Ana Santos
Jones Graduate School of Business, Rice University
Age: 42
“Passionate, positive, caring and driven. Fueled by new opportunities, inspiring others and generating impactful results.”
Hometown: Houston, TX. Born and raised in San Jose, Costa Rica.
Family Members: Husband: Nathan; Children: Sofia (10 years), Elena (7 years)
Fun fact about yourself: The genuine, caring and altruistic act of the owner of a grocery shop in London changed my life, allowing me to find a job in Brussels, where I lived two of the best years of my life and the place where I then met my husband.
Undergraduate School and Degree: Universidad de Costa Rica, San Jose, Costa Rica: Bachelor’s Degree and Juris Doctor in Law; UCL, London, United Kingdom: LLM in International Banking and Finance Law; Rice University, Houston, TX: MBA
Where are you currently working? Chevron. Renewable Power Senior Category Manager
Extracurricular Activities, Community Work and Leadership Roles: Very active in supporting minorities and less privileged children both in the U.S. and Costa Rica. Member of the Latin American and Women employee networks at Chevron. President of my EMBA cohort.
Which academic or extracurricular achievement are you most proud of during business school? Making the decision of bringing my whole self in when signing up for Rice’s EMBA program. As a result of this, I was nominated by several of my classmates to run as the cohort’s president, which I was ultimately elected to be. Leading leaders is hard and leading amazing leaders is even harder. This brings not only a pressure to deliver, but most importantly comes with the big responsibility of ensuring true servant leadership to them. The EMBA ’24 cohort is a great group of smart and talented individuals. Having the honor of representing and being there for them, as we went through this transformational journey, was very impactful and special. It made me realize not only that I have the ability to lead large groups of diverse and highly functioning professionals, but that being in that position brings the very best out of me.
What achievement are you most proud of in your professional career? As a Logistics Category Manager, I was asked to lead and implement the logistics strategy for an exploration project in a challenging Latin American jurisdiction. The team was very diverse in terms of seniority, areas of expertise, and background. After several in-country visits, it was evident that the shore base originally proposed to the Decision Review Board was not the best one for the project. Although it was challenging to try to reverse the decision, it was the right thing to do. Hence, the Drilling Superintendent and I led the process of building a strong business case, leveraged by the team’s findings, to influence our leadership’s decision. The decision was ultimately reversed. I am proud of this accomplishment because it required a lot of due diligence to make sure that our findings were correct. Even more, it required a huge alignment within the team and courage to lead without authority to convince our management to support our proposal.
Who was your favorite MBA professor? Beth O’Sullivan, our communication professor. Beth is not only a wealth of knowledge and experience, but a beacon of positive and creative energy. What I admired the most about Beth was her ability to influence others and make every class a very interesting and fun one. With her kind attitude, she would encourage others to continuously improve and get the best out of them.
Why did you choose this school’s executive MBA program? I chose Rice University because of its culture and commitment to excellence. One of Rice’s focus areas is the energy transition, which is a topic that I am passionate about. My family and I live in Houston, so location was also key on the decision-making process. Rice’s curriculum is not only very strong, but also geared towards students having a big variety of electives to choose from, enabling them to tailor their program towards their desired outcomes and exploring lots of interesting subjects and outstanding professors. Rice University offers a very personalized experience to students, always having an open door to support and continue to improve. I appreciated this culture and their attitude to truly go above and beyond to help students maximize their experience.
What is the biggest lesson you gained during your MBA and how did you apply it at work? When there is a will, there is a way. Nothing is impossible if you decide so. It seemed impossible before starting this MBA to dedicate such a significant amount of time to anything else. Life was already pretty busy. My 58 cohort members and I did not only sign up for it but successfully completed it. This is an example of determination, prioritization and amazing time management. Also, an excellent example that these types of accomplishments rarely happen just by us. Having a strong support network and being always grateful to them is extremely important as we progress in our journey.
Give us a story during your time as an executive MBA on how you were able to juggle work, family and education? I had a work trip scheduled to Kazakhstan. During that week, I also had to turn in my last accounting homework and submit my finance final. My husband also had a business trip scheduled that week and someone had to look after our two girls. We made several adjustments that week starting with my parents coming from Costa Rica to help out with the girls. I used the long flight to complete my homework and submit my final. It was one of the most exhausting weeks of my life. With determination, good planning and the amazing support of our family, it all worked out well – and I even got a pretty good grade in my exam!
What advice would you give to a student looking to enter an executive MBA program? There will never be the perfect time to make a massive decision like entering an executive MBA program. If this is a big goal for you and enough stars are aligned, go for it – you will not regret it!
What was your biggest regret in business school? Walking the Rice campus even more, using that time to reflect and digest the big transformation that was going on.
Which MBA classmate do you most admire? Vaishali Bhuvela. Vaishali is one of the smartest people I met in the program. She is extremely good at what she does. Even more, she has an amazing sense of humor, always putting a smile on people’s faces, and leading by great example of camaraderie, hard work, determination and resilience. I learned a lot from Vaishali during my EMBA and look forward to continuing a long-lasting relationship.
What was the main reason you chose an executive MBA program over part-time or online alternatives? The “every-other-weekend” format offered by Rice is what worked best for me considering my family, travel requirements and workload. The executive program also made sense considering the stage I was in my career.
What is your ultimate long-term professional goal? I want to be a source of positive energy making an impact not only at work, but especially in my personal life and my community, helping and inspiring as many people as possible. The more integrated these three pillars are, the more aligned with my purpose my life will be and the best version of me I will continue showing to my world.
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