Personal Story

Born Allan Agustin Abcede Alvarez on June 27, 1966 at St. Luke's Hospital in Quezon City, Philippines to mother, Aurora A. Alvarez and father, Francisco M. Alvarez with sister, Suzanne (married to Ricky Thomas) and brother Robert (married to Jackie Sealy with kids Jaden and Priya). Lived in the Philippines for most of my childhood attending De La Salle, Greenhills until I was 10 years old. Our family was involved in the garment business; owning factories involved in the production of clothes for domestic and international distribution. In October 1976, at the height of Martial Law in the Philippines, we migrated to the United States where we first arrived in New Orleans, Louisiana. Since my aunt (Dr. Mariza Lirio) and uncle (Dr. Apolonio Lirio) were living in New Orleans at the time, they assisted us in our transition. We stayed in Lake Kenilworth apartments off the I-10 near an A&P Foodmart and K&B Drugstore. It was only my brother, sister, mom and I who made the trip at that time. My father followed a little while after. I have very fond memories of New Orleans because of the Mardi Gras; we still have boxes full of doubloons and trinkets from all those parades we attended. It was also where I was first exposed to American public (and private schools (St. Raphael the Archangel) attending 5th and 6th grade, respectively.

Sometime in 1978, at the suggestion of another aunt and uncle, we moved to Houston, Texas. At the time, Houston was experiencing a boom and many people moved to Houston to take advantage of the thriving economy. It was here where I finished middle school at Olle Middle School and finished junior high at Fondren Junior High School. It was at Fondren where I learned to play the violin and consequently was invited to attend the HSPVA in Houston. However, I decided to attend high school at Alief Hastings High School and graduated in 1984. Although I was accepted to attend college at Texas Tech University, I instead decided to attend the University of Houston; first in downtown and then at University Park. I was an undecided major for most of my stay at UH although I had interest in computers and music. Since I found Fortran to be complicated, I decided to pursue a music degree instead. I figured since many students were studying Art, French or even Women's Studies, American Jazz Music couldn't be too far out in left field. This decision caused me to look into two schools, the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, CA and Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA. I decided to move to Boston. Boston is quite possibly the best city to study in all of America. So much culture, art and business in such a small and charming city. I eventually graduated in 1990 with a B.M. degree.

After getting odd jobs (CSR at a bank and Assistant Manager at a local retailer) and starting a production company with my best friend in college, I decided it might be good to gain more education about something practical and in line with my interests (at this time leaning more towards business). I therefore decided to pursue an M.B.A. at the University of San Francisco. There is no other city in the U.S., in my opinion, that can match the beauty, atmosphere and location that San Francisco has to offer. It was Boston, times 2. What a great place to live! I received my M.B.A. in 1997 while working with Siemens (formerly ROLM). While working diligently and favorably in Corporate Planning (click to view commendation), I was promoted to the Call Center Division as Administrator for global R&D. It was here where I was involved with numerous M&A activities and global financial oversight. The company restructured itself thereafter and our team was spun off into Siemens Venture Capital. It was at this time when I decided to embark on starting a venture capital consulting company, San Francisco Venture Enterprises.