Odalys in Germany while
serving in the U.S. Army.
“I was an ex-pat in Costa Rica. I
was sent there with the task of building
a strong team, a global team, to
support our Walmart footprint in Latin
America,” Fajardo-Guerrero says. “The
team I built was 24 people and most of
the team consisted of women and it
was a diverse team. I had a female
judge. I had multiple female attorneys
and auditors.”
She built that team deliberately
to bring in a diverse set of skills and
backgrounds that culminated in a
high-performing cohort.
Her entire 20-plus-year career
spans both public and private sector
investigations and security-related
experience throughout Latin America,
seven years as a Case Officer with the
U.S. Central Intelligence Agency having
served in Latin America, Florida and
Washington, D.C., and 10 years
serving in the U.S. Army as a Signal
Officer, reaching Captain ranking.
While she couldn’t share details
Odalys Fajardo-Guerrero, U.S.
Army.
Sister Aurora and Aurora’s husband, Enrique Hugues, at Odalys’
pinning ceremony as she received her bars as a second lieutenant.
Odalys and husband, Alexander Guerrero, at the Marine Corp
Ball at the U.S. Embassy in Panama, 1992.
about her time in the CIA, she did share
an encounter with the parents of a fallen
soldier while serving as First Lieutenant
in Germany. He had written about her
to his parents to share he not only
respected her but felt she respected him too. She attributes this to her ability to
connect with people. “You didn’t treat him as a private. You treated him as a
soldier,” she recalls the soldier’s mother telling her. Before working in Global
Investigations, Fajardo-Guerrero worked with Walmart Internal Audit Services
where she focused on the company’s anti-corruption program. She joined Walmart
in 2007 as the Regional Senior Director for Asset Protection for Latin America
Region based in Miami.
There, Fajardo-Guerrero guided
the company’s strategy on
comprehensive security and risk
management services.
Walmart allowed her to work
remotely while she cared for her ill
mother. “At Walmart, it’s all about the
people,” she shares.
She also worked as Managing
Director for Vance and two other
investigation and consulting companies.
Her expansive career includes
managing investigative assignments
ranging from corporate internal fraud
and malfeasance, due diligence and
litigation support.
She holds a degree in Criminal
Justice from the University of Florida,
graduated as a Distinguished Military
Graduate from the Army Reserves
Officer Training Corps, and serves as a
member of the Association of Former
Intelligence Officers. When not at work,
she serves as board member of The
Two-Hundred Club of Greater Miami,
a nonprofit organization benefiting
families of first responders who lost their
lives in the line of duty.
Fajardo-Guerrero is a founding
member and serves on the board of the
Odalys and Luis Rojas, director of corporate security for Central
America.
U.S. State Department Overseas Security Advisory Council’s Latin America
Regional Council chapter based in South Florida. She advises that career
transitions aren’t without challenges but so long as an individual is open to change,
collaboration, and leading, everything falls into place.
LS
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