re: Alvaro de Salvo
A letter from the Schinkelstraats, 7 December 2018.
For some years, my former colleague and good friend Alvaro de Salvo has been asking me to write him a reference letter. He likes to build a set of them over time, and the thinking is that it also gives helpful feedback on his work. Anyway, I’ve finally done it — here it is.
—
7 December 2018
Re: Alvaro de Salvo
Dear sir / madam,
Alvaro reported to me for a period of 15 months from September 2014, in the later phase of my time as co-founder and director of PR and Communications at akvo.org, in Amsterdam. He was able to take in and interpret my vision, bond rapidly with the team, and build ways to defend, sustain and iterate our strategy and processes. It’s always been a pleasure working with him, and our friendship and camaraderie — and laughter — has been an important pillar in my life ever since.
Alvaro’s skills as a manager and management consultant are outstanding, and I believe he has the potential to work at the highest levels of consultancy practice. He is extremely observant and understands how characters come together into well-functioning teams, and the need to nurture balance and energy in such teams. He is passionate to apply better quality management practice and an avid consumer and sharer of insights from a range of inspiring, contemporary writers.
Alvaro has strong theoretical and applied skills in marketing, public relations, customer relationship management, data analytics, copywriting, internal and external communications, coaching and mentoring, meeting and workshop management, and leadership coaching. His chosen sectors have been cultural and artistic residencies and platforms, and international development cooperation and sustainable development. A detailed and meticulous planner, he produces frequent, consistent and well-focused internal reports, and has a distinctive and complementary approach through video-making and storytelling.
A natural wing-man, he seeks to support colleagues at whatever level in the organisation, builds trust quickly with co-workers, and is great at motivating and encouraging progress. Alvaro’s commitment to Objectives and Key Results, and the need to ‘ship’ has been inspiring for me — a genuine Completer-Finisher, his ability to stay on track despite multiple distractions and challenges has been demonstrated on numerous occasions.
The son of a successful Argentinian artist, Alvaro’s roots in Buenos Aires are intrinsic to his character. Travelling with his family, and living for some time in the United States as a boy, he has a cosmopolitan ease in his interactions with people from around the world. Yet his roots also bring a toughness — he has experienced first-hand the systemic collapse of the Argentinian economy and the effect that has had on its culture, and those around him. And he has worked hard to build a better life for him and his young family, and find a way to apply his skills in work that for him has meaning and impact.
Alvaro’s empathy toward, and understanding of, the nature of creative processes, dovetails with a respect for those who shape them — and he understands the need to protect and defend the space around programmes and projects, in the face of external or internal threats.
His determination to establish a life and career in the Netherlands has been impressive to witness, and he surely earned the respect of all Dutch people by carefully restoring with his father-in-law a beautiful 1972 wooden sailing boat, which he named the Malbec — and then kept us all happy and entertained on it, on the canals of Amsterdam over several summers. I am proud to say that today I am the owner of that boat.
I highly recommend that you consider Alvaro’s candidacy in a future role. Do feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
Yours faithfully,
Mark Charmer
Director, the Movement Design Bureau Ltd (www.movementdesign.org)
Co-founder and director of PR and Communications at akvo.org (2006–2015).