Meet Judith Gonzalez, Capital One’s Mexico Country Manager

Judith Gonzalez leads our Mexico City Tech hub, where technologists and product managers define, develop and own products end-to-end that help our customers manage and improve their financial lives.

For several decades, Judith has been part of Mexico’s tech ecosystem, working for some of the world’s largest and fastest-growing technology services providers.

I am from Guadalajara and feel very privileged to have been part of Mexico’s tech ecosystem for nearly 30 years. While at Hewlett Packard and Hewlett Packard Enterprise, I was part of the team that built their Mexico tech hub. I also lived through the transformation of Guadalajara from a manufacturing hub to a tech hub. Those events marked me. I could see the kind of change these opportunities can bring to our communities. 

When Capital One approached me, I saw a way to not only help a great company on a mission to change banking for good, enabled by tech, but an opportunity for our community in Mexico City to build a different kind of innovation: One where technologists and product managers are able to define, develop and own products end-to-end that benefit millions of people. I was also struck by the awesome opportunity we have to help people manage and improve their financial lives with the products we build.

One of my main priorities is to deliver high-value products that positively impact millions of people’s financial lives. To achieve this, we need to hire great talent and empower them to do great things. That is why we are growing a deeply talented team of technology leaders to build products, services and experiences. Over time, I want Capital One to be seen as an employer of choice and destination for Mexico’s top talent.

I am also very passionate about having a positive impact on our community–something Capital One is very committed to. At HP, I led our philanthropy committee for three years, so I look forward to shaping programs like volunteerism and how we invest in and grow local talent.

While I knew Capital One was invested in technology, I didn’t fully appreciate how the company truly views itself as a technology company that happens to be a bank. Technology is core to who we are and how we deliver differential value to our customers. That is why, for example, we undertook the journey many years ago to go all-in on the public cloud. That decision has enabled us to be more agile when developing and delivering technology products that have a positive impact for our customers.

My four core values as a leader include comunicación (communication), colaboración (collaboration), compromiso (commitment) and confianza (trust). When I worked at HP, I saw a sincere trust and respect both for the individual and how we can make things even better when we work together. I also learned about commitment from my time working in technology services. It’s important to commit to delivering results and never leave a client hanging. For a time, I was a consultant and I am also a professor. Communication, including framing things in a clear, concise way was—and remains—critical. In my short time at Capital One, I’ve already seen our associates and leaders demonstrate a commitment to these same values.

Over the last few decades, Mexico has built a mature technology industry with highly skilled technical talent. In that time, companies who have built tech operations in Mexico have traditionally been focused on maintenance, staff augmentation and cost optimization. 

In contrast, Capital One is the first company of its size that I’ve seen allow technologists and product managers to define, develop and own products end-to-end for the benefit of millions of people. The opportunity for our talent is enormous and can ultimately change the trajectory of Mexico’s technology industry in the future. 

In the tech world, it’s important to:

• Never stop learning.
• Collaborate with your community because we are better together.
• Look for opportunities that allow you to both establish yourself in the technology industry and build a long-term career.

As a technologist, it can be enticing to job hop because the technology industry is hot–not only in Mexico but around the world. However, many of the technologists at Capital One have a long tenure because they still feel inspired by and have a connection to the company and our mission. They don’t feel their skills are outdated because they’ve found new opportunities to continue growing at Capital One–including through free technical certifications, mentorship programs, immersive hands-on learning, educational assistance and more. Which leads me to my final piece of advice–apply to Capital One!