MinerAlert
MinerAlert
April 2026
By Sandra Ramirez ’08, ’21
Alumnus Marco Zaragoza ’05 has fond memories of growing up working in his family’s businesses. He spent time at the family’s propane distribution company as well as its RC Cola bottling operation.
“I was amazed by the production lines, how things would go from water to a finished product, and learning about compressors,” Zaragoza recalled.
From nondestructive lab tests to inventory management and even sales training, Zaragoza gained valuable business experience at a young age.
Those experiences inspired him to initially pursue chemical engineering while studying in Monterrey, Mexico.
“I thought that I was going to create my own concentrate form because I didn't want to keep paying royalties forever on those sodas that we were buying,” Zaragoza said, referring to the royalties paid by his family’s bottling company.
Later, the family shut down that business, and Zaragoza shifted his focus to the family’s involvement in the gas industry.
He returned to El ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ and pursued a bachelor’s degree in finance from ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½.
In 2005, Windstar LPG was founded to export propane and gasoline between Mexico and the United States. Zaragoza is the company’s CEO.
Initially, the company sold propane to Pemex, or Petróleos Mexicanos, Mexico’s state-owned oil and gas company.
“We were successful with that. We started in Eagle Pass, Texas, and then we went to San Diego, California,” Zaragoza said. “So we were exporting barrels from there, and we had diversified a little bit from our Mexican companies.”
Another opportunity soon followed. Energy reforms in Mexico’s constitution allowed foreign and private companies to enter the Mexican market with fuel from abroad.
“We were able to go directly to our competitors and supply them with propane,” Zaragoza said.
The market later opened to gasoline and diesel exports from the U.S. to Mexico. That allowed the family business to convert 200 gas stations with the Windstar brand under a 20-year contract. However, when Mexico’s ruling political party changed, the permit was revoked after just three years.
“We were heavily leveraged, but since our permit was pulled, we couldn't supply those gas stations anymore,” Zaragoza said. “We had to readjust our operations.”
Zaragoza credits the lessons he learned at ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ with helping the company navigate unexpected challenges.
“For example, during COVID when the price of oil completely dropped, we had huge exposure to refined products or gas, and because of our swaps we were able to mitigate that risk,” Zaragoza explained. “This was a bunch of stuff that we are taught in school, not so much for speculation, but for risk management.”
The education he received at ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ is one of the reasons Zaragoza continues to support the University.
“I want to see our school be successful, for these kids to figure it out early and then [contribute to the] economic development to our city,” Zaragoza said. “I want them to have a good experience, to be successful, and stay in El ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½.”
While Windstar is an international energy company, Zaragoza still lives in El ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ and said he doesn’t ever plan to leave. His advice for graduates is to think beyond local markets.
“These markets, El ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ and Juárez, are very small, and these cities will only get you so far because our purchasing power is very low,” Zaragoza said. “If you want to grow, you need to think outside of the city, of what product or service you can provide from El ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½, but that can withstand distance.”