Alex Trevino

Austin, TX — It’s very rare that I have the opportunity to meet, spend time, and get to know someone who is insanely smart, driven and has made it their life’s goal to make the world a better place. These people exist in our world, but we typically aren’t lucky enough to spend a morning with them – learning their story, why they are who they are, and what continuously drives them forward.

Please welcome our next Society guest, Alex Trevino.

In all transparency I know Alex through Sphere and some of the work he is doing at Logictry, but I never really knew who Alex was, till today. 

It’s Saturday morning and I hop on my bike to head up South Congress to meet Alex at SoHo House. Alex and I meet downstairs and head up, inside to find a corner table to talk. 

We start with the basics of how he ended up here in Austin.

“I was born in Monterrey, Mexico but only spent four years there. Both my parents are from Mexico” Alex explained. “We ended up in the US because my sister came to study here for college, and my mother at the time took the risk to leave everything she knew behind to give us a better shot at life. We initially lived in Oklahoma for a brief period. My father ended up staying behind”

Hm, interesting – I needed to know more.

“My Dad was a doctor who worked at various hospitals throughout Mexico and was always very close to those he helped – it was his life’s passion and he’d do anything he could to help people, even if they didn’t have the means to pay for the care” Alex said with a smile. 

You can tell when Alex talks about his father that much of who he is as a person is woven directly from the influence of growing up and seeing his father help people in the hospital. 

“My Dad actually passed away when I was a kid, so many of the memories I have of him are what he did for those he worked with” 

We dig deeper.

“My Dad would get to know people in the hospital who were cleaners, admin workers, etc. who couldn’t afford medical procedures that they needed” As Alex is talking his emotion is both visible and visceral. “Yeah, I mean, he would just take care of it for them – and I just take so much from that. My father cared so much about people, and it didn’t matter if they couldn’t afford the procedures – he wanted to help” 

Everyone together, big deep breath – this is a lot to take in.

We continue to talk, and Alex explains further how he embraces his father’s legacy in the work he is doing.

“I spend every day and all my energy to think and live like my father in all the work I do. I believe that technology can help people in the way my dad helped with patients of his.”

I wanted to know more about Alex’s work and what he is truly passionate about.

“I actually studied Finance in college. I played soccer, worked two jobs one with Red Bull, and the other doing sustainable energy research on campus. Right out of school I landed a role with S&P Global” he says. “I think I had an epiphany when I was able to automate nearly my entire job by leveraging technology” he explains with a smirk. “From there I jumped in big on automation and knew this was the field I wanted to be in”

Wait a second, automation? AI? Won’t that replace people and not help them? I understand your feelings and I too thought this. But Alex see’s this playing out a bit differently. 

“Yes AI will replace some jobs, but it will create a lot more in the long run” Alex explained. 

“I got my first exposure to the data space while I was in college. As a finance major I worked on a project to improve the energy efficiency for all of the data centers for a large technology company. These data centers were using a backup energy source which is terrible for the environment. So, we looked at introducing new battery technology implementation that had both a strong ROI and positive impact on the environment. To add some background my brother had some years before gotten a 2 million dollar grant to install solar panels on the UTSA campus. I have always looked up to my older brother, and can say I got close to living up to his legacy when we were able to announce a 1.4 million partnership with the local utility company in San Antonio during my time at the Texas Sustainable Energy Research Institute” 

Technological innovation that helps profitability all while making the environment cleaner and healthier? Yes – I’ll take some more of that please.

“I was able to connect with Chris Fronda about two years ago – Chris is the founder at Logictry” Alex said. “Logictry was founded in 2019 and aims to capture human intelligence and leverage AI to solve the world’s most pressing challenges. I’ve been lucky to have Chris be a mentor in every shape and form. It’s a big undertaking, but looking back it is amazing to see how far Logictry has come since the early days I jumped onboard”

“Chelsea Toler is our Chief Impact Officer and Co-fouder at Logictry. She has supported the side of me that has always wanted to leave a footprint in our world. I get to help support our direct partnership with the UN. We host World Logic Day in Austin every year in January”

Alex also told me that in addition to his role as Head of Growth at Logictry, he also acts as a full time Automation Architect for a large healthcare consulting company. This guy can do it all.

“As AGI(artificial general intelligence) improves it will likely know what the optimal decision path should be for nearly every aspect of our lives” Alex says. “Logictry shows the logical thinking you need to get to a decision – we leverage generative AI systems to better qualify what the best questions should be around any given topic and help humans develop better reasoning skills – we aim to show the best decision trees available to democratize expert thinking for people looking to make a decision and understand the process behind what led the recommendation” 

What a concept. 

As we close, I ask Alex what he believes is the key to success for a desired shared eutopia between AI and humans.

“You need people, you need to innovate, and you need to care” Well said, Mr. Trevino. “I believe that we will always need people and especially those that care at the center. From there we can leverage technology and innovation to build a brighter future not for us, but rather for the generations that come after us. We are each day planting the seed of a prosperous future we may not reap the benefits from, but that is the beauty of what makes our species so special. We dream and build in service of those who got us here, and for those who tomorrow may need it most. In the end love is the desire to work for the betterment of all things.” 

Alex and I spent 90 minutes together this Saturday morning. As I previously alluded to, I knew Alex before, but I never really knew him. 

But here’s what I now know about Alex. 

It’s likely he is a borderline genius – and I’m not blowing smoke. The dude is smart, smart. But more so, he – like his father Alex has made it his life’s goal to help others who may not know how to ask for help or know that they need it. Growing up, seeing his father be completely selfless in helping others through his own life’s passion has had a profound effect on who Alex is as a person, and who he aspires to be – constantly pushing himself to be better, think smarter and help others. 

I take the elevator back downstairs and head to my bike and I can’t help but smile and feel lucky to have spent the morning with Alex, hearing his story. I looked at the rest of Saturday through a new lens of inspiration and motivation. 

As I sit here writing this article and every day since I spoke with Alex, I couldn’t get his story out of my head. I find myself looking for ways each day to provide my skills to others who may need it but don’t know that they do or are too afraid to ask. So, it does appear to be true – Alex has inspired another human to be more human-like – and for that, I thank you. 

Society is defined as: a community, nation, or broad grouping of people having common traditions, institutions and collective activities of interest. 

The one common thing all of us can do as part of this society is embrace all our gifts, talents and passion to help others. Take a page from Alex and his father, it’s never too late to say to someone: 

“How can I be of help?”