Lessons Learned Through Customer Service

Karen-Janine Cohen

While attending Miami Dade College, Jorge L. Delgado Jr. (MBA '18) started his career as an "outbound telephone collector" at Florida Power & Light, starting in 2008. His job was to request payment by phone from delinquent customers. "It's not easy to call someone to make them pay," he said. "It teaches you to be more understanding and empathetic."

Now a principal consultant at the Miami office of SEI – a network of locally owned consulting firms with locations in several cities – his work is a synthesis of understanding clients' business needs and goals, and knowing how to resolve problems or challenges in an increasingly complex and tech-heavy world.

At SEI, he helps clients from various sectors realize the best options begin with evaluating the root cause of issues. It could be a new tool or software program that needs to be deployed, figuring out how to optimize a business segment, or leading the internal teams towards using new tools. Delgado also uses advanced data analytics to let the data tell the real story and then design and implement innovative solutions.

Delgado's FIU journey began in 2016 when he enrolled in the FIU MBA program, motivated by the opportunity for broader learning and continued growth. "FIU gave me a great network to communicate with, build new friendships and take a deep dive into other areas I wasn't familiar with," he said.

"FIU gave me a great network to communicate with, build new friendships and take a deep dive into other areas I wasn't familiar with."

– Jorge L. Delgado Jr.

During his time at FIU, Delgado and a group of classmates participated in the Chapman Business Case Competition and won the FIU Chapman Cup. The competition gave them a taste of the real challenges companies were facing, as well as an opportunity to present to a panel of business executives and FIU directors. The competition also provided Delgado an introduction to the CEO of Goddard Enterprises Limited (GEL) and other GEL board members.

In 2018 he went to work for GEL, a company with interests in automotive, building supplies, shipping and other sectors. It crafted a new position for Delgado as senior manager for business development and technology for Latin America, where he honed his technology and problem-solving skills.

The story became a full circle moment when Delgado was able to implement and deploy the very recommendations that his team had presented during the Chapman Business Case Competition months prior.

He was recruited to SEI in 2022. "Our job is to provide better solutions to the client," Delgado said. "It could be strategy, process or technology."

When not at work, Delgado enjoys traveling – a highlight of his MBA experience was a learning trip to India. London is a frequent destination these days. At home, he enjoys playing sports, exercising and hanging out with friends.