Guillermo Murillo

Guillermo Murillo, MMA ‘23 Candidate, is no stranger to solving complex problems. With a career that includes financial roles across several geographic markets, he’s used to planning and implementing strategies that help businesses thrive.

But as he works through his MMA, he’s finding that applying a data lens to business problems allows him to come up with even more innovative solutions.

“I’m learning so many things that can be directly applied, and I’m getting a better understanding about the needs of our stakeholders,” says Murillo, Associate Director at RBC Capital Markets.

“But all these learnings tackle the same thing in the end: those complex problems in organizations that require a more organized and structured way of making decisions, and which you can address more efficiently with the use of data.”

Although his career started off in finance, Murillo says he was always fascinated by computer science and systems engineering. He earned degrees in both business and engineering in his native Colombia, before working as a business technology specialist in the capital markets segment of Banco Davivienda. There, he worked on a project to automate several back-end operations, before moving to Chile to learn more about those trading platforms and the technology behind them, as well Mexico, where he started his managerial career. He eventually landed in New York as a consultant for RBC, later moving into a director role in Toronto.

“Every time that I went to a place, they always told me: ‘We need somebody who's good on the technology side, but also understand what the business needs,” he says.

He decided to pursue the Ivey Master of Management in Analytics program to access a broader wealth of knowledge not only in finance but also accounting, marketing, and “all the areas you can learn about so you can get better in what you do.”

“I wanted to explore different areas,” he says. “I love being agile and finding new ways to work.”

After the first term, Murillo says he feels more confident about many of his skills, as well as about how he communicates with leaders and executives within RBC. He’s also able to recommend improvements in areas he wasn’t able to before.

“I’ve taken many certificate courses, but this time it’s different. I’m learning something that I can apply right away, and which creates business ideas I may be able to use in the future if I ever want to work for myself or on a start-up,” Murillo says.

“The classroom also gives me an opportunity to work and study with many cultures, so I have a better sense of how to approach my stakeholders at work. Everybody's so smart in their own way – it’s very exciting to be in that environment.”