Forty Under 40: Gabriel Machado

Life for Gabriel Machado is vastly different from what he envisioned growing up in Caracas, Venezuela.

He certainly didn’t foresee living in Arkansas, but with Rockline Industries, he’s found a global employer offering multiple opportunities for him to develop management expertise. In fact, Machado became the youngest engineering manager in the company’s history.

Back in 2002, Machado was attending engineering school in Caracas. He came to Arkansas for an internship with Rockline, which is based in Wisconsin but keeps several corporate teams in Northwest Arkansas. A permanent position was extended.

The company turned out to be a great fit for this bilingual leader, whom supervisors describe as exceptionally empathetic, intelligent and humble. He is considered a strong candidate for the family-owned company’s executive team.

During his 13-year career, Machado has handled various roles including production engineering, sales management, and now a business management role in the global exports and trading division.

He’s since earned two master’s degrees from the University of Arkansas, in business administration and transportation and logistics management. 

“I realize it’s not as common to have a longer tenure with one company in the early part of one’s career. There have been some cultural differences for me here, but with that comes personal growth. Mentors like Nick Santoleri took a chance allowing me to manage groups of people,” Machado said. “It has been most rewarding.”