Focus on the Destination, Not the Path, Takes UVA Darden Alum to CEO Role at 32
By Dave Hendrick
Adrian Viesca (MBA ’17) came to the University of Virginia Darden School of Business with a single-minded focus to work at Nike after graduation. After a company-wide hiring freeze scuttled his initial dream, he set out to focus on the destination — leading a company by his 45th birthday — rather than the path.
After fruitful years working under the CEO of Mission Foods as the multibillion-dollar global corporation executed a turnaround plan, Viesca landed the CEO position at a fast-growing beverage company with global ambitions.
“My lesson, when I look back at everything, is the importance of knowing where you want to go, and not necessarily surrendering to the short-term temptations of what everyone else is doing,” said Viesca. “If you trust your abilities and your strengths, even if the way is not traditional — or more circuitous — it will still leave you better off than what you thought was possible in the short-term.”
Read the full profile of Viesca in the Darden Alumni Spotlight.
The University of Virginia Darden School of Business prepares responsible global leaders through unparalleled transformational learning experiences. Darden’s graduate degree programs (MBA, MSBA and Ph.D.) and Executive Education & Lifelong Learning programs offered by the Darden School Foundation set the stage for a lifetime of career advancement and impact. Darden’s top-ranked faculty, renowned for teaching excellence, inspires and shapes modern business leadership worldwide through research, thought leadership and business publishing. Darden has Grounds in Charlottesville, Virginia, and the Washington, D.C., area and a global community that includes 18,000 alumni in 90 countries. Darden was established in 1955 at the University of Virginia, a top public university founded by Thomas Jefferson in 1819 in Charlottesville, Virginia.
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