{"id":9728,"date":"2021-06-17T09:46:25","date_gmt":"2021-06-17T13:46:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/marymount.edu\/?p=9728"},"modified":"2021-06-17T09:46:25","modified_gmt":"2021-06-17T13:46:25","slug":"clarity-7-questions-with-irma-becerra","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marymount.edu\/blog\/clarity-7-questions-with-irma-becerra\/","title":{"rendered":"Clarity: 7 Questions with Irma Becerra<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

Name: Irma Becerra, Ph.D.
\nCurrent title: President
\nCurrent organization: Marymount University<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dr. Irma Becerra took office as the seventh President of Marymount University on July 1, 2018. In her near-three years as President, she has launched the University\u2019s new Strategic Plan, added market-driven academic programs and overseen the transition to a new academic structure, acquired a luxury apartment building for residential life use, improved the University\u2019s IT infrastructure and navigated the school community through the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

She is a nationally recognized educator known for innovation, entrepreneurship and transformational education. Prior to Marymount, she served as Provost and Chief Academic Officer at St. Thomas University, and also spent three decades at Florida International University (FIU) in a variety of positions that include Vice President, Vice Provost, Entrepreneurship Center Director and tenured professor. She became the first woman to earn a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering at FIU.<\/p>\n

1. What have you found most challenging as a CEO or executive of a large enterprise?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve found that when leaders need to effect transformational changes, the process of impacting the organizational culture can be challenging, because transformation takes time. As a CEO or executive, you need to put many things in place before your initiatives can really start to catch on. For a while, it may feel like you\u2019re not moving the needle, because it\u2019s hard to measure the impact of your initiatives right out of the gate. So therefore, you need to anticipate how long it may take to produce the results that you\u2019re expecting.<\/p>\n

2. How did you become a CEO or executive of a large enterprise? Can you please briefly tell the story?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I was born in Cuba, and immigrated to the U.S. with my parents when I was just an infant to escape Castro\u2019s Revolution. I then lived in Puerto Rico through high school. My family had to start again from nothing, and there were many challenges we faced. However, my formative experiences gave me a passion for knowledge, and my grandparents instilled in me a belief that \u201cno one can take away your education.\u201d<\/p>\n

I earned both bachelor\u2019s and master\u2019s degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Miami, and went on to work at Florida Power & Light. Later on, I decided to continue my education and became the first woman to earn a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Florida International University (FIU), taking classes where I was commonly the only woman in the room. I worked for a NASA-funded center at the University of Florida, and then joined the faculty at FIU\u2019s College of Business. I would spend the next 12 years there working to become a tenured full professor in Management Information Systems, founded FIU\u2019s Knowledge Management Lab and worked on many research projects in knowledge management, primarily for NASA.<\/p>\n

Around this time, I discovered how I could make a greater impact on more lives through education administration. Leaving the classroom, I served in a variety of positions at FIU including Entrepreneurship Center Director, Vice Provost and Vice President. I then moved to St. Thomas University in Miami Gardens, Fla., where I was Provost and Chief Academic Officer.<\/p>\n

Then, in the summer of 2018, I was blessed to be selected as Marymount\u2019s seventh president, and I moved to Arlington and got started. Through this journey, I would tell others that if you want to progress in your career, you need to show tangible results from your leadership.<\/p>\n

3. How do you structure your work days from waking up to going to sleep?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The first thing that I do is have coffee! Then I work out first thing in the morning, because with the nature of my days, I know that I would have a hard time fitting it in later. After that I look at my calendar, which helps me determine how I should dress for the day based on whether I\u2019ll need to do a lot of walking around campus or attend an evening event.<\/p>\n

I prefer to get to work before my day \u2018really\u2019 starts \u2013 if my meetings begin at 9 am, I\u2019m here at 8:15 or 8:30. Of course, there are days where my meetings start at 7:30 or 8 am. Either way, I like to come in early and be prepared for what\u2019s next.<\/p>\n

My days are full of meetings, and then I\u2019m usually involved in events and dinners after work. It\u2019s not unusual for me to just get home at 9 or 10 at night, and it\u2019s not uncommon to be busy on weekends, too. One of the hardest things for me to do is get enough sleep, but I\u2019m beginning to be more mindful about getting the proper rest and scheduling time for decompressing.<\/p>\n

4. What’s the most recent significant leadership lesson you’ve learned?<\/strong><\/p>\n

We learned a great deal from leading effectively during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially the importance of establishing a coordinating structure. In my case, thanks to previous training in disaster management, we formed a COVID-19 Task Force based on an incident command structure for making all relevant decisions during the pandemic. We met over 100 times during the first six months, and this allowed us to navigate through COVID successfully.<\/p>\n

In complex and unpredictable environments like leading through the pandemic, it\u2019s important to allow different perspectives on the problem to be heard. Often, leaders need to be courageous and make decisions based on what they know is right. In our case, we had to make decisions that balanced two things \u2013 the needs that our students voiced to us about how they learn best in person, as well as the need to keep everyone as safe as possible.<\/p>\n

5. What’s one book that has had a profound impact on your leadership so far? Can you please briefly tell the story of how that book impacted your leadership?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The most impactful book for my tenure at Marymount is \u201cGood to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don\u2019t,\u201d by Jim Collins. The lessons from this book played a critical role in guiding the creation of our current Strategic Plan at Marymount University, titled \u201cMomentum.\u201d<\/p>\n

The author\u2019s findings are important when analyzing all areas of management strategy and practice. Some of the key concepts we have used are finding our \u201chedgehog,\u201d which is how we help our students \u201cLearn with Purpose\u201d; making incremental pushes in strategic directions; using technology, such as Workday, as an accelerator towards our goal of national recognition; measurable goals to drive transformation; the right people in the right places; and allow brutal facts to be aired and resolved.<\/p>\n

6. How do you build leadership capacity in a large enterprise?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I provide my cabinet members the opportunity to lead and make positive change in their respective areas. For example, one of our Vice President\u2019s led our COVID-19 Task Force and Return to Campus Task Force. I empower my leaders to make decisions \u2013 I give my opinions on topics as well, but I give them the freedom to ultimately make the decision. With that, of course, you also pass to them the responsibility.<\/p>\n

7. What is one meaningful story that comes to mind from your time as a CEO or executive of a large enterprise so far?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I think about our recent return to in-person commencement ceremonies, because there was so much happiness on our campus during those three days in May. They served as the culmination of our graduating class\u2019s journey at Marymount, but they also represented the \u2018light at the end of the tunnel\u2019 with everyone back on campus and interacting again.<\/p>\n

Also, this past January I testified to Virginia lawmakers about the importance of Dreamer and undocumented students receiving access to Tuition Assistance Grants (TAG). These bills ultimately passed in the legislature, and it was incredibly fulfilling because it will have such an impact on the lives of so many students for years to come.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Name: Irma Becerra, Ph.D. Current title: President Current organization: Marymount University Dr. Irma Becerra took office as the seventh President of Marymount University on July 1, 2018. In her near-three years as President, she has launched the University\u2019s new Strategic Plan, added market-driven academic programs and overseen the transition to a new academic structure, […]<\/p>\n

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