Latino Leaders

From ENTERTAINMENT to ACTIVISM, SPORTS to SPACE, these 12 PEOPLE are making their MARK on their FIELDS, the U.S., and the WORLD

- 

Daniel Lubetzky

Investing in change

Daniel Lubetzky, the Mexican American businessman who turned Kind snack bars into a global powerhouse, started his first company right out of law school: a joint venture between Israelis, Palestinians, Jordanians, Egyptians, and Turks to produce and distribute a line of spreadable pastes.

“Trade among peoples breaks stereotypes,” says Lubetzky, 57, who is now perhaps best known for being one of the Sharks on ABC's Shark Tank. “It cements relations between people.”

While the business did not survive, and did not lead to lasting peace in the region, Lubetzky has not given up on the benefits of bringing people together. These days he devotes more of his time and resources—he’s worth a reported $2.3 billion—to an effort called Builders, focusing on media, education, and civic action. “A builder is a moderate that takes action,” he says. A pilot project in Tennessee convened people to discuss ways to reduce gun violence and helped lead to the passage of a state law.

Lubetzky believes ordinary people can get leaders to do the right thing, even in a situation as complex as Gaza: "We need to create a condition so that this never happens again, so that you never allow extremists on either side to take people in an extremist, absolutist path that denies the humanity of the other side. Or else we're going to condemn all peoples to an eternal battleground." - Belinda Luscombe

IGNACIO 'NACHO' JIMENEZ

Shaking up the cocktail scene