To escape the Great Depression, Joseph Artola, Class of 1928, moved 4,000 miles from Castle Point back to Mexico, the land of his birth. He never forgot Stevens.

His death in 1966 prevented his son, Luis, from attending the school his father loved. But for his grandsons, it was a different story.

Javier Artola ’03, with older brother Luis ’03, came from Puebla, Mexico, to attend Stevens — and fulfilled a lifelong dream of their father.

From left: Javier Artola’s uncle, Jose Manuel Artola; his grandfather, Joseph Artola, Class of 1928; and his father, Luis Felipe Artola, at Luis’ high school graduation, Puebla, Mexico, 1963.Photo courtesy of Javier Artola ’03

“It was transformative for me. The best things I have — my career, my family, my life — all started at Stevens,” says Javier, who earned his B.S. degree in civil engineering at Stevens and master’s in civil engineering at MIT. At Castle Point, he met people from all over the world, including his roommate from Turkey who introduced him to his future wife. He and Luis won scholarships, given by the Stevens Alumni Association in honor of their grandfather.

Artola recently founded Artola Capital Partners LLC, an investment banking advisory firm. But he spent the first part of his career tackling complex infrastructure projects such as the World Trade Center reconstruction. In doing so, he continued a family legacy of engineers dating back three generations. (Brother Luis is an engineer in Puebla.)

After several years he found that engineering was not his calling. He had friends in finance, and the field’s technical aspects and human connections appealed to him.

Artola’s engineering background gave him an edge on the analytical side of business, he says. “I think that it [engineering] really trains you to do anything.”

Armed with an MBA from Wharton, Artola focused on energy investment banking, working with prestigious banks like Deutsche Bank and Citigroup.

And last fall, following another family tradition — entrepreneurship — Artola started his own company, to provide investment banking services in the energy and power industries.

“You’re creating something, you’re building something,” Artola explains.

His first big transaction was a $30 million debt deal for Redeux, a new solar power company. “It’s transformational for a company that is just starting out,” he says.

While Artola hopes to expand his business, “I’ve tried not to let money be the only driving factor in my decisions,” he says. “As I’m getting older, that’s become less important.”

Today Artola and his family live in the Houston area; he has a young daughter. His mother and his father — who went on to study engineering in Mexico and owns a construction company — live close by. The family circle is complete.

– Beth Kissinger