Pablo Lopez-Lachman

The University of Texas at Austin, McCombs School of Business

“Curious, catalyst, and faithful believer in self-investing. Always learning, improving, and helping others.”

Hometown: Los Cabos, Mexico

Fun Fact About Yourself: During my childhood, my father showed me a massive reef. At first, I refused to dive with him because I was scared of marine life. He told me – it’s frightening if you think of it as “uncertain”, but it’s thrilling if you think of it as an opportunity to discover and learn. Since then, I face uncertainty as an opportunity, and I’ve found myself facing more “reefs and marine life” than ever expected.

Undergraduate School and Major: Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM), Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA)

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Santander Bank, Investment Banking Analyst

What makes Austin such a great place to earn an MBA? The growing job market is one of the reasons why roughly 190 people move each day to the capital of Texas. Several companies are relocating or opening offices in Austin and students can find job opportunities across several business functions like consulting, data analysis, marketing, operations, and finance.

Austin is famous for its entrepreneurial scene which has been propelled by venture capital investors and by Austin’s cooperative culture. “Keep Austin Weird” is a slogan which originated with the intention to encourage locals to support and promote small businesses and startups in Austin. The University of Texas has also played a critical role in preparing professionals to lead in the business scene. Given the fact that almost every company or startup in Austin has a Longhorn alum in it, the McCombs name is a great brand for networking in Austin and beyond.

Aside from your classmates and location, what was the key part of Texas McCombs’ MBA programming that led you to choose this business school and why was it so important to you? There are several aspects of the program that led to my decision but if I had to select one, besides culture and location, I’d say McCombs’s experiential learning approach.

As the ‘best value’ among top programs, the Texas McCombs MBA offers several experiential learning opportunities while allowing students to spend their money on what matters most to them. Fellows Programs offer the opportunity to gain in-depth exposure to a specific function or industry. By sourcing their internships, students can tailor their experience according to their interests.

With an extra buck in hand, access to a vibrant ecosystem, and network of collaborative professionals, who wouldn’t take advantage of the opportunity to take risks and learn from hands-on experience?

What course, club or activity excites you the most at Texas McCombs? I can’t wait to participate in the Wall Street for McCombs (WSFM) leadership program. WSFM is an investment banking training program that includes personalized coaching, subsidized trips to New York, and networking opportunities with a select group of finance professionals.

As a Mexican investment banker focused on infrastructure and energy, I want to expand my network. Deepening my understanding of how domestic banks leverage their natural resources industry group while strengthening my corporate finance background is something that excites me.

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: My biggest professional accomplishment so far has been successfully completing a multi-phase advisory to a leading Mexican capital investor, involving a highly complex acquisition of several concessions’ assets, and the placement and structuring of their FIBRA E (Mexican infrastructure investment trust).

The first phase of the transaction started in 2018, just after I joined Santander’s seven-member Mexican IB team. I was assigned to the transaction since its beginning. Over the next two years, we advised our client through capital raising, debt structuring analysis, negotiations with investors, and a buy-side M&A deal. The first phase concluded with our client’s acquisition of ten infrastructure concession assets in November of 2020. During the second phase, I worked with Santander Equity Capital Market’s team in the structuring and placement of a long-term vehicle for our client. The investment trust provided an investment opportunity with attractive yield, stable distributions and tax benefits.

How did COVID-19 change your perspective on your career and your life in general? The pandemic taught me that change is fast and that learning from the change is critical to moving forward.

Santander’s learnings from the COVID-19 outbreak in Europe allowed the bank to minimize the effects of the pandemic on its Mexican subsidiary. In March 2018, Europe became the center of the pandemic, as Italy became one of the cities with the highest contagion rate.

In a couple of weeks, almost all of Santander’s operation became remote and our team helped clients adapt to working from home. By devising a plan to transition into a remote scheme several weeks before the government’s official mandate, Santander Mexico led clients to adapt to the new reality.

What led you to pursue an MBA at this point and what do you hope to do after graduation? It was always clear to me that I was going to pursue an MBA, but I decided to apply in 2020 because of the pandemic. In March, after the abrupt shift to working from home, I started my marriage working remotely during a massive layoff. My wife Regina, who is a Longhorn alumna herself, received a superb job offer from EY in Austin. Within Santander, several teams shrank, and massive lockdowns became a harbinger of drastic changes in the delivery of financial services. An MBA seemed the best course of action to finding out what the future of banking would look, while enhancing my leadership style and expanding my network. Consequently, after my MBA, I aspire to work for a bank as an Investment Banking Associate in Texas.

What other MBA programs did you apply to? I applied to McCombs, Stanford, UC Berkeley, Harvard, Booth, and Wharton.

What advice would you give to help potential applicants gain admission into Texas McCombs’ MBA program? Take advantage of the opportunity to attend admission events and connect with members of the McCombs Ambassador Committee (MAC). McCombs evaluates candidates holistically, and current students are your best resource to understanding our culture. Can you leverage the Longhorn brand, UT’s extensive faculty members, and the Texas McCombs MBA offering better than other candidates? Do you understand what makes you a cultural fit and what you can contribute to our community? Reflecting about your values, strengths, and aspirations will play an instrumental role in assessing whether you belong in our community.

Take one step at a time. Getting the test out of the way will allow you to focus on researching the MBA program. Understanding the program will be crucial in networking with alumni and current students while preparing your essays. A very popular Mexican painter, Frida Kahlo, once said, “Little by little, I’ll be able to solve my problems and survive.”