Mario Laguardia, MS ‘25

Mario Adolfo Laguardia Carrasco of Murfreesboro, North Carolina, is a human resources and operations professional with more than 15 years of leadership experience across the agro-industrial, manufacturing, and workforce development sectors. He currently serves as a human resources generalist at Smithfield Foods, where he leads employee certification initiatives and supports a broad range of HR functions including talent acquisition, onboarding, workforce planning, employee relations, and compliance management.

Throughout his career, Laguardia has combined operational leadership with a strong commitment to people development, process improvement, and organizational growth. Prior to his current HR role, he held several progressive leadership positions within Smithfield Foods’ farm operations division, overseeing production teams, operational performance, and continuous improvement initiatives. Earlier in his career, he served as a meat plant instructor at Escuela Agrícola Panamericana, where he coordinated technical training programs, managed production operations, and supported marketing and merchandising strategies.

Laguardia earned his Master of Science in Organizational Leadership with an emphasis in Technology and Data Analytics from Excelsior University in 2025. He also holds a Bachelor of Science in Agro-industrial Engineering from Escuela Agrícola Panamericana (Zamorano). His professional interests include leadership development, strategic communication, workforce engagement, and leveraging data-driven decision-making to support organizational success.

As an incoming member of the Alumni Leadership Council, Mario is passionate about giving back to the University community, supporting alumni engagement, and helping foster meaningful connections between graduates and future students.