Chicago Booth Magazine The View from Mexico City

“We don’t want people to be bored,” said Planigrupo CFO Carlos Fainsod, ’11, of the half-dozen events the club hosts each year. Particularly popular is the alumni poker night, held at the home of a member of the club’s board. “Last time I went there, I got home at 2 a.m.,” Fainsod said. “It’s really fun. The small talk in between the gaming is what I take home with me.”

In addition to get-togethers such as poker night, the club hosts events featuring thought leaders from the Mexican business world. A recent one was an economic outlook discussion with Ricardo Haneine, ’84, partner at A. T. Kearney, and Herminio Blanco, PhD ’78 (Economics), president of Soluciones Estratégicas and former secretary of commerce and industrial development for Mexico. “Whenever you say ‘Booth,’ you can get speakers that are well recognized here in Mexico,” said Ruíz.

Family culture is particularly important in Mexico, and the club has been tailored to reflect that. “I was talking to Almudena, and we noticed there were really no family events,” said Ruíz’s husband, Alejandro Rentería, ’12, a principal at Alta Growth Capital. “There were the traditional networking events [like] Thursday Night Drinking Club, Worldwide Booth Night, and the golf tournament, but nothing that included the whole family.” Rentería and Ruíz wanted to change that. “So we organized a Saturday barbecue for families, where members could invite the kids and the [spouses].”

“It was a great event,” said Ruíz, who added that the large turnout included older and younger alumni alike. “We had parents who brought kids who were teenagers already, and there were alumni who just graduated and had their little babies. Everybody had a great time.”

The group takes pride in blending perspectives from different generations. “People who have graduated as early as the 1970s are regular attendees at our events. Combine that with more recent graduates, and it makes some good conversations,” said club president Eduardo Carrillo Jr., ’12, CEO of Casa de Bolsa Finamex. “The young kids enjoy networking very much,” added his father, Eduardo Carrillo-Diaz Sr., ’76, who is also an active member of the club, as well as the retired chairman, president, and CEO of Casa de Bolsa Finamex.

To maintain this connection between long-term knowledge and the modern business world, Carrillo Jr. said, the club aims to continue to attract young alumni and grow its presence in other Mexican cities, such as Monterrey. “That’s important because we want to have students from other states in Mexico go to Booth. Most of the students used to come from one university—now we have a more diversified group,” said Jaime Chico Pardo, ’74, chairman, CEO, and founder of Grupo ENESA, who occasionally hosts club events at his home.

The majority of the club is made up of alumni who came to Booth from Mexico and other Latin American countries, but even—or perhaps especially—during a time when economic relations with the United States are tenuous, the club stays in close touch with campus, hosting events featuring speakers from Hyde Park, interviewing potential students, and, in Carrillo Sr.’s case, participating in Booth’s Global Advisory Board, where he is co-chair of the Americas cabinet.

Members of the club such as Ruíz, who found her first job through Booth contacts, are eager to give back to the network that benefited them. “What I find is that everyone from the university is helpful. When you write a cold email or ask for help and say, ‘I’m from Booth,’ they will help you."