Carnegie Mellon University

Marc A. Onetto (MSIA ’75)

Marc Onetto has led a distinguished career that includes serving as the top operations executive of two industry giants – Amazon and General Electric – as well as revolutionizing manufacturing with his ‘Made Next to the Consumer’ theory. He is now retired and does some consulting with his consulting company Leadership from The Mind and The Heart.

marc-onetto-square.pngOnetto was SVP Operations and Customer Service at Amazon from 2006 to 2013, pioneering the application of lean management in retail distribution. Previously, he was EVP of worldwide operations at Solectron, spent 15 years at GE (for which renowned CEO Jack Welch recognized Onetto’s significant achievements in his book), and spent 12 years with ExxonMobil. 

Onetto is active as a philanthropist and volunteer and was honored as a knight of the French National Order of Merit recognizing his contribution to Franco-American friendship.

Born in Paris, Onetto earned a master’s degree in engineering from Ecole Centrale de Lyon before coming to the U.S. to attend the Tepper School of Business, drawn by its quantitative approach.

He has since demonstrated his dedication to the Tepper School in countless ways. He has served on the Tepper School’s Business Board of Advisors since 2007, supported the Tepper School Quad by naming a classroom, established the March and Sally Onetto Graduate Fellowship Fund, as well as attending and hosting countless events for alumni, students, staff, and faculty. In addition, he has been instrumental in helping Amazon become a top recruiter at both the Tepper School and CMU. 

For his exceptional achievement, Onetto was honored with the 2014 Tepper Alumni Achievement Award.

"Carnegie Mellon had a big contribution to what I became. [The Tepper School] complemented my engineering background by teaching me how to solve business problems with a scientific approach, and opened my eyes and heart to different cultures as our class was already very diverse and international. When I joined Amazon, at 56 years old, one of the most quantitative businesses in the world led by young scientific geniuses and growing fast all over the world, thanks to what I learned at CMU, even decades after graduating, I was able to fit in and contribute.”