1. Personal Bio – Mauro Calcaño
I was born and raised in Caracas, Venezuela. Fluent in Spanish, English and
working knowledge of Portuguese. When I was young, my father was a
petroleum engineer for ESSO de Venezuela, so for years we lived in and
around the country’s oilfields…an educational experience all its own. I came
to the United States to finish high school in Hollywood, Florida, then went to
The George Washington University for my BA from the School of Public and
International Affairs and an additional year of graduate study in Human
Resources Management.
Over the years since, I’ve had the chance to take on Human Resources
leadership roles of increasing scope in some of the world’s best
companies...companies like Merck, Beecham, Chiquita, Marriott In-flight, Sara
Lee, Goya and Timex. I’ve been able to live and work not only in the US, where
I proudly became a citizen but also in Latin America and Europe. Along the
way, I’ve seen the Human Resources function evolve from "personnel," with
its transaction-based mission to a much more strategic role, particularly for
businesses operating across geographic and cultural boundaries, with
culturally diverse workforces. In many ways, I think my career, and the skill
set I’ve developed, exemplifies this change in what HR can and should be.

2. Personal Bio – Mauro Calcaño
Before going to the Timex Group, I was recruited by Goya Foods to play key
leadership role in spearheading the company’s strategic positioning from
direct regional distributor to national Big Box Marketer in order to intensify
Goya’s mass channel sales with key focus upon Wal*Mart food distribution
network. Wal*Mart 2004 - 06 sales were projected to reach $50MM under this
new strategic platform. Two family Board Members, strongly opposing new
mass channel/Wal*Mart initiative, wrestled control of the company from the
CEO & COO (Joseph and Andrew Unanue) and ousted them from the
organization – which subsequently brought about my departure and that of
other senior team members. Reference: Wall Street Journal article dated
March 24, 2004, A Family fights over the future of Goya Foods.
At Sara Lee International in London from 1995 to 2000, I built and led a team of
HR professionals located in-country across the globe in a complex marketing
and multi-level sales and distribution organization with multi-layer sales
teams focused directly on the consumer (i.e. the Avon model). After
completing a 5 year expatriate assignment, in 2000 I was promoted to return
to the USA to integrate and build a new management team for several newly
acquired companies (Chock Full of Nuts and Nestle coffee brands). Despite
considerable success in capturing market share, Corporate eventually
decided to exit the roasted coffee business in the US, and that led to my
decision to seek other opportunities. At Marriott, I transitioned after the In–
flight food service business was acquired by Sky Chefs/Lufthansa in 1995 and
was offered a position as the VP HR for Latin America. I preferred to move to
London with Sara Lee International.

3. Personal Bio – Mauro Calcaño
After my expatriate assignment in 1992 with Chiquita Bananas Operations in
San Jose, Costa Rica was terminated due to budgetary reasons, I returned to
the US and joined Marriott/CaterAir. Previously I had an 8 year career path in
the pharmaceutical industry with Merck and Beecham and previously to
returning to the USA after university, I was a Director of Human Resources for
General Foods plant in Caracas, Venezuela.
On a personal note, my wife, Isabel and I love to travel. I have a passion for
watching parrots (own a blue winged macaw; ara maracana) and other tropical
birds. I’m also an avid cyclist (bike rack includes Specialized road bike and
triathlon bike, as well as a mountain bike) runner and avid floral photographer,
http://www.flickr.com/photos/zuzanotte. My wife was born in Costa Rica,
father was a Coronel in US Army Intelligence; she grew up in the Panama
Canal Zone. Isabel is bilingual and we have grown children (Cristina and
Marisabel) living in New York City. I am 6’1’ – 200 lbs.
Mauro Calcaño