at door manufacturer Steves & Sons

Victoria Soto Director of HR & Safety Steves & Sons

VICTORIA SOTO WOULD DO ANYTHING to support her parents. If that meant she had to grow up quickly and carry the financial burden on her shoulders, then so be it.

“I grew up to be the provider at an early age in a farm outside of Frisco, Texas, city limits,” Soto says about her childhood. “Due to minimal means, I started very young helping my parents on the fields. I was about nine or ten years old when I started driving. The sole purpose was to help my father haul hay out of the fields and assist driving my mother to her kidney dialysis treatments on a weekly basis.”

Her mother’s medical condition was severe, and since she did not speak English, she often needed Soto’s assistance translating her medical documents. In one instance, when her mother was rushed to the hospital after a seizure, the young Soto struggled to get her mother treatment because Soto was still a minor. “At the end, with perseverance and fear, I managed to get the authorization needed to get her treated,” he remembers.

Soto’s mother passed away when Soto was sixteen; by then, the teen had attended more doctor visits and paid more bills than most middle-aged adults. When she was twenty-three years old her father also passed away, and since her three older siblings had all passed away before she reached the age of five, she had no family left by her side.

Nevertheless, her ability to deal with high-pressure situations helped start her

career as a police officer at the Frisco Police Department. Soto believes her experience in law enforcement shapes how she approaches her role as the director of HR & safety at Steves & Sons, a Texas-based 156-yearold door manufacturer. Today, she leads a department with eighteen employees and manages employee relations, benefits, compliance, training and development, workers compensation, safety, COVID19, vendor agreements, payroll, and talent development (from recruiting to retention efforts). She is also responsible for fostering a company culture that keeps staff members safe and successful in their jobs as her employer opens more locations.

Not long after Soto joined Steves & Sons in 2020, she conducted an analysis that showed leadership training for supervisors was desperately needed to improve overall production. Unfortunately, her findings were that they had no previous or current supervisory experience.

“What they wanted to do here is they wanted to make some adjustments within the supervisory level,” Soto says. “My question to them was, how can you not give them the opportunity if you haven’t given them the tools and resources?”

Of course, Soto takes pride in being collaborative. Still, she refuses to settle for less when it comes to equipping staff members with what they need to perform their jobs. Not only did she spearhead a leadership training series for supervisors, she held weekly sessions until the program ended. “My passion for training is to create a culture of inclusion and diversity,” the director says. “They were so focused in just the production itself . . . now their focus has literally become much wider.”

Soto empowered supervisors to make production efforts more efficient. But even the best trainer in the company would learn how working conditions at its manufacturing plants caused life or death situations.

you all the tools and resources to be successful. You just got to utilize them.”

Public speaker, CHRO, and Whole Leadership Systems Founder Mari Carmen Pizarro shares the business principles and personal values she learned from her parents and still practices today

Chief Legacy

BY ZACH BALIVA

GERMÁN PIZARRO COULD REALLY SWING A bat. The tall, muscular teenager turned heads and caught the attention of scouts by the young age of sixteen. His undeniable talent and rare skill earned him a baseball contract even though he was so poor that he couldn’t afford the right shoes to play the game he loved. Advisor, coach, creator, speaker, and chief human resources officer (CHRO) Mari Carmen Pizarro continues to draw inspiration from her father as she works to help others reach their full potential.

In fact, both of Pizarro’s parents imparted the values, beliefs, and principles that shaped who she is today. Her mom was born right after the Spanish Civil War and World War II ended and she was raised with the post-war “waste not, want not” mentality. She traveled the world as a professional dancer and performed on a Puerto Rican TV show before the host interviewed a local baseball player—Germán.

Mari Carmen Pizarro Founder

Whole Leadership Systems Inc.

OPEN-MINDED LEADERSHIP

Mari Carmen Pizarro believes in the power of mentorship and giving back, so when it came time to start her own organization she looked for a place where she could learn and contribute.

She found the opportunity in an organization called the Just Like My Child Foundation (JLMC). The nonprofit group works to “empower vulnerable adolescent girls by enabling them to create healthy, self-sustaining families who prosper without further aid.” Pizarro met founder Vivian Glyck, who became an incredible mentor and guide.

Pizarro was drawn to JLMC because, at that time, the focus was on girls’ education and personal safety in communities in central Uganda and East Africa. In those regions, girls are likely to drop out of school when they experience menstruation or encounter sexual violence, forced marriage, early pregnancy, and other obstacles. But when girls are empowered, they can stay in school and change their families and their communities.

To date, JLMC has reached thousands of girls in more than one hundred locations. Pizarro says JLMC has not only served as part of her training ground, but it has changed her life. “If you’re frustrated with life, lost or sad, support an organization in ways beyond the financial,” she says. “Find a hands-on way you can make a difference and you’ll see the world with a new perspective.”

Pizarro remembers being intimidated by her father, whom she calls her “mentor, guide, and most loving critic.” He taught her to use the lessons he learned on the playing field in her daily life. “He would tell me I would have to work harder, as a Hispanic female, than other people to be noticed, and I saw him do that every day of his life, so I loved the challenge,” Pizarro explains.

Once he was surrounded by other star athletes, the elder Pizarro couldn’t rely on his talent and motivation alone. He had to rely on discipline and consistency. He would often say, Un equipo disciplinado le comerá los dulces de un equipo indisciplinado: a disciplined team will eat the candy of an undisciplined team.

Germán Pizarro built a career playing in the minors in Puerto Rico, the United States, and Canada. Although he lacked formal education, he spoke Spanish, English, and French. The languages helped him navigate discrimination and cobble together a respectable career before he retired from playing ball to become an umpire.

Pizarro’s father finished college in his fifties and became a successful executive; her mother passed her high school equivalency test and went on to earn two PhDs after turning forty.

Watching the movie of her parents’ lives play out in front of her inspired the young Pizarro. “My parents’ journey showed me that success is not about resources, it’s about resourcefulness,” the CHRO says.

She interned at her father’s company, discovered a passion for human resources and talent development, studied business and marketing, and started her career in leadership development at Pfizer.

By age twenty-five, Pizarro was partnering with friends to translate medical inserts for major pharmaceutical companies. She started her own side business and took formal jobs as a technical translator. Pizarro was climbing the corporate ladder and implementing the values she learned from her parents.

Her discipline and performance caught the attention of leaders who tapped her for leadership training programs. Pfizer moved

her all over the world in various positions of increasing responsibility that broadened her professional expertise.

Today, after coming to the mainland in 2008, Pizarro is the CHRO for Avet Pharmaceuticals, a genetics company in New Jersey. In 2015, she launched Whole Leadership Systems (WLS), a specialty consulting firm that develops and empowers executives and leaders. Pizarro and those on her team help clients explore areas like emotional intelligence, team dynamics, and leading with purpose.

In 2018, Pizarro created the International Women’s Leadership Academy to bring female leaders together for a three-day intensive event. Now, WLS offers the event yearly and is preparing to launch the popular program in Spanish for Latin America.

She’s also working to establish a nonprofit organization called the Latina Success Foundation to help young rising Latina entrepre-

neurs and leaders network and take their own business ideas from concept to reality. Pizarro has raised $50,000 in start-up funds and says the organization will eventually provide training, mentoring, grants, and legal support to its members.

“I want to show people that it is possible to succeed even (and especially) when things seem difficult,” she says. Pizarro has built a life and career on the lessons she learned from her mom and dad—and now she’s taking those lessons to others.

My parents’ journey showed me that success is not necessarily about resources, it’s about resourcefulness.”

Dream to REALITY

BY ZACH BALIVA

Camila Villa found the career she always wanted. As a director of talent management at Baxter, she’s helping others do the same.

MOST CHILDREN PLAY HOUSE; CAMILA Villa played office. The Colombian from Bogotá was the youngest of four girls, and ever since she was little, she’s dreamt of joining the corporate world. She remembers pretending to be an important executive in a Bogotá high-rise—one who gave jobs to her older siblings.

Fast forward several years, and Villa has turned her dream into a reality. As a director of talent management at Baxter, she’s helping the leading medical device company build culture, manage change, complete a post-acquisition integration, and define its employee experience.

It’s taken years of hard work for Villa to get to where she is today. She first lived vicariously through an older sister who worked for British Petroleum (bp) and dazzled Villa with stories about life in a real office. Villa tagged along to company functions, volunteered to help plan year-end events, and met people working in human resources (HR). An interest in art drove her to study industrial design,

Camila Villa

Director of Talent Management

Baxter

but the dream of making an impact in big business never died. Villa quickly switched courses and eventually left the Universidad de Los Andes with a bachelor’s in business administration and management.

A formal internship with Citi kicked off Villa’s career and led to a full-time role in which she coordinated the expatriates program. Villa enjoyed working in her native country and transitioned to Syngenta. That’s where an influential mentor taught her the power of focusing on leadership development. “Leaders are the ones who carry responsibility to move a company and impact the lives of employees,” Villa says. “Leaders can bring out the full potential in people.” That’s what that mentor did for Villa, and she, in turn, wanted to do the same for others.

After two years with a food and beverage company, Villa joined Baxter in 2010 and embarked on what has become a sustained period of growth with a mission-driven company. “Coming to Baxter showed me the power of what can happen when employees connect to a company’s mission. Everyone here is working for something bigger than themselves,” the director says. That something bigger is health. Baxter exists to save and sustain lives.

A move from Colombia to Miami represented a promotion but required Villa to leave family and step into the unknown. “Coming to the United States changed my life because it opened a world of new opportunities for me and my family,” she explains.

When Villa’s husband took a job in Phoenix, Baxter allowed her to work remotely from Arizona. She spent years driving strategy and leading initiatives in Latin America and Canada before leaders asked her to be part of a global talent management center of excellence in Deerfield, Illinois.

After she made the move to that headquarters, Villa first served as the LATAM talent lead and later supported the key US and Canadian pharma and hospital products business units. Now, after a stint as an HR business partner, she’s back on the talent side as Baxter’s director of talent management.

This trajectory has kept Villa busy. “I haven’t had to go somewhere else to continue

to learn and grow, and I work to give other employees this experience because it’s part of what keeps people fully engaged and working at their best,” she says.

Villa is still busy today. She’s working on integrating thousands of employees from the 2021 acquisition of Hillrom, identifying and improving interactions that shape the employee experience, and rethinking the post-pandemic workplace.

Now is the perfect time to do just that. Villa leads the change management piece as Baxter puts its hundred-acre, ten-building Deerfield campus up for sale and looks for a new local home. As someone who worked remotely many years before the pandemic, Villa understands the needs of today’s hybrid workforce and knows Baxter will create a modern and purposeful new hub.

“The CARA Group, Inc. is honored to partner with Camila in support of Baxter’s organizational change management and transformation journey,” says a collaborator of Villa’s, Michelle Reid-Powell, president

and CEO of The CARA Group, Inc. “She’s a values-driven leader who role models lifelong learning, and has been able to put those values to work and influence countless others to grow in their careers.”

Villa relishes the opportunity to lead and says her status as a Latina has been an advantage. “If nobody else in the room has lived in a different country or knows a different culture, then I have something to offer that can help us think differently about a program or a tool we’re designing for a broad audience,” she says.

As she thinks back to the young girl who used to dream of life in the corporate office, Villa feels a sense of pride. She thinks of her father, who has passed away, and wishes he could see all that she’s accomplished. After all, it is a result not only of passion and hard work but of the values imparted and the sacrifices made by her parents. “I’ve lived a story I’m proud of,” Villa says. “And it’s something I’m proud to share with my own children so I can show them that hard work and determination make dreams come true.”

“Leaders are the ones who carry responsibility to move a company and impact the lives of employees. Leaders can bring out the full potential in people.”

AN AUTHENTIC ASSIGN MENT

BY FRANK DIMARIA

Monica Nichole Rodriguez uses her legal experience to help United Rentals diversify its workforce and push employees to speak authentically about DEI

AS THE SOLE LATINA IN A CLASS OF seventy at a private, all-girls high school, Monica Rodriguez learned about the lack of diversity in a privileged world at a young age. With her younger sister just four grades behind her in the same school, Rodriguez wanted to forge a positive reputation.

“I don’t want to call it a pressure to be that pioneer or ambassador, but certainly when there is a lack of diversity, there is that weight of making sure you’re making a positive impact,” Rodriguez says. In some ways, she is a trailblazer.

As legal affairs manager of labor and employment at United Rentals, Rodriguez uses both her personal and professional legal experience to build a diverse, equitable, and inclusive workforce, complete with safe spaces that allow employees to be their “authentic selves.”

After attending a homogeneous high school, Rodriguez’s cultural view widened when she attended Bates College, a private

liberal arts school in Lewiston, Maine. “They actually have a really strong history of diversity, equity, and inclusion [DEI]. That priority drew me into being more exposed to my Latin culture,” Rodriguez says.

While there, she combined her interest in Chinese and political science and traveled to China to document stories of dissident artists who pepper their artwork with veiled political messages and face the consequences of a repressive political environment. “It’s really interesting to think about the way that cultures impact art and the way people communicate with each other through hidden and implicit messages,” Rodriguez says.

After earning a law degree from Boston College Law School, she returned to Stamford, Connecticut, her hometown, where she focused on family law as a matrimonial attorney. During this time, she gained an appreciation of cultures and diversity. “I learned to connect with other people. To have empathy, understanding different

Monica Nichole Rodriguez

Legal Affairs Manager of Labor & Employment United Rentals

RAUL RODRIGUEZ

cultures, people, and their experiences,” Rodriguez explains.

With an interest shifting from individual families to a corporate environment, she was hired by United Rentals—the world’s largest equipment rental provider, with a customer service network of approximately 1,301 rental locations in North America, 13 in Europe, 28 in Australia, and 18 in New Zealand—to partner with human resources as an employment attorney.

While working as an attorney, Rodriguez was recruited into an employee resource group called Together United. “This group is for people from all walks of life and backgrounds to come together and share and leverage a diverse workplace,” explains Rodriguez. “That is a great thing.”

United Rentals has developed a culture of inclusion, connecting people to their work and their identity.

Initially, Together United was anchored in the traditional notion of simply “giving back,” but Rodriguez updated that thread-

bare mission, redesigning the group to feature DEI by creating safe spaces, education awareness, and networking opportunities.

Under Rodriguez’s leadership, Together United created two initiatives that contribute to the company’s strategic goals and reflect the cultural makeup of the US population. The first created a set of alliance groups that focus on broader groups of employees, including the Hispanic and Latin Alliance, Pride Alliance, Mental Health Alliance, and Black and African American Alliance.

“We really wanted to provide a safe space for people and for those who identify as that affinity or who want to be allies for those who fall under a particular affinity,” Rodriguez says.

Rodriguez is encouraged by the significant change she has already witnessed in a relatively short period of time at United Rentals. “It’s really interesting to see the growth we’ve had,” she says. “For example, celebrating Pride Month, which just a couple of years ago hadn’t been highlighted.”

As a manager, if your employees feel comfortable enough to be their authentic selves because empathy is valued, you are going to have a better experience with your direct reports and with the company at large.”

The second initiative Rodriguez implemented was the yoUR Pathways Program, which grew out of employee feedback. Through various surveys, she found that employees longed to engage in frank conversations with those who share the goal of building a diverse and inclusive workforce. Rodriguez recruited United Rentals employees from the various alliance groups and asked them to coach employees.

“We’ve had really great success,” Rodriguez reflects. “Not only have we seen great relationships form that are long-lasting, but also there’s the tangible metric of seeing diverse employees being promoted [from] within.”

Rodriguez vows to persevere in the name of DEI and to advocate for United Rentals employees. She strives for employees to recognize their employer as a company that encourages individuals to be their authentic selves.

“As a manager, if your employees feel comfortable enough to be their authentic selves because empathy is valued, you are going to have a better experience with your direct reports and with the company at large,” she advises.

Having worked alongside the outstanding team at United Rentals for years, Davis Wright Tremaine can attest to the company’s focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion, which mirrors our values. United Rentals embraces the principle that diverse teams deliver the best results, and we are glad to play a supporting role in that.

Proud to Partner With Monica Rodriguez and United Rentals

It is DWT’s privilege to collaborate with you, and we applaud and share your DEI values.

Armand Aponte

Head of Legal

Nikko Asset Management Americas

THE LEGAL ASSET

BY ZACH BALIVA

ARMAND APONTE’S CAREER PATH HAS had what he calls “a lot of twists and turns.” He decided on law school late and landed a job at a major firm, only to be laid off in the wake of 9/11. Then, he mastered an emerging niche field and rose to the top of a financial services field that has been anything but stable for the last two decades. The challenges have been strong enough to make anyone falter, but Aponte has a superpower. He’s a bicultural Latino, who grew up learning to be flexible and rely on the values of hard work and education he learned from his parents.

Although Aponte was raised in New York, his father is from Puerto Rico and his mother comes from Ecuador. “My mix of American and Latino cultures has been the strength of my career, because it made me adaptable,” he

says. Aponte adds that exposure to different customs, cultures, people, and languages has helped him navigate changes in his professional circumstances and environments.

Now, as head of legal of Nikko Asset Management Americas, Aponte leads all regional legal matters for a global firm with approximately $200 billion under its management. Serving in the generalist role requires him to harness all he’s learned in a long career across all levels of various well-known financial institutions and insurance providers, including Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse, Lehman Brothers, and Voya Investment Management (formerly ING).

As a finance undergraduate at Boston College, Aponte intended to build a career on Wall Street. A third-year business law class

The outlook in global finance changes daily. Nikko Asset Management’s Armand Aponte relies on lessons learned from a bicultural upbringing to adapt and thrive.

set him on a new path. “It opened my eyes to how the law is applied in a business context and shifted my thinking about where I wanted to take myself professionally,” he explains. He made a hard right turn and applied to law school. Soon, Aponte found himself at Fordham University School of Law.

As Aponte’s peers prepared themselves to become litigators and politicians, he retained his interest in business and finance. He took a summer internship at the firm of Morrison Cohen, where he started his career creating SEC documents and completing merger reviews as a corporate associate.

Although he was thriving, the terrorist attacks of 9/11 changed the landscape at Morrison Cohen, and Aponte fell victim to a series of layoffs. Thankfully, he landed a job at Deutsche Bank, and the move proved to be a fortuitous one. Aponte spent his time negotiating agreements and completing documents its syndicated loan group. Doing so gave him early exposure to business colleagues and processes he would not have otherwise touched.

As the young professional progressed in his career, he was thrown into the newly developing world of financial derivatives. Since the complex instruments were new, they also were lightly regulated. No experts had a deep history with them, and this gave Aponte the unique chance to build expertise in a novel area at a young age. Lehman Brothers

came calling, and in 2005, Aponte accepted a leadership role as a derivatives attorney within the organization.

By 2008, Aponte had connected with ING, when the company needed a derivatives lawyer to support an entire block of business for its insurance company and asset management funds. He took a job as their lead attorney supporting a business line worth $1 billion. Three months later, Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy, and the world was in a global financial crisis.

The months that followed brought the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and its European counterpart, EMIR, to introduce stricter regulations, reduce risk, and bring greater transparency to derivative markets.

The leadership and results Aponte demonstrated caught the attention of Nikko. Although once a derivatives attorney, Aponte moved to his current position in 2016. He now advises on and participates in matters related to registered and unregistered funds, corporate governance, and contract negotiations.

“

My mix of American and Latino cultures has been the strength of my career, because it made me adaptable.”

We join Hispanic Executive in congratulating Armand Aponte for his many accomplishments at Nikko Asset Management Americas. It has been an honor to partner with Armand and the rest of Nikko Asset Management’s talented legal team.

The transition brought many changes and forced Aponte to grow and develop in new ways. Though once surrounded by peers, he is now Nikko’s only lawyer in its New York office. He’s developed the ability to integrate himself into the business, establish trust, and demonstrate the value he can bring to a global investment firm.

Aponte is part of a key leadership team determining business objectives and navigating changes in global markets. “I’ve always had a genuine and strong interest in the intersection of business, finance, and law, and that interest helps me bring creative solutions to the challenges and dilemmas we face together,” he says.

In 2017, Nikko made an equity investment into ARK Investment Management and has since launched a suite of tech-related investment funds. The fintech, mobility, metaverse, and related funds hold gaming, ecommerce, and other alternative companies that

give clients new options. The funds are performing well and have helped Nikko grow its business from a “modest” level to $20 billion in assets under management in the New York office alone.

Three years later, Aponte and his colleagues expanded Nikko’s Americas fund distribution to Canada. Nikko’s business is established to underwrite and place securities throughout our neighbor to the north. Aponte says his team is now completing the process to receive the same approvals in Chile, Peru, and Colombia.

As he reflects on his career so far, Aponte is both proud and fulfilled. He’s weathered various professional challenges and major financial storms. But he’s not content to sit back and relax. Inflation, international conflicts, and other factors have global markets in a delicate place. The veteran general counsel and derivatives expert is preparing for what could be a major financial event coming in 2023.

Armand is a strategic thinker who knows both law and business—an asset to one of Asia’s largest asset managers, Nikko Asset Management. Sharing Armand’s commitment to excellence, Mayer Brown is proud to partner with him and the entire Nikko Asset Management team.

GLOBAL

International businesses present unique challenges— and opportunities—for corporate citizenship in multiple countries. The executives featured here thrive in navigating cultural shifts worldwide.

168. Eduardo N.T. Andrade, Booking Holdings Inc. 175. Maite Iraolagoitia, Procter & Gamble 181. Evelyn Kudlak, MetLife 186. Christopher Garcia , Dell Technologies 191. Arelis Correa-Arnold, Brown-Forman Corporation

MultiAct

THE CAREER

BY ZACH BALIVA PORTRAITS BY ANJELICA JARDIEL

As he approaches early retirement, Eduardo N.T. Andrade, the senior vice president and global compliance & ethics officer at Booking Holdings, shares the lessons he learned in his multi-act career

Eduardo N.T. Andrade SVP and Global Compliance & Ethics Officer Booking Holdings Inc.

Every good movie has three acts.

Today, Eduardo Andrade is the senior vice president and global compliance and ethics officer at Booking Holdings Inc., the travel technology company behind Booking.com, KAYAK, Priceline.com, OpenTable, and others. He’s been part of the Booking Holdings team since 2005, when it was a young public company known only as Priceline. com. But the Booking Holdings era is just in Act Two of Andrade’s story. To see the whole thing, you must rewind to the very start.

ACT I

Although Andrade was born and raised in the US, he has a proud ancestry and can trace his family’s roots to northwestern Spain. His grandfather, who was from Venezuela, was fortunate to attend Harvard undergrad and Harvard Law and became one of the first Hispanic partners at a well-known white-shoe law firm in New York City. He passed away when Eduardo’s father was just sixteen, and the family stopped being intentional about passing on its native language and culture.

Andrade kept up with Spanish as much as he could, although childhood dyslexia has

always made the command of languages more difficult. Still, he remained driven by a passion for learning and enrolled to study art history at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut.

By the time Andrade graduated in 1991, a mini recession hit the United States. One of Eduardo’s friends was the son of notable Italian spaghetti western actor Terence Hill. Instead of taking a job in his field, Andrade found himself working as a production assistant on the set of Hill’s Lucky Luke. He then went on to another film project and the second assistant director on that project then offered him a job on Patriot Games. Andrade reported to this job only to find his job as a production assistant had been filled. The filmmakers did have one other opening—they needed a stand-in for the film’s star, Harrison Ford. Andrade took the job and ended up working with Ford as his stand-in and on set assistant over the next three years on The Fugitive and Clear and Present Danger

Ford, Andrade says, is a “wonderful human being,” but admits to being terrified for the first two weeks they worked together. They eventually developed trust, and the

actor became a mentor and friend. The two may not look alike, but Andrade was the right height, body type, and skin tone for the director and cinematographer to check blocking and lights. If you look closely, you can see his hands, legs, or shoulders doubling for Ford’s in certain shots and he even appears as a bit actor in the films, as well.

How does the film experience relate to Andrade’s work as a top ethics and compliance officer? “In Hollywood, I worked with

some of the finest professionals I’ve ever encountered and also some of the sleaziest and learned about integrity and the lack thereof by witnessing the moving circus of major film production where crews spend a hundred million dollars in three months,” he says. When the third of his movies with Harrison Ford wrapped, Andrade entered a joint JD/ MBA program at Georgetown University.

ACT II

For the first seven years of his legal career, Andrade was a private practice attorney doing transactional work for top New York City firms that he says mentored him and taught him how to be a lawyer and counselor. But Andrade didn’t want to run on the partner track and concern himself with billable hours. That’s when he found an opportunity to join Priceline.com to help the growing company manage corporate risk and deal with what was then an emerging field known as privacy.

That was 2005. Six weeks later, before Andrade had even settled into the role, Priceline acquired the Amsterdam-based Bookings.net for $133 million dollars. The company soon renamed itself as Booking.com has continued to grow ever since.

Through it all, Andrade has built upon a strong foundation and helped Booking Holdings maintain its longstanding commitment to integrity. “We have an official tagline for our program and commitment to integrity, ‘The Right Results, The Right Way,’ but

Booking Holdings congratulates Eduardo Andrade for his 18 years of outstanding service to our mission and achieving “The Right Results, The Right Way”

Booking Holdings is the world’s leading provider of online travel and related services, provided to consumers and local partners in more than 220 countries and territories through six primary consumer-facing brands: Booking.com, Priceline, Agoda, Rentalcars.com, KAYAK and OpenTable, as well as through a network of subsidiary brands including Rocketmiles, Fareharbor, HotelsCombined, Cheapflights and Momondo, bringing greater value to both our customers and partners around the world.

The mission of Booking Holdings is to make it easier for everyone to experience the world.

www.bookingholdings.com

Nurturing a culture of compliance and ethics is the short-, mid-, and long-term way to create real and lasting value for your stakeholders.

it’s more than a saying to us. We really are committed to growing this company without straying from our values and our Code of Conduct,” Andrade says.

He’s built a best-in-class compliance and ethics function in the process. It’s one anchored by robust policies, standards, and processes designed to identify and prevent misconduct and respond to any concerns, problems, or violations that may arise wherever a Booking Holdings company conducts businesses. The program is a far-reaching one, as Booking Holdings has 7 brand headquarters, over 20,000 employees and more than 300 offices worldwide.

The compliance and ethics function steered the company through notable acquisitions including those of Agoda.com (2007), Rentalcars.com (2010), Kayak.com (2013), OpenTable (2014), Cheapflights (2017), Venga (2019), and Getaroom (2022), but Andrade is quick to credit leaders like

CEO Glenn Fogel, General Counsel Peter Millones, Chairman of the Board Robert Mylod, and past CEO and Chairman Jeff Boyd with setting the tone. “Our leaders set out to succeed without cutting corners and told me to hold them accountable to achieve their goals without ever getting sloppy or unethical,” he explains.

Together, they’ve built an enduring culture and the leading travel company. Booking.com alone is the biggest seller of travel in the world. Each year, customers generate about 11 billion in revenue for the company by using its sites to book nearly 600 million hotel rooms, 50 million rental cars, and 15 million plane tickets.

ACT III

After nearly two decades, Andrade is thinking about his final act. In fact, at time of speaking, he was training his successor in preparation for his 2023 departure. Andrade

spent his final months as he has throughout his career, reminding his employees about the importance of integrity in corporate America. “I want to show young people that doing things the right way really matters,” he says. “Nurturing a culture of compliance and ethics is the short-, mid-, and longterm way to create real and lasting value for your stakeholders.”

He’ll get an even greater chance to make that message clear in the classroom. Andrade has been an adjunct professor in corporate ethics and compliance at Fordham Law since 2021. He plans to take on more classes upon his retirement.

What else will Andrade do? After all, he’s only in his early 50s. He says he intends to travel and advance his language skills. He can volunteer or serve on a corporate board. And he’s always wanted to get back in the film industry and produce a movie. Maybe he’ll give his old friend Harrison a call.

“

Procter & Gamble VP Maite Iraolagoitia has a nuanced perspective on belonging in corporate America—a perspective that she credits with elevating her career

BY BILLY YOST

Yes, You Belong

Maite Iraolagoitia

VP of Global Material Development & Supply Organization

Procter & Gamble

But when asked about the conversation she had with a higher-up at the company three decades ago, she has no hint of revenge or retaliation in her voice. It’s quite the opposite.

“I can tell you—thirty years later, and most assuredly—I was not P&G material,” the vice president of global material development and supply organization says. “I was encouraged to leave P&G as a new hire, and I probably would have had it not been for a couple of people who could see something in me that I couldn’t see in myself.”

How did Iraolagoitia manage to become the best that P&G has to offer? The VP has risen through countless roles and responsibilities while also acting as an advocate and mentor for Hispanic talent, and though the latter it isn’t in her job description, it’s a responsibility that she takes very seriously. “It is the right thing to do; it has always been part of my life,” the executive says. There’s a lot to examine in Iraolagoitia’s rise, but some context is required for someone who managed to grow up everywhere while never feeling like she truly belonged.

CONSCIOUS ROOTS

Iraolagoitia’s birth was accompanied by a massive earthquake in Peru, where she was born. The daughter of two Basque parents who had found their way to Peru independently, she would move from Peru to Spain to Puerto Rico before she even began making memories.

“Wherever we moved, we were outsiders,” Iraolagoitia says jokingly. “In Peru, we were the Spaniards. In Spain, we were the Americans. In Puerto Rico, we were Spaniards, again. And when I moved to Cincinnati for P&G, I suddenly became Puerto Rican!”

Iraolagoitia says the grass almost always seemed greener elsewhere. When P&G moved her to Venezuela to help build a new technical center, she thought she’d never return to Cincinnati because she had no roots there and because the transition to the US had been particularly hard.

“After three years in Venezuela, all I could think about were all the wonderful things I left in Cincinnati,” the VP says, laughing. “I realized how ridiculous it was and that

Thirty years ago, Maite Iraolagoitia was told she wasn’t Procter & Gamble material. Thirty years later, she’s still there.

I would never be happy unless I decided to focus on the positives of the moment. That seemingly small idea changed my personal well-being and my attitude for the rest of my life. When I travel and people ask me where I’m from, I tell them Cincinnati. It’s been thirty years. This is home.”

A TURNING POINT

Thinking back to her first year with P&G, Iraolagoitia says her role just wasn’t right for her. And that reality-shaking conversation she had with a higher-up? It was a conversation she sought out, not one forced on her.

“I wasn’t the P&G material that he had in mind,” Iraolagoitia says. “He had an idea of what it took to succeed in P&G, and I did not measure up to that standard. That had something to do with the way I looked and the way I talked, I’m sure. And he was right. While I was hired for my qualifications, it was also because the company values diversity. I knew I would only be able to succeed if I was myself, and I had to make that commitment.”

But the fact remains that Iraolagoitia might have left had it not been for two

colleagues who believed she was capable of great things.

“They valued my unique style, found a role for me that was more in line with my academic background, and created an environment where I could grow and contribute disproportionally,” she explains. “I was still a risk, but one they were willing to take.”

P&G was expanding and had created a program to offer more affordable diapers for lower-income markets. It was brandnew and fairly under the radar. Iraolagoitia was moved into the role and since that move (and massive success), her career has not stopped blossoming. Today, she is proud that she has been able to play the same coach, mentor, and sponsor role that her two colleagues played for her earlier in her career. Her passion has helped others bring out their best.

In fact, Iraolagoitia has been involved in sourcing and nurturing Hispanic talent, espe-

I was encouraged to leave . . . and I probably would have had it not been for a couple of people who could see something in me that I couldn’t see in myself.”

cially in R&D, for such a long time that she’s now seeing the people she’s mentored mentor and sponsor others.

“It’s amazing to see that people I hired are now executives and paying it forward,” she says. “I don’t mentor to check off a scorecard or meet a requirement. I mentor and sponsor people because I want to get to know their aspirations and dreams and help bring them to life to the best of my abilities. We’re Hispanics, we’re a community, and we’re a family.”

FOR THOSE ON THE RISE

To those who may want to succeed in P&G today, Iraolagoitia says to be competent, be authentic, and be vulnerable. Those who can live up to those three expectations will create the kind of trust that leads to goal-stretching and access to the best

growth opportunities, she says. “We always have room for great people at P&G.”

And as Iraolagoitia’s own career has demonstrated, it’s also a good idea to create meaningful connections with those both inside and outside your place of work. “I go back to my network over and over again,” she explains. “People will drop what they’re doing to help because they know I will do the same. Again, that comes back to trust.”

Iraolagoitia admits that her story may not be one that younger people want to hear. No one wants to be told that maybe they don’t belong. But hopefully, she says, this story can inspire others to become their best self by removing some of the feelings of victimization and replacing them with empowerment.

Iraolagoitia is now a pillar of P&G. And she trailblazed a path for others by doing it her own way.

“It’s amazing to see that people I hired are now executives and paying it forward.”

More

THAN THE Role

BY BILLY YOST PORTRAITS BY CINDY TRINH

Evelyn Kudlak believes that natural curiosity drives personal and organizational results at MetLife

Evelyn Kudlak HR Business Partner and VP for Global Infrastructure, Data and Analytics & Information Security MetLife

EVELYN KUDLAK HAS BEEN ON THE move for most of her life. She was born in the US, but has spent most of her life in Latin America, moving every two or three years. Kudlak has lived in Chile, Ecuador (twice), Uruguay, and Argentina. The recently appointed human resources business partner (HRBP) and VP for global infrastructure, data analytics, and information security at MetLife returned to the US in 2021.

Thanks in part to the support of her family and their collective resiliency, Kudlak returned as an accomplished multicultural HR professional with two decades of experience under her belt. The VP has the kind of cultural fluency that makes her an invaluable resource, and it probably explains why Kudlak has been expanding her responsibilities every other year since coming to MetLife.

“When it comes to versatility in career development, I think I’m a good example of what is possible when you have the right conversations and are open to thinking about your options and capabilities,” Kudlak says.

Career conversations, Kudlak says, are a vital component of anyone’s journey, and should be greatly encouraged.

“It’s imperative to know it’s possible to have those career conversations with leaders,” the VP says. “You need to have a relationship with your leader where you can share your aspirations, share the skills you’d like to develop, and even think about ways to develop those skills, either through stretch assignments or expanded roles.”

Kudlak’s obvious passion for her job shines through when discussing the three priorities for MetLife’s talent initiatives: accessing and

mobilizing talent, building future-ready leaders, and driving organizational agility.

The VP says that when tapping into the right talent pools, diversity is critical.

“The truth is, and I’ve experienced this directly, that when many voices all contribute to one single output, the impact is quite significant and positive,” Kudlak says. “We are building an environment where all voices are heard and valued, and where you’re free to share and request advice from your leaders.”

Kudlak says one of the main opportunities her team is working to address is helping talent see the potential for advancement—to see the possibilities. Again, it comes back to those critical career conversations.

To create “future-ready” leaders, MetLife has built a successful program called Leading the Future.

The idea is to empower leaders to create inclusive and agile teams and to adopt a growth mindset (what Kudlak calls a “curious mindset”) that will help grow leaders, whether they’re leading teams of hundreds or are individual performers.

“Being a leader isn’t about how many people report to you,” the VP says. “It’s about influencing, and the inclusive leadership you can bring to whatever role you’re in.”

To address MetLife’s third talent initiative, organizational agility, Kudlak says sometimes prior mindsets need to be broken and challenges need to be approached from different angles. Fortunately, Kudlak has significant experience in reimagin-

ing processes, performance development, employee care, and future of work initiatives. Maybe it’s because she moved around so much in her youth, but the VP is a master at rethinking what’s possible.

“One of the keys to this effort will be building a contemporary and diverse workforce,” Kudlak says. “That evolution will help continue pushing us to the next level.”

When asked what continues to inspire her seemingly endless evolution, Kudlak says it’s easy: she’s able to find connections in nontraditional places.

“My inspiration, even for building careers, comes from integrating things that might not seem to be connected in one certain context,” Kudlak says. “But if you look at them in a different way, it makes perfect sense.”

That can mean projects or roles as well as people. Kudlak is known as a people connector at MetLife, willing to personally reach out to bring people together because she understands the value that can come from unlikely partnerships or cross-function collaboration.

Kudlak also says the opportunity to grow across MetLife is part of the reason she’s been there for close to nine years. “There’s always something new coming down the pipe,” the VP explains. “Everything is always evolving and refocusing with our customers in mind.”

The VP lights up when asked if she has advice for those who are new to the space: she has plenty, though she loses count of how many points she’s made somewhere around number six or seven. It’s clearly information the VP is happy to provide to those trying to find their own ways.

“Raise your hand,” Kudlak says. “If we just think about roles, I think we’re limiting ourselves. Think about experiences you can add to your career portfolio.”

For a VP who is committed to helping employees examine their own potential, this is the most salient advice. Kudlak wants to help those at MetLife develop their curiosity and understand not just what already exists, but what could be. It just takes some curiosity, some passion, and a desire to never stop learning.

You need to have a relationship with your leader where you can share your aspirations, share the skills you’d like to develop, and even think about ways to develop those skills either through stretch assignments or expanded roles.”

Christopher Garcia Legal SVP of Global Corporate, Finance & Securities Dell Technologies

Going Global

BY ZACH BALIVA

Christopher Garcia leads a global legal regulatory compliance program, ensuring Dell accomplishes its overarching mission: to create technologies that drive human progress

CHRISTOPHER GARCIA’S LONG TENURE with Dell Technologies has taken him to iconic cities also recognized as the food capitals of the world. To remember his experiences and accomplishments, he just needs to think back to the regional delicacies that mark each era.

There were the breakfast tacos in Austin, Texas; the chili crab in Singapore; the sourdough in San Francisco; and the lobster rolls in Boston. “I feel very fortunate to have spent most of my life in dynamic, thriving legal and technology communities,” he says. Each stop on Garcia’s professional journey contributed to his development. Combined, they’ve led to his current role as senior vice president at Dell, heading a global corporate legal team informing the legal strategy for a workforce across 180 different countries.

When Garcia started working at the iconic tech company in 2006, he lived in Austin, just 150 miles west of his hometown of Spring, Texas. Initially, as a commercial legal counsel, Garcia managed the integra-

tion of several acquisitions and provided ongoing legal support for Dell’s services business, as well as its emerging software-as-aservice portfolio. Unsure of how long he would stay, supportive mentors and a strong culture quickly won him over.

“I wanted to be here as long as I continued to learn and improve,” he says. Garcia came to Dell for the chance to practice law among the best in-house attorneys in the world. He stayed because of the company’s culture.

Dell garnered the reputation for providing professional development opportunities and prioritizing mentoring for employees at every level. This is a hallmark of the Dell legal department, led by Rich Rothberg, who held leadership roles across Europe, Asia, and North America before serving as Dell’s general counsel responsible for its global legal, government affairs, and security organizations.

This environment helped Garcia thrive as he progressed through consecutive, three-to-

You

be a jerk and succeed at Dell.”

five-year assignments in dramatically different legal roles around the world—ranging from technical roles supporting Dell’s cloud computing businesses to customer-centric roles supporting the global sales teams. He served as an executive director in Singapore, overseeing the regional compliance and a lead legal counsel (based in Boston) to Dell’s North America enterprise business. There, he focused on strategic commercial transactions with Dell’s largest customers and software alliance partners.

Garcia also appreciates the company’s transparent approach to leadership and talent management. “You can’t be a jerk and succeed at Dell,” he says. Team members support one another and are expected to deliver and receive honest feedback.

Garcia’s efforts have made an impression on his colleagues outside the company. “Christopher displays remarkable energy and analytical agility in managing a wide range of legal functions,” observes Richard Parrino, a

partner at Hogan Lovells. “He masters new material quickly and brings the same incisiveness and sure judgment to each matter.”

Currently, Garcia leads the global corporate legal team, which provides legal advice and strategy in support of public disclosures and corporate governance. His team also handles strategic transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, early-stage venture investments, and capital market transactions. The role is anchored by an effective global legal regulatory compliance program.

This work is informed by the five years he spent leading the global sales legal organization; that era gave him the chance to step out of the corporate office onto the front lines to work with customers. “Every decision I ever make at Dell will be informed by the conversations I had while working with customers,” he says.

Dell is focused on digital transformation, increasingly offering its technology as-aservice, versus the traditional model in which

a customer buys the hardware along with a perpetual software license. This pivot in Dell’s approach also requires a new approach to legal contracts. Dell’s legal department is simplifying the customer experience through contracts that are short, balanced, and easy to understand. The department has adopted a multiyear plan to enable its team members to leverage technology and tools that activate data-driven decisions.

The company’s sheer size presents challenges being addressed with scalable intelligent technology solutions. Dell operates in approximately 180 countries, and the legal team oversees hundreds of corporate entities supported by directors around the world. Instead of trying to provide live, one-on-one training for each director, Garcia partnered with Deloitte to create an intelligent directors’ portal. The software-based solution uses business intelligence to track each director and create a custom page loaded with training videos, podcasts, data sheets, and information tailored to each jurisdiction. Legal managers view global dashboards to monitor compliance and highlight gaps, risks, and outcomes.

As Garcia progresses into bigger leadership roles, he remains keenly aware of the sacrifice his parents made to provide him educational opportunities. As a teenager, his father emigrated from Cuba in 1961 during the communist revolution and found employment in New York City as a bellhop at the Waldorf Astoria. He worked all day, went to school at night, and helped to bring the rest of his family into the United States—like many other first-generation Americans. Every opportunity Garcia has had in his career is built upon the courage and sacrifice of his

can’t

Whatever

family; with this is mind, he does what he can to create opportunities for others.

After Girls on the Run (GOTR) positively impacted the life of his daughter, Camden, Garcia decided to help its local chapter raise money. The national nonprofit helps girls be “joyful, healthy, and confident” through an experience-based, running curriculum. Garcia volunteered to solicit funds, but there was one catch—he had to complete the 2021 Boston Marathon.

He managed to cross the finish line, and afterwards, wanted to find a way to help that wouldn’t require him to run 26.2 miles a second time. He since joined the board

of the Boston chapter and helps guide the organization to meet its annual plan and secure long-term sustainability.

“Christopher is truly making an impact on the nonprofit growth plans of GOTR Greater Boston,” says Olivia Mathews, executive director of the chapter. “His corporate experience, alongside his authentic belief in GOTR’s power to spark healthy habits, translate into meaningful contributions to the organization.”

Looking ahead, Garcia wants to listen, learn, and empower his legal team to help Dell transform lives with extraordinary capabilities.

A of CULTURE CARE

BY JOSEPH KAY

Arelis Correa-Arnold, VP and director of global talent acquisition for the Brown-Forman Corporation, is building a culture where diverse voices are celebrated and valued

Arelis Correa-Arnold VP and Director of Global Talent Acquisition Brown-Forman Corporation

ARELIS CORREA-ARNOLD

learned her dive-right-in, sink-orswim approach from her parents, who brought the whole family from Puerto Rico to the Illinois suburbs when she was eleven. Correa-Arnold’s parents could have moved earlier to search for work in their field (higher education), but instead, the family all came together and moved into the executive’s godparents’ basement.

“We came with a one-way ticket,” she recalls. “[My parents] had an option to come first, but my dad said this is something we have to do as a family, and so we did.”

Today, Correa-Arnold serves as vice president and director of global talent acquisition at the Brown-Forman Corporation. The Kentucky-based company is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of wine and spirits, responsible for high-profile brands like Jack Daniel’s and Herradura.

The seven of them—mother, father, Correa-Arnold, and her triplet siblings— shared two mattresses in the basement.

“No bed frames or anything like that: each day we would pick up the mattresses and put them back down, and we made that basement our home for the time being,” the VP says. Once her parents had steady work in their fields, they found their own place in the Chicago suburbs.

Energized and fulfilled by working closely with people, Correa-Arnold gravitated toward human resources rather than pursuing education like her parents. As an independent consultant, she gathered experience in

as many industries as possible (e.g., consumer goods, food production, pharmaceuticals, technology, and finance) before contracting with Brown-Forman, her first beverage company. After five years of consulting, she went in-house in 2007. Her first major project was to take the team international.

“For me, that was a pivotal moment,” Correa-Arnold says. “I was given the opportunity to determine what international talent acquisition would look like at Brown-Forman.”

That opportunity gave purpose to her time at Brown-Forman and to her career overall, she adds. “It allowed me to really solidify what I wanted to do for the rest of my life, which was to continue on the journey of talent acquisition and, more importantly, to make it a global piece of the work at Brown-Forman.”

Correa-Arnold loves a challenge, and the dynamic work/life situation the pandemic era has provided. Candidate trends are changing all the time. Recruiting is faster paced and more competitive. Correa-Arnold and

Hispanic Executive

her talent acquisition team are continuously looking for ways to use technology providers to gather the best information and optimize hiring processes. That means synthesizing labor market data, candidate screening, and interview platforms.

Those tools are also in service of major Brown-Forman demographic goals. By 2030, the company aims to have women in 40 percent of the senior leadership seats. Across the company, 25 percent of employees should be people of color. Using data and surveying tools, the talent acquisition team can go to where those candidates are and make sure the roles are suitable for the available workers. The company set these goals in 2019, and at the time the article was written, it had already hit the 40 percent marker and was well positioned to achieve the next goal.

“Using technology to get that information helps us set ourselves up for success, find someone who can be successful in the role, and fill it quicker,” she explains. “If we didn’t have that information, maybe we would go out and look for someone who doesn’t exist in that location.”

Once those candidates become Brown-Forman colleagues, talent acquisition also has a key role in retaining them. Correa-Arnold describes Brown-Forman as a “culture of care,” where diverse voices are celebrated and valued. She notes that there are nearly a dozen employee resource groups and affinity groups, including one for colleagues who don’t drink alcohol.

That collaborative spirit helps uphold one of Correa-Arnold’s key leadership goals: keeping things fun. “I want the team to feel energized,” she says. “Serve the business, challenge the team, and keep it fun. I want to be able to laugh, get through bad days, and find something joyful in what we do.”

Correa-Arnold continues to recruit at the executive level. After eighteen years at Brown-Forman, she still savors the opportunity to connect people with the roles that fulfill and empower them.

“It keeps me motivated, being able to change someone’s life and being able to help that individual find a great match,” Correa-Arnold says. “On my team, every one of us has a passion for creating those wins on both sides.”

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Serve the business, challenge the team, and keep it fun.”

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