The Urban Leadership Program, in partnership with Executive Coach Eddie Rivera, provides one-on-one executive coaching for Urban Leadership Students. Urban Leadership Colleagues have the opportunity to work with Eddie on-going throughout their time in the program as they grow their leadership and professional competencies in alignment with their career aspirations.
About Our Executive Coach
Eddie was born and raised on the island of Puerto Rico. At age 20 he traveled to Los Angeles, California on what should have been a two-week visit. That trip became the beginning of his personal and professional journey. Although he did not speak English at the time, one of his goals was to learn how to speak, read and write in English. His strong desire to learn and grow while overcoming numerous personal challenges, set in motion a most successful professional career.
Along the way, Eddie had the opportunity to work for some well known companies, including:
- Bank of America
- Citicorp / Citibank
- Jacobs Medical Center-Internal Medicine
- Bellagio Hotel & Resort
- MGM Resorts International
- Four Seasons Hotel & Resorts
- U.S. Bank
Eddie has made Las Vegas his home for the past 33 years, and he has been a friend of UNLV since 2009 when he became a guest speaker at the College of Hotel Administration. In 2016 he became Executive Coach for the MBA Program at the Lee Business School, and guest speaker. He received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from California State University, and a Master of Science in Behavioral Psychology from Purdue University.
Ultimately, his messages are powerful because they come from incredible personal stories of persistence, hard work, failure, success, and a series of events that transformed his life. He lives by the motto: “Don’t let the past take from you what the future has for you, greatness comes from looking ahead.”