Antonio Carrilo

Wharton MBA ‘93

INTERVIEW — MAY 22TH 2022

What did you study at Penn?

I did my MBA at Wharton and I graduated in 1993.

What does a day in your life look like?

I work at Arcosa, a public company with a market cap around $3B, we have 125 plants mainly in the USA, Mexico, and a few in Canada. We make infrastructure products so a day in my life depends on the time of year. If it is a financial reporting season, it's crazier, I am looking at numbers and talking to investors and all those sorts of things. I spend a long time doing regulatory things, a lot of legal stuff. But, I would say the most important piece of my daily life is staying in touch with our employees, meeting the talent, developing and understanding people. And then staying in touch with our customers and investors, that’s where I try to spend most of my time either at plants, with employees, with customers. And most of the time, unfortunately, with the CEO of a public company you rarely see good news. Normally, 90% of the things I see are problems and 10% good stuff. 

What was the proudest accomplishment of your career thus far? 

I am very proud of everything that I’ve done, I’ve always wanted to be a public company CEO and this month will be my 10th year as CEO. The most important thing at the end of the day is family and keeping a well balanced life. One of the things that also makes me very proud, is that I’ve had about 3 or 4 jobs in my life, I’ve never had too much turnover, and all the people that I’ve worked for in the past are investors in my company today. So that tells you that they still trust me even though I am not working for them, so that’s also a good sign.

How do you balance your personal life with your career? 

It’s not easy and one of the things I tell my team, people I meet, and especially young people that I talk to is as you progress in your career you go from running marathons in your early stages, everyday working very hard, as you progress in your career things become more like sprints, so you may have some slower times and then you have an incredible sprint where things are coming together and it's very crazy. So take advantage of those slower times, and use them wisely. I tend to spend a lot of time with my family during those times. Also, there’s a great book by a Penn professor, I don’t remember his name, but he says that rather than trying to separate your personal and professional life, integrate them. So when I travel to interesting places, I try to take my wife and kids to see a lot of the plants I run and then I would spend a few days working there. And one more thing, try to stay in shape, it’s a tough career so take care of your health,

What advice do you wish you had known when you were an undergraduate and an MBA? 

I think the most important thing is that professional life is never really a straight line, there’s ups and downs. It’s important to keep that in mind when you are progressing. You will have failures, challenges, tough times, and times when you think your career is over. Those things will pass. And if you keep that in your perspective, I think that's important to get some peace inside of you. Also, at the end of the day if you try to do the right thing all the time, no matter how tough things get, if you try to always keep in mind that you need to do the right thing, those things will come back and reward you. Even if they don’t, you’ll be able to sleep well at night knowing you did the right thing.

Advice for our undergraduates as they begin to explore careers and internships? 

Yes, be relentless. Be the first one at work, be the last one to leave. Work really hard. I think in the end that concept of finding your passion is true, but that passion comes after doing the same thing many times. You never like things you do the first time, you always end up starting to like them after you try it over time. So don’t fall for the idea that you will be passionate about what you want to do in life on day 1, because there’s a few people lucky enough to do that. I've met a few, but there are very few. Most people find their passion as they go through the process, and enjoy the ride, it’s not about where you want to get it’s about enjoying the ride. I think that that’s the most important piece. Your ride will be more comfortable at times than others but it’s the one you chose and the one you will live with for the rest of your life so enjoy it.

Favorite part of Penn/Wharton outside of the classroom? 

I would say my friends, my friends are still my friends 30 years later. I am going to my 30 year reunion next year. I still see them, chat with them, travel with them. I may not have seen them in 20 years but we still get together and have a great time. I just went to the Bat Mitzvah of a son of a friend of mine a few months ago in New York. Also, a wedding of a daughter of another friend. So I think that’s my most important piece, the friendship you form.

Best career advice you received? 

I had worked in manufacturing before Wharton, but when I came I was looking for a career change. I worked at McKinsey for my summer internship, and I hated consulting. Also tried banking for a few weeks, but didn't like it. So my former boss said to me, you know you really liked the plant, why don't you come back? And the Wharton people also thought I was crazy to drop McKinsey and a bank at that time also and go back to a manufacturing facility. But that was the best decision I have made, but it came from someone telling me “It’s okay to go against what everyone else is telling you.”

Piece of advice you want our members to know?

I just spoke to one of the CEOs of the largest banks here in Texas, they received 200,000 applications and since there were so many they added one more step to be accepted. They said that if anyone asks about remote work they will not be considered. So I would say, the world’s changing, and people want to have a different way of life that’s okay but it’s going to take some time, don’t expect it to happen overnight. So if you’re the first at work and last one to leave you will have a huge advantage, huge. If you’re willing to sacrifice some of your personal life for the work you want to do you will have an incredible advantage over people who are not willing to. So if you really want to get an edge, put in the effort.

Favorite place that you have ever traveled to?

Machu Picchu in Peru and Iguazu Falls in Brazil and an African safari, I love being in contact with nature.

Favorite thing to do for fun?

Spending time with my family, skiing, golf, and running with my kids. 

Where do you see yourself in a few years?

As a public company CEO, you can only be on the board of another company you can’t do more than one. So I’m on the board of an energy company called NRG Energy and eventually when I retire, I want to be on more boards. And ideally, if everything comes together I want to teach. I was a teacher for some period of my life at the University of Mexico and I really enjoyed it. 

What would you want to teach?

Something related to what I have done: strategy, finance, M&A. But when I was a teacher I would ask for one thing, that every semester I teach something different. And that is because the teacher is the one who learns the most by preparing the class. And I want to keep on learning.