Alicia Edith Galicia Rodriguez

Texas A&M, Mays Business School

“Driven immigrant, mother, and professional grounded in integrity, perseverance, and family values.”

Hometown: Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, Mexico

Fun fact about yourself: I am through-and-through Mexican, except I do not like avocado at all.

Undergraduate School and Degree: I graduated from Brigham Young University in 2019 with a B.A. in International Relations and a minor in Global Business and Literacy.

Where was the last place you worked before enrolling in business school? Daikin Comfort Technologies as a Commodity Manager

Where did you intern during the summer of 2025? Delta Air Lines

Where will you be working after graduation? Delta Air Lines as part of their MBA rotational program in supply chain

Community Work and Leadership Roles in Business School: Forte Fellowship, Grad Strategic & Rena and Darrel Shaver Endowed Scholarship

Which academic or extracurricular achievement are you most proud of during business school? I’m most proud of my contribution to my local Hispanic youth group as a leader. Serving weekly with young girls and watching them grow over the last two years has been both fulfilling and challenging. I have learned from them much more than I have been able to teach them.

What achievement are you most proud of in your professional career? I am proud of the challenges and growth that working in the electronics commodity taught me during the pandemic. I encountered trial-after-trial with shortages, shutdowns, and lost shipments; however, my team and I were able to protect the production line.

Why did you choose this business school? I had been living in College Station for a year before I considered applying, and I was always captivated by the way the students and the community truly embrace the Aggie values and traditions. Mays Business School not only taught me the business acumen I needed to succeed, but the Aggie values were front and center in shaping how I began to view leadership.

Who was your favorite MBA professor? My first professor in the program was Dr. Bala Shetty, and I truly enjoyed his class and the way he interacted with students. He is not afraid to push us to think critically, but he is also very mindful of the realities of the business world.

What was your favorite course as an MBA? I really enjoyed Corporate Finance I with Dr. Boone. Taking that course helped me see the business as a whole. With my background in supply chain, I already had a general idea of how a company operates, but being able to explain what is happening through data is something I truly enjoyed learning.

What was your favorite MBA event or tradition at your business school? The MBA program holds the Brisket Bowl every fall. My first one was in 2024, and it was a very unique and heartwarming experience to see alumni traveling from all over the country, with several graduating classes attending with their families. I felt very welcomed into the MBA family. My family and I are looking forward to attending many more Brisket Bowls in the future.

Looking back over your MBA experience, what is the one thing you’d do differently and why? I would be more intentional about building relationships with my peers sooner than I did. I have learned a great deal from interacting with my classmates and hearing about their journeys. As we worked together in classes and supported each other through life situations, I have grown by leaning into their strengths and letting them teach me.

What was the most impactful case study you had in business school and what was the biggest lesson you learned from it? The first case study we covered in Dr. Oliva’s class was the Harvard Business Review case on Benihana. It was the first time I fully leaned into the case study method, and it pushed me to think critically while also listening to different perspectives. I came to class thinking I knew how the discussion would unfold, and I was quickly humbled. That first class taught me the value of approaching problems with curiosity and openness to other viewpoints.

What did you love most about your business school’s town? I love the community and the family-centered feeling it holds, even though it is a college town. My husband and I enjoyed spending time with our daughter attending community events whenever we were not studying or doing homework. Almost every week we found something we could enjoy together as a family.

What business leader do you admire most? I admire Arthur Airhart, who was my director during my time at Daikin Comfort Technologies. I had the opportunity to see his leadership during one of the most challenging periods for supply chains during the pandemic. What stood out to me most was his ability to stay steady under pressure while keeping the team focused on solutions rather than blame. He communicated clearly, trusted his team to take ownership, and consistently emphasized accountability and collaboration. Watching how he navigated uncertainty while supporting the people around him shaped how I think about leadership. His example showed me that strong leaders create stability for their teams while still pushing for results.

What is one way that your business school has integrated AI into your programming? In our marketing class with Dr. Hari, we were highly encouraged to leverage AI in our work, to the point that our midterm and final exams were open resources, including AI. Learning how to properly use AI helped remove the uncomfortable feeling of the unknown and allowed me to see it as a tool rather than a crutch. I was able to take those skills into my internship, and I look forward to integrating them as I rejoin the workforce.

Which MBA classmate do you most admire? Whenever I think about the Mays MBA Class of 2026, I immediately think of Devna Grover. She is a bright and sharp woman with many qualities both professionally and personally. She consistently made herself available to others as a friend, colleague, and fellow Aggie. You could often find Devna at Wehner either working with the program office to plan MBAA events, getting coffee with a classmate, or leading a study group.

What are the top two items on your professional bucket list? I would love to open my own business one day and return to my home country to teach the next generation some of the life lessons I have learned throughout my professional journey.

What made Alicia such an invaluable addition to the Class of 2026?

“It is a genuine pleasure to recommend Alicia Galicia Rodriguez for Poets & Quants’ Best & Brightest MBAs. As Director of the Full‑Time MBA at Mays, I have watched Alicia grow from a talented but self‑doubting candidate into a confident, values‑driven leader who quietly raises the bar for her classmates and for our program. She entered the MBA while relocating with her husband and very young child, later welcoming a second baby during the program, and yet she has consistently shown up prepared, engaged, and fully present for her peers. She never asks for special consideration or uses her competing responsibilities as an excuse; instead, she treats them as commitments to navigate with grace and discipline, modeling for classmates what it looks like to take the work seriously while keeping what matters most at the center of her life.

What distinguishes Alicia is how she operates every day. She leads as a servant and authentic leader—rooted in resilience, empathy, and service—rather than in title or spotlight. In my classes, she was the student who would arrive right on time after handing off her child to her husband elsewhere on campus, slip into her seat, and immediately contribute thoughtful, grounded comments that connected course concepts to real‑world practice. That same mindset shows up in her professional trajectory: before the MBA, she managed a multimillion‑dollar electronics commodity portfolio, leading cross‑functional teams and supplier negotiations, and she has since earned a highly competitive supply chain internship and full‑time role with Delta Air Lines—clear external validation of her capability and potential.

Why Alicia’s actions matter most, however, is the example she sets for both her peers and her children. Many students quietly struggle with imposter syndrome; Alicia names it openly and then pairs that honesty with action. She continues to volunteer for recruiting and yield events, sharing her story of uncertainty, family commitments, and early self‑doubt, and how leaning into the program, taking risks, and succeeding in her internship helped her rebuild her confidence. In doing so, she gives prospective and current students—especially those balancing caregiving responsibilities—permission to see themselves here and to believe that they, too, belong. In short, Alicia is the kind of quietly indispensable MBA every community hopes to have: she elevates the conversation, steadies others in difficult moments, and leads in a way that will ripple through her organizations and family for years to come.”

Dr. Sarah Jaks
Full-Time MBA Director

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