As Chief Administrative Officer (CAO), what has been your primary strategic areas of focus and how would you rate the progress that you and your teams have made?
There’s a lot to unpack here so I will focus on a couple of the key areas. First, we are looking to enhance and revamp our European fund infrastructure, support and regulatory/governance framework to establish an optimal model to continue distributing products into the EU. Another area of focus has been around enhancing our enterprise investment risk oversight program. Lastly, automation is one of the key drivers I am focusing on as it relates to our business. As an organization we need to continue to drive to make enhancements and strategically upgrade the tools and systems used by investment and non-investment teams in order to allow individuals to consistently spend more time on value-add work. We will continue to look for opportunities where we can make these types of enhancements.
If you weren’t in your current role, what job would you have?
If I wasn’t in this role, I would love to be teaching kids soccer at my own soccer academy or running camps all year round. Soccer was always my favorite sport and growing up in El Salvador that was the only sport that people played. My younger brother and I used to come home from school and after finishing homework, we would play soccer until night fall. Even though we were two of the smaller kids, we were able to hold our own and were always welcomed to play. Those memories are still fresh in my mind and at some point I would like to give back to less fortunate children in El Salvador an opportunity to not only learn the game but to gain other skills such as work ethic and leadership.
What are you focused on learning now – professionally or personally?
I’m always trying to learn new things. I don’t like to feel complacent whether professionally or personally and I strive to remain disciplined and focused about finding new ways to improve. Although I am into my third year as CAO, this journey has been very challenging and given me tremendous opportunity to grow and learn—particularly as I have stretched into new areas of management. Critical to adapting to the new role and being effective in my professional and personal life is continually refining and improving my listening skills. By being more open to conversations and objectively taking in the information, I am finding that my ability to partner to find solutions and ideate allows for increased performance and opportunities. I firmly believe that at MacKay people are our best asset. For me being a great listener and developing a two way trust are key drivers to success.
What is your favorite thing to do when you’re not working?
My favorite thing to do when not working is spending time with my family. Weekends we’re off at my kids’ sporting events or if they have no activities, which is rare, then we’re outside in the yard playing sports or enjoying a summer bbq with family and friends.
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