Richard Carrion

Richard Carrion is an innovator human being that has brought technological events throughout various countries of Latin America. With the experience this gentleman has, it is how he has been able to raise the bar in his native country by using his business knowledge and his favorite passion, charisma. Besides maximizing shareholder’s profit, Mr. Carrion has dedicated the majority of his life helping the community many ways. Education and sports are the two key important elements in his philanthropy field of experience.
Richard L. Carrion Rexach was born on November 26, 1952 in San Juan, Puerto Rico to a very knowledgeable and wealthy family. The Carrion family is a well-known family name that has created many historical moments of the history of Puerto Rico since the 1800’s until today. His grandfather, Rafael Carrion senior, was one of the founders of Popular, Inc. (BPPR) (Gonzalez, 2012). Popular, Inc. is the umbrella or parent company of the well-ranked Banco Popular de Puerto Rico and Banco Popular North America. It also has other subsidiaries that are Popular Finance, Popular Mortgage, Popular Lease and Rent, and others. Banco Popular de Puerto Rico is the biggest bank on the island of Puerto Rico, the largest Hispanic bank of the United States of America, and it is classified as the one of the top 100 banks in the United States (Profiles. The Forbes Magazine, 2012). These are all achievements that have been passed from generations through generations.
Richard Carrion graduated from the Wharton School obtaining a bachelor’s degree in Finance and Commerce (Gonzalez, 2012). Later on, in 1976, Richard Carrion obtained a master’s degree in science in management information systems from MIT. After completing the master’s degree, Richard Carrion joined Banco Popular in 1976 working under his father’s management. After his father 's death, Carrion became the leader of that banking corporation following the legacy of his father and grandfather. The Carrion family has been a perfect example of hierarchy in the Puerto Rican history. Richard Carrion is the current chief executive office and chairman of Popular, Inc. (Profiles. The Forbes Magazine, 2012). Richard Carrion, as chief executive officer, has led the way through multiple innovations in the firm. Mr. Carrion has followed the footsteps of his successful father and grandfather by expanding through the Caribbean, Latin America and the United States (Gonzalez, 2012). The United States’ market alone is a subsidiary of the parent company. The company has acquired multiple companies including the second largest bank in Puerto Rico, Banco de Ponce. Banco Roig, Seminole Bank, First State Bank of Southern California, Gore Bronson Bancorp in Chicago and Aurora National Bank are the acquisitions Richard Carrion has been the key role for such events to occur. Recently, he also headed Popular’s recent acquisition of Quaker City, a savings and loan holding company for Quaker City Bank, based in Whittier, California, and Kislak National Bank, a Florida based commercial bank (Gonzalez, 2012).
Richard Carrion has had an enormous impact not only in his native country, Puerto Rico, but also throughout Latin American. Mr. Carrion’s entrepreneurship abilities and steady vision made possible the first network of automatic teller machines (ATMs) to Puerto Rico and many other Latin American countries. Also, guided the successful transformation from paper to electronic transactions.
The great achievements that have marked the history and put humanity in another level of comfort are simple examples of what this Richard Carrion is capable of performing. Mr. Carrion is a proud member of the board of directors for Verizon Communications Inc. and was for Wyeth Pharmaceutical until the recent acquisition of Pfizer (Profiles. The Forbes Magazine, 2012). Also, Mr. Carrion previously served as a Class A director of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York for the year 1999 and is serving another term until the end of the year 2013 (The Federal Reserve Bank of New York, 2008). He is serving as a Class A director along with the respectable JP Morgan president and chairman, James Dimon (The Federal Reserve Bank of New York, 2008).
For more than half of his career and life, Mr. Carrion has divided his time between business world and what he likes to call philanthropy. He believes that the most important things on a child’s life are education and sports, which is why he places a great emphasis on that. He is the founder and trustee of the Banco Popular Foundation among other charities and has donated scholarships to over 1,000 students through the Rafael Carrion Jr. Scholarship Fund (Wilson, 2011). The Rafael Carrion Jr. Scholarship Fund was named after his father. Also, Mr. Carrion has also been involved in the production of music videos that highlight Puerto Rico 's musical culture and history. These productions are released around the Christmas holiday season and the profit of the production is donated or reinvested to continue the different charities Mr. Carrion supports. In 2007, he was appointed a member of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) Finance Commission due to the results of his support and passion to sports (Wilson, 2011). He has been a member of the International Olympic Committee since 1990 and was one of the torch carriers for the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy (Wilson, 2011).
Richard Carrion has also donated time and funds in order to improve Puerto Rico 's public education system. He participated in Sapientis Week, which brings distinguished public figures into classrooms in order to raise the public 's awareness of the education crisis in Puerto Rico (Wilson, 2011).
In conclusion, as previously stated, Richard Carrion started of his career with the help of his family. After completing many great achievements through acquisitions, the Puerto Rican and Latin American communities can witness the results on a daily basis. Technological improvements and the way we do business on the island are other great examples. Mr. Carrion is not only a businessman, but also a human being that has a great charisma for society. Richard Carrion in many ways has helped schools, sports team, and has been a very active member of the Olympic Committee. Indeed, he is businessman and philanthropist.

Works Cited Page

Gonzalez, Joanisabel (2012, January 26). Popular en Positivo. El Nuevo Dia De
Puerto Rico http://www.elnuevodia.com/popularenpositivo-1174759.html

Learning Center. Profiles. The Forbes Magazine. Retrieved April 14th, 2012 from http://people.forbes.com/profile/richard-l-carrion/64615 Organization. Board of Directors. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Published January 2008. http://www.newyorkfed.org/ aboutthefed/orgchart/board/carrion.html

Wilson, Stephen (2011, July 22). AP Sports Writer http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/wireStory?id=14136602

Annual Compensation*
Salary $1,316,282
Total Annual Compensation $1,316,282
Stock Options*
Restricted Stock Awards $419,130
All Other Compensation $289,565
Total Compensation*
Total Annual Cash Compensation $1,605,847
Total Short Term Compensation $1,316,282
Other Long Term Compensation $708,695
Total Calculated Compensation $2,552,311

Cited: Page Gonzalez, Joanisabel (2012, January 26) Published January 2008. http://www.newyorkfed.org/ aboutthefed/orgchart/board/carrion.html Wilson, Stephen (2011, July 22)