Marco Antonio Reyes Ortiz

HEC Paris

“Looking for more curious minds, bold ideas and passionate hearts. Art, nature and science lover.”

Hometown: Mexico City, Mexico

Fun Fact About Yourself: As a teenager, I completely rejected accounting, economics, law, political science and basically every social or administrative discipline because I found them profoundly boring, politicized, and lacking the complexity of STEM fields. Years later, I would find myself working for one of the largest, banks in the world, pursuing an MBA degree and most incredibly, fascinated by the diversity of ideas, people and possibilities within the world of business.

Undergraduate School and Major: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Metallurgical Chemical Engineering

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Citibanamex | FP&A Senior Manager – Vice President

Aside from your classmates, what was the key part of HEC Paris’ MBA programming that led you to choose this business school and why was it so important to you? The offer of top MBA programs is dominated by universities in the USA and other English-speaking countries. I wanted a program that could offer me the same academic excellence and professional prestige with an added cultural and linguistic experience. Additionally, I looked for a place where I could find post-MBA opportunities in companies and sectors different from consulting, investment banking, and big tech, which are also amongst the most targeted by MBA graduates. I could not find a better option for me than HEC Paris. Entrepreneurship, innovation and international diversity are inherent to the school’s ethos, and this is reflected in the contents offered in the different specialization programs. Beyond the already numerous professional paths that can be found in France, HEC Paris’ privileged location in the heart of Europe makes it one of the best options to access opportunities in an extended and uniquely vibrant region.

What course, club or activity excites you the most at HEC Paris? The Wine and Spirits and Retail and Luxury clubs are my top choices. Back home in Mexico, I am growing a vineyard along with my family and my fiancée in the region of Puebla, where the first vineyards in the American continent were ever planted. In time, our aim is to give the region back its character of wine country by associating with other local producers to launch local wine brands and to attract visitors. I am sure these two clubs will connect me with other wine enthusiasts and entrepreneurs with whom I can share the pleasure of wine tasting, exchange experiences related to developing such a business, and perhaps even kick off new collaborative projects. These clubs will also be key for me to approach and learn from the French wine industry, which has a heritage of several centuries and stands as one of the most successful in the world.

HEC Paris is just 17 kilometers from Paris. What do you see as the best part of earning your MBA so close to Paris? Paris and its icons need no introduction, and I will definitely enjoy visiting the all-time famous hallmarks. Yet, what I enjoy the most is meeting local people and especially them sharing with me the experiences their town offers that get to amaze them even after repeating them again-and-again through the years. This is what makes an experience genuinely authentic, and I feel excited for doing so in such a historically and culturally rich city.

What is your unique quality that will enable you to make a big contribution to the Class of 2026? Although I decided not to pursue a career in STEM, I deeply value the mindset I developed during my engineering university studies. Curiosity, critical thinking, experimentation and argumentative rigor are the foundational pillars of the most powerful type of knowledge humankind has ever developed: science. The abilities required to succeed in business are not too far apart from those and I have challenged myself to apply them and be as methodical in this field as a scientist would be in his/hers. I also value profoundly to exchange and debate ideas with others as much as I am committed to challenging my own standpoints. I am confident that these principles will be at the core of every dialogue with my future HEC Paris colleagues with whom I look forward to having enriching conversations in the classroom.

Why did you choose a 16-month program over a one-year program? How do you see a HEC Paris MBA giving you an advantage in the marketplace? It takes time to build up long-lasting connections and projects. I want to reserve enough time for those I create at HEC Paris to evolve and that is why I chose this program that lasts a little bit more than a year. These 16 months will be some of the most meaningful in my life and I do not want to live them in a hurry!

HEC Paris’ prestige is praised by individuals and organizations around the world. I am proud of earning that prestige not only by becoming a member of the HEC Paris community, but also by exercising its underlying values of excellence, commitment and loyalty. Along with my individual merits, being an HEC Paris alumnus will be key every professional accomplishment from now on.

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: One of my most memorable professional experiences was back in 2020 when as a junior analyst I worked on a project aiming to evaluate the individual profitability of nearly 12 million clients. This project’s scope covered basically every business line and function within the bank and drove me to interact with a variety of people at all levels within the organization. The obtained results would be key for strategic decisions involving the permanence of the bank in certain market niches. The quality of the work exceeded by much the expectations of my managers and I was congratulated for “Understanding the complexity of an organization that not even seasoned management consultants from top firms had been able to tackle”. This result not only brought me a promotion, but it also exposed my work to senior executives whose trust I gained and who later supported me to keep growing and exploring new functions within the company.

Looking ahead 16 months, what would make your MBA experience successful? I will be successful if, after finishing my studies at HEC Paris I develop a refined understanding of business and connect with high level professionals and organizations with whom I can collaborate to keep growing professionally, make positive impacts in society through work and collect meaningful life experiences. I also look forward to escalating my vineyard project to a successful business by applying all the knowledge I gain at HEC Paris!

DON’T MISS: MEET THE HEC PARIS MBA CLASS OF 2026