Andrea Aranguren’s message to all women is “don’t be afraid to take risks.” Early mentors taught Andrea to be willing to do what it takes to pursue your passion. Linda Rigano’s guest today co-founded CMDTY, a company whose mission is to make physical commodities as efficient as possible. Andrea and her team are transforming commodities by offering a buying and selling platform like none other. Physical commodities is a $4 trillion dollar industry known for traditional operations. For Andrea it’s exciting to see how technology can make a positive impact on a market. Growing up in a traditional Spanish family in New Jersey, Andrea always kept a laser focus on academics, athletics and of course, her family. As a trained gymnast, Andrea learned discipline from an early age and applied it to her professional life. After getting an MBA in Economics from Columbia University, Andrea went on to working in finance, commodities, technology and environmental markets. Being a woman in a male dominated industry has not always been easy, but Andrea is up for any challenge. Hear more as she talks to Linda about the challenges of juggling a family of three while building an exciting new business.
#119 Build the Confidence to Take Risks and Pursue What You Love with Andrea Aranguren
Linda Rigano
Linda Rigano is the Principal Consultant of The Rigano Group. Her expertise and enthusiasm for strategic and effective communication permeate all that she does as a consultant to B2B and B2C technology, manufacturing, supply chain, and publishing organizations to improve business performance and stakeholder relationships by building highly successful and measurable communications programs.
With over 20 years of industry experience, Linda has excelled in helping organizations advance the discussion of important industry issues. She was central to the development and promotion of ThomasNet’s annual Industry Market Barometer® (IMB) survey on the state of manufacturing, the ThomasNet/ISM “30 Under 30 Rising Supply Chain Stars” Recognition Program, and ThomasNet’s North American Scholarship Program. Linda also served as Director of Strategic Alliances for ThomasNet, and for many years was the Publisher of the Thomas Food Industry Register.
Throughout her career, Linda has been an active participant and presenter for manufacturing, supply management, and business associations. She is widely quoted in business and trade media, including Bloomberg Businessweek, Nightly Business Report, and Industry Today. Linda holds an MBA in marketing from Fordham University.
Connect with Linda Rigano on LinkedIn.
Andrea Aranguren
Andrea Aranguren is an expert in logistics digitization and supply chain optimization with over a decade of experience in the field. Andrea is co-founder and head of operations at CMDTY Inc., an early-stage start-up exploring ways to use technology and data science to create efficiencies in the trading and logistics of physical commodities. Andrea has led business development and supply chain optimization efforts for two successful startups and worked at IHS Markit as product manager for a variety of products, including a document digitization and inventory reconciliation tool for physical commodities. Andrea was also VP of operations and logistics for Goldman Sachs’ physical commodities business for several years. Andrea graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with honors in Economics and received her MBA from Columbia University. Andrea speaks three languages: English, Spanish & Portuguese. She lives in New Jersey with her three kids and her husband.
