ALUMNI PROFILE
From MMA Cadet to Knighthood
For Ricardo Uriegas ’91, MMA was the launchpad to an exciting career on three continents.
Ricardo Uriegas ’91 and his wife, Karla Wynter, on their citrus farm in Montemorelos, Mexico
Ricardo Uriegas has traveled the world but his heart remains in Mexico — both the country that is home to his family and the mid-Missouri home of his alma mater.
have to earn rank, you have to earn privilege. You work your way up the ladder. It’s something I took into adulthood and into my professional life. Thank God my mother was able to send me to MMA!”
Uriegas, a member of the MMA class of 1991, has enjoyed a successful career in international business for the past quarter century, a professional life he says has its foundation in Mexico, Missouri, at Missouri Military Academy.
After graduation in 1991, Uriegas attended Universidad de Monterrey in Mexico and earned a degree in international relations. An internship at the U.S. consulate in Monterrey led to a job in the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset Control. His background paved the way; born in San Antonio, Texas, to parents of Basque descent — his father emigrated from Spain and his mother was from Yucatan, Mexico — Uriegas grew up in Monterrey near his family’s citrus farm. His parents owned property and businesses on both sides of the border. Fluent in English, Spanish and Portuguese, he holds citizenship in his native United States, Mexico and Spain. For six years, Uriegas investigated money-laundering schemes and represented U.S. interests in property seizures of sanctioned narcotics traffickers in Latin America. In Brazil that sixth year, he met a man who would profoundly affect the direction of the rest of his life.
“I was fortunate to attend MMA and make something of myself,” Uriegas says. Mischief in Monterrey He freely admits he came to MMA because “I was a mischievous. My widowed mother couldn’t handle me by herself. And I had cousins at the academy — they turned out all right.” Uriegas notes he never felt that leaving his home in Monterrey, Mexico, to attend MMA was a punishment, but there were adjustments. “I grew up in a prosperous home; I had a lot of access to many things,” he says. “As a kid, you sometimes think you can do what you want. But when you become a recruit at the Academy, suddenly your hair is gone and you look like everyone else. You
36
The Eagle
“We were playing golf,” he recalls. “He was the president of GNP, a Mexican insurance company, and a good friend of my father.”
Risk & Reward In the 1990s, Grupo Nacional Provincial — one of Mexico’s largest insurers — was carving out a niche in the special risk market. The company formed the brokerage firm Profinamex that partnered with American International Group, or AIG, to develop global insurance policies covering such crises as kidnapping and ransom, extortion, assault, illegal detentions and disappearances. As a result of this relationship, “I was offered a job at AIG and developed a network of AIG agents and brokers,” Uriegas says. “I was responsible to the brokers. Clients trusted their brokers and brokers trusted us. I’m told I have a trustworthy face,” he adds with a laugh. Family Ties Retired from AIG since 2017, Uriegas is now a special risk consultant for a variety of global insurers such as London-based Hiscox and worldwide health insurer Global Benefits Group, known as GBG, training brokers and helping individuals prepare for crises and risk. Other business interests have shifted his focus back to Mexico and the family’s 480-acre citrus farm,
