Mexico City MBA Alumna Named Top Executive in Mexico

Diana Carrillo Navarrete, MBA ’04, may be in the minority as a female leader working in information technology (IT), but she is quickly making a name for herself. The Microsoft account manager was recently named one of the Top 20 Executives of 2007 by Mujeres Ejecutivas (Executive Women) magazine.

“Women have the capability to be successful in any arena,” said Carrillo Navarrete in the magazine.” Proof of that is the ever-stronger presence of women in top-level positions in the industries of information technology and telecommunications.”

Her accomplishments include implementing an ethical hacker program when she worked at 3Com, increasing sales in their security sector by 60 percent in one year, and being named 3Com’s Latin American Marketing Manager of the Year in 2006.

McCombs management Professor John Daly taught Carrillo Navarrete and says her work ethic made her a natural leader.

“Diana was an enthusiastic member of the class,” Daly recalls. “She was a very hard worker with a personality that made other people want to work with her.”

Carrillo Navarrete says she has been influenced by other strong women, and lists her mother, Mother Teresa, Hillary Clinton and German Chancellor Angela Merkel as leaders she hopes to emulate.

In addition to refining her management skills, Carrillo Navarrete, who also has worked at Nortel and Avaya, says as a woman in IT, it is her duty to dispel the notion that women don’t belong in the industry.

“I feel it’s my responsibility to change that perception and to demonstrate how valuable and successful we are.”