Manuel Felix '16: Creating Partnerships

• UA Hispanic Alumni Club Scholarship 
• Regents High Honors Endorsement Tuition Scholarship
• Southwestern Scholar
• College of Social and Behavioral Sciences Scholarship
• B.A. Political Science/Spanish Translation and Interpretation

College is sometimes a serendipitous journey. Consider Manuel Felix. He graduated with degrees in political science and Spanish translation and interpretation, but today is a cyber-risk analyst in New York City.

How did Felix get from point A to point B? 

It began with a U.S. Navy cyberanalysis course at the University of Arizona. He later joined the Navy, continued working on cyber-risk, and eventually joined Deloitte as a cyber-risk senior consultant.

“Did the UA prepare me for this work? One hundred percent,” Felix says. Political science studies encouraged him to be involved politically, civically and socially. 

“It helped me to understand the history of this country and understand how countries abroad work and how we can create partnerships with them. In turn, that helped broaden my under-standing of how people with different outlooks can come together and create synergies,” he says. 

Today, Felix consults with client companies to help develop their cybersecurity postures.

When it comes to serendipity, choices and chance blend. After high school, Felix attended the UA’s New Start Summer Program and also applied for and received a UA Hispanic Alumni Club scholarship. 

“I promised myself if I got that scholarship, I would stay at the university,” he says. “The minute I opened that letter, it was an internal feeling that maybe this was meant to be. So then I made one of my best choices so far, and that was to stay at the UA.”