Julieta Ross joins Row New York as one of our new board members, an opportunity she describes as “a match made in heaven.” We are excited for her enthusiasm and leadership!
Julieta was born in Buenos Aires to a Spanish father and an Italian mother, with six siblings. She first came to the United States at thirteen, as an exchange student and a year later she came to stay. Julieta finished high school in the U.S. and continued on to Vanderbilt University, earning a degree in electrical engineering. Julieta then received her masters degree and PhD in computer engineering with a fully funded scholarship at the University of Miami.
Julieta stayed on as a professor at the University of Miami but decided after a year that she needed a change, the first of many dynamic career decisions. She moved to Motorola Research, where one of her first projects was working on Bluetooth technology: Julieta’s research team became the first to enable bluetooth on a cellphone. While at Motorola she also worked on the functionality of software-defined cell phones (today’s smart phones) and putting the first java app on a cellphone. Quite a first job!
After all this early success, Julieta effectively gained tenure at Motorola, but felt it was time for another change and a new perspective. So she teamed up with fellow programmers and created a start-up during the ’90s technology boom. After developing a search engine (before Google!), she and her colleagues sold it to a large telecommunications company, and she was ready for the next adventure, which led her to Citi as a programmer writing code.
After six distinctive roles at Citi, Julieta is now the Chief Officer of Technology for Latin America, managing all engineering functions in 23 different countries in Latin America and Mexico. Through Citi’s women’s leadership council she coaches fourteen women and strives to instill values of perseverance and leadership, especially important in the financial field where female leadership is rare. Julieta’s advice to those she mentors is to embrace change as a catalyst for good: “My motto is, whenever you are comfortable in a job, it’s time to switch. If you aren’t learning new things, you’re just clocking the hours. Your brain needs a new challenge.” And she cautions against complacency: “Some think, ‘If I work hard someone will notice.’ No! Work hard and make something happen, don’t wait for it.”
Given her key interests of mentoring children and education, Julieta is inspired by Row New York’s ability to provide opportunities, and by our emphasis on teaching perseverance through academics and rowing. “Education really opens doors, so I found what Row New York does fascinating and magical.”
Though Julieta does not row, she is eager to learn and quite athletic; in addition to enjoying cross-country running and track, she and her husband are black belts in karate. Much like rowing, these sports reward tenacity and patience. Karate served as a big part of her life and as a healthy, motivating environment. Sparring in particular taught her that “if you can be technical with your movements, you can still win—that’s what I love, you’re never too small to make a change.”
As a board member, Julieta plans to support Row New York through her technical and financial expertise, and hopes to serve as a mentor by engaging with our student-athletes through tutoring, homework help, leadership development, and even technology and computer training to give students a technical edge. Of all her inspiring messages, what advice does she impart on Row New Yorkers for the future? “Dream big. Very big. Some people think that if they are in one spot, they’ll remain there. Baloney! You will become what you want to, so you better be dreaming big.”
Thank you Julieta, and welcome to Row New York!
