42 in business and international trade. I was transferred by my employer at the time to open an intermediation office in Miami, Florida, to facilitate business between our customers in Peru and suppliers in the U.S. I felt I needed additional knowledge and experience to immerse myself in the U.S. business culture and become more competitive in the job market, so I chose to earn my M.B.A. in International Business from NSU. Most of my M.B.A. work was virtual, with formal classes on Fridays and Saturday every other week. I was exposed to great professors, as well as to a very diverse student group. NSU allowed me to expand my horizons and understand the American way of doing business, starting with business language, trends, institutions, policies, and processes that prepared me to further compete in the marketplace. After working at companies such as GE Plastics, Cabot Corporation, and NOVA Chemicals, I joined Montachem International, Inc. in 2011 as its general manager to help the owners build a solid global business. At the time, Montachem was a successful distributor and trader in plastic resins (polymers) that focused mostly on Latin I was born in Peru to a multicultural family with Peruvian, Spanish, and Italian ancestry. Both of my parents’ families were in the wool business. From an early age, I was fascinated by technology and international trade and thought I was going to work in the family’s export business. I earned a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering in Peru, but by the time I finished college, the family business virtually disappeared, as global wool demand dropped significantly. I owned a plant nursery in Peru. It wasn’t a big enterprise, but it triggered a strong entrepreneurial spirit. I am very entrepreneurial in nature, so maybe in the future I will entertain the idea of developing another business. I enjoy the idea of building value, generating jobs, and having a positive impact on the community and those around me. In 1984, I took a job selling imported industrial raw materials, which at some point included plastics. I decided to specialize in plastics—a product that was going to continue changing the world in many ways. By the time I moved to the United States, I already had a good background Meet the Plastics Pro JUAN-CARLOS (JC) AVILA, M.B.A. M.B.A. (’94) COO of Montachem International, Inc. H. Wayne Huizenga College of Business and Entrepreneurship A passion for plastics and giving back to his alma mater through volunteer service are two traits that help define who JC Avila is both personally and professionally. As the chief operating officer (COO) of Montachem International, Inc., Avila oversees a business that has more than doubled in size and generates revenues of more than half a billion dollars annually since he joined it in 2011. Shark Encounters
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