Valle maintains philosophy of philanthropy

TIJUANA, BAJA CALIFORNIA, Mexico — Rodrigo Valle Hernandez isn't one of those businessmen who won't consider what others say.

Quite the contrary.

While he has an independent streak — as evidenced by his hiring women and opening his shop during lunch hours in the early 1980s, unlike other shops — he always has surrounded himself with successful business colleagues, absorbing their knowledge and putting it into practice.

• This article appears in the Nov. 9 print edition of Tire Business.

Even today, he reflects upon lessons learned during a seminar he attended as a young man in San Diego, given by Ray Kroc, the one-time owner of McDonald's Corp. who turned a hamburger into a billion-dollar empire. Mr. Kroc died in 1984.

Mr. Valle adopted Mr. Kroc's philosophy with his philanthropy.

He remembers one businessman in Tijuana explaining to him the merits of charitable giving.

"He told me one day, 'Whatever you give to a charity, if it doesn't hurt, you haven't done enough,'" Mr. Valle said.

That applies to anything in life.

"When it hurts, it means you're in your peak of whatever you're doing, in work or giving money away to charities, If it hurts and you're finding a way to pay, it means you're doing as much as you can, and then you can be satisfied."

He remembers the day in 2011 when he felt pain. It was Jan. 28 and, with his family in attendance, he was asked to address a board meeting, held at a restaurant in nearby Ensenada, for CETYS University, his alma mater.

He still was in pain, physically, after undergoing emergency surgery for bone cancer months earlier.

Most people in the room had no idea what he was going to say. Many thought he would announce his resignation from the board due to his health.

Instead, Mr. Valle announced he was donating $1 million to the school, as a kick-start for its ambitious CETYS 2020 project. As part of the initiative, Mr. Valle's money would fund a gymnasium-auditorium, important to him since it hearkens back to his roots as an athlete at the institution.

The reaction, he said, was immediate. Attendees were clapping. Tears were rolling down Mr. Valle's face.

"I told them, 'I don't know if I'm going to be able see it, but you will have my money so we can start the gym,'" he said.

Two of Mr. Valle's friends and staunch CETYS supporters remember it well.

"It was very symbolic, very moving, very touching and, very inspirational and motivational," Fernando Leon Garcia, the president of CETYS, said, speaking via Zoom, with a photo of the Rodrigo Valle Hernandez gymnasium-auditorium as his background.

"There was some conversations behind the scenes (about a possible donation). We needed to make sure that the occasion was right, the way he went about it was as close to ideal as possible, and that the forum and the example could serve as something others could emulate, which they did."

Juan Ignacio Guajardo remembers Mr. Valle crying.

"It's a big thing, to donate that much money," said Mr. Guajardo, a lawyer in nearby Mexicali who attended military school with Mr. Valle in California as a youngster.

"The culture (in Mexico) is different. In the U.S., everyone is used to giving money.

"Giving that much money here is not normal."

The gymnasium-auditorium, with a $5 million price tag, was dedicated in September 2014.

According to Mr. Leon Garcia, it is the premier facility of its kind in Mexico's Baja California. With a facility already in place, Mr. Leon Garcia said at least one U.S. official has suggested the institution should consider joining the U.S.-based NCAA to compete in college athletics.

"It is way beyond my dreams," Mr. Valle said, "how big and how beautiful it is."

"The gymnasium impacts people every single day it is used," Mr. Guajardo said. "When you go in a gymnasium like that, you want to play like LeBron James or Kobe Bryant or Michael Jordan. It's the ambiance. You believe who you want to be."

"It has turned out to be a facility that has serviced not only events for CETYS, but also for the cities and state beside," Mr. Leon Garcia said, naming international volleyball and basketball events, as well as hold meetings for academic endeavors.

"It had to be facility for Tijuana and cities throughout the state."

Not only did the gymnasium-auditorium get built, but Mr. Valle's donation prompted others to "step up to the plate," according to Mr. Leon Garcia.

"As a result of his and limited number of million-dollar pledges, ... now we have a growing number of trustees and philanthropists in business and industry within the region who have also decided to follow suit and support the CETYS," Mr. Leon Garcia said.

CETYS, a liberal arts-type of university established in 1961, has a combined enrollment of 8,149 across its three campuses: Tijuana, Mexicali and Ensenada. Annual tuition is around $10,000 in U.S. dollars, according to Mr. Leon Garcia.

Its claim to fame is that it is one of the few institutions in Mexico to receive accreditation from the California-based Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC), which accredits a variety of schools.

According to the WASC website, it has accredited 473 international institutions.

Education in general, and CETYS in particular, is of particular focus to Mr. Valle and his foundation, Valle Bibb. Thus far, the organization has donated $1.75 million to the school.

"You talk about improving security, roads, wages, but at end of day the first thing is education," Mr. Guajardo said. "You solve all that through quality education.

"The average Mexican student is way down. If we stay there, it's never going to change. You have to have quality private and quality public education. It has to trickle down. You demand more of what they need when you enter the university, and you help the elementary, grammar and high schools get better."

Mr. Guajardo said there's one more thing for Mr. Valle to do.

"When will he contribute the additional million?" he said, joking. "Make it $2 million."