He's lovin' it; the Ralph Alvarez story: for the Cuban-born Ralph Alvarez, working for McDonald's had long been a dream. As a young businessman, he navigated through the quick-service restaurants of Burger King and Wendy's, but his greatest achievement was when he finally walked through the two golden arches

This, however, is not one of those American Dream stories of an inmigrante who goes from rags to riches. Rather, it is a story of a Cuban-American man who had educated parents, studied hard in business school, and slowly worked his way up to become president of McDonald's North America--the highest-ranking Latino within the mega-corporation.

The ladder of Success

The Anglo-looking but thoroughly biligual Ralph Alvarez comes from a very successful family. His mother was a marine biologist in Cuba and became a researcher and professor at the University of Miami after relocating to the U.S. during Castro's takeover. His father was the President of Cuban Airways, but was unable to work in the U.S. after a debilitating stroke. Alvarez recalls, "As an immigrant, and losing everything they lost, [my parents] were so determined to ensure that their kids wouldn't have to go through that and that they were absolutely self-sustaining." Their determination paid off in spades. The eldest Alvarez son was valedictorian at Princeton University and went on to receive a Ph.D. from Harvard, while Ralph became one of the most powerful and influential businessmen in the world. While it wasn't a completely smooth ride, Alvarez has experienced a good deal of luck to complement his talent.

With his mother on the graduate school faculty, Ralph attended the University of Miami for his undergraduate education. Why did he choose that school? "Free tuition!" is his first response, but he adds, "It had a good business program, which is what I was going to study and I could stay at home and still help out with the family." With his brother at the expensive Ivy League school up north and because "classic immigrants didn't believe in debt," he went to school locally, where we would be no burden on the family finances.

After graduating cum laude, Alvarez was hired by an accounting firm of whom Burger King was a client. He was tapped to do some financials, and before long he was a director of finance with Burger King. As he would continue to be throughout his entire career, Alvarez expeditiously ascended through the ranks, always looking for the next strategic jump.

"It became obvious that if you wanted to continue in this industry you had to get into the operations side of the business," he says. "I was still pretty young, and through their training program I went and ran a restaurant for a year. My first assignment happened to be as managing director of the Burger King business in Spain. I was young and was probably under qualified, but overqualified compared to everybody else because I was bilingual. I got the opportunity because I spoke Spanish and was willing to take a risk."

The opportunities eventually led from Iberia to the UK, and later to oversee much of the Burger King business in Europe; and from 1986 to 1988, he was the president of Burger King Canada. "Burger King was owned by Pillsbury and it was always a dynamic tension there. It became obvious that Burger King was not a piece of business that they were going to nurture for the long term."

So he flipped the burger, so to speak. "I tried getting in with McDonald's in 1987, because they were the obviously biggest player. It was the first time I tried to contact McDonald's--or anyone for that matter--but the door wasn't open. They basically hired from within. A year later I moved back to the U.S. I tried getting in again with McDonald's [but could not]. Wendy's had started a turnaround and gave me an opportunity in 1989." As a corporate vice president for Wendy's in Florida, Alvarez largely oversaw acquisitions.

In 1994--seven years after his initial attempt--McDonald's finally gave Ralph Alvarez a call. "They approached me through a headhunter and I said I'm not gonna call you back! You didn't call me before, I'm not calling you!" he now says, a little bemused. A friend had tipped the company off to Alvarez' quality of work, which set the wheels in motion. "He said, 'Do not be hard-headed about this. This is what you've always talked about. Pursue it and see if it's something worthwhile.' I really made a career decision to join McDonald's."

"One of the reasons I was recruited was because they wanted Hispanic talent they didn't have--to bring in leaders that understood the Hispanic culture and the Hispanic marketplace to take McDonald's to the next level in that area." About his work in Spain and Mexico, he adds, "I always want to go back to international, learning different cultures. It really makes you grow as a person. Those are great journeys."

Alvarez quickly rose through the company as regional director of Chipotle Mexican Grill, a partner brand of McDonald's; regional vice president of McDonald's Sacramento; president of McDonald's Mexico, president of the Central Division of McDonald's U.S.A., then chief operations officer and finally president of McDonald's U.S.A. He took his post as president of McDonald's North America in January of this year.