LARRY MERIZALDE, 27
BBA ’00
Asia Pacific Business Development Manager,
Abbott Diabetes Care, Abbott Laboratories

Larry Merizalde’s triangulated career path has taken him from Quito, Ecuador, to Tokyo, Japan, via New York City’s Baruch College. His exhilarating journey did involve a stop in Chicago, where he was chosen for Abbott Laboratories highly competitive rotational management-training program, the Financial Professional Development Program (FPDP). His success in that program, which has had some 350 graduates since 1971, led to the managerial job in Tokyo. “Out of the 300-plus FPDP graduates in our history, he’s one of only a handful who have made it to manager in four years,” says Richard Corbin, controller of corporate administration for Abbott.

Merizalde credits Baruch for helping him to move among different cultures with ease. Merizalde, who enrolled at Baruch after graduating from high school in Quito, where he grew up, says the College not only offered him a solid education in accounting and finance but a window on the world as well. “One of the main things I took away was the opportunity to interact with people from so many different countries,” he says.

He also gives Abbott high marks for not just viewing him as a candidate for a position in the company’s Latin market. “They’re very focused on diversity in the workplace,” Merizalde says, “but I’ve always felt they’ve been fair in finding me a position where I could make the best contribution, regardless of my race and background.”

—Peter Kobel

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