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Rodrigo Echeverria '06 |
"Before joining the Global MBA for Latin American Managers program, I was just a guy who wanted to accelerate my career like many others," explains the 32-year-old of Spanish and French descent who was born and raised in Mexico City. "Since then, I have to say that my MBA was the most important decision with the greatest impact on my career."
In just three short years, while earning his Global MBA from the joint Thunderbird-Tec de Monterrey program at the Santa Fe campus in Mexico, Echeverria made four significant professional leaps. After working in operations planning for Mexico City's TUV Rheinland, a safety and quality certification organization, Echeverria catapulted into a quality assurance management position in the same city with Teletech, a global business process outsourcing company.
One year later, as he was completing his degree, Echeverria was named Teletech's senior operations manager for the U.S. Embassy account, managing 350 people. He credits Thunderbird for the swift career advancement and marketable skill set. "Since day one, I was able to translate my school learning into my job," says Echeverria.
After only five months in that role, and following graduation from Thunderbird, Echeverria continued his career ascent when he was tapped to become operations manager for Autonomy etalk in Dallas, Texas, where he was responsible for the Latin American region. Putting his business skills to work, he managed projects, resources, personnel, and budgets for Autonomy, which focuses on meaning-based computing. "We take unstructured information – e-mails, documents, telephone conversations – and make them easy for computers to understand so that companies can perform valuable analyses of information in real-time."
Echeverria proved a good fit with Autonomy, and two years later, was promoted to his current position as Director of International Services. "I am responsible for the installation and implementation of Autonomy's technology and manage a team of project managers and consultants based around the world."
Echeverria says it's not uncommon to begin the day with calls to the United Kingdom, Turkey, and Romania and end the day with a web conference in Australia. At times, 50 percent of his work schedule has involved travel.""Thunderbird's international focus and personalized approach has made all the difference to me," says Echeverria. "I have used all the skills I gained from my MBA, but the one I always use when managing international projects is cross-cultural management."
When he's not facing a new challenge at work, Echeverria enjoys spending time with his wife, Veronica, and their daughter, Valentina.
1 Global Place, Glendale, AZ 85306-6000
+1 (602) 978-7000 | 800-848-9084 (US)
