Gutierrez, Carlos M. (Carlos Miguel), 1953-

Carlos Miguel Gutierrez (originally Gutiérrez; born November 4, 1953) is a Cuban-born American business executive and public official. He notably served as the 35th U.S. Secretary of Commerce from 2005 to 2009.

Born in Havana, Cuba, his family fled to the United States when he was six, escaping Fidel Castro's regime, settling in Miami, Florida. Gutierrez studied business administration at the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education campus in Querétaro, Mexico but did not receive a degree. He joined Kellogg's in Mexico in 1975, at the age of 22, as a sales representative and management trainee. Rising through the management ranks, in January 1990 he was promoted to corporate vice president of product development at the company's headquarters in Battle Creek, Michigan, and in July of that year, he became executive vice president of Kellogg USA. In January 1999, he was elected to the company's board of directors. In April he was appointed president and CEO, becoming the only Latino CEO of a Fortune 500 company. Gutierrez was also the youngest CEO in the company's nearly 100-year history. In 1999, Kellogg faced a global decline or stagnation in cereal sales. Gutierrez's strategy, known as "Volume to Value," was to increase sales by focusing resources on higher-margin products.

...