In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, LER is highlighting a number of our amazing alumni of Hispanic descent. The Chavarry family is one of our multi-generational LER alumni connections, and are proud of their Cuban descent.
Roberto graduated from the then-Institute in 1972. His sons Rob, AM 97, and Jason, MHRIR 09, folllowed in his footsteps. All are enjoying wonderful careers, and Roberto counts his sons' graduations as two of his proudest moments.
"A lot of the good, interesting, and exciting occurrences in my professional life, I owe to the Institute itself," says Roberto.
After graduating from the Institute, he obtained his “dream job”, working for the National Labor Relations Board as a Field Examiner in Los Angeles, California, Region 21. That began a rewarding career that expanded for 34 years. Throughout those 34 years he transferred a number of times, while experiencing promotions with the Agency. Those transfers took him to San Diego, Washington, DC, Indianapolis, and Chicago, from where he retired in May 2006 as a Regional Director.
In 2006, Roberto was awarded the School's Distiguished Alumni Award in recognition of his contributions as an alum. "I proudly display this award in our office here in our home," reports Roberto. During his tenure with the NLRB he was on campus regularly, representing the Board through the School's on-campus recruiting process. Many in the office fondly remember the occasional shock on students' faces if they reported a fluency in Spanish on their resume ... and Roberto would conduct the interview in Spanish without warning.
"After retiring from the Board in May 2006, my wife Glenda and I moved to Tampa, Florida, to be near our daughter. I became a labor arbitrator and up to this date continue to arbitrate cases, which is one of my passions," says Roberto. "In January 2008 I started my 'second caree' as an instructor teaching management classes at the University of South Florida College of Business in Tampa, and continued teaching until this past May when I decided it was time to do something else. That 'something else' was to volunteer in a field where I could utilize my Spanish skills to help immigrants navigate the complex and scary process of immigration. Unfortunately, Covid-19 has prevented me from providing this service for the time being."
Rob is currently an HR Leader with Tesla, living in Arizona. Jason has shifted his career into the popular field of data anaytics. He has held analytics positions with Sears Holdings, The Hershey Company, United Technologies, and now is an HR Manager with National Grid in the Boston area.