Daniel Cardenas

About

How I got here.

Operations Manager. Based in Panama City. Ten years international experience across Latin America, the Caribbean, and Europe.


I work across borders. Right now that means running operations and strategy for a family office in Panama while simultaneously implementing a PMO for a manufacturing company in Mexico — two entities, two countries, two regulatory environments. That has been the through-line of my career: I keep ending up in places where the operational complexity is the point, not a side effect.

Daniel Cárdenas, Panama City

I came up through hospitality. I trained at César Ritz Colleges in Switzerland (2007–2010), worked culinary roles in Geneva, Miami, Panama, and Mexico, then moved shipboard with Royal Caribbean — coordinating 250+ culinary staff on the Oasis of the Seas. From there the work shifted from running a kitchen to running an operation: multi-departmental hospitality in Brazil, office and project leadership at a commercial aquaculture entity in Panama, then four years at Innovasea coordinating international R&D deployments across Latin America and Aruba.

Now I consult independently. The work is what it has always been — building the operational scaffolding that lets organizations move faster without losing control — but on my own terms, across the engagements I find most interesting.

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Languages

Bilingual native (EN/ES) · Professional Portuguese · Conversational French and Italian

Where I've worked

Panama Mexico Brazil Aruba Switzerland USA

Panama · Mexico · Brazil · Aruba · Switzerland · USA
SIX COUNTRIES · THREE CONTINENTS · TEN YEARS

Credentials

  • Swiss Higher Diploma in Hotel Management, César Ritz Colleges (2007–2010)
  • Google Project Management Professional Certificate
  • EF SET English C1 (69/100)