The day before I met Omar Escobar at my office, I had offered to buy him breakfast, which he respectfully declined. Coffee, he turned down flat, too. That's a shame because food is great deflection when interviewing someone. So when he showed up the next day for our meeting, my hands were empty. He did, however, accept a bottle of water. As soon as he walked into the office, he was met with Juan Gabriel blasting out of my Monster speaker. He chuckled when I turned the volume

2026 FRONTeras Magazine 1st Quarter Issue The 2008 crash taught Seby Haddad something most bankers never learn. Numbers are not abstract. They sit across the table. Foreclosures. Bankruptcies. Failed businesses. Families losing everything. His supervisor said it plainly: 'These are good people going through bad times.' He didn't know it then, but his role as a banker would set up a life in public service. Victor Sebastian "Seby" Haddad learned early that knowing how systems f