MBA graduate John Arthur Harris’ multinational ancestry of English, Chinese, Swiss, and Spanish blood isn’t his only international connection. Serving in various assignments in business and diplomatic roles, he learned to adjust quickly to new climates, cultures, and languages.
Born in Chile, Harris moved with his mother to Uruguay when he was three months old and joined the LDS Church at age sixteen. He married his wife, Nydia, in 1968, and the two lived in Provo while John finished a BS and MS in electrical engineering at BYU in 1971. Then the traveling started.
“I had an offer to work for Hewlett–Packard, and the church also offered me a job to start seminaries and institutes in Peru and Ecuador,” Harris says. “It was a difficult decision. I struggled to get good grades in engineering, and the church position would mean giving up my new profession. We didn’t know if the church would help us with housing or insurance, but we considered it a church assignment and said yes.”
The Harris family didn’t leave Latin America for seven years. After the seminary assignment, Harris was called to serve as president of the Argentina Buenos Aires North Mission. Even though their service spanned the Argentine guerrilla wars of the 1970s, the Harrises recall fondly the “wonderful experience.” Like all good things, however, it came to an end, and the family had to return home.
“Having taught the missionaries to dedicate themselves fully to the mission, I could not job hunt, so I decided the only way to go back was to go back to school,” Harris says. “I registered in the MBA program.” He then worked two jobs while in school, graduating in 1980. Even though it is recommended that MBA students not work for two years, Harris’ family situation necessitated the sacrifice.
“By the time I earned my MBA, we had five children,” he says. “The effort was overwhelming; I slept only twenty hours a week many times, which physically hurt.”
Harris worked for IBM in New York and Venezuela and then was recruited by various companies to work in marketing and sales, eventually climbing the ladder to his position as VP of business development and international sales.
In 1993 Harris received his first diplomatic assignment for the U.S. government as commercial consul in Monterrey, Mexico. He was later promoted to commercial counselor in Mexico City, and the church called him as an Area Seventy.
His diplomatic life carried him to Chile and Brazil, with a brief stop in Utah, during the next several years, and he served as an Area Seventy with responsibilities in each area where he resided. While serving in Brazil he was also called as the first counselor in the São Paulo Missionary Training Center and received the Bronze Medal for Outstanding Professional in the Department of Commerce.
In his final diplomatic assignment, Harris and his wife moved to Tel Aviv, Israel, where he worked as a commercial counselor at the U.S. Embassy, heading commercial efforts in Israel and the West Bank and leading a team of both Israelis and Palestinians. Harris retired from diplomacy in June 2009 and formed a consulting firm that provides companies with international business development assistance.
“Since I was baptized, life has opened incredible opportunities. Growing in the world and serving in the church; receiving three degrees from BYU; working in international assignments; and being involved with ministers, presidents, and corporate executives as well as wonderful saints in many countries has been a marvelous adventure,” he says.
