Jorge Velasco Azoños

Cambridge Judge Business School

“Creative problem-solver driven by curiosity, challenge and personal growth.”

Hometown: Mexico City, Mexico

Fun fact about yourself: I am a skilled fire dancer.

Undergraduate School and Degree: (Include Graduate Schools and Degrees If Applicable): BA in Industrial and Systems Engineering – Tecnológico de Monterrey (Mexico City, Mexico)

Where was the last place you worked before enrolling in business school: E-Commerce Strategy Manager at Aeromexico (Mexico’s largest airline carrier)

Where did you intern during the summer of 2021? Not applicable (still worked at Aeromexico)

Where will you be working after graduation? No confirmed role yet, still in applications.

Community Work and Leadership Roles in Business School: Our team ranked top 20 at the 2021 INSEAD Product Games, a product management competition with business schools from all over the world. The competition consisted of designing a product for the future of remote work.

Which academic or extracurricular achievement are you most proud of during business school?

1) Co-founder and moderator of the Product Roundtable, a series of online product management panels aimed at discussing the characteristics and challenges of the position throughout different industries.

2) Volunteer organizer for the Cambridge Disinformation Summit Webinar, a series of online talks with global thought leaders from psychology, journalism, financial reporting, political science, and related information science fields about the impact of disinformation in society and ways to mitigate its efficacy.

What achievement are you most proud of in your professional career? To recover from the pandemic, Aeromexico launched a Digital Transformation program securing financing for crucial strategic projects. I was responsible for defining a five year $13M USD digital channel strategy, achieving stakeholder buy-in, and establishing cross-company shared objectives.

Why did you choose this business school? As the leader of an 11-member multidisciplinary team at Aeromexico, I learned the immense value of diverse thinking patterns within a group. When I discovered that the MBA programme at Cambridge Judge Business School hosted students from over 45 countries, I knew this was a once in a lifetime opportunity. An MBA programme where I could engage, contribute, challenge and be challenged by my colleagues and their multi-cultural perspectives.

Who was your favorite MBA professor? Being three months into the programme, Dr. Alan Jagolinzer is my favorite professor. Being a Financial Accounting professor, I expected his class to be extremely technical. Nevertheless, he offered a perfect blend of technical knowledge and modern-day challenge analysis, that pressed me to develop critical thinking skills when approaching financial reports and today’s over stimulated information ecosystem.

Looking back over your MBA experience, what is the one thing you’d do differently and why? It has only been three months, but I think a timeless hint is: remember you can always ask for help.

What is the biggest myth about your school? “The reason Cambridge is so unique, is because there is something in the air.”  When one cycles alone through five-hundred-year-old buildings early in the morning, one definitely feels an enchanting air to it. When one walks through six hundred years of wisdom instilled in the university libraries, one definitely feels “something in the air”.  I must admit there is a certain something in the air, that simply makes the right ideas click.

What surprised you the most about business school? The faculty. The experience and academic rigor of professors is outstanding. It is an incredible opportunity to have access to such brilliant minds which are always open for a quick coffee and intellectual chat.

What is one thing you did during the application process that gave you an edge at the school you chose?  Knowing one’s self. I believe a distinct application is that which effectively communicates unique professional and personal experience.

Which MBA classmate do you most admire? I thoroughly enjoyed working in a team with Luvina Weilu Yao. On top of her vibrant personality and hard-working nature, she taught me how to deliver feedback and constructive criticism to other peers in a respectful manner. She truly is delightful to work with.

What are the top two items on your professional bucket list? Head of Product at a hi-tech company and Co-founder of a High-Performing Teams Consultant Agency.

How has the pandemic changed your view of a career? The pandemic has shown me the importance of revisiting personal goals ever year, to account for changes in the environment. The most powerful strategy is one with clear direction and adaptability. I cherish four essential values that drive this vision: I feel most motivated when challenged, self-development is a continuous process. In a team, psychological safety always goes first, and contentment translates to a proper work/life balance.

What made Jorge Velasco Azonos such an invaluable addition to the Class of 2022?

“I sense Jorge has the energy and commitment to engage in global impact projects. He is innately curious, genuinely authentic, and cares about the societal implications of business practice. Some students come to business school to simply enhance their future wealth. Jorge seems inclined to leverage business education to support societal need. He’s helping develop, for example, a Cambridge Disinformation Summit, to help support research and practice that better understands and mitigates the societal harm from disinformation. His empathy, emotional intelligence, and global-citizen mindset will allow him to amplify his impact, leveraging our Cambridge MBA curriculum.”

Alan Jagolinzer
Professor of Financial Accounting

DON’T MISS: MBAS TO WATCH: CLASS OF 2022