Meet Brando Bustos, GPL Odorizers Senior Technician by day and professional soccer goalkeeper by night, clearly setting his goals high.
Brando Bustos, Senior Technician
Brando has been on the GPL Odorizers team since its first day of business in 2016. GPL Odorizers’ current president and COO, Jeff Cox says hiring Brando was an easy decision.
“I knew Brando was a perfect fit for our team when I asked him what excites him about manufacturing, and he said, ‘I love to figure out how things work.’ That’s when I knew he belonged here.”
From day one, Brando has taken the ball and run with it. As one of our top senior technicians, Brando is responsible for the odorizer manufacturing process of building, running diagnostics, testing, and shipping.
Brando is also instrumental in helping the company prepare for expansion into Mexico and Latin America.
“We’re seeing the need for gas odorization in Mexico and Latin America as they move away from using LP gas and towards natural gas,” says Brando, who is fluent in both Spanish and English. “Since pipeline odorization in those countries is pretty new, I’m training them how to build and operate our equipment.
To that end, he creates GPL’s bi-lingual training manuals and materials, conducts bi-lingual training classes, and works with GPL coding engineers to build units that use metrics and display in both Spanish and English.
Blazing His Own Trail
Brando’s enthusiasm, love of learning, and faith in God’s divine plan inspired him to leave his hometown in Toluca, Mexico, with his sister at age 17 and come to the United States to live with his father and improve his English.
“I knew that God had a plan that was greater than mine, so I followed it,” says Brando. “When I came to Colorado, I immediately loved the culture and decided to make this my home.”
Brando has since earned his U.S. citizenship and studied pre-engineering at Red Rocks Community College. He is Gas Pipeline Operator Qualified (OQ) for gas leak detection, auto injection systems, regulator, and turbine use. He credits his Swagelok Tube Fitting Installation training for giving him the tools he needs to help make GPL successful.
Take Your Best Shot
Brando Bustos is a real goal-setter!
In addition to his mechanical prowess, Brando is a professional soccer player for the Colorado Inferno, Colorado’s Major Arena Team 2. As a goalkeeper, he has been guarding the box from opponents’ incoming shots for the good part of a decade.
While most people relax after work, Brando kicks it into high gear and trains with his coaches and teammates late into the evening. After a few brief hours of sleep, he works out again before coming back to the office.
“I don’t mind,” says Brando, as if this type of schedule is normal. “I love the game. I love my job and the people I work with, so I get to spend each day doing what I love.”
Unfortunately, Brando’s 2023 soccer season was cut short after breaking his meniscus during a scrimmage with his teammates and later dislocating his knee and partially tearing his ACL.
“I’m not on the active roster this season, but I’ll be fine by the 2024 season,” Brando says with confidence. “I’ve been doing a lot of PT and having surgery this fall. Doctors say I should be good to go after three months of post-op PT.”
True to form, Brando is not letting his injuries keep him away from the sport he loves. He is still coaching at the Colorado Rapids Academy and collaborating with his sponsor, ZPro Sports, to help other aspiring goalkeepers improve.
“I know a couple of things,” Brando says without a hint of bravado. “For me, it’s helping other goalkeepers develop good habits.”
It’s not often you find someone as determined, thoughtful, and hard-working as Brando.
On or off the field, Brando Bustos is always ready and willing to help his team get the win.
