García de Alba holds a bachelor's degree in accounting from the ITESO. He received an MBA from the IPADE.
He served as vice-president of the CONCAMIN (Spanish acronym for Confederación de Cámaras Industriales de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos) from January 1993 to February 1995. He worked in the cabinet of Alberto Cárdenas during his Jalisco's governorship. In 2003 Fernando Canales Clariond invited him to work in the Secretary of Economy. PresidentVicente Fox designated him Secretary of Economy in 2005 replacing former incumbent Canales.[1]
He took the role of President of the Institute for the Innovation, Competitiveness & Entrepreneurial Development at the Tecnologico de Monterrey (ITESM) from January 2007 to August 2009, during which time he supported the creation of Angel investment clubs at several ITESM campuses to support start-ups.[2]