Encouraging the best
Everyone entering Lora Villarreal’s building at Affiliated Computer Services Inc. sees a sign reading, “Excellence.”
Villarreal, MSA ’91, hung the sign when she took over the human resources department for the business process and information technology outsourcing company based in Dallas. Villarreal is executive vice president and chief people officer.
“I try to teach our people to strive for excellence for their own self-satisfaction,” she says. “This doesn’t mean perfection. But I tell people when they leave work to ask themselves, ‘Was this an A, B, C, or a failure day?’ and then think about what they can do to make the next day better.
“My role is to make every single one
of my people a success.”
Villarreal encourages that success by, among other things, promoting education.
“When you don’t have a degree, that’s always a cop out when you’re looking for a new position,” she says.
Villarreal was living in Omaha, Nebraska, when she decided to pursue her master’s degree from CMU. Her husband was in the military stationed at Offutt Air Force Base.
“I chose CMU because I had heard it was pretty hard, but you came out with a respectable credential,” Villarreal says.
“I had a great experience. The professors really wanted you to succeed, but none of them let us slack off. I was working, too, so in my free time I was either doing papers or doing research. I had no social life. But I knew there would be a really good end result.”
Villarreal says her accounting and statistics education have helped her in the business world, and the critical thinking, writing, and presentation skills have been essential to her success.
“My CMU education gave me the knowledge base I needed,” she says. “All of those things I use every day at work.”
ACS promotes itself as an entrepreneurial, upbeat, fast-paced company. It has locations in Europe, Asia, Latin America, Canada, Mexico, the Philippines, Fiji, and Ghana.
Villarreal often meets with clients and the board of directors. And she travels around the world to meet with ACS staff.
“I’m on the road quite a bit visiting our people,” she says. “I go in a room, I sit down with the employees, and I say, ‘What’s on your mind? What’s good, what’s bad, what’s indifferent?’
“I enjoy the interaction with all types of people from all ethnic backgrounds. Every day I learn something. With such a diverse group of employees that we have, we’re constantly changing. Change is opportunity – it’s excitement.”
When she’s in her office in Texas, Villarreal monitors world events to keep abreast of what news might be happening where ACS offices are located. She and her staff stand ready to assist their employees around the world.
Villarreal says one of the biggest challenges her human resources department faces is what she calls “the war for talent” – competing with other companies for top-notch employees.
“We’re all fighting for the best and the brightest,” she says.
Thanks to Villarreal’s sign, the excellent employees know they’re wanted at ACS. •
