By Adam Sylvain
17 April 2026
Earlier this year, Gonzalo Canteros-Paz TEE’13 was named chief procurement officer at Colgate-Palmolive—continuing a more than three-decade run with the company he first joined as an engineering intern before taking on leadership roles in manufacturing, supply chain, and procurement.
Canteros-Paz credits his steady rise through the ranks at Colgate-Palmolive to three essential qualities: an abiding curiosity, a willingness to listen and learn, and the resolve to turn setbacks into success.
“When I started at Colgate-Palmolive, I was monitoring the progress of engineering projects—making sure suppliers were delivering and all was running smoothly,” says Canteros-Paz. “Before long, I was given the opportunity to negotiate with some of these suppliers, and I was absolutely daunted at the thought of picking up the phone to seek better prices and conditions.”
With more training and reps under his belt, Canteros-Paz quickly grew to enjoy the work of procurement, which sits at the intersection of operations and supply chain, as well as research and development and touches many other functions.
“It’s a very direct way to add value,” he says. “As a function, procurement has the power to be a tremendous growth engine, helping a company control its costs and optimize value while investing in future innovation.”
As Canteros-Paz has discovered throughout his career, the stakes can also be quite high.
“Keeping production flowing and making sure we were able to meet the outsize demand was critically important, not just for business but for the health, safety, and peace of mind of our consumers and their families.”
He was working as Colgate’s VP of North American Supply—overseeing a network of manufacturing facilities across the U.S.—when the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted global supply chains. Especially at that time, no single product being produced in those manufacturing plants held greater importance than Softsoap liquid hand soap.
“Keeping production flowing and making sure we were able to meet the outsize demand was critically important, not just for business but for the health, safety, and peace of mind of our consumers and their families,” says Canteros-Paz. “You’re also thinking about your own essential workers and how to keep them safe, engaged, and motivated through a period of intense uncertainty.”
The pandemic is just one example of the many disruptions procurement teams must face. Canteros-Paz cites rapidly changing trade policies, natural disasters, and geopolitical conflict as some of the other factors that can impact the price and availability of goods at a moment’s notice.
“The only way to operate in that environment is to be constantly planning for those contingencies,” he says. “Leveraging all the tools at your disposal, you have to build the kind of resiliency that will allow you to manage uncertainty and mitigate the worst impacts of any disruption.”
Having lived and worked across three geographies—Argentina, the U.S., and Mexico—Canteros-Paz also emphasizes the importance of intercultural fluency. In 2013, he joined Tuck Executive Education’s Global Leadership Program, an experience Canteros-Paz says has helped him build communication, connection, and trust among diverse teams of stakeholders.
As part of the action-learning project he completed during the program, Canteros-Paz joined other members of his cohort on visits to India and China where they gained on-the-ground insights from local consumers and business leaders.
“This was right around the time world demographics had shifted and the number of people living in cities worldwide had eclipsed the number of people living in rural areas,” says Canteros-Paz. “Our project and the visits we made were all focused on how, as a company, we could best operate in this changing world.”
“Leveraging all the tools at your disposal, you have to build the kind of resiliency that will allow you to manage uncertainty and mitigate the worst impacts of any disruption.”
Since 2020, Canteros-Paz has shared his decades of business and leadership expertise as a part-time lecturer at Rutgers Business School, teaching courses in management and supply chain strategy to undergraduates and MBA students. While grateful for the opportunity to share what he has learned, Canteros-Paz also highlights the value he gains from the perspectives, skills, and interests his students bring into the classroom.
“I know teaching has also helped me become a better, more empathetic leader,” he says. “It has given me a deeper understanding of the talent coming up, how they think, and what their passions are. More than anything, it has convinced me the future is very bright.”
Lessons he strives to instill in his students include the importance of expressing yourself with clarity in ways that inspire others to engage and collaborate. As businesses expand their use of AI and other technologies, he also underscores the value in becoming adept at “connecting the dots”—leveraging wise judgement and expertise to make these tools as effective as they can be.
“We view AI as a way to strengthen the performance and capabilities of our people. In this context, the ability to translate information and insights and quickly take action is paramount,” says Canteros-Paz. “Anyone can have the tools, so it’s important to focus on the unique value you bring to the table.”
