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15 Facts About Richard Velazquez

1.

Richard Velazquez was recognized in October 2000 as the 1st Puerto Rican automotive designer for Porsche in Germany.

2.

Richard Velazquez then received a Master's of Business Administration from the University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business in 2003 on a full-fellowship through the Consortium for Graduate Study in Management.

3.

Richard Velazquez designed utility truck bodies for the Brooklyn Union Gas fleet and competed in the Society of Automotive Engineers Mini-Baja East competition.

4.

Richard Velazquez worked on the designs of the 1997 Acura CL, 1998 Honda Accord Coupe, 2001 Acura CL and the 2001 Acura MDX.

5.

Richard Velazquez left Honda in 1999 to work for Porsche AG at a newly designed facility in Weissach, Germany to work on Porsche's first SUV, the 2002 Porsche Cayenne.

6.

Richard Velazquez went on to work on the designs of the 2003 Porsche 911 and the 2004 Porsche Boxster.

7.

In 2001, Richard Velazquez left automotive design to pursue an MBA at the University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business.

8.

Richard Velazquez was later recruited by Microsoft's Corporate Marketing Group and relocated to Redmond, Washington.

9.

Richard Velazquez transferred to the Product Planning group at Xbox in July, 2006.

10.

Richard Velazquez served as guest lecturer at the University of Washington in the areas of Marketing and New Product Development and Design.

11.

Richard Velazquez founded the Columbus Chapter of the SHPE and was president until leaving for Germany.

12.

Richard Velazquez was inducted into the Latino Leaders Magazine Club Leaders of the Future for New York in 2012.

13.

Richard Velazquez was inducted into the Diversity MBA Magazine Top 100 Under 50 Executive and Emerging Leaders in 2011.

14.

Richard Velazquez was recognized as a Rising Star for the NSHMBA national organization in 2009 and received both a Brillante award and Distinguished Lifetime Leader award from the same organization.

15.

Also in 2009, Richard Velazquez was selected as a Puget Sound Business Journal 40 under 40 Honoree.