In a highly male-dominated industry, Carmen Villarreal Trevino has successfully broken through. She is the general director of the firm tequilera House Saint Matias and today he will receive the Medal of Industrial Merit from the Council of Industrial Chambers of Jalisco (CCIJ).
He was born in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, but has lived in Guadalajara for almost 50 years, which is why he considers himself from Guadalajara by adoption and conviction.
He studied a Bachelor’s degree in Marketing from ITESO and later studied a master’s degree at the IPADE Business School of the Universidad Panamericana (UP).
His foray into the tequila industry was in 1986, when he went to work at Casa San Matías to form the marketing team.
At that time the company, under the direction of her husband Jesús López Román, was looking to launch the first 100% agave tequila of the Pueblo Viejo brand.
“It was my turn to accompany this process and open the department, since then we were looking for internationalization and creating a premium portfolio,” recalled Villarreal Treviño.
In 1997, after the unfortunate death of López Román, Villarreal assumed management of the company, becoming the first woman to head a distillery.
With 27 years at the helm of the company, the board assures that it has been a satisfactory experience heading Casa San Matias.
“It is a family business and I decided to take control, I thought it was going to be a temporary experience and I began to prepare, but we saw that things were working out. I had great support from the family, 27 years have passed and I am excited to be here,” she declared.
At the head of the company, the director of Casa San Matías has faced important challenges such as the agave production crises or the entry of multinational companies into the sector, but she has been able to overcome them with attributes such as quality and innovation.
“I don’t feel that because I am a woman I have any disadvantage or any additional challenge, I see it as normal,” she said.
Carmen Villarreal highlighted the growing role and importance of women in the industry and in other areas such as politics, economics and academia.
“It is a journey, it is an evolution, in Mexico it seems to me that it took us a little while, but we are already there; First, women were given opportunities to prepare and access education, that was the only thing needed to be able to develop necessary skills and occupy important positions.”
Finally, he assured that the National Chamber of Industry Tequilera (CNIT) is now prepared to be chaired by a woman.
A family business with export quality
With almost 140 years of foundation, Casa San Matías is a proud 100% Mexican company and has a very broad portfolio of products.
“As a family we are very proud of this and we have the strong desire to continue in this way, to be a 100% family-owned Mexican company,” said Carmen Villarreal.
Among the brands handled by Casa San Matias Sun King, Saint Matias Crystal, Saint Matias Gran Reserva, San Matias Tahona, Tequila Only Matias Gran Reserva Blanco and Pueblo Viejo Tequila, the most popular.
“We have a very broad portfolio of products to please any type of palate or consumer,” he assured.
For its next anniversary, the company will launch a special bottle. “We want to offer consumers unique, different and different things that they like,” shared Villarreal.
Currently, Casa San Matías brands are sold in Mexico and exported to various countries such as the United States, Australia, Japan, Germany, Russia, Italy and England.
“Today our strongest market is the United States, but we have a very important national presence, especially in the West. We have been opening some countries in Europe and now our next step is to go to Asia where we are already exporting to some countries, but we want to have a stronger presence,” he explained.
Among the company’s short and medium-term plans, they highlight becoming a clean industry, for which they have invested in wastewater treatment, in the production of biogas and in the use of solar panels.
Casa San Matías has its production plant in Tepatitlán, Jalisco and its packaging plant in Acatic. It has 370 employees and is one of the few companies that has a Gender Equality certification, as well as other awards such as the Great Place To Work or the Socially Responsible Company (ESR) seal.
Importance of the CCIJ Industrial Merit Medal
The Council of Industrial Chambers of Jalisco (CCIJ) will present today to the tequila businesswoman Carmen Villarreal Treviño, general director of Casa San Matías, the Medal of Industrial Merit in its XLIV edition.
This award is the highest distinction granted by Jalisco industrialists, in recognition of the business career and the great social work he has carried out throughout his working life in the tequila industry.
“It is a huge honor to receive this distinction that recognizes a career. I have been managing the company for almost three decades and it has been a period of time that I have lived with great dedication and passion, but with great pleasure in what what I do,” said Villarreal.
The businesswoman said that she receives this recognition on behalf of all her colleagues. tequileros with whom she is very grateful and recognizes CNIT and to CCIJ the nomination.
The industry has a very positive outlook
Although this year the tequila industry faces several challenges such as the decrease in the price of agave and a drop in production and export, Carmen Villarreal Treviño assures that the sector has a very positive outlook.
“All these agave crises have made us be innovative, be creative and work very hard so that our industry continues to grow, we have overcome several crises, this last one was very hard, but we have good prospects,” he said.
He recognized that the main challenge for the industry is to find the balance between the supply and demand of agave, which allows each link in the chain to obtain profitability and not have those peaks and valleys in the demand for agave.
This year the tequila industry will register a slight decrease in production and export levels than last year, but Carmen Villarreal assures that it is a year of consolidation and greater growth will follow.
“The industry has an enormous opportunity to grow around the world, we barely reach a 2% share in distillate consumption, there is a lot of work to do, we have very strong categories with which to compete, but tequila has everything to conquer.” palates, it is a very versatile drink that can be drunk straight or mixed and that attracts many consumers,” he added.
Casa San Matías supports social work
For eight years Carmen Villarreal has participated in the board of the Casa Hogar Alegría, an institution that has four institutions exclusively for girls.
The organization has two houses in the State of Mexico, one in Michoacán and another in Tlajomulco, Jalisco.
Villarreal is the leader of Casa Hogar Alegría in Tlajomulco, where there are more than 200 girls.
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