Q&A with Joe Delgado '93

Your Cuban American heritage plays a big role in your development as a student and a professional. Tell us about your family's journey to the United States:

I was born in a Cuban American household to wonderful parents. My mother and father left their homeland during the same year the Castro government nationalized all businesses without compensation and the Communist experiment began. They left everything and arrived New York City heartbroken with two suitcases, their faith in God and a belief in each other. In 1961 President Kennedy led an effort to provide approximately 20,000 Cuban refugees with opportunities to work. My launched a career as an architect and became a partner of his firm. My mother, a bright woman and daughter of a well-known Cuban surgeon, never had time to go to college with four children, but she leveraged her style, honesty and language capabilities to become a successful real estate broker. My parents  nurtured, encouraged and motivated me to strive for better and did so by example.

What was it like for you as a student during the 1980s and '90s?

My dream was to come to Duke. When I arrived in 1989, Duke was a different place. It was rapidly growing into the national and global powerhouse it is today, but was not there quite yet. My experience at Duke was a gift. I learned that I had a point of view and a voice. Early on, I would tell other freshman that I was Cuban—and repeatedly, my peers gained real perspective from my story.

What happened after you left Duke?

When I left Duke I joined JP Morgan. The company had little use for a Spanish literature and history major with mediocre math skills, but they had a real need for a young man willing to work all night, think broadly as one does in liberal arts, and speak Spanish at a time when the bank had unique opportunities in the privatizations of state-owned enterprises throughout Latin America.  I moved to Chile and later to Mexico and built my carrier while finding a place without a hyphen: I was as Latino as I wanted to be and an American as I wanted to be; It was like I had a super power. I eventually made the leap to private equity at New Mountain Capital in New York City, where I acquired businesses to make them more profitable in order to sell them.  In my role today, I look for businesses that are trying to build “new mountains.” I look for talented, entrepreneurial, honest, transparent, spirited risk-takers to lead our companies. These are characteristics I observed in my parents and their friends as they leveraged adversity and an opportunity in the United States to build their new mountains.  It’s not always at the same scale, but it’s the same tool kit.

What is your advice to DUHLAA alumni and Hispanic and Latino students at Duke?

We have an increasing voice, an invaluable experience, a multi-cultural perspective and a Duke degree. We are tremendously capable and uniquely positioned. But for what? That is up to each one of us to decide. But we should all should feel attached to these unique capabilities and work to make a difference.  We must all spend the time to find the spaces that need help, mine the seams and fill them with our talents. If we do, we will live more productive lives, but more importantly, our communities will be better off, our businesses and governments will improve performance, and by extension, we will contribute to the construction of an improved path for our world.