1. Personal Bio â Mauro Antonio CalcaĂąo
I was born and raised in Caracas, Venezuela. Fluent in Spanish, English
and working knowledge of Portuguese. When I was young, my father
was a petroleum engineer for ESSO de Venezuela, so for years we lived
in and around the countryâs oilfieldsâŚan educational experience all its
own. I came to the United States to finish high school in Hollywood,
Florida, then went to The George Washington University for my BA
from the School of Public and International Affairs and an additional
year of graduate study in Human Resources Management.
Over the years since, Iâve had the chance to take on several Human
Resources operational roles of increasing scope in some of the worldâs
best companies...like Merck, Beecham, Chiquita, Marriott In-flight, Sara
Lee, Goya and Timex. Iâve been able to work not only in HQ but in
manufacturing environments starting with Merck chemical division to
consumer products plants. Along the way, Iâve seen the Human
Resources function evolve from "personnel," with its transaction-based
mission to a value added role, particularly for businesses operating
across geographic and multi-sites with diverse workforces.
In many ways, I think my career, and my skill set exemplifies this
change in what HR can do as a business partner on the work floor.
Early in my career, I worked âon the floorâ myself, and Iâve never lost
my respect for the people who actually put the product out the door. I
believe this respect comes through and enables positive, open
relationships across the organization that helps me do a better job of
providing HR hands-on leadershipâŚwhether taking ideas and concerns
from the line up the organization to management, or communicating
business strategy to the employee on the line.
2. Personal Bio â Mauro Antonio CalcaĂąo
During my career, I have been involved in manufacturing business
form attracting talent from plant management to supervisors and line
operators. At Timex, for example, I recognized the need for a new
generation of engineering talent, and I developed the strategy for
identifying, attracting, selecting, and retaining âbest in classâ
candidates. The strategy included realistically evaluating the type of
individual Timex could attract, and branding Timex as an âemployer of
choice.â To execute the strategy, I launched an aggressive college and
technical school recruiting campaign; built a user-friendly, high quality
internet job application; implemented behavioral interviewing
programs; and established a solid on-boarding process. I researched
the factors that had previously negatively affected on acceptance and
retention rates, and made appropriate changes in our work
environment, pay levels, benefits, development programs, corporate
culture, and job content.
I was promoted at Sara Lee to integrate and build a new manufacturing
management team for several newly acquired roasting companies
(Chock Full of Nuts and Nestle coffee brands). Despite considerable
success in capturing market share, Corporate eventually decided to
exit the roasted coffee business.
I have implemented HR plant programs from salary and benefits plans
to performance management, development, succession an on/off
boarding programs in numerous companies, business environments,
and geographies. Involving and installing on-going review and year-
end appraisal mechanism to ensure that everyone in the organization
balanced long-term growth with short-term accountability. In terms of
the people planning, I use a variety of tools to identify high potentials
and managers with short/long-term growth potential, and established a
robust professional development program that included job rotation,
role expansion, and cross-functional assignments. More broadly, I led
proactive assessments of the labor market and other business trends
to ensure and quickly adjust changing business needs.
3. Personal Bio â Mauro Antonio CalcaĂąo
On a personal note, my wife, Isabel and I love to travel. I have a passion
for watching parrots (own a blue winged macaw; ara maracana) and
other tropical birds. Iâm also am a cyclist (bike rack includes
Specialized road bike and triathlon bike, as well as a mountain bike)
runner and avid floral photographer,
http://www.flickr.com/photos/zuzanotte.
My wife was born in Costa Rica, father was a Coronel in US Army
Intelligence; she grew up in the Panama Canal Zone. Isabel is bilingual
and we have grown children (Cristina and Marisabel) living in New York
City. I am 6â1â â 200 lbs.
Mauro Antonio CalcaĂąo