KEARNEY – University of Nebraska at Kearney alumnus and Fortune 500 executive Andres Traslavina is returning to his alma mater to motivate and educate current students and faculty members.
Traslavina, director of global executive recruiting for Whole Foods Market, is the 2018-19 Ron Landstrom Executive-in-Residence at UNK. He will present “Pursuing Happiness and Finding Your Calling” at 6 p.m. Sept. 20 in the Nebraskan Student Union Ponderosa Room as part of the JA Baldwin Free Enterprise Lecture Series.
Traslavina leads the global social recruiting initiative for Whole Foods Market, which has made Fortune magazine’s list of the “100 best companies to work for” each of the past 20 years. He works with 12 regions to maximize social channels to source and recruit passive candidates for the supermarket chain.
Whole Foods Market, which specializes in natural and organic foods, has nearly 500 stores in North America and the United Kingdom.
During his long recruiting tenure, Traslavina has also held the titles of director of recruiting and institutional partnerships at Blackboard, consulting corporate recruiter for Microsoft retail and senior consultant at Talent Plus, a recruitment and assessment company based in Lincoln. His portfolio of clients included companies such as Zappos, Cisco, Scotiabank, Komatsu, KPMG, Mercedes-Benz, Loews Hotels, Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company and JW Marriott.
His recruiting approach is based on helping candidates discover their strengths and helping employers find and select top performers based on their talents and cultural fit.
Traslavina earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration with an emphasis in Japanese in 2001 and a master’s degree in education counseling with an emphasis in psychology in 2005. Also during his time at UNK, he was a member of the men’s tennis team, resident adviser and Chancellor’s Ambassador. He interned with The Walt Disney Company for 10 months and worked as an international and regional recruiter for UNK’s Admissions Office for five years.
A native of Bogota, Colombia, Traslavina has worked as a recruiter in North America, Europe, Asia and Latin America. He currently lives in Austin, Texas, where Whole Foods Market is headquartered.
Traslavina is actively involved with the International Positive Psychology Association, Society for Human Resource Management and Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology.
The Ron Landstrom Executive-in-Residence program brings successful business executives to UNK to talk with College of Business and Technology students about “best business practices,” as well as their personal career paths and lessons learned.
These executives engage students in several classes, make campus presentations on their areas of expertise and participate in a session with the CBT Student Advisory Board and faculty. They also participate in a networking opportunity with members of the Business Advisory Board. The lecture series is free and open to the public.
JA Baldwin Free Enterprise Lecture Series
Thursday, Sept. 20
8 to 9:15 a.m. – Marsha Yeagley, Professional Selling; Susan Jensen, Principles of Management; Lisa Tschauner, GS Portal: Entrepreneurship Around the World. (Ockinga Auditorium)
9:30 to 10:45 a.m. – Kyle Luthans, Human Resource Management; Susan Jensen, Seminar in Organizational Behavior. (Ockinga Auditorium)
6 to 7:30 p.m. – Andres Traslavina, Pursuing Happiness and Finding Your Calling. (Nebraskan Student Union Ponderosa Room)
Friday, Sept. 21
9:05 to 9:55 a.m. – Brooke Envick, Compensation Management; Sri Seshadri, Marketing Research. (Ockinga Auditorium)
10 to 11:15 a.m. – Meeting with College of Business and Technology Career Center and UNK Academic and Career Services staff members Dustin Favinger, Janice Woods, Brenda Jochum, Aaron Estes and Amy Rundstrom. (West Center 120E)
1:30 to 3 p.m. – Meeting with Office of International Education staff and students. (Ockinga Auditorium/West Center 120E)
