Alum Spotlight: Jose Rodriguez Salazar

Jose Rodriguez Salazar, originally from Cajamarca, Peru, is a 2012 graduate of Northwestern’s MEM program. He studied Electrical Engineering at Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru and graduated in 1997 with Honors. He holds a Masters degree in Telecommunications from Universidad Nacional de Ingenieria in Peru and is a 2017 graduate of Harvard Business School’s Executive Leadership Program. He is currently the Director of Mobile Core Networks division at Nokia USA and is based in Naperville, Illinois. Jose’s hobbies include gardening and basketball while his secret talent is playing the Quena (an Andean flute). He loves Chinese food and enjoys outdoor grilling during summers. Even though Chicago in particular and the US in general is home to great restaurants, Jose’s favorite is the ‘Restaurant Central’ in his home country of Peru! As they say, good business leaders are much more than just business – our very own alum is a testament to that!

We asked Jose a few questions about his MEM experience and his journey thus far, to which his responses were as follows:

Can you give a short description of your role and job responsibility?

I work at NOKIA, supporting the North American Market as Director of Mobile Core Networks for Tier 1 clients such as AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Sprint, and TMO and leading a team of Solution Architects and Network design engineers. I am responsible from proposals to implementation of the solutions as well as P&L. In the past, I also enjoyed supporting key international assignments in countries, such as Australia, Austria, India, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Argentina, and Peru.

What’s your favorite class or teacher in MEM, Why?

For me, most of the MEM courses were beneficial and useful, such as Leadership, Finance, Decision Tools for Managers, Project management, etc., but if I had to choose, I would pick 2 courses:

1. Marketing (Prof. Marasco) I learned that Marketing is more than just selling. I was able to learn the power of a good marketing plan. Also, this concept was consolidated with other marketing courses such as “Internet Marketing” (Professor Patrick Duparcq, at Kellogg School of Management) and how Internet in marketing has redefined the way business is done over the last few decades.

2. Strategic Management (Prof. McNeeley) in which we learned to view business in simple and realistic ways and apply our previous knowledge.

How has your MEM experience contributed to your career path and your current job role (your progression into senior management from an engineering background)?

From my perspective, MEM has provided me with the vision and the tools that I need to look at my job from a different perspective. It allowed me to understand how to combine my engineering skills with my business and leadership knowledge in strategic ways. I believe this is the key differentiator of the MEM program. I am convinced that among several professions, engineering is the best background to resolve technical and business-related issues. Technical skills are key, but soft skills and financial skills are even more important. The MEM program prepares engineers like myself to build these skills.

What new job, position, project or responsibility were you able to secure that you believe can be attributed to completing the program?

During the MEM program, I was able to continuously apply new concepts and had the opportunity to lead new projects and initiatives across multiple organizations. This resulted in me gaining more responsibilities and earning promotions.

The discussions and debates in classes as well as the diversity of opinions opened new avenues for me and helped me understand new financial, marketing, and business perspectives. I really believe that the MEM program is a great way to enhance the skills of an experienced engineer who wants to move up in his/her career.

What new skills did you gain and how did this impact your career or professional life?

During the program, I learned to understand the real impact of leadership and marketing in business. I had the opportunity to apply these lessons to my job which led to my promotion to the Director of the division.

What unique aspect of the program did you experience that you felt was unique to Northwestern’s program?

NU has a great reputation and I was able to see that on the quality of the professors and of the selected students. I was lucky to share ideas and learn from many peers and great professionals and consequently learn new perspectives and new ideas.

How did the program structure help to make earning this degree a possibility for you?

The MEM program was very flexible for me. As for any part-time student, it is important to plan the courses based on job schedules. But I learned it is also important to look to the future and plan your courses based on what specialization, if any, you intend to pursue.

What connections were you able to make with classmates, faculty or industry and how?

While in the program, I met some very good friends with whom I am still in contact with. Also, I was able to support some students by providing data for research and analysis. I try to assist and contribute to MEM events, and I enjoyed last year’s 40th anniversary event. I am also looking forward to contributing to the MEM Program during any future initiatives/events. In addition, as an alum, I try to help current students find the right opportunities in the industry.

Word of advice to future students:

Being an engineer provides good analytical skills as well as ways to resolve practical /logical problems which are great ways to contribute to any company as well as the society. However, that is not all, one can make an even greater impact with a knowledge of soft skills, and an understanding that the “best answer” is not what is always wanted, but a timely answer that makes a similar impact is usually what businesses seek. Learning about leadership and empathy in our work and daily life will make us better citizens and better professionals. I am glad to say that you’ll have the opportunity to develop all these skills in the MEM program.