Five Questions with Javier Villanueva

Congratulations to Oportun 's Javier Villanueva for his recent graduation from the FBI Citizen’s Academy. This prestigious invitation was a direct result of his commitment to ensuring the safety of all Oportun’s team members and customers. On the occasion of his achievement, we sat with Javier to learn more about him and his work.?

What do you do at Oportun???

I am a Senior Security Manager with Oportun’s Global Security Team. Our job is to create and maintain a safe environment for all Oportun facilities. Put simply: we ensure that every team member, customer, or visitor who enters one of our facilities also leaves it safely.??

Beyond protecting against the things that you might expect a corporate security team to handle, we are also responsible for keeping people safe during a natural disaster, an outbreak or pandemic, even a power outage. We do that by creating security protocols, training staff, ensuring compliance, and responding to security incidents.?

I love the work that I do and I also love the people that I get to work with. Everyone from our CEO, Raul Vazquez , on down is aligned behind the Oportun mission, and every team is empowered to fulfill its individual responsibility in support of that.?

For me, that shared goal and unselfish support exemplify the company’s core value of “As One,” and I’m proud to be a part of it.?

How did you come to be at Oportun?

I grew up in a small town in Texas. After graduating from high school, I went to work in the family business before attending the Police Academy. From there I was offered a role in Loss Prevention with Walmart, followed by thirteen years at Home Depot, where I became an Asset Protection Manager.?

In total, I’ve spent more than 30 years in the industry.?

What types of things might you encounter in your day-to-day job??

Our primary mission is to keep people safe. That covers a wide range of scenarios, many of which are routine for a business like Oportun.?

A lot of our work involves preventive measures. For example, mail room staff have to be trained on procedures for identifying unsafe packages. We also train employees on how to effectively de-escalate aggressive interactions, so as to achieve the best possible outcome.??

The pandemic was an example of our team having to develop security procedures on-the-fly. We had never dealt with anything like it or on that scale before. But because Oportun was deemed an essential business we had to quickly determine how to ensure continued safe, in-person operations at all our locations.?

Our team devised new guidelines, deployed them to the fleet, then monitored for compliance. Each day, we partnered with our retail and corporate teams to ensure that they were following best practices on mask wearing, the use of sneeze guards, and proper social distancing. I am proud to say that we were able to maintain safety levels and achieve the best possible outcome as a result.?

Congratulations on being selected for and completing the invitation-only FBI Citizens Academy. Can you tell us about it and why it’s so important for Oportun??

Thank you. Participating in the Academy was an enormous honor and an incredibly enlightening experience.

In 2018, I had the privilege of collaborating with the FBI while in my role at Oportun, and the Special Agent I worked with later nominated me for the 13-week course at the Academy. During that time, I learned investigative techniques directly from agents on the Violent Crimes Squad, Anti-Terrorism Unit, SWAT, Bomb Squads, and more.?

Even for someone familiar with the profession, it was an eye-opening experience. These are consummate professionals, people who dedicate their lives in service to our country. I gained an enormous amount of respect for them and what they do.?

What advice would you give people who are not trained like you about how to better protect themselves??

Protection is my life’s work. Primarily, I am responsible for the safety of my family: my wife, my children, and all my grandchildren.?

And I consider everyone at Oportun to be my second family. So, I share the same advice with them that I give to my immediate family members.?

First, as simple as it sounds, all team members should be made aware that if at any time they feel threatened or unsafe, they are empowered to call 911 without approval from a supervisor. Pick up the phone and dial the authorities, then, when safe to do so, contact security or a manager.?

Second, you are only as effective as your preparation. Take your training seriously and always have a plan. Often, that’s as simple as executing the policies provided to you. The security team is always working on new and innovative ways to get new security training and resources to our teams.

Whenever you enter a new room or situation, evaluate all the “what ifs” that might occur and have a plan in mind for how to handle them.?

Finally, I would just add that maintaining a safety and security mindset is a choice; we can choose to be aware of our surroundings, we can choose to watch out for and avoid dangers, and we can choose to look out for others. I love working for an organization that prioritizes safety and empowers me to help others secure their environments.