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Bayron Lopez Pineda, the manager of technology integration at Netflix, is an engaging technology specialist who loves what he does and often shares his experiences. The dozens of people Lopez Pineda has mentored over the years would attest to his professionalism, his passion for mentorship, and his willingness to put himself on the line for Latinos rising through the ranks. They also might have heard about the immigrant journey that led Lopez Pineda to work for one of the most recognizable entertainment names on the planet.
“My father was a child soldier in El Salvador,” Lopez Pineda begins. “He joined the military when he was twelve. He met my mom while he was in the military, and they hit it off.”
Lopez Pineda’s family fled during the twelve-year Salvadoran civil war. They traveled through Guatemala and Mexico before crossing the border into the US as undocumented immigrants, determined to build a better life. Lopez Pineda wasn’t old enough to remember the journey, and his brother was born en route in Mexico City. After crossing deserts at night with two tiny children in their arms, Lopez Pineda’s family began their new chapter.
“We were taught that hard work was everything,” Lopez Pineda says. “We didn’t take handouts, and we did whatever we needed to stay off government assistance. That might be collecting cans or newspapers, always running down jobs, and letting your hard work speak for itself.”
Lopez Pineda grew up in the Pico-Union neighborhood of Central Los Angeles, where Central American immigrants congregated and created a welcoming and supportive community. Lopez Pineda expected he would follow in his father’s footsteps by enlisting in the military to give back to his new home. But then Lopez Pineda had a conversation with a teacher and mentor, John P. Santos, who set him on a new path.
Mentorship, both given and received, is a big part of Lopez Pineda’s own message to other Latinos. Santos suggested that because of his intelligence and scientific mind, Lopez Pineda might consider pursuing engineering. Santos pushed the idea that if Lopez Pineda put his mind to it, regardless of his background and lack of privilege, he could make his life happen.
“[Santos] would always tell us to make an affirmation every morning,” Lopez Pineda recalls. “Tell yourself where you are, where you’re going, and that you’re going to be successful no matter what. We saw what he did for his own community, and we believed him.”
Santos died recently, but his legacy looms large in the life of Lopez Pineda and the countless other lives he touched. Lopez Pineda is living his own legacy, and he started it early. In college at California State University Los Angeles, he became president of his chapter of the Society of Hispanic Engineering and Science Students and regularly returned to his high school to motivate other students.
“I was a broke college student, but if I had $40 to get me through the month, I would take as many students out for McDonald’s as I could,” the manager says. “I wanted to show them that they had a chance to build something great in their lives, even if I didn’t have a lot to show for it at the time.”
“Tell yourself where you are, where you’re going, and that you’re going to be successful no matter what.”
Bayron Lopez Pineda
Lopez Pineda grew his career in commercial real estate technology for fourteen years prior to coming to Netflix. Along the way, he found more great mentors like Manny Sanchez, a Lockheed Martin engineer whom he keeps in touch with to this day. “I’ve had the pleasure of working with the best leaders in the industry, and they always shared their wisdom with whomever is open to listening,” Lopez Pineda notes.
“Mentors help us move forward,” Lopez Pineda says. “I’m at the point now where I’m attending graduations and events for people I started mentoring when they were in high school. That’s very important to me.”
His journey hasn’t been a straight line. He elected to take a manager role at Netflix despite having been a director in his previous job. That doesn’t jibe with his plan to be a VP by forty, but that’s exactly the point.
Over the years, Lopez Pineda’s family and community life became more important to him. His life is no longer just about professional achievement or defined by titles alone. It’s about fulfillment. He recently earned his master’s from Georgetown and continues to develop himself professionally and personally.
He attributes his work ethic and perseverance to the lifelong lessons his parents, Gino and Ana, taught him as his first mentors. These days his wife, Treesara, is the motivation to keep moving forward and making the world a friendlier place.
While Lopez Pineda is proud of what he’s accomplished, he’s more interested in hearing about you, your story, and how he can help. Lopez Pineda is a mentor, like John P. Santos, who wants to encourage more Latinos to tell their own success stories and find fulfillment in their lives.
Ollivier Managed Security is focused on finding creative solutions to help their customers bring people and technology together. In the rapidly evolving security landscape, this means finding solutions that provide maximum flexibility to our users allowing them to access their security systems and information from any device, anytime, anywhere. Ollivier Managed Secuity has been proud to partner with Bayon Lopez on a host of projects and initiatives. Bayron is a thought leader in the Property Technology space and a great friend and resource to Ollivier Managed Security.
