Jesús de Avila – Grupo Nazan

Jesus de Avila did not arrive at Grupo Nazan with a mandate to chase technology for its own sake. He arrived with a conviction shaped over two decades at OXXO that technology, when anchored in values and business strategy, can fundamentally reshape how an organization competes, serves customers, and sustains relevance. As chief information officer for Grupo Nazan, de Avila is leading one of the most ambitious digital transformations in Mexico’s footwear retail sector, not by pursuing size or speed, but by redefining what it means to be truly digitized in an industry that has seen little structural disruption for decades.

Jesús de Avila | Grupo Nazan | Chief Information Officer

De Avila’s 21-year tenure at OXXO was formative, not only in terms of scale and complexity, but in how it shaped his identity as a technology leader. Working across executive, technological, and commercial functions, he learned to see IT as an enterprise-wide enabler rather than a back-office utility. That perspective, combined with a strong grounding in ethical leadership, now informs his approach to transformation at Grupo Nazan.

“I don’t see technology as a collection of tools,” he says. “I see it as a catalyst that brings strategy, culture, and execution together.”

At Grupo Nazan, de Avila applies that philosophy by tightly aligning digital initiatives with the company’s mission and values. Every platform decision, architectural shift, and investment priority is evaluated through the lens of business impact, customer experience, and long-term sustainability. His role is not simply to modernize systems, but to translate vision into operational capability, ensuring that digital transformation becomes embedded in how the organization thinks and works.

That approach is especially critical in footwear retail, a sector that has historically relied on traditional wholesale and store-based models. As consumer expectations evolve and omnichannel behavior becomes the norm, de Avila believes incremental change is no longer sufficient. Structural transformation is required, and technology must lead it.

Redefining leadership in a legacy industry

Grupo Nazan occupies a unique position in Mexico’s footwear market. It is a long-established player with deep operational roots, yet it operates in a macroeconomic environment shaped by digital-native consumers, mobile commerce, and rising expectations for convenience and personalization. De Avila sees this moment as both a challenge and an opportunity.

“The footwear industry hasn’t changed its operating model in decades,” he says. “That makes digital transformation not optional, but existential.”

Rather than positioning Nazan to simply grow larger, de Avila and the leadership team have committed to becoming the most digitized footwear company in the market. This distinction is deliberate. Scale, in his view, can be replicated. Digital capability, when executed well, becomes a durable competitive advantage.

That strategy rests on three pillars that guide daily decision-making. Flexibility allows the organization to adapt quickly to regulatory shifts and consumer trends. Scalability removes geographic and physical constraints, enabling growth without proportional complexity. Continuous innovation sustains competitiveness in a crowded market where differentiation increasingly depends on experience rather than product alone.

For de Avila, digital transformation is not a project with an end date. It is an operational muscle that must be exercised continuously. By embedding flexibility, scalability, and innovation into the core architecture of the business, Grupo Nazan is positioning itself to lead rather than react as the industry evolves.

Building the nervous system for unified commerce

At the center of Nazan’s transformation is a technology roadmap grounded in the Gartner methodology. In an environment saturated with emerging tools and trends, de Avila’s priority has been to professionalize innovation. Technologies are not adopted because they are fashionable, but because they are strategically and operationally ready.

Using structured maturity assessments and decision frameworks, the IT organization rigorously evaluates capabilities such as artificial intelligence, big data, cloud computing, and the Internet of Things. This ensures that investments are timed appropriately and integrated into an enterprise architecture designed for long-term growth. Execution at this level requires more than internal alignment. To reinforce and enhance the results, Nazan works together through a carefully governed ecosystem of strategic partners, selected for their deep specialization and alignment with the company’s architectural standards. These partnerships allow the organization to move faster without compromising control, combining internal leadership with external expertise to convert strategy into execution.

That architectural foundation comes to life through NazanOne, the company’s unified commerce initiative. Designed as the organization’s central nervous system, NazanOne integrates order management, digital commerce, and real-time inventory visibility into a single, cohesive ecosystem. By deploying an order management system alongside the commerce platform, Grupo Nazan has enabled precise, confident fulfillment across all channels.

“For the first time, we can provide our customers with full 360-degree product availability visibility, without a doubt, “de Avila says. “With real-time visibility and logistics intelligence, we don’t just track products—we guarantee our commitment to the customer.

Unified commerce is more than a technical achievement. It fundamentally reshapes how Nazan connects with customers as traditional B2B channels decline and direct-to-consumer models rise. Real-time architecture enables hyper-personalization, advanced analytics, and consistent experiences across physical and digital touchpoints. Order traceability, in particular, has become a cornerstone of customer trust, extending the relationship well beyond the point of sale.

“The checkout is not the end of the journey,” he says. “It’s where the trust relationship begins.”

By providing transparency, accuracy, and proactive communication throughout fulfillment, Nazan transforms its supply chain into a strategic asset. In a market increasingly defined by speed, certainty, and control, that capability differentiates the brand in meaningful ways.

Leading people, not just platforms

Technology alone does not transform organizations. De Avila is clear that execution depends on people, structure, and culture. His approach to building technology teams emphasizes shared vision, clear objectives, and cross-functional collaboration. Roles are deliberately defined across development, data, user experience, and project management to ensure technical excellence is matched by business acumen.

Continuous training, mentorship, and agile methodologies reinforce a culture of learning and adaptability. Governance models bring IT and business leaders together regularly to review progress, resolve friction, and recalibrate priorities. Success is measured through clear performance indicators, while achievements are recognized to reinforce momentum and morale.

This people-centered leadership extends to how de Avila manages his own role. Leading a transformation that touches every function of the business creates constant pressure, but he rejects the idea that effectiveness requires personal sacrifice or heroic endurance.

“I’m not carrying the future of the company alone,” he says. “I’m enabling a team to build it together.”

By delegating control, protecting strategic focus, and maintaining clear personal boundaries, de Avila sustains the clarity required to make high-impact decisions. Balance, for him, is not a luxury. It is a leadership discipline that allows complex challenges to be approached with purpose rather than anxiety.

At Grupo Nazan, that discipline is paying dividends. Digital transformation is no longer an abstract ambition but a living capability that shapes how the company competes today and prepares for tomorrow. Under de Avila’s leadership, technology has become the connective tissue between strategy, operations, and customer experience, positioning Nazan to lead a footwear industry ready for its next evolution.