César E. De La Cruz León

Emory University, Goizueta Business School

“Ambitious and curious by nature, committed to using business as a force for good.”

Hometown: San Juan, Puerto Rico (PR)

Fun Fact About Yourself: I own a 130 lbs. Rottweiler named Drago; he swears he’s a lap dog.

Undergraduate School and Major: Babson College, Bachelor of Science in Business Administration

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Banco Popular de Puerto Rico (BPPR) / Popular Impact Fund – Financial Analyst

What makes Atlanta such a great place to earn an MBA? Atlanta offers the best of both worlds. It’s one of the country’s leading business hubs, home to multiple Fortune 500 companies, a solid startup ecosystem, and institutional investors deploying capital across the U.S. and beyond. That concentration of businesses creates incredible networking and career opportunities, while the city’s diversity, culture, and global connectivity through Hartsfield-Jackson make it an exciting place to live and learn.

Aside from your classmates and location, what was the key part of Emory Goizueta’s MBA programming that led you to choose this business school and why was it so important to you? The Center for Alternative Investments — its PE, VC, ETA, and Distressed Investing coursework gives me the technical foundation I need to keep building an investing career.

What course, club or activity excites you the most at Emory Goizueta? The Entrepreneurial Private Equity course

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: One of my proudest professional accomplishments has been contributing to the development of the Popular Impact Fund, Puerto Rico’s first corporate venture capital fund, within Banco Popular’s M&A team. I had the opportunity to support the evaluation and deployment of $10+ million into fintech and impact startups across Puerto Rico and the United States. Our portfolio spanned cleantech, medtech, AI, biotech, aquaculture, payments, biomaterials, micromobility, and more. I’m grateful for the trust placed in me and the opportunity to support and learn from such an exceptional group of entrepreneurs, leaders, and stakeholders advancing Puerto Rico’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Looking ahead two years, what would make your Emory MBA experience a success? Success would mean leaving a lasting mark on the Goizueta community and becoming someone my classmates trust and want to build with. I hope to form deep relationships with ambitious people who challenge my assumptions, broaden my perspective, and push me to think bigger. Professionally, I want to secure a role that gives me exposure to multiple geographies, where I can learn how different cultures approach investing and business strategy.

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