The Charm of Mexico Put John Riley on Lifelong Quest to Boost the Nation’s Prosperity
hile in the Navy and stationed at Ream Field in Imperial Beach in the early 1960s, John Riley often traveled across the border and got to know more about Tijuana and Mexico than most visitors.
Because he knew a little Spanish, Riley made some good friends, and even met his first wife there.
Observing the Mexican economy and its shortcomings, Riley thought there must be something he could do to make things better for both nations.
“There were so many things they needed in Mexico, and so many things Mexico could offer the U.S. I thought if I could be a conduit for that, it was something I’d really like to do.”
After leaving the Navy, Riley carved out a career working in the new maquiladora industry, first as a quality control manager, and later overseeing subcontract manufacturing for several clients.
He’s been working along the border for some 30 years. Several years ago, Riley was named president of a Mexico-based business organization called CANIETI, representing electronics and high-tech manufacturers. It’s the first time a non-Mexican was ever named to the post.
Enrique Mier y Teran, the president of Tecnomex Industrial Park in Tijuana and a longtime friend, says that beyond being a genuine and straightforward guy, Riley’s a person who gets things done.
“More than anything else, what distinguishes John is that he gets results,” Mier y Teran says.
In his capacity as president of the trade group, Riley regularly meets with top officials from the Mexican federal government and the state of Baja California on matters concerning the maquiladora industry.
Before being named as president of CANIETI (National Chamber for the Electronics, Telecommunications and Information Technology Industries), Riley served as president and chairman of the Western Maquiladora Trade Association, another industry group promoting maquiladoras.
Birth Of The Maquiladoras
Maquiladoras, or twin plants, first began appearing along the San Diego border in the late 1960s, but really took off in the 1970s and 1980s when multinational corporations such as Sony, Sanyo, Honeywell and Union Carbide set up assembly operations in Tijuana, and administrative and sales offices right across the border in San Diego.
Riley tries to contain himself when he encounters the oft-heard arguments the industry has exploited Mexico’s low-cost labor and produced more harm than good.
“We’ve been called exploiters from Day One, but that usually comes from people who don’t understand the mechanics (of the maquiladoras),” says Riley, who contends the industry has helped turn around the nation’s economy, setting it on a road to greater prosperity.
“What’s happening in Mexico is very similar to what happened in Japan and Korea, where cheaper labor costs attracted industrial manufacturing investment, and those economies evolved into full-fledged major manufacturing countries.”
Riley has been president and chief operating officer for Vertek International Inc., a “shelter company,” since 1986. Vertek acts as a subcontractor for manufacturers in the United States, taking raw materials and their exact production specifications from the manufacturer, then setting up plant operations, including the hiring of employees.
As the name implies, Vertek acts as shelter for their clients, shielding them from financial and legal exposure.
“We protect (the manufacturers) from the vagaries of working in Mexico,” Riley says. “We become their operational partners in the practical term, but not in the legal term.”
In a very real sense, Riley has always had an affinity for Mexico and its strong family oriented culture.
Beyond Borders
As a youth growing up in the small East Bay town of San Lorenzo, near Hayward, he got to know and befriend Mexican immigrant families who were employed in the nearby fields. He became close to one family in particular who had a boy about his age.
“To me, they weren’t Mexican. They weren’t black. They weren’t anything else. They were just friends.”
The second of three children, Riley recalled being able to make friends easily and was popular enough to be elected class president in his fifth and eighth grades.
“I had some good teachers who exposed me to opportunities beyond the classroom, and I guess that built up my self-esteem.”
One of the things he was most proud of as a youngster was conquering his lisp by taking speech therapy classes.
“I never dreamed I’d be able to make speeches before lots of people as I do today,” he says.
He recalled being a fairly good student in elementary school, but only average in high school. While attending Washington Union High School in Fremont, Riley’s physical education teacher was former San Francisco 49ers coach Bill Walsh.
“I think he became a genius a little later on, but he was a good coach, and our team went to the regional championship one year.”
After high school, Riley followed in his father’s footsteps and joined the Navy. He was assigned as a sonar man at the Navy’s helicopter base at Ream Field.
Experiencing Mexico
The little town’s proximity to Tijuana afforded Riley the chance to improve his Spanish and experience a different culture.
“Because I spoke the language, I could meet a lot more people and go to places a lot of people didn’t see.”
During the Sixties, Tijuana was a much different place, more wide open and exotic, especially if you were a young man recently graduated from high school.
Riley says he soaked it all in, recalling his visits to nightclubs such as the Aloha Club, where guitarist Carlos Santana first started his ascent to stardom.
The comfort zone Riley felt in Tijuana deepened after he married a native of Mexico and made his home there. Even after taking an aerospace job at Rockwell International’s Anaheim plant, Riley maintained his home in Mexico. He would stay at a small apartment near Rockwell during the week and return to Tijuana on weekends.
Riley says in recent years, especially since the passage of NAFTA, Mexico has made dramatic strides in improving its economy.
When he first began visiting Mexico, Riley thought that within his lifetime he’d see its economy rise to be among the world’s top 10. It’s come a long way and has made enormous strides, but it’s still a work in progress, he says.
The issues of increased security and trust in public officials are ones that new President Vicente Fox is addressing and may change for the better, he says.
As for Riley’s life, it couldn’t have turned out any better.
He wanted to be involved in helping create a more cooperative and mutually beneficial relationship between Mexico and his homeland, and in many ways, he’s achieved that.
Says Hugh Constant, vice president of the San Diego World Trade Center, of Riley: “John tells it like it is. He’s direct; he’s honest, and yet, he clearly has the diplomatic and political skills that command respect.”