When Jose Villanueva Garcia, an electrical and mechanical engineer by training, was promoted from plant engineering division manager at Bridgestone to a new position overseeing project engineering for Latin America, he concluded that it was time to gain the business knowledge he lacked. Vanderbilt was an easy choice.

“Even before I moved to Nashville,” says Jose, a native of Cuernavaca, Mexico, “I was interested in Vanderbilt because I knew it was one of the top schools in the U.S. As I progressed in my career and built a network at Bridgestone, I met several Owen graduates, which enhanced my desire to join the [Executive MBA] program.”

Almost from day one, the coursework changed how Jose understood his company’s operations and gave him knowledge he could apply at work. “Depreciation, PPE, FASB, and IFRS suddenly meant something to me,” he says. “I began to understand queueing, bottlenecks, capacity, cost, revenue, and 10-Ks. I now understand the effects of exchange rates and labor laws in other countries and the differences between GAAP and IFRS. All of the sudden, you find yourself reading the annual reports for your company, and they make sense. It was amazing!”

Jose is proud of “coming from engineering school and learning accounting and finance at a graduate level.” But he is even prouder of what he has been able to do with that new knowledge. “[The program] has allowed me to have an in-depth understanding of Bridgestone at all of the countries where the company operates,” he says. “It has strengthened my business acumen and my leadership, as I can now understand the business aspects of what we do and how it will impact other stakeholders. I can apply the knowledge I have acquired every day. It guides meaningful conversations with finance, accounting, logistics, and operations to find innovative solutions to our challenges in the tire commodity market.

“And it has helped me understand and contextualize Bridgestone’s business strategy and how I can contribute to the enterprise's success. It has propelled my understanding of a large multinational corporation, and I have learned the skills to ask better questions and to make key decisions for the company.”

Fun Fact: Jose loves to play drums.

“[The program] has propelled my understanding of a large multinational corporation, and I have learned the skills to ask better questions and to make key decisions for the company.”