Manny Lopez becomes the first GE Appliances employee to reach 60 years of service, and his career still has miles to go 

Manny Lopez’s story begins 11 days after his high school graduation. 

Manny graduated from Montebello High School, just east of Los Angeles, on June 16, 1966. Eleven days later, he started with General Electric, as a service technician in the television division.  

“I was born and raised in Los Angeles,” Manny said. “My parents are from Mexico. So, I’m first generation.” 

Sixty years later, Manny is still here at GE Appliances. Still trusted. Still learning. Still serving customers. Still joking with his manager. Still correcting anyone who accidentally suggests this milestone might be about retirement. 

So let the record show: Manny Lopez is making history, not a farewell speech. 

A referral gone right 

Manny studied electronics in high school and had a strong relationship with his electronics teacher, Mr. Erickson. As graduation approached, Mr. Erickson asked Manny what he planned to do next. Manny figured he would find a part-time job before starting college. 

Instead, Mr. Erickson opened a different door. He told Manny about a friend at GE named Al Jones and a new General Electric training program for electronics, televisions and stereos. “He said, if you’re interested, I’ll call him up and maybe you can go over there and do an interview,” Manny recalls. “And again, I liked my teacher, so I said, yeah, sure.” 

Manny had already interviewed with Western Electric, the company that made telephones for AT&T. One day he came home and his stepmother told him he had two calls. Western Electric had offered him the job, and General Electric wanted him to interview.  

“So, based on the friendship that I had with my electronics teacher, I said, well, you know, I’ve got to do the GE interview,” Manny said. “He went out of his way to put my name in.” 

GE called him about a week later, and the rest is history. “I remember that like it was yesterday,” Manny said.  

In June of 1966, Manny began his career making $3 an hour. “From a guy that didn’t come from anything, that was 3 bucks an hour,” said Manny. “That was a good deal!” 

A new era of growth  

Manny entered GE at a moment of change. At the time, GE had been buying TV chassis from RCA and putting them into GE-branded sets. Then, GE decided not to renew the RCA contract and to make its own televisions. “So that’s why they started the training program,” Manny said.  

The program lasted about six weeks. “They gave me keys to a truck and said, ‘Alright, get going,’” Manny said. And he loved it. 

From 1966 to 1972, Manny worked as a TV service technician. That early service experience became the foundation for everything that followed.  

It also revealed something else: Manny could sell. In those days, technicians had the opportunity to sell service contracts while they were in customers’ homes. Manny was, by his own account, “always on the top of the list,” selling contracts and winning top prizes. 

Performance opened the next door. 

In 1972, Lou Cobb, then the service sales manager for Los Angeles, approached Manny about an opportunity. GE was launching an antenna program. The program connected GE with Goodyear stores, which at the time sold appliances, televisions and more. Manny hesitated, but Lou convinced him.  

“Give me six months,” Manny recalls Lou saying. “If it doesn’t work out, you can go back as a technician.” Manny accepted the job and never went back. The antenna program ended after a year or two. Manny stayed in sales, working on service contract programs for technicians and promotions for parts counters.  

The road widens 

In 1976, Manny relocated from Los Angeles to the San Francisco Bay Area for a role managing commercial service contracts. The work focused on multi-unit properties, such as apartment complexes where developers had installed GE appliances. Manny would talk with property managers or maintenance managers and sell service contracts covering GE appliances throughout the building. 

The move was a family negotiation. By then, Manny was married to his wife Margaret. They married in 1972. Her family was from Los Angeles too, and she was not exactly thrilled about leaving.  

Manny sold the move the way a good salesperson would: with honesty, optimism and a practical benefit. “It’s still in California,” he told her. “It’s only an hour away on a plane.” That worked. 

A few years later, the move would be bigger. In 1983, Manny was asked to become a regional sales manager for Latin America in Louisville, Kentucky. California to Kentucky was not an hour by plane. Manny and Margaret also had four children to bring with them. Manny knew the sell to the family would need to be stronger. 

“I told my wife two things,” Manny recalls. “I said that we’re going to move into a two-story custom-made house in Louisville in a nice neighborhood in Plainview. And I’ll get you a brand-new car. That’s what did it,” he joked. 

Manny stayed in Louisville for five years. In 1987, while still responsible for Latin America, his role expanded to include U.S. government sales, military sales and contract sales. 

Then in 1989, he moved to Miami. Or, as Manny put it, back to the sunny side: warm weather and beaches. 

The world stage 

If Manny’s early career was about products and service, his later career became about countries, channels, cultures and trust. As Regional Sales Manager, Latin America, Manny has worked across Mexico, Central America, South America and the Caribbean.  

Territories split and came back together. Responsibilities shifted. At one point, Manny said, he was changing managers about every 18 months. 

Then came the Mabe joint venture. Most people inside GE Appliances know Mabe as a supplier to the U.S. business, providing products including refrigeration and gas ranges. But Mabe is also a major customer in Latin America. GE Appliances exports products through Mabe affiliates across Mexico, Central and South America. 

That is the piece Manny manages: not Mabe as supplier, but Mabe as customer. He also manages legacy distributors, the customers whose relationships predate the joint venture.  

Over Manny’s time in Latin America, he has seen governments overthrown. He has seen currencies crash. He has had what his manager Ed Camero calls a “wild ride” through the dynamics of roughly 30 countries. And he kept going. 

From telex to AI 

When Manny moved to Louisville and communicated with international customers, the tool was telex. “So let’s say my customer in Chile, right? I would write a message on a piece of paper and give it to a colleague that punches it in this telex machine,” said Manny. The message would transmit to Chile and print out like a telegram. 

Then came fax. “The fax killed the telex machine,” Manny said. Then came laptops, email, mobile tools and today’s AI. Ed said the story of the telex to AI is one of the clearest explanations for Manny’s longevity. 

“Now that right there is a journey,” said Ed. “How does one person keep learning?” His answer is Manny’s adaptability. “One thing about Manny, he’s actually really good with technology,” said Ed. “There are times where he’s better than me. He shows me how to do certain things.” 

Then Ed names the trait that stands out most to him: resiliency. “You have to be willing to have an open mind,” said Ed. “You have to be willing to accept new things. You have to not only accept them but embrace them.” In a 60-year career, Manny has not stopped learning. 

Relationships matter 

Manny’s relationships are not transactional . . . they are generational. Ed has been in customer meetings with Manny where the person across the table said, “Manny, my grandfather said to tell you hello.” Sometimes it is a father. Sometimes an uncle.  

“This is a multi-generational relationship situation,” Ed said. 

It is one thing to close a deal. It is another thing to become part of a family’s business. Ed said Manny gets invited to family weddings and other events “that nobody else ever does.” Manny’s customers do not simply know him. They trust him. They ask for his opinion. 

“There’s only one way to build that, and that’s time and genuine interest in the people he works with,” said Ed. Manny’s relationships have endured because customers have found him consistent. He’s kept in touch. Manny has flown nearly 3.5 million airline miles for customer visits. 

Delivering results 

“The only way anybody survives in a company for this many years is by delivering on the results,” Ed said. “You can have the greatest personality, the most flexibility, you can love your customers, your customers can love you, but if you don’t produce, you’re not here.” 

When asked what advice he would pass on to younger employees, Manny said, “ . . . you got to love what you’re doing. And if there’s little bumps in the road, sometimes you’ve just got to deal with it and continue.” 

Three lessons 

After 60 years, Manny’s career offers three lessons for everyone who comes next, according to Ed, who has been working with Manny in one capacity or another for over 30 years.  

1. Let opportunity interrupt your plan 

Manny was not planning a 60-year career when he walked into that GE interview. He had another job offer already. But his teacher had opened a door, and Manny respected the relationship enough to walk through it. That one decision changed everything. 

Opportunity is often not expected. Manny said yes when the opportunity connected to people he trusted, work where he could learn and a company big enough to offer the next step. 

2. Adapt or get left behind 

Manny’s career stretches from mobile radios and handwritten telex messages to AI tools. He has watched fax machines arrive like miracles and then become relics. He has worked through changing ownership, changing systems, changing markets and changing customer expectations. The bottom line is, keep learning. 

3. Build relationships so strong they outlast the transaction 

Manny’s customers ask him for advice. They invite him into family gatherings. That kind of trust produces results because it is rooted in something deeper than a deal. It is rooted in credibility. Manny has proven himself useful, reliable and human for so long that customers remember him across generations. 

The continuing road 

Manny loves spending time with his family. Manny and his wife Margaret love cruising. He and his son Tracy are Miami Dolphins season ticket holders and serious tailgaters. Ed calls it “world-class tailgating” if you ever happen to be in the area for a game. Manny and Tracy have also made their way to major sporting events, including the NBA finals, Super Bowl, World Series and World Baseball Classic. 

He has six grandchildren, split between California and Miami. One granddaughter, his only granddaughter among five grandsons, danced in the 2020 Super Bowl halftime show with Jennifer Lopez. 

The first sixty 

Manny Lopez did not set out to become the first GE Appliances employee to reach 60 years of service. He became that by doing the next right thing, again and again, for six decades. 

When GE Appliances recognizes Manny Lopez for 60 years of service, it will be recognizing a first in company history. Sixty years. And still, not retired.