Horacio D. Rozanski

Born in 1968 into a middle-class Jewish family, Horacio Rozanski grew up in Buenos Aires, Argentina, during a turbulent period. 'The military junta came into power (again) when I was eight years old,' says Horacio. 'It was very repressive, and while my family wasn't directly targeted, we all felt it in many small ways. If you saw a police officer walking on the street toward you, for example, you would cross to the other side. There was a big campaign, ostensibly to get citizens to not use their car horns, with the slogan 'silence is healthy.' You didn't lie about the fact that you were Jewish, but you didn't volunteer it either.'

Horacio's parents were loving and nurturing, as well as demanding about personal responsibility and hard work. Both had worked their way into the middle class. His father studied law and was for a time an attorney for a pharmaceutical company, but he lost his job when Horacio was a toddler. 'In many ways, that changed my father,' he says. 'It made him worry about his ability to support his family.'

Education was of paramount importance to Horacio's parents, but he didn't care much for his school. 'The country's regimentation reached into the schools as it did in all aspects of life in Argentina,' says Horacio. 'In elementary school, I wore a tie and had to have shined shoes and short hair. We learned to parade march and stand at attention. It was very structured. I never had a joyful learning environment until I came to America.'

In 1983, when Horacio was 15, Argentina's dictatorship ended. The country swung the pendulum toward freedom, which was needed but, after so many years of repression, chaotic in its own way. Horacio remembers when he was a senior in high school, on the day of a test, the students barricaded the stairs with their desks so that the teachers could not reach them to administer their tests. 'It was complete anarchy,' says Horacio.

During the dictatorship, admission to public university had been very difficult, but when democracy came, the schools were opened to all students. 'They did this without increasing school funding,' says Horacio. 'I remember sitting in a class with 150 other students trying to listen to a professor lecture for two hours without a microphone. At that time, I was dating my future wife, Cinthia, and it became clear to us that we were wasting our time.' Horacio was a very good student, but, he says, the Argentine educational system didn't reward hard work in the classroom. 'What Cinthia and I wanted was a place where things happen fairly, where you didn't have to bribe anybody, where you could work hard and be recognized for it, where education mattered.'

Horacio and Cinthia began searching for a school in the United States, a country they believed stood for the values they held dear. At the library, he found a directory of American universities. Each school was designated with $ signs to indicate the range of tuition costs. Horacio only looked at schools with two $ signs and no fewer than three stars, which indicated a strong academic rating. He came up with a list of 25 schools and began the application process. He and Cinthia ultimately chose to attend the University of Wisconsin at Eau Claire. 'We made a completely uninformed choice,' says Horacio, 'but it turned out to be fantastic. Eau Claire is the center of the dairy universe of the United States, so very much farm country, very wholesome, and just a great place to get introduced to the U.S. and to what this country really is about, to the culture, to the people. People were so incredibly welcoming.'

Horacio and Cinthia had the benefit of friendly roommates who taught them the culture, a generous host family that opened their home to them (they would one day marry in the family's backyard), and loving relatives in Brownsville, Texas, whom they could reach by Greyhound (42 hours each way!) during long breaks. 'These people brought us into their lives and gave us a frame of reference,' says Horacio. 'They were amazing, and we couldn't have been more thankful.'

Horacio graduated with a degree in business administration with honors in 1990, and immediately entered the University of Chicago to complete his MBA. 'The quality of my education there was outstanding,' says Horacio. 'There were Nobel Prize winners in the faculty. It was challenging but also interesting and rewarding.'

In the summer of 1991, Horacio was offered an internship with Booz Allen in their Buenos Aires office. A year later, he joined full time in Booz Allen's Cleveland office. He expected to work at the firm for a couple of years, but the quality of the people and the work became a passion that has lasted his entire career.

Horacio and Cinthia married in 1992, and, a dozen years later, they became U.S. citizens with the help of a sponsorship from Booz Allen. 'From the time we applied, it took about six years to get a green card and then another five years to become citizens,' Horacio said. 'My wife and I applied for citizenship on the day we were eligible. This was a big personal goal for us'to become citizens of this amazing country'and along with the births of our daughters, one of our happiest and proudest moments.'

In 2001, when he was 33, Horacio was elected partner. Two years later, he began serving as chief personnel officer. In 2010, he was named chief strategy and talent officer and was one of three executives who engaged with investors in the run-up to the company's successful initial public offering.

Horacio became COO in 2012 and led the design of Vision 2020, which defined the firm's growth strategy for the next decade. That vision brought technology to the forefront of Booz Allen's operations and expanded its footprint in engineering, analytics, cyber, systems delivery, strategic innovation, and commercial and international business. He became CEO in 2015. Today, Booz Allen Hamilton, Inc., is a global technology and consulting company that serves governmental clients and Fortune 500 corporations. For the last eight years running, the company has been named to Fortune magazine's World's Most Admired Companies list.

Horacio credits much of his career success to mentors he had along the way. 'I tried to make good decisions and I listened to and learned from my mentors,' he says, 'but I also put in the effort. I didn't take the easy path; I did the work.'

'I've had a fantastic career at Booz Allen,' says Horacio. 'When I address young people, I tell them not to focus on promotions but on learning. When I was presented with a new opportunity, I asked myself, 'If I take this position, what am I going to learn'' rather than asking, 'What will this position do for my career'' Recognition'and therefore promotion'comes when you have something of value that you can add.'

Horacio believes it is shortsighted and limiting to try to perfect the same thing over and over, rather than trying something new. 'I had many friends and mentors tell me that I should not take the human resources position I was being offered. They said it would be a career ender. But I accepted the position because I did not know how to do it. Now, as CEO, I find myself using things I learned in that job probably more than anything else I've ever learned to do.'

The importance of learning and education were taught to Horacio at a very early age. His family, like many European Jews, were forced to move around the world, leaving behind their homes and professions but not their knowledge. 'That is something no one can take away from you,' says Horacio.

When asked to define success, Horacio says that a balanced life is the only way to call achievements successful. 'It's very important how you play the game. If I can be the kind of husband and father I want to be, and if I can work at a place whose values reflect my own, then the cherry on top is getting promoted at my workplace. That feels like success to me. There is a difference between winning and succeeding. Winning is simply scoring more points, but succeeding is accomplishing something and doing it the right way.'

Horacio, who became an American citizen in 2005, is impressed with the giving nature of his adopted country. 'In the U.S.,' he says, 'we learned about the importance of giving. Americans from all walks of life give what they can to causes they care about. This type of giving builds community and makes us feel like we are there for each other. It builds the future.'

Horacio has seen his family's history be rewritten through education. His parents both were first generation to attend college; that changed not only his life, but their grandchildren's lives. This is why he is proud to become a Horatio Alger Member. 'The Association has the potential to change lives across generations through education. That is what they are doing with their scholarship programs, and I am very honored to become a part of that.'