Inside the C-Suite with Efrain Rivera ’89S (MBA)

How a Simon MBA builds the skills leaders rely on at every level

Recently the Simon community, along with prospective full-time and part-time students, enjoyed a keynote conversation with Efrain Rivera ’89S (MBA), which covered a wide range of topics, including the analytical skills a Simon education instills, insights from his years as a board member for public and private companies, the impact AI is having across industries, and more.

Efrain has extensive global expertise in finance and operations, with a career spanning leadership roles across public technology and healthcare companies. He most recently served as senior vice president, chief financial officer, and senior advisor to the CEO at Paychex, Inc., a leading provider of integrated human capital management solutions. Before joining Paychex, he held senior executive roles at Bausch & Lomb, including corporate vice president and chief financial officer, and also held leadership positions in higher education administration.

Efrain currently serves on the Board of Directors of Jones Lang LaSalle and Franklin Covey (NYSE: FC), a global performance improvement company. He is also a senior advisor at EQT Partners, a global investment organization.

Efrain’s keynote conversation took place on the University of Rochester campus as part of Simon Community Weekend. During the conversation, he reflected on his own MBA noting how important analytical skills are cross-functionally. In his opinion, teaching the ability to think critically is something “Simon does better than anyone else.”

His vast professional experience led him to board membership, where he noted the domain-specific experience is really key. Those areas of expertise are where the board members add value, and his rich professional experience led him to eventually mentor CEOs while in his board member roles. 

Efrain also underscored the importance of networking. He admitted he was “late to the game” in this area because he didn’t understand how important networking was at the board member level, but he encouraged students to be mindful of networking and to also leverage a powerful tool all of us have at our disposal: LinkedIn. The key to the platform’s power is not just understanding how it functions but how the algorithm works and how you can make connections with other people. He noted that HR managers are widely using LinkedIn for their purposes due to how well the search performs with serving up results that are a good match for opportunities. 

Speaking of opportunities, Efrain talked about the importance of championing others. He recalled a conversation he had with a colleague he was hoping to encourage to take the next step in his career. In his estimation, an MBA is an important asset to those hoping to hold C-suite positions due to the optionality it affords. He used an analogy about cars to drive the point home: you can still do a good job driving a car that has three gears, but wouldn’t it be better to drive one with seven gears and a continuous variable transmission? An MBA opens up additional “gears”—and approaches to solving problems—to leaders, and Efrain sees it as an enormous asset. 

Efrain paused the conversation for a moment to bring the colleague from his story—Bob Schrader ’17S (MBA), current senior vice president and CFO of Paychex, Inc.—up to the stage to join in the discussion. Bob shared how although some time went by between the first time Efrain raised the idea of an MBA, he didn’t let Bob “off the hook.” He was supportive and encouraged Bob until he decided to take the leap and enter Simon’s Executive MBA program. Now nearly 10 years out of his program, Bob reflected that his MBA has given him confidence to keep growing in his career and step into the C-suite. 

Toward the end of the discussion, the two shared insights on AI and how it continues to evolve business models. Bob shared that agentic AI—voice and phone agents—have the ability to enhance the customer experience for those who are looking for assistance but don’t want to talk on the phone. Efrain noted that the ROI on agentic AI is still something many companies are assessing. He said new technologies often come with this feeling of “FOMO” in terms of companies wondering if they will miss out if they don’t invest. They both agreed that there is no substitute for human instinct and leadership. Intangible skills like these that are honed with the Simon MBA are irreplaceable by emerging technologies like AI. 

To underscore the importance of that human connection, Efrain brought the conversation back to networking. He advised attendees that networking is not something that should be done in their spare time, but something that needs to be done as part of a professional routine. He noted that LinkedIn makes it easier for people who are more introverted, because sending a message on that platform can be a good first step in initiating a conversation and connection. 

We are deeply grateful to Efrain and Bob for sharing their time, talents, and wisdom gained over decades of work experience and leadership. It was an inspiring afternoon for the Simon community, including the prospective students who visited campus that weekend.

Watch a recording of the entire keynote here.