Leadership

Eduardo Perez, the founder of GRITT Academy, is a recognized executive in the auto finance industry, currently serving as Chief Customer Officer at Tricolor Holdings, focused on providing affordable financing to the Hispanic community. In this role, he oversees a $1.5B+ portfolio and leads high-performing teams across the U.S. and Mexico, driving business transformation and operational excellence. Eduardo was recently honored as the 2024 Most Influential Chief Customer Officer by CXO Magazine and named a Top 10 Chief Customer Officer in 2023 by MarTech.

Earlier in his career, Eduardo held leadership roles at Capital One, where he was celebrated as one of the company's top young executives. He received multiple Circle of Excellence Awards for spearheading key business transformation initiatives. Eduardo also served as President of Capital One’s National Hispanic Network, representing over 3,000 members. Under his leadership, the network launched a nationwide mentorship initiative, a scholarship program, and raised grant funding for the Mi Escuelita program. In 2016, he was named one of the Top 40 Under 40 Young Hispanic Corporate Achievers by the Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility.

Beyond his corporate success, Eduardo is deeply committed to service and faith. For over 16 years, he has been an active member of Christ Fellowship en Español located in McKinney, TX, serving in various volunteer leadership roles and participating in mission trips to Mexico, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic. He currently leads the Paz Financiera program, teaching personal finance and stewardship to adults in the Hispanic community. Eduardo has also preached on the topic of financial stewardship, in Spanish.

The vision for GRITT Academy was born during a mission trip to Mexico, where he observed one of missionaries lead a wilderness-based discipleship experience for youth. Inspired by this transformative encounter, he felt a strong calling to establish and lead GRITT Academy, a mission-driven initiative focused on equipping young Hispanic men through faith, resilience, and leadership training.

Eduardo holds an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business, a Master of Science in Engineering from Grand Valley State University, and a Bachelor's in Engineering from Hope College. He also earned graduate certificates in Digital Transformation from MIT Sloan and Design Thinking from Stanford University.

Outside of work, Eduardo reads two books a month and enjoys playing soccer, softball & boxing. He is a devoted husband to his beautiful wife Rosa and proud father of two children.

Eduardo Pérez