Bessie M. Irizarry is the co-founder and CEO of Falcona. Ms. Irizarry’s experience and leadership are focused on developing and delivering technology-driven business solutions, providing outstanding customer service, and driving growth in a variety of businesses and industries.

Ms. Irizarry orchestrates Falcona’s Operations and is responsible for leading and managing the company’s Quality efforts. This includes the day-to-day leadership and management of company resources and the ISO 9001:2015 certification.

Before devoting her work fulltime to Falcona, Ms. Irizarry worked for the Texas A&M University managing multi-year, multi-million dollar projects.  Ms. Irizarry was responsible for leading teams of engineers to identify successful technologies, optimize processes and develop interface tools laying the foundation for cultural transformation. During her tenure at Texas A&M, she led projects in support of the federal government, state agencies, and the private sector.

Wielding over 25 years of experience Ms. Irizarry has successfully led technological projects in systems engineering, process improvements, quality systems and database development. Solutions delivered have saved millions of dollars to the customer, reduced process times from 25% – 60% and improved space utilization by approximately 30% while upholding positive employee morale.

Mrs. Irizarry was born and raised in Puerto Rico where she obtained her Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering from the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez. Ms. Irizarry started her career as an Industrial Engineer Intern in the pharmaceutical industry completing multiple internship assignments at Johnson & Johnson and Eli Lilly. Upon her graduation she continued to serve the private sector. In Texas, she served in similar system engineering and quality assurance roles on a variety of advanced manufacturing industries, more specifically, the semiconductor, automotive and electronics sectors.

Ms. Irizarry is a member of The Greater New Braunfels Chamber of Commerce and serves in the Business Advisory Committee reviewing and planning methods to keep small businesses updated and aware of current trends. In 2017, the San Antonio Business Opportunity Council (SABOC) recognized Ms. Irizarry for Excellence in Contracting Support.  In 2014, Ms. Irizarry was recognized by Texas A&M University for her outstanding contribution and dedication to excellence during her years of service with the Texas Center for Applied Technology. In 2005, Ms. Irizarry invented an “Interchangeable Frame System” for screen printing that decreased set up time by 50% and was submitted for a patent by her employer (Norwood Promotional Products). In 2000, Praxair Semiconductor Materials awarded company stock options to Ms. Irizarry in recognition for her outstanding leadership performance during the ISO 9000 implementation and certification.

In 2005, Ms. Irizarry achieved her Masters of Science in Management of Technology from the University of Texas, San Antonio. She is a licensed Professional Engineer (PE), certified Project Management Professional (PMP), certified Lean Six-Sigma Master Black Belt (LSSMBB), certified Contracting Officer Technical Representative (COTR) and ISO 9000 Certified Lead Quality Auditor. She has also authored publications in Lean Manufacturing and Database Development.