Richard Velazquez, MBA 03 — Relentless Personal Growth

(Transcripts may contain a few typographical errors due to audio quality during the podcast recording.)

[00:00:00] Sean Li: This episode of OneHaas is brought to you by the Haas Fund, fueling opportunities for our students, faculty, and strengthening our Haas community. Join us in making an impact today at haas.berkeley.edu/give.

Welcome to the OneHaas Alumni Podcast. I’m your host, Sean Li. And today, we’re joined by Richard Velazquez.

Richard, first off, I want to welcome you to the podcast. You currently serve as the Chief Executive Officer of Latinx MBA Association. And also, you’re still the founder and CEO at Radical Endeavors.

[00:00:49] Richard Velazquez: Radical Endeavors, yes, that’s my consulting firm. Right now, using it exclusively for pro bono consulting for international animal welfare institutes.

[00:00:59] Sean Li: Wow.

[00:00:59] Richard Velazquez: Before I accepted the CEO role position for Latinx MBA Association, I was helping small- and medium-sized companies integrate generative AI into their operations to drive revenue and operational efficiencies through radical endeavors.

[00:01:13] Sean Li: Nice. Well, we’ll definitely hear more about that, but we’d love to start these conversations hearing about your origin story. You know, tell us about where you’re born, how you grew up, where you grew up, even of your family, if you want to share.

[00:01:27] Richard Velazquez: Yeah, absolutely. I was born in Brooklyn, New York in the ’70s. My parents are from Puerto Rico and I had five other siblings, so it was a large family. We grew up in what was called The Projects at the time in Brooklyn, low-income housing. And in ’79, my father was able to save up enough money to get us a standalone house in the Flatbush area of Brooklyn. So, that’s where I grew up. It was the last house remaining from a spate of developers taking over residential homes and converting them into apartment buildings. So, we were the only house on the block surrounded by apartment buildings. It was also a low-income neighborhood with lots of crime, but we had our own little dedicated space in that house surrounded by 20-foot-tall fences. So, it was an interesting upbringing in Brooklyn at the time. When I see it now, I’m like, “Wow, I never would’ve thought about investing in Brooklyn back then growing up.” And now I’m like, “I can’t even afford it.” But yeah, Brooklyn has changed.

[00:02:31] Sean Li: Where in Puerto Rico are they from?

[00:02:32] Richard Velazquez: They are from a small pueblo called Peñuelas, which is right next to Bonete on the southern side of Puerto Rico.

[00:02:40] Sean Li: I think I’ve driven past it before when I, kind of, did the tour around from down to Ponce and then west to Rincón and then back.

[00:02:49] Richard Velazquez: Yeah, you would’ve passed it.

[00:02:50] Sean Li: Yeah. So, what did your parents do, don’t mind me asking.

[00:02:53] Richard Velazquez: My father was a motor vehicles operator for the U.S. Postal Service, and my mom raised us kids. So, she never finished high school. I think her highest grade level was junior high school, but she was always really smart. I got my love of education for my mom and my commitment to education. She taught me. I was really good at math. She taught me math through like dried cooking beans. So, even though she didn’t have a formal education, she’s always good with math. Sometimes, when I need help with Sudoku, I was just like, “I’m stuck here.” My mom would just come in like. I don’t know how you do it.

[00:03:28] Sean Li: That’s so funny. What did you study in your undergrad?

[00:03:32] Richard Velazquez: Yeah. So, I graduated high school a year early, and I went to a school called the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art. At the time, it was one of the only free colleges in the U.S. So, if you got in, you got a full tuition scholarship, which really helped me, because like I said, we didn’t have a lot of money with six kids. And as I said, I graduated high school a year early and my parents sat me down and they were like, “We’re really proud of you, but we have no way of paying for your college or sending you to college.” And they were, kind of, out of tears when they’re saying this. And I told them not to worry. I’d figure out a way. And I only said that because I didn’t want them to cry. And I felt bad, but I had no idea. And then my high school guidance counselor at the college night asked me what I was looking for and I mentioned engineering, and he said, “Have you heard of Cooper Union?” I said, “Cooper, who?” He said, “It’s free.” I was like, “Oh, it’s free.”

So, I went. He introduced me. I applied. They’re a very competitive process to get in. From what I recall, they have, like, a lower acceptance rate than even like MIT or Harvard or whatever. But fortunately, I got in, which helped out because that experience put me on the path for all of the volunteer work I’ve done over the last 30 years, because if it wasn’t for the Cooper Union, I probably wouldn’t have had the experiences or the opportunities that I had, simply because I didn’t have to worry about finding money for my education.

So, I studied mechanical engineering at Cooper Union, and then my first job was in the automotive industry. So, I was an automotive design engineer. I started off with Honda in Ohio and then I moved to Germany for Porsche. I was actually the first Puerto Rican designer for Porsche, and I worked on their first SUV, the Porsche Cayenne, which was back in 1999.

[00:05:20] Sean Li: Is that when it first launched?

[00:05:22] Richard Velazquez: It launched, I think, in 2001. We started designing it in, like, ‘98, ‘99. But yeah, I worked on… at Honda, I worked on the Acura MDX, which was Honda’s luxury SUV at the time. And I had a friend that took a role with Porsche in Germany to work on that project. And so, on his way getting escorted out from Honda, I asked him if he could give me the name of his recruiter for Porsche. He did. And I followed up with him that day. And it took a little bit, but I remember, they wanted to hire me, but they wanted me to start in Detroit. And they said, get my foot in the door in Detroit. And then eventually they could transfer me to Germany. And I was like, “Nope, I’ve had my foot in the door here in Honda for five years and I still have a set foot in Japan.” And I was originally going to do the overseas assignment program in Japan. So, I was like, “If you can’t get me to Germany, then I’m not leaving.” And they were offering me almost double of what Honda was offering me. And so, I didn’t hear back from them for two months and I’m like, “Ah, I blew it!” And then two months later they call and it’s like, “Okay, we got you a gig in Germany. You have to be there next week.” And I was like, “I can’t just pack everything up and be there in a week.” They’re like, “Okay, we can give you an extra week, but that’s it.”

And so, yeah, I packed up all my bags. My youngest brother had just gotten married, so I gifted him everything in my house — the furniture, kitchen stuff, everything — and just moved to Germany with two bags in 1999. Yeah.

[00:06:48] Sean Li: That’s amazing. So, you were a design engineer. Can you share with us, you know, what is a design engineer?

[00:06:54] Richard Velazquez: Yeah. So, in the automotive industry, the major parts of the car are designed by different groups. So, they have interior engineers, exterior, body design, chassis, engine, and electrical. So, you get placed on one of these groups and then you all work together to, like, mesh the car together.

So, generally, how it’s done is they start with these clay models that’s like a quarter scale or smaller, and they finalize how the exterior shell looks, and then they graduate up to a full scale model in clay. And when they finalize that design, you have the overall design of the car. Now, you have to, like, design a car that fits within that shell, right? Because right now, all it is is an exterior A-class surfaces.

And so, as a body design engineer, I was responsible for designing the frame that fit underneath that shell. So, we have the exterior designer who works with those Class A surfaces and the frames that go underneath to support those. I did that also with, like, the hood, the exterior, whatnot.

My first project was the ‘98 Accord two-door. So, I worked on the front and rear floor design. So, in that case, you know, you have to work with the engine design folks because, you know, it wraps around where the engine is. You have to work where the interior folks to put the connections of where the seats are going to be bolted down, where the electrical harnesses are going to be routed to, et cetera. You have to work with the chassis folks because, you know, the shocks and springs and everything get connected underneath the car.

So, as a body design engineer, everything that I did was called body and whites is the steel structural frame that gets dipped into that anti-corrosive, it makes it look white when it comes out of it. And so, that’s all of the stuff that’s not the Class A surfaces.

[00:08:35] Sean Li: That’s fascinating. So, from Porsche, I think that’s when you went to Haas, right, after Porsche?

[00:08:42] Richard Velazquez: Yeah. I was thinking about going to Haas when I was working at Honda. And I was on the verge of applying and going through that whole process. I had a colleague of mine, Francisco Toste. I haven’t talked to him in years. But he was getting his MBA through the Consortium for Graduate Study Management. So, I got some information about that. But when I had the opportunity to move to Germany to work for Porsche, I’m like, I put my MBA plans on hold and I was like, you know, I’d rather go to Germany and live in Europe for a few years before I, you know, take that route.

So, it was great. I really loved living in Europe. That’s where my love for traveling started. I’ve been to 105 countries since then, but it all started living in Germany and how easy it is to get to all the European countries with rail and driving when you’re living in the geographic center of Europe.

So, after two years at Porsche in Germany, I applied through the Consortium for Graduate Study Management. They give full fellowships. At the time, it was for underrepresented minorities who were looking to get their MBA. And that was open to anyone who has a commitment to diversity. And I applied. I got into Haas. Since I’m from New York originally, I wanted to get a West Coast school. And I also wanted to get into the, kind of, tech and gaming industry, so I figured something in California would be most helpful for me.

[00:10:01] Sean Li: What were you looking to get out of the MBA? Because it seemed like you made a pretty hard pivot post-MBA.

[00:10:06] Richard Velazquez: Yeah. So, I enjoyed my time in the auto industry and I love designing cars, but at a certain point, designing cars is designing cars, whether it’s Honda or Porsche. There was nothing new that I was learning. So, even though, obviously, Porsche’s a luxury sports car, Honda is more of a commuter car, fundamentals of designing the body are all the same.

So, I wasn’t really learning anything new. I had been doing it for a combined seven-plus years. Additionally, I knew that I wasn’t going to live in Germany forever and I had to go back to the states at some point. And if I stayed in the automotive industry at the time, this was in the early 2000s, it was all concentrated in Detroit. And no offense to anyone from Detroit, but that’s not where I wanted to end up.

[00:10:52] Sean Li: I’m from Detroit.

[00:10:53] Richard Velazquez: Yeah, sorry.

[00:10:55] Sean Li: Not offended. I live in Southern California, so I understand.

[00:10:59] Richard Velazquez: I didn’t want to be in the Midwest, in general. Having moved from New York to Ohio was a hard move for me.

[00:11:04] Sean Li: Yeah, I imagine.

[00:11:06] Richard Velazquez: You know, the stuff they had to offer and all that, the winters, a bunch of other things. So, I was just like, “I don’t want to be in the Midwest.”

[00:11:13] Sean Li: I get it.

[00:11:13] Richard Velazquez: And I was like, “So, I’m going to have to, like, change industries. And how do I do that without knowing business or knowing other industries?” My two younger brothers were video game animators at the time. And so, I had visited them a few times — really enjoyed. They were working at Volition in Illinois at the time, just south of Chicago. And I just really enjoyed the game culture. I was a huge gamer myself, so it was great to see a CV made, seeing the camaraderie with everyone, seeing how much fun the environment was. And so, I was like, “Well, I’d like to try to get into tech or gaming somehow.” So, I felt I needed an MBA to do that. And one based on the West Coast was the most likely one to do it.

[00:11:51] Sean Li: It’s interesting to see actually how things have evolved over the years. Automotive’s definitely moved West, right? Especially with EVs. I’ve lived down here in Irvine and, you know, right down the street’s… well, before it was Karma. So, then Karma started down here. And then along with Rivian and whatnots. But also down the street from me is Blizzard.

[00:12:10] Richard Velazquez: Yeah,

[00:12:11] Sean Li: And the Blizzard headquarters. So, shortly after Haas, you finally got into gaming, it looked like.

[00:12:19] Richard Velazquez: Yeah. Not too far after. So, I graduated from Haas in 2003, had a phenomenal time in Haas. I didn’t have a summer internship. I did international business development. The interesting, like, as I mentioned, both my undergrad and graduate, I had full tuition scholarships and fellowships for both, but both times, I graduated in ‘94, in 2003, it was a recession. So, both times, I had difficulty finding a job the first year. In 2003, my only job offer was with Procter & Gamble in Cincinnati doing supply chain. And I was just like, “I didn’t go through all of this to leave Ohio, to end up in supply chain in Ohio again.” So, I didn’t accept the offer. I was going to go to Japan to teach salsa dancing to ride out the recession. And then I ended up connecting with and getting a job with Procter & Gamble in Puerto Rico doing brand management.

So, after my first year or my first semester at Haas, I took Marketing 101. And as automotive design engineers, we would always make fun of marketers. We were just like, “Oh, they just make commercial jingles all day. Like, that’s all they do.” But after that Marketing 101 course, I was like, “Wow, there’s really a science to marketing, and it’s really heavily data-driven that I never really appreciated before.” So, I really started thinking maybe I should look at marketing and product management as the way to go.

And so, my first role was brand management with Procter & Gamble and Puerto Rico. I only was there for about a year because I went from designing Porsches to marketing fabric softener. Then again, and it was just like, I wasn’t a passionate fabric softener guy. So, I moved to Puerto Rico for Procter & Gamble because that’s where they did their U.S. Hispanic marketing. And my family was from Puerto Rico. So, I thought, “Wow, this is great. I could… my extended family who’s down there.” I have, like, 62 first cousins on my mother’s side. So, like, I could meet more of my cousins who I don’t really know. I can, like, live in a tropical paradise and, you know, I could get my first post-MBA job and get some brand management on the plate there.

But then at the SHPE Conference National Society of Hispanic MBAs that I’ve been with since 2001 at Berkeley, I met Microsoft and a few others. And I got five job offers from that conference — Microsoft, Mattel, and Torrance and a few other things. And then I ended up going to Microsoft. It was in their central marketing group as a market research, senior market research manager. And I’m like, I’ve never led market research before. I’ve used it at Procter & Gamble as a brand manager, but I’ve never led it. But the guy who hired me, Thomas Walker, he is an incredible manager, a great human being. And he was just like, “I can teach you market research, but I can’t teach you all the skills and life experiences that you’ve had and everything that you could bring to the table.” So, he gave me an opportunity, and he’s just like, just give it two years in this role before you look for something else at Microsoft. And I was like, “Deal.”

But then he ended up leaving after only 18 months. And so, I always felt like when he left that I was free to explore now. And it actually turned out fortuitous. I went to a UC Berkeley Haas alumni picnic. And I was there with my MBA buddy, Greg Amrofell, at his house. And a few other folks who worked at Xbox at Microsoft at the time mentioned, “Hey, we know you love video gaming. There’s a product planning position that opened up at Xbox. Were you aware of it?” I was like, “No, I wasn’t aware of it all.”

So, they gave me the details. I applied to it. Long story short, I got it. So, I was able to switch, which is why I wanted my foot in the door at Microsoft from the central marketing group over to Xbox after only 18 months. And then I spent the rest of my close to seven years at Microsoft in the Xbox Group.

[00:16:11] Sean Li: That’s really cool. Just for listeners who can’t see us, before we started this call, I’ve noticed the Halo Master Chief helmet under a panda.

[00:16:21] Richard Velazquez: Yeah, that’s a Panda.

[00:16:24] Sean Li: Behind Richard. That’s pretty cool. And I don’t think I’ve ever met anybody that worked on Connect.

[00:16:31] Richard Velazquez: Yeah. That was the big thing that I worked on. And there was a ton of people working on Connect. But that was during the time when Nintendo Wii was eating everyone’s launch, PlayStation and Xbox, behind.

[00:16:44] Sean Li: That was 2006. Yeah. Was with the Wii launch.

[00:16:47] Richard Velazquez: Yeah, that’s about right.

[00:16:49] Sean Li: But I mean, Xbox must have been… it sounds like you guys were working on it at the same time, right?

[00:16:56] Richard Velazquez: The genesis for Connect came from the need to response to Nintendo Wii. So, it was around when the Wii launched. So, I was the product planner and product manager on the hardware side. So, anything physical that you touched, I was working on. Because there was only, like, two of us, a product manager for hardware, me, and the product manager for software and Xbox Live. So, that’s how we split it up. So, anything physical you touched came for me. I had to build the business case for it. I had to work with the engineers to design. I have a build. I had to work with sales so you got the forecast, you know, everything of how product management works.

So, there was a ton of people on it. There was, like, three different routes to go for responding to Nintendo Wii. And a lot of these, as the product planner, I had a whole list of product opportunities for us. And 3D camera was on my list and I had put it in the no-go pile the previous year because we had launched Xbox Live Vision, which was a 2D camera. And it didn’t sell very well. And there wasn’t a whole lot of software support. So, I was like, “Unless we get dedicated software support to support a 3D camera, it doesn’t make sense to launch a 3D camera.” So, that was sitting in what I would call the boneyard or the graveyard for a year.

And then Nintendo Wii came out and we’re like, “We need to response.” So, I had to go dig through all the different ideas we had. We had the top three contenders for response was, one, do what Sony PlayStation did, which is copy the Wii. Sony did it with the PlayStation Move, right, with a little, just much more accurate Wii controller, basically.

So, the idea behind that was, every software developer that had already created a game for Nintendo Wii could then port it over to Xbox, just like they were probably going to do with PlayStation. So, in that case, you could think about, “Well, we’re going to have a lot of software support for this on launch, so we don’t have to, like, build up our whole new ecosystem of developers or whatnot.”

The second project was a really unique controller that was, like, foam-covered and you could, like, throw it. You could do all sorts of things with it. So, it would enable all sorts of new experiences that had never been done before.

And then the final one was this 3D camera that could do skeletal tracking, that had voice recognition incorporated, et cetera. And then on the Connect side, we had this really brilliant guy from Brazil named Alex Kipman, who had all these, like, really great ideas of integration and the kind of different concepts of how this 3D camera could work and what we could do. And that just started taking off from there. So, it became, our response was going to be the Connect and not doing what PlayStation did, which is just copying the Wii.

[00:19:40] Sean Li: Yeah. I just remember the Connect being what we, in our college dorm, we got it. And it was just so neat because, like, one of the features, now I think about it, like the skeletal tracking feature. You know, it’s something that I totally forgot that, like, this stuff has been around for like 20 years.

[00:19:59] Richard Velazquez: Yeah, the skeletal tracking on the Connect was, you know, this was like the cheapest 3D camera that you could get on the market, was through the Connect. These are like everywhere else $1,000 camera. So, the fact that we were able to get it to this price point where it could be consumer-friendly and consumer-ready was incredible in and of itself.

[00:20:19] Sean Li: Yeah.

[00:20:19] Richard Velazquez: And, you know, it’s not always the best technology that wins, but when my brother had a Nintendo Wii, it was exciting the first day and then by the second day so we became what I call Wii minimalists, which is like, “What’s the minimum thing I could do to get the character on the screen?” So, like, we could actually turn our back, like on Wii Tennis, we could turn our back and just hear when the ball bounces and just flick our wrist like this. And the little characters running across the screen getting the ball because it wasn’t real. It was all smoke and mirrors. But, you know, people just really got into it because it was like the first time a new thing.

So, the thing with Connect was, since it was doing skeletal tracking, if you just flick your wrist, the character on the screen would just flick their wrist. There was no, like, faking it. So, Dance Central was phenomenal. You know, it showed you which arm was wrong. It highlighted in red when you were doing something wrong. And all the other games that came with it was just… it was game-changing at the time.

So, it set a Guinness World Record. It was the fastest selling either consumer electronics device or gaming device. It was, like, 10 million units in less than three months in like two and a half months or something like that. So, it was a big deal.

[00:21:23] Sean Li: Those were exciting times. You’re absolutely right. Yeah, we would play Wii Bowling just on the futon, like, just flicking our wrist, just knowing how to, like, time the flicking.

[00:21:34] Richard Velazquez: Mm-hmm. Yep. You just go like this.

[00:21:37] Sean Li: Nobody’s doing any real bowling.

[00:21:40] Richard Velazquez: The most interesting part about this is I forget how many billions of dollars, but one of my decisions was like an extra four and a half billion dollars for Microsoft in the first three months, because we were originally going to launch the Connect at $99. And I was doing all the research. I did the research in Europe, the U.S., and Asia in living room homes and seeing how people played with Wii and seeing how big their rooms were so we could figure out, basically, the constraints of the design or, kind of, requirements of the design.

And one thing we found out, like, especially with Wii, is like we had lots of really tall fathers playing with lots of really short sons and daughters. So, like, one of the limitations on the camera is being able to track both of them at the same time. So, there’s two things that came out of my work, which was installing a motor in the Connect so that it could manually adjust up and down. And that was based on a lot of this research. And this was a controversial decision because it was something like $4 or $5 per motor, right? And so, like I said, we sold 10 million units in two and a half months. So, at $5 a unit, that’s 50 million extra dollars in COGS that we added to there.

But the rationale for incorporating it was, the tagline for this is, “You are the controller.” And we’re like, “If you have to constantly go up to your TV to adjust it back and forth, you’re destroying the magic.” And it is hard to put that in monetary terms. Like, what is that worth? Would we have sold as many units if that experience wasn’t as good as you constantly had to adjust it? It’s like we’ll never know. But that was a decision and an investment we decided to make on the experience instead of on, kind of, like the bottom line.

So, that was a great thing. But I mean, it was helped by the fact that I did some pricing research for it and I found that, “Wow, we could double the cost of this thing and we would lose less than 10% of sales.” So, I did the whole financial calculus for it and I brought it to the meeting like where we were doing the pricing discussion for the final pricing, because everyone just assumed that we were going to launch at $99 and that was selling it at a loss. And then just like video game platforms when they first come out, so, we were going to subsidize the loss of each unit through Connect game sales, which is how the whole model, industry works.

[00:23:55] Sean Li: Industry works, yeah.

[00:23:55] Richard Velazquez: And then I showed them through this research that we would lose less than 10% volume on that if we doubled the price. And I got a lot of pushback because they were like, “We just lowered the price of our cheapest Xbox console to $200. So, are you suggesting that we sell an accessory for the same price as the full console?” And I was like, “Yes.” They didn’t have the stomach to go at that high of a price. And I was, kind of, pushing it. I was like, “Why do we invest in research if we don’t listen to the research? I mean, this is what the research is telling us. There’s, like, huge demand for this.”

So, we split it and we launched at $149. And then, like I said, we sold 10 million units the third day. So, 10 million, like, at $99 was that like $1 billion at 150?

[00:24:44] Sean Li: Yeah.

[00:24:44] Richard Velazquez: Like, even if we sold 10% less than it would’ve been, it would’ve been $1,450,000,000.

[00:24:52] Sean Li: Yeah. That’s really cool.

[00:24:54] Richard Velazquez: I love nerding out on the Xbox.

[00:24:58] Sean Li: So, after Microsoft, I guess, what made you leave Xbox and Microsoft?

[00:25:02] Richard Velazquez: Yeah. That was a tough one — leaving Microsoft. This is the only company I ever left where I shed a few tears. I got to the point, so great time with the Xbox 360. I was doing the preliminary research for the Xbox One, like the new platform we were doing — talking to developers, doing a lot of all the upfront work that you do. And then I was asked again to lead all the hardware accessories and stuff for the Xbox One. And I was like, “I already did that for the Xbox 360.” It was similar to, like, the car design. I’m like, “It’s going to be slightly different. It’s going to look slightly different. It’s all going to do the same thing.” So, it wasn’t advantageous for me to do it because I wasn’t linear or growing in any way, shape, or form. I’m still an individual contributor. I’m not leading any teams. I want to get promoted. I want to get advanced.

And so, I had a really great mentor and the leader of our group, Matt Barlow. He was like, “I’d love to, you know, find a promotion for you or find a team for you to lead, but like, no one’s leaving.” That was the thing with Xbox at Microsoft. It was like one of the more fun teams at Microsoft to work on. So, when people got in there, they tended to stay for a long time.

[00:26:10] Sean Li: Stay, yeah.

[00:26:10] Richard Velazquez: So, there was no upward mobility for me. So, he was kind enough to get me connected with the PC hardware team, and they offered me a director position to lead all of the PC hardware, which was mice, keyboards, headsets, et cetera, for PCs.

At the same time, I was getting a headhunter reaching out to me about a new innovations team they were forming at PepsiCo in New York. And I was like, “PepsiCo, what is PepsiCo? Is that the same as Pepsi?” So, I had to look it up and like, yeah, PepsiCo was a company that was formed, but Pepsi merged with Frito-Lay and it became PepsiCo and it was Pepsi, Gatorade, Tropicana, Quaker and Frito.

I was like, “Well, that’s interesting.” And then also, like, I was really expecting to be promoted and I wasn’t promoted because they cut their promotion budgets at Microsoft and I was just really annoyed by that. That’s why, like, when the PepsiCo recruiter called, I picked up the phone.

So, in the food and beverage industry, lots of the contracts they work off of exclusivity agreements. So, if you think about Pepsi and Coke, a theater only sells Coke, a university only sells Coke products, a restaurant only sells Coke products or Pepsi. So, Coke had come out with the Coca-Cola freestyle machine, which is that machine with a digital touchscreen interface where you could make like a million different flavors and mix and match and all this other stuff. So, they were, kind of, eating Pepsi’s launch in terms of winning more, like, when these exclusivity agreements came up for renewal, Coca-Cola was winning them because they’re like, “Look at this new innovative thing we have. Pepsi is old school. They don’t even have anything like this.”

So, Pepsi is like, “Wow, we need to form our own design team to be able to compete against freestyle.” But you’re looking at these machines, it’s not just a regular fountain machine. There’s software involved and there’s different types of hardware involved. And so, Xbox is hardware and software integration. So, they had seen me on LinkedIn. They reached out. They wanted to talk to me about this in the senior director role to lead this innovation team on equipment design.

And I thought it was interesting and all that. And it was, kind of, cool because, like, I set my own strategy and I could build my own team. But I was like, “Well, I don’t think you guys appreciate how much of an investment it’s going to be to be successful in this type of industry with hardware and software.” And I’m like, “This is going to be billions and dollars, and you got to stay the course, because if you start looking at how much you’re investing and then you just like say no,” I was like, “Then what’s going to happen to me? What, am I going to be a marketer for Pepsi or Mountain Dew or Gatorade or whatever?” I’m like, “I don’t want to do that.” So, they’re like, “No, no, we’re committed to this. We’ve got X hundreds of millions of dollars directly from the CEO, et cetera.”

[00:28:46] Sean Li: That’s so interesting. I noticed you worked on getting PepsiCo into Shanghai Disneyland, which I just went to for the first time.

[00:28:53] Richard Velazquez: Oh!

[00:28:53] Sean Li: And it’s amazing.

[00:28:54] Richard Velazquez: Yeah! That was another fun project there. And that was an interesting one. So, like, after I decided I left Microsoft, I was in PepsiCo, I built this team. And one of our first projects was, I heard that Disney Shanghai was forming and they put up their food and beverage business up for competitive bid. And so, the China team, the Pepsi China team, was looking for who on our side could support them on this pitch.

Now, my senior leadership team was like, “Don’t even bother. Disney is not going to pick PepsiCo. Every Disney park in the world serves Coca-Cola. The only thing that Disney is trying to do is they’re trying to get price concessions from Coca-Cola for the Shanghai Park.” And so, I was like, “That may be true, but if we’re wrong, this is like our only opportunity to get a beachhead or break into the exclusive business of Disney.” It’s huge, especially in China. This is like… it was over $100-million-a-year opportunity or something like that.

And so, I work with the China team, like all of the innovation designs and the equipment innovations that I did, the smart cooler, the interactive vending machine, et cetera, I came up with all sorts of different opportunities for them to integrate them in the park for the guest experience. And I actually went to Disney Tokyo, and I went to Disney Hong Kong. So, I went to both of those to, kind of, like, get the experience of what the guests are having in Asia, and so that I could bring it back into, like, how could we develop software on our systems to integrate with their guest experience and do all this?

Anyway, the presentation went great and we ended up winning the Disney Shanghai deal. I got the CEO chairman’s award for the work that I did on that. And Disney Shanghai remains the only Disney park in the world that sells PepsiCo products.

[00:30:42] Sean Li: That is true. I was there just a couple months ago. I noticed it. So, Richard, after Pepsi, you had a few more stints, but, you know, ultimately, what led you to Latinx MBA to serve as the CEO?

[00:30:57] Richard Velazquez: Yeah, Latinx MBA Association, we develop, empower, and advance Latinx business professionals to create positive economic change for the U.S. So, going back to my upbringing and roots, as I mentioned, those organizations that got me those jobs, so, I’ve always felt the need to give back because, like I said, I saw my brothers and sisters who didn’t have the opportunities I have, but were just as smart or smarter than me, go different routes than they would have because they didn’t have those financial opportunities or those connections.

So, in all of my roles, when I was an engineer in Honda and Porsche, I was a volunteer leader for an organization called the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers. That’s where I got my first job offer with Honda, was at that conference. When I was getting my MBA at Berkeley, I was involved with the National Society of Hispanic MBAs. That’s where I got my first jobs out of MBA program at UC Berkeley.

So, I’ve always led or volunteered for these organizations. So, after 30 years, I was like, “Well, I’m getting more personal fulfillment from these scholarships that I’m getting for students who are like me who didn’t have those opportunities to get into school for helping people get their first jobs, for helping them advance in their careers, than I am by making an extra billion dollars or a hundred million dollars for Amazon or these other companies that don’t really need it.” I mean, it’s great ultimately for the bottom line, but it’s really not. It’s not giving me the personal satisfaction that I’m getting from this work I’m doing with people.

So, I was thinking about, how do I position now after 30 years of corporate to get into the nonprofit space as a career instead of as a volunteer thing? And then, I found out about Latinx MBA Association. I haven’t heard about them before. So, they’ve been around for five years, but I hadn’t heard of them. And as I mentioned, I was involved with an organization called the National Society of Hispanic MBAs. Back in 2015 or 2016, they decided to expand their scope and do all Hispanic professionals. And when they did that, I felt that they created a vacuum for an organization to just focus on the MBA, because not everybody needs an MBA, but when you decide you need it, it’s important. And there’s specific things you have to do to get into the MBA program of your choice and then succeed when you’re in there, and then succeed when you graduate.

So, when I found out about this organization, I was like, “Oh, this is exactly what I thought would happen. Like, somebody would see the need and create it.” And so, I went to their leadership summit in 2024 in Los Angeles. And I was super impressed with what they put on. It was all volunteer-led, the quality of the panels, the quality, the speakers, the comradery of the board, and the excitement of the members. And I decided, “Wow, this is exactly what I’ve been looking for.”

And they announced at the conference last year that they’re coming into their fifth year, and to grow and expand they wanted to hire their first full-time leader. And so, I was like, “Wow, I was fortunate that I came here, because I was looking like how do I switch into nonprofit leadership? And this is an organization. I had already built something like this with the Seattle Chapter of National Society of Hispanic MBAs in Seattle back in 2004 with some other co-founders and ran it till 2011.” I was like, “I already have experience doing that. You know, I already have my MBA. I’m with the consortium. So, all these things work together.” So, I applied for the role and I was offered it by the unanimous consent of the board in February. So, I started in February, just seven months ago.

[00:34:21] Sean Li: That’s quite amazing. I mean, I know this is a tough question, but in short, you know, what’s, kind of, on your top list of priorities and agenda?

[00:34:28] Richard Velazquez: So, right now, our biggest event of the year is always our annual leadership summit. So, that’s coming up in less than three weeks. It’s on October 2nd through the 5th in Los Angeles. We break it up one full day for students, one full day for alumni, and then we have mixers in between for them.

So, that’s the top thing. Our priority is to make that a success, get the corporate sponsors and other donations to cover the cost for this event to help students get out to the event and partake. So, that’s the big thing that we do every year that’s coming up. So, that’s highest of my priority list right now.

Then, looking forward into the future, I am looking at, we’ve expanded our city presence, our alumni chapter, so right now we have nine. The most recent one is here in Seattle, where I’m based. So, that was an easy one to do. I had started, like I said, the Seattle chapter of a similar org many years ago. It’s a huge tech hub, so it just makes sense for us to have a presence here. So, I want to expand our physical presence for alumni chapters in more cities so that our members could be serviced in a live fashion instead of just through webinars or just through our annual events. I think that’s going to be for the benefit of both our members and our corporate sponsors in different cities.

And then, of course, the big thing is our footprint within MBA programs across the U.S. So, we have, right now, representatives or student leaders in 35 of the top MBA programs in the U.S. We’re trying to expand that presence more. We’re looking to more than triple our presence of students at this summit. So, last year, we only invited the presidents of their chapters to come. This year, we’re expanding it to more students and allowing more students to come to the events. So, those are the main priorities for us right now.

[00:36:13] Sean Li: Anything our listeners can do to help out or to learn more?

[00:36:17] Richard Velazquez: Yeah, absolutely. So, if you go to latinxmba.org/summit, that’s more details about the summit, feel free to share. Share out widely for those Haas alumni or Haas students that want to attend. We’re giving a special promotion code for Haas. So, the promotion code for the alumni day is HAAS25ALUM, A-L-U-M. And for students it’s HAAS25STU, S-T-U. So, if you register on those with those discount codes, you get, I think it’s 20%-something off of the registration for the day. And that will be held, like I said, at the Western LAX in Los Angeles, October 2nd through the 5th.

And you know, it’s been a difficult time to take over the leadership role for what’s essentially a DEI organization, given what the state of the country is right now. So, obviously, the corporate sponsorships have been very difficult because lots of corporations are taking a step back from their ERGs and their DEI programs or whatnot. Lots of schools are, you know, being cowed into abandoning lots of the diversity work that they’ve been doing in the past. So, we have launched premium membership packages as well to drive membership revenues for those students and alumni who can afford it.

We always want to have a free membership option, just to ensure that money isn’t a barrier for people to get involved with our organization. But we are a nonprofit national 501(c)(3) organization, so we need money where we can get it to fund our program services and scholarships. So, we launched this year premium memberships, which gives you a significant discount off of the conference as well. So, for those people who want to take a look at it, latinxmba.org/membership, and just look at the membership options and see how that benefits you.

[00:38:08] Sean Li: Awesome! Richard, last but not least, was there anything else that you wanted to talk about or share that I didn’t get a chance to ask you?

[00:38:14] Richard Velazquez: Yeah, I know it’s been a difficult time for lots of alumni. Obviously, with all of the layoffs in the tech industry with generative AI, changing so much of the landscape, and I know lots of people say it’s not going to take your job, it is affecting the job market significantly. So, I wouldn’t say it’s not.

So, I have seen on LinkedIn and others, lots of people who are looking for work and whatnot. Our alumni organization and the people within it are amazing. So, you know, don’t be afraid to reach out. Don’t be afraid to post that you’re looking for something. If more of us know, for those people who are looking for stuff that you are looking, it makes it easier for us to remember and make those connections when we think about it or when we come across it versus suffering alone.

[00:38:56] Sean Li: Absolutely, yeah.

[00:38:58] Richard Velazquez: So, don’t suffer alone. That’s the whole point. If you haven’t even talked to, like, people from… I graduated in 2003. I still know the people from my class, even if I haven’t talked to them for 10 or 15 years. It’s okay to reach out and say, “Hey, we haven’t talked for 15 years, but I need help.” That’s the whole point of an alumni organization, so don’t be afraid to reach out. Feel free for those people who want to reach out to me and connect on LinkedIn. It’s just linkedin.com/RichardVelazquez is my full name. Velazquez, spelled V-E-L-A-Z-Q-U-E-Z. No “S” in my name, or you won’t find me. Feel free to reach out.

And once again, the Latinx MBA organization is open to everyone. So, even though it says Latinx, we are, you know, helping to bridge that gap in opportunity, but that we’re still an inclusive organization. So, if you’re Haas alumni and you just want to come and say hi at the summit, please do so.

[00:39:52] Sean Li: That’s an amazing message now. Thank you so much for just reminding us of the importance of the alumni community. It’s a real pleasure having you on today, Richard.

[00:40:01] Richard Velazquez: Thanks so much!

[00:40:01] Sean Li: Thank you so much for taking the time.

[00:40:02] Richard Velazquez: Yeah, thanks for having me. Appreciate it.

[00:40:07] Sean Li: Thanks again for tuning into this episode of the OneHaas Podcast. If you enjoyed our show today, please hit that Subscribe or Follow button on your favorite podcast player. We’d also really appreciate you giving us a five-star rating and review. If you’re looking for more content, please check out our website at haas.fm. That’s spelled H-A-A-S.fm. In there, you can subscribe to our monthly newsletter and check out some of our other Berkeley Haas podcasts.

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