Jesus is the CEO of Purdy Motor Group, the distributor of Toyota Group vehicles (Toyota, Daihatsu, Hino and Lexus) for Costa Rica and holdings in the USA and Mexico. He spent 20 years in the Hotel and Tourism Industry (as CEO of Marta Hotels) before joining Purdy Motor in 1988 as its General Manager. He holds a BS in Hospitality Management from Cornell, an MBA in International Business from National University, an MPA from Harvard, and an advanced degree in Management (AMP) from The Wharton School.

He was instrumental in the implementation of Purdy Motor’s Service Culture (Purdy People) as its main competitive advantage in the market place (which has been depicted as best practice in several magazines). He is responsible for the local wellbeing of the corporation, and for its international expansion. Purdy Motor has enjoyed continuous growth during his tenure as well as stellar Customer and Service Satisfaction Indexes. The company is a benchmark in the Toyota and business world.

Jesus serves on the Boards of CAFSA (financial institution), AVON Costa Rica (cosmetics), EDIFICAR (construction), and Hotelera Santa Marta (hotels). He has served as President of the Harvard Alumni Association of Costa Rica and the Central American Chapter of the Cornell Society of Hotelmen.

He is past president of the Costa Rican Hotel Association, Vice President of the Costa Rican Chamber of Tourism, and President and founder of the Costa Rican Tourism Professionals Association. He has served as Board member of the Costa Rican Tourism Board and of the regulatory board for tourism incentives in the country. In 1995, he was presented with the “Promoter of Costa Rica” award in tourism by Costa Rica’s President.

At the time of our 40th reunion, Jesus had recently retired (September 2018) from Purdy Motor Group, but still serves on several boards of directors. He spends a lot of time traveling and flying gyroplanes around Costa Rica with his wife Teresita, both of whom hold sport pilot licenses.