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Rodolfo Leon |
Rodolfo Leon '07
Even though he officially retired after a 28 + year career with Procter & Gamble, Rodolfo Leon ’07 has never entertained the thought of actually “not working.”
In fact, only three months passed between his last day at Procter & Gamble (P&G) and his first day as a manager for Talma Menzies Provinces Airports Services, a provider of ground handling services for airlines.
“Youth is often praised for its energy, but at my age, what we have is a lot of knowledge to pass on, and the desire to do so,” says Leon, 57. He is so good at transmitting knowledge that he has been nicknamed “the professor” by multiple co-workers and classmates over the years.
His prolific career with P&G, he believes, has allowed him to provide focus, as well as operational tools, to his colleagues at the rapidly growing Talma Menzies. At P&G, Rodolfo worked throughout the company’s Latin American offices in Venezuela, Peru, Brazil, Mexico and Bolivia. He held management positions in raw materials and imports/exports; purchases, traffic and distribution; product supply planning and external relations.
He says he saw an MBA in the joint Thunderbird-Tec de Monterrey program as a natural progression into retirement. “MBA degrees have become pretty much a requirement at certain levels, and since I planned to continue working, I found it convenient to get one,” explains the husband and father of three adult daughters. “Besides, I have always been an avid reader and loved studying.”
He credits Thunderbird for giving him the ability to turn around Talma Menzies’ budgeting and cost control systems – and for preparing him to rapidly integrate into an unfamiliar field. “There is very little connection between a mass consumer products company and a B2B provider of services,” he explains.
But there was a definite link between his P&G experience and his connection to classmates. During graduation, Leon was the guest of honor at a ceremony honoring him for the support he provided to classmates during the two-year program.
“I never saw it coming, but I guess all those P&G skills at organizing teams, assigning roles, balancing the workload, setting deadlines, following-up and pulling reports together turned out to be more valuable than I knew.”
The glass plaque students presented to Leon sits on his home office desk, where he often contemplates his next retirement move – likely more coaching and sharing – and most likely as a true “professor,” teaching in graduate programs.
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