This growth allowed Santana to remain optimistic during the outbreak of
COVID-19, and the unique approach and strategies she and her team
developed were key to ensuring that operations could continue during and after
the shutdown.
“It’s always been my firm belief that when you invest in people and
technology during an economic downturn, you are probably going to come out
at the top,” she shares. “And I chose to do that once again.”
Santana’s typical workday changed as did the uncertainties. Shortly after
the outbreak of COVID-19, Forma’s customer instituted a plant-wide shutdown
Lisa Navarro-
Gonzales
Vice President of Santana
Group and Forma
Automotive
From operations leader to Vice President of
Santana Group and Forma Automotive, the first
Hispanic, woman-owned direct Tier I supplier to Toyota, Navarro-Gonzales
oversees production, accounting, material management, and quality assurance.
Like her mother, Rosa Santana, Navarro-Gonzales is an active participant
in the San Antonio community and has completed the Business Executive
Program at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth as well as the Harvard
Business School’s Young American Leaders Program. She credits Santana,
founder and CEO of the Santana Group and Forma Automotive, for the values
and work ethic instilled in her.
“She is a great example of what we are doing for Latinas,” she shares. “My
mom has always been a go-getter, and that is what really inspired us.”
Genevieve Cruz
Training Specialist
Forma Automotive
Born and raised in San Antonio, Texas,
Genevieve Cruz is responsible for training
new hires from Integrated Human Capital
(IHC) and also training current Forma team
members.
Celebrating three years at Forma Automotive, she never saw herself in
the automotive industry, yet she always had a passion for STEM, even at a
young age.
She believes her Latino roots and values shaped who she is, and it
was her parents who gave her the motivation to keep going. “I saw how my
family was. Sometimes we would struggle. Sometimes we wouldn’t, so they
gave me the motivation to keep fighting no matter what,” she shares. This
motivation has been evident amid the challenges the pandemic has
to ensure the facility was safe for all team members before resuming plant
operations. Suddenly, Santana’s number one priority became keeping her team
safe and healthy from the coronavirus while remaining ready to resume
production for Forma’s customer when the time came.
“I have a great passion for my personal and business families, and I want
to ensure that they all have great futures,” she shares. “This means always
exceeding our customer’s expectations and making decisions with respect for
people.”
With dedication, she has always strived to be better, growing the
businesses her mother started. “I can attribute a lot to my mom’s tenacity to
always wanting to continue to grow,” she shares.
When COVID-19 hit, Navarro-Gonzales, along with her team, knew
procedures and operations would need to pivot, a change that entailed shifting
most of the administrative team to work from home. However, with 57 team
members assigned to the assembly line that was not currently in
operation, Navarro-Gonzales understood the importance of being able to
leverage the trust she had built with her team and being flexible.
“I found myself working different hours,” she states, “A lot of it has to do
with trust, and we had to learn to be flexible. There are certain areas where
it is not sustainable to work from home for a long time from a quality
perspective. We are not a huge company and there are different tiers of team
members working in different departments. Trust and flexibility are very
important.”
Navarro-Gonzales believes embodying the culture of familia at Forma has
been important in cultivating a workplace that allowed her, during this critical
time, to leverage the trust the team had built together.
“We always try to embody the family roots because we want to retain our
people,” she shares. “Nobody is just a number to us. Everybody is an
important part of our business and of the processes that we complete to
output a truck bed. Not one person is of less value. We all play the same part
in getting a good quality part for our customers.”
presented, and she has been a key team member at Forma, exemplifying
what it means to pivot. From training new team members to jumping onto
the assembly line herself when needed, Cruz has made it clear that she isn’t
one to shy away from a challenge.
She describes the opportunities at Forma Automotive as a blessing and
amazing. “One of my proudest achievements was being given
the opportunity to be the Training Specialist for Forma Automotive,” she
states with pride. “In this role, I was able to see the change in our
conditions and versatility, and I was able to help our new team members by
preparing them for their careers with Forma.”
Cruz’s goal is to use her full potential in her position to help push others
to succeed in furthering their careers and to give new team members who
come to Forma the confidence to succeed, even if they don’t have experience
in the automotive industry. She also hopes to continue to advance in her career
with Forma Automotive and continue to make an impact.
LS
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