Beaver Reflections:
My experience at Beaver was terrific, some of the best years of my life. I’m originally from Mexico and I was part of an international program that Beaver had at the time. There were probably only four or five of us. One of the other international students came from Spain and he was a tremendous soccer player. Alex Gould, who coaches at Beaver now, he was my best friend. Wayne Turner was there and they had an amazing basketball team as well. So that year was very good for sports. Also, my background in chemical engineering was inspired by Beaver science labs.

What is #happeningnow in your life:
Currently, I am living in New Jersey with my wife and two kids, I am just getting back to working in the office after a few months of working from home. It has been an adjustment having my kids inside the house for sports practices, but we’ve been forced to adapt and find new ways to do things we love. I went to college in Mexico, majored in chemical engineering, and started my professional career at Procter & Gamble, makers of Tide detergent, doing chemistry. Eventually I moved to marketing. Most of my career, 20 years, I’ve been doing marketing. I worked for a while for Danone yogurt, for Bristol-Myers, and then I worked for Colgate-Palmolive. Just last year, I moved to a partner of Colgate called International Flavors & Fragrances that provides the raw material and fragrances for all the Colgate products and for many other companies. I still have a lot of passion for Boston — my Patriots and Red Sox and Celtics and Bruins — but I’m not allowed to say that in the New York area.

“The pandemic will only make us stronger. Many will remember this time in a negative way, but it is important to always think positively. Everyone has learned a lot about the world and about themselves.”

– Juan Carlos Lombera ’95

Advice to Beaver students:
No matter what life throws at you, just stay positive. Look at it from the good side. There’s always an end point and it’s most likely to be a good one.