trendsetter

Just Call Him Mr. San Antonio
Mario Hernandez is passionate about creating business opportunities.

Mario Hernandez may not have literally put San Antonio on the map, but he has bolstered its reputation as a city of choice for Fortune 500 companies.
As president of the San Antonio Economic Development Foundation, Hernandez has spent the past 17 years extolling the virtues of this Texas city. His diligence and patience is paying off, and is likely to pay dividends for years to come, even in a down economy.
“It’s all about creating jobs for people,” says Hernandez, 55, who has spent the past 30 years in the economic development field.
“Last year, we brought 4,525 new jobs to the local economy,” he says. “The key for us was diversification. I talk to high tech manufacturers, warehouse and distribution, and other industries. But automotive was the real breakthrough for us.”
As passionate as he is for his city, you might call him Mr. San Antonio. Hernandez has been on a two-fold mission: to position San Antonio in the national and international business community as an attractive production location, distribution center, administrative office location and international business hub. At the same time, he hopes to recruit business and industry that will help diversify and expand the local economy, invest new capital and, of course, create new jobs.
Hernandez has helped lure hundreds of companies to San Antonio such as SBC World Headquarters (now AT&T), Microsoft, Washington Mutual, World Savings (now Wachovia), the National Security Agency, Valero Corp., Chase, Argonaut, Lowe’s Home Improvement, Citibank, The Capital Group, Johnson Controls, Maxim and Boeing. But perhaps the biggest coup was drawing Toyota to the River City.
In 2003, Toyota announced plans to build a $1.28 billion Tundra truck plant employing 2,000 on the south side of San Antonio. That spurred the creation a $300 million on-site supplier park with 21 additional companies that provide 2,700 more jobs.
“Toyota was a game changer for San Antonio,” Hernandez says. “Toyota has truly transformed our city—they put us on the map.”
Toyota might have landed in another city if it hadn’t been for Hernandez’s savvy and business connections. The automaker wasn’t even considering Texas when Hernandez heard it was looking for a new plant site. But Hernandez worked behind the scenes, putting out feelers with his many connections to help woo the automaker to his backyard.
Success breeds success, and since Toyota’s selection of san Antonio the city has developed a strong profile as a prime location for corporate headquarters as well as for data centers, which store data and process transactions, and “back office” facilities, which handle administrative functions such as accounting and purchasing for major companies.
Hernandez, who has a stirling reputation for providing excellent follow-up with the companies he attracts, notes that he wants to be remembered for bringing quality, sustainable jobs to San Antonio.
Hernandez grew up in Sinton, a small town of about 6,000 people 17 miles northwest of Corpus Christi. His father, Fernando, was mayor of the town and owned the local Tasty Taco. Hernandez earned a business administration degree from Texas A&M-Kingsville and went to work for the family restaurant business.
It was Hernandez’s desire to see the world that landed him in the economic development field. He worked his way up the ranks, starting with the Corpus Christi Economic Development Corp., later moving to the Texas Industrial Commission, and eventually becoming vice president of the Economic Development Foundation in 1984.
“I’ve traveled a long road since Sinton,” he says.
A true leader in his community, Hernandez serves on several boards and committees, such as the Southwest Research Institute Board of Trustees, University of Texas Health Science Center Development Board, University of Texas at San Antonio College of Sciences’ Advisory Council, Free Trade Alliance San Antonio Executive Committee and the San Antonio Technology Accelerator Initiative Board.
Bill Greehey, chairman of NuStar Energy LP, former CEO of Valero Energy Corp., once said about Hernandez: “He has a passion for what he’s doing. Any job you have, you’ve got to have a passion for what you’re doing, and you’ve got to be a positive thinker. And if any of those things are absent you are not going to be a great leader.”

DOSSIER

Name: Mario Hernandez
Position: President
Company: San Antonio Economic Development Foundation
Specialty: Economic development
Previous Position: economic development positions with the Corpus Christi Economic Development Corp. and the Texas Industrial Commission
Biggest deal: Attracting the $1.28 billion Tundra truck plant employing 2,000 on the south side of San Antonio.
Hometown: Born in Lima, Peru; raised in Sinton, Texas
Family: Married, one child, another expected
Education: Business Administration Degree from Texas A&M-Kingsville
Quote: “The key for us was diversification.”

trendsetter

By Cynthia Roby

learning curves

Giselle Acevedo has made it her mission to provide educational
and advancement opportunities for Latino youths and families.

Giselle Acevedo is not uncertain about the importance of learning. The 51-year-old native of Costa Rica has always believed that education is the way out of poverty, a lesson she imparts daily to the children and their families of Para Los Niños.
“For my family, education was the way out,” she says. “I work with the poorest children in the nation and find ways to give them an education and provide sufficient services to the parent so they, too, can succeed.”
Para Los Niños is a not-for-profit organization designed to bring children from some of Los Angeles’ most challenging communities out of poverty. Acevedo has served as the organization’s president and CEO for two years.
Raised in Los Angeles’ Pico Union neighborhood, Acevedo is no stranger to poverty or hard work. “My mother was poor, a single parent with two daughters when we migrated to the States. I was 12. Despite her constant struggles with money and the language, she let us know that education could change things for us.”
Acevedo’s mother, now 78, is working to earn her high school diploma. “She lived her dream through us early on,” she says, adding her mother’ never gave up on her own dream of pursuing an education. “It’s breathtaking when I think about it.”
After graduating with a bachelor’s degree from Immaculate Heart College, Acevedo worked as an elementary teacher in Los Angeles while she earned a master’s degree.
Then, while preparing for her PhD, her career took an unintended turn. “I became involved with a sexual abuse case; some of the kids I was working with at the time were being molested.”
She decided to attend Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. “It was then that I was able to provide the children and their families’ assistance, speak for them on another level.”
As an attorney, Acevedo represented the rights of children with special needs, fighting to ensure they received appropriate services within the schools. Acevedo later entered the corporate world, holding executive positions with companies such as AT&T Broadband, president and general manager of the Los Angeles edition of Hoy, and vice president of public affairs for the Los Angeles Times.
“I was fortunate; they were great companies. I learned a lot about public affairs, management and advertising,” she says. “Yet I found myself stuck, ready to move.
“There were also times when things weren’t so great, times when I wondered how I would make it to the next day. As a woman of color, survival in the corporate world is difficult... I was approaching my fifties, and wanted to be accountable to myself. It was then that I found Para Los Niños.”
Acevedo now oversees a preschool, charter schools, teen and health centers in Pico Union that serve 3,500 children per day and 5,000 families each year.
Recently, Acevedo received the Inspiration Award presented by the Los Angeles chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO).
“We chose Giselle because she embodies what we stand for, personifies our mission,” says Jane Skeeter, president-elect of NAWBO’s LA chapter. “Her passion for education, fiscal and economic literacy is a large part of what NAWBO represents.”

DOSSIER

Name: Giselle Acevedo
Position: President/CEO
Age: 51
Comapny: Para Los Niños
Country of Origin: Costa Rica
Education: JD from Loyola Law School, MA in education from Cal State Los Angeles, BA in Spanish and education from Immaculate Heart College
Latest Award: Inspiration Award from NAWBO
Quote: “The only way to have the courage to change is to have fear. First, recognize your fears, and then step into the courage part of it.”