- M.B.A. 1982, Harvard Business School
- B.S. Civil Engineering 1980, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Carlos J. Vazquez was named in 2013 as Chief Financial Officer of Popular Inc., a financial holding company composed of two principal subsidiaries: Puerto Rico’s largest bank, Banco Popular de Puerto Rico, and a US-mainland operation, Popular Bank. Popular Inc. is presently the 40th largest financial holding company in the United States with assets around $50 Billion, principally supervised by the Federal Reserve Bank of NY.
From 2010 to 2014 Mr. Vázquez served as President of Banco Popular North America (BPNA, now renamed Popular Bank), a $9 Billion full service retail and commercial bank that at the time of his appointment served clients through 95 branches in the metropolitan areas of New York City (NY & NJ), Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami and Orlando. Under Mr. Vazquez’s leadership BPNA was restructured, focusing its business activities solely in the NY and Florida markets, transferring and consolidating the back office to Puerto Rico and returning the operation to sustained profitability.
Mr. Vázquez joined Popular, Inc. as Executive Vice President in March 1997 to establish and lead Popular’s first-ever Risk Management Group, which included the Credit Risk Management, Audit, Corporate Compliance, Operational Risk Management, and Risk Management MIS Divisions. From 2004 through 2010 he headed Popular’s Consumer Lending Group for Puerto Rico, responsible for personal loans, credit cards, overdraft lines-of-credit, the mortgage origination and servicing business via Popular Mortgage; as well as the auto, marine and equipment financing business via Popular Auto.
Before joining Popular, Inc., Mr. Vázquez spent fifteen years in a variety of positions with JP Morgan & Co. Inc. From 1982 to 1988 he performed various corporate finance duties. From 1988 through 1990 he served in JP Morgan Securities' Capital Markets Unit providing capital markets coverage for supranational and corporate clients. From 1990 to 1992, while located in London, England, he headed JP Morgan’s Emerging Markets Banking effort for Europe. In New York in the early 1990's, Mr. Vázquez returned to the Capital Markets Group where he headed JP Morgan’s Capital Markets Group for Latin American corporate clients, executing numerous capital markets, hedging, private equity, M&A and privatization transactions. During the two years prior to his joining Popular, Inc., he was Senior Banker and Region Manager for JP Morgan's business in Colombia, Venezuela, Central America and the Caribbean.
Mr. Vázquez is an Executive Vice President of Popular Inc.; a member of Popular Inc.’s Senior Management Counsel; as well as its Credit Strategy and Asset & Liability Management Committees. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Banco Popular de Puerto Rico, Banco Popular North America, Popular Securities Inc. and Vice Chairman of the Banco Popular Foundation. He is also a registered broker.
Mr. Vazquez presently serves in the Board of Directors of the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York. He is the Chairman of that Board’s Technology Committee, Vice Chair of the Risk Management Committee and a member of the Strategic Planning Committee. He also serves in the national Board of Directors of Operation Hope, a national non-for-profit focusing on financial literacy.
Previously, Mr. Vázquez served as a member of the board of directors for the Puerto Rico Community Foundation, the largest community foundation in the Caribbean; where he headed the Audit and Investment Committees. He was a director of Teatro de la Opera, a non-for-profit entity dedicated to the promotion of opera. He also contributed to various educational institutions in Puerto Rico, serving as a member of the board of trustees of the Saint John’s School and a member of the Development Committee for Colegio San Ignacio de Loyola.
