The Alumni Society 2017 the Alumni Society 2017 3
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
2 THE ALUMNI SOCIETY 2017 THE ALUMNI SOCIETY 2017 3 TABLE - of - CONTENTS 6 LETTER FROM THE CEO 8 CLASS OF 2017 20 How important is your heritage to your personal identity and career? 32 How do you ensure that you continue to learn and grow? 44 How do you leverage your network to seek out personal or professional opportunities? 56 What guides your leadership philosophy? 68 How have you handled a role or label you didn’t ask for? 70 APPENDIX THE ALUMNI SOCIETY 2017 5 22 CLASS DIANE CRUZ-BURKE - of - Eli Lilly and Company Harvard 2017 24 JOEL DE LA GARZA Box Stanford 10 26 SYLVIA ACEVEDO ROSANNA M. DURRUTHY Girl Scouts of the USA LinkedIn Stanford Harvard 12 28 VICTOR ARIAS CRISTINA FERNANDEZ Korn Ferry International McQUISTION Stanford OGE Energy Group Brown, Stanford 14 30 HUGO BARRA MICHELLE FREYRE Facebook Johnson & Johnson Consumer MIT Yale, Harvard 16 34 HENRY CISNEROS LORNA HAGEN CityView OnDeck Harvard Cornell 18 36 JULIE ANN CROMMETT VERONICA JUAREZ The Walt Disney Studios Lyft Harvard Stanford 6 THE ALUMNI SOCIETY 2017 38 54 DOLORES KUNDA JESSICA REEVES Latino Corporate Directors Association Voto Latino Northwestern Georgetown 40 58 MICK LOPEZ CARLOS RODRIGUEZ UChicago, Georgetown ADP Harvard 42 60 LUCINDA MARTINEZ FREDDY ROLÓN HBO ESPN Deportes Columbia Dartmouth 46 62 PATRICIA McCARTHY MANNY SANCHEZ Goldman Sachs Sanchez Daniels & Hoffman LLP Harvard UPenn 48 64 ANITA ORTIZ JORGE URRUTIA Viacom DEL POZO Princeton MIT 50 66 ANGELA L. PADILLA RODRIGO VELLOSO Uber Redbubble Harvard, Columbia UPenn 52 PEDRO PIZARRO Edison International Harvard THE ALUMNI SOCIETY 2017 7 FROM - the - CEO 8 THE ALUMNI SOCIETY 2017 through sharing, they empower Each year, others to do the same. When we launched The Alumni The Alumni Society in 2015, our focus was to create a platform for the most dis- Society tinguished Latinos in the country highlights to network in the hopes that by facilitating these relationships we a group of could more effectively help each other advance and, as a result, ele- exceptional vate Latino leadership in corporate America. This publication is a phys- members ical manifestation of that network. Our 2017 publication’s focus is in our annual publication, and we on elevating your personal stories. call them the annual “class.” This We believe that sharing and hear- year, you’ll meet the class of 2017, ing each other’s stories will help but they could also be collectively connect us and give us the tools to called the class of achievement; grow ourselves. Our stories—your the class of impressive career stories—give hope, inspiration, accomplishments; or the class of and motivation to others to take people who respect their roots charge of their lives and create while looking toward their future. their own stories. We call this group a class because they all share many characteristics: they graduated from top-tier universities, they’re Latino, and they’ve reached the executive level and beyond. But they also share an affinity for con- nection; an understanding that as PEDRO GUERRERO Latinos in the business sector, we’ll Cofounder & CEO The Alumni Society go further together; and a desire to share their stories, because THE ALUMNI SOCIETY 2017 9 8 THE ALUMNI SOCIETY 2017 CLASS OF 2017 THE ALUMNI SOCIETY 2017 9 SYLVIA ACEVEDO CEO Girl Scouts of the USA Alma Mater STANFORD 10 THE ALUMNI SOCIETY 2017 hen Sylvia Acevedo was in W fourth grade, her teacher showed her a photo of Stanford’s campus. She was awestruck by the university’s historic sandstone quad: Romanesque buildings with red-tiled rooves set against a backdrop of green, northern California foothills. At that moment, she decided she would go to Stanford. And she did. After earning a bachelor’s from New Mexico State University, she went on to earn a mas- ter’s from Stanford. But none of this would have been possible without the Girl Scouts of the USA. Acevedo credits her time as a young STEM’S Girl Scout to changing her life; her IMPORTANCE troop provided her with the tools and Promoting education experiences that gave her the con- has been central to fidence and drive to be a leader and Sylvia Acevedo’s career. In fact, she has been a pursue her goals. And it was that same member of the Stanford foundation of leadership skills that pro- Alumni Association’s pelled her from Stanford to achieving Board of Directors and another one of her dreams: becoming the President’s Advisory Commission on Educational a rocket scientist. Excellence for Hispanics, “Working at NASA’s Jet Propulsion chairing its Early Education Laboratory in Pasadena, California, was Subcommittee. Now, as a huge achievement,” Acevedo says. “I CEO of Girl Scouts of the USA, one of her missions is had grown up with NASA and was fas- to promote science, tech- cinated by it since I was a young Girl nology, engineering, and Scout. Working at JPL when the Voyager math (STEM) education in 2 was sending back images of Jupiter young girls. “In today’s world, for and its moons, Io and Europa, still the United States to remain thrills me to think about to this day.” competitive, we need a workforce that doesn’t just use technology but also knows how to program, “I had grown up with NASA code, create, and design and was fascinated by it since technology,” she says. I was a young Girl Scout.” “With millions of jobs that are unfilled because of a mix and match in skill sets, US girls are an untapped After leaving NASA, Acevedo was for- resource. Girl Scouts is tunate enough to be in the Bay Area committed to developing during the tech boom, and she held a STEM talent pipeline of millions of Girl Scouts prominent positions at IBM, Autodesk, who can provide the skills and Dell. Fittingly, she is now the CEO and expertise that our of Girl Scouts of the USA after sitting country needs.” on its board of directors from 2009 to Acevedo is so pas- sionate about STEM that 2016. As a lifelong Girl Scout, she says she has even designed it’s her responsibility for having an her own Girl Scout patch, idea, vision, mission, and strategy for which includes images of the organization and for making sure Jupiter, pi, stars, a rocket, and the symbol for sigma, Girl Scouts gets the resources it needs symbolizing the summation to achieve that vision. of numbers. THE ALUMNI SOCIETY 2017 11 VICTOR ARIAS Senior Client Partner Korn Ferry International Alma Mater STANFORD 12 THE ALUMNI SOCIETY 2017 or more than fifteen years, Victor F Arias sat on the board of directors for Popeyes. It was a prestigious posi- tion that carried a lot of responsibility, but Arias sees it as being much more significant. “It’s very difficult to get elected, and many executives would like to get on corporate boards,” he says. “It’s really a hot area, but to be truthful, the playing field has not been level in terms of having the appropriate rep- resentation. The representation on corporate boards in the past ten years has slightly improved, but not much.” “I’ve been blessed to be a really good networker, and I really value those relationships. That’s really worked well for me as I transitioned to executive recruiting.” EL PASO It’s for that reason that Arias has built ROOTS his career on networking and advocating for Latino inclusion at the highest levels Victor Arias was born in and of corporate America. That led to his grew up in El Paso, Texas, just across the border from involvement as a cofounder of both the Mexico. And being a sec- Latino Corporate Directors Association, ond generation Mexican and the National Society of Hispanic American, that experience MBAs (NSHMBA), now Prospanica. was foundational for Arias. “The border was very When NSHMBA was founded, Arias transparent,” he says. “We was working in Chicago, and he rec- used to go across a lot. It ognized the need for a network of was just very bicultural.” Hispanic professionals. During Arias’s child- hood, his father worked “At the time, if I found anybody who at a furniture store on looked Hispanic and professional with pure commission and a suit on, I’d go grab them off the street, also moonlighted at the essentially,” he says. “Anyway, that’s railroad during graveyard shifts. He says his parents how we built and grew NSHMBA.” sacrificed a lot to encour- Since then, Prospanica has grown age education and pay to include more than 29,000 mem- for him and his siblings to bers, and Arias has built his career attend Catholic schools. Following high school, on reaching out to people. In fact, his Arias got a scholarship specialty is executive recruitment, to attend his hometown and his network is invaluable in his college, the University of role at Korn Ferry. Texas at El Paso. Following graduation, he went on to “I’ve been blessed to be a really good earn an MBA at Stanford networker, and I really value those and built the career he has relationships,” he says. “That’s really today, never forgetting worked well for me as I transitioned to his formative experiences of living just a stone’s executive recruiting because it’s about throw away from the US relationships.” southern border. THE ALUMNI SOCIETY 2017 13 HUGO BARRA VP of VR Facebook Alma Mater MIT 14 THE ALUMNI SOCIETY 2017 ugo Barra is a name that you H probably want to know if you’re in the tech world.