Ricardo B. Salinas (Mexico City, October 19th 1955) is one of Latin America鈥檚 leading entrepreneurs and a man convinced of the potential of 21st century Mexico as a country capable of determining its own destiny and that firmly struggles to decide what it needs, openly and democratically,spurred by the strength of its most value capital resource, the talent of its people.
Distinguished by his success in his business endeavors and his innovative capacity, Salinas is also viewed as being a person who is never satisfied with the way things are, who has a desire to change the status quo so that the future can be brighter. Impossible is a word that is not in his dictionary.
Grupo Salinas has its roots in a small family business specializing in furniture manufacturing, founded over a century ago, in 1906 by Benjamin Salinas Westrup, Ricardo Salinas great grandfather. Today the Group employs over 70,000 people in eight countries and has operations in telecommunications, television, retail, banking, insurance and pension fund management, among other industries. Ricardo Salinas supports over forty social initiatives on the continent, mainly through Fundaci贸n Azteca, Azteca America Foundation, Fomento Cultural Grupo Salinas, Caminos de la Libertad and Kybernus. Ricardo Salinas鈥檚 pioneering vision has received the recognition of the most important business and corporate organizations and forums on an international level. He has addressed Mexico Business Summit; The World Economic Forum, The Economist Roundtable on Mexico, the Institute of the Americas, UCLA, TED, the Aspen Institute, University of Michigan, Georgetown University, the American Chamber of Commerce and the Harvard Business School, as well Mexican universities such as ITAM, Tecnologico de Monterrey among other academic institutions. In these forums he usually discusses issues related to globalization, education, entrepreneurship, Mexico and the opportunities at the base of the pyramid.
In 2015, Ricardo B. Salinas is awarded Honorary Doctorate by the Universidad Aut贸noma de Guadalajara.
Behind the entrepreneur there is also a man eager to read material on a variety of topics, including science, history, economics, and business. Salinas regularly publishes a blog where he shares his thoughts on corporate, political, economic, and cultural issues that affect people across the continent. He is a regular columnist in the Huffington Post, La Opini贸n, Newsweek (Latin American Edition) and El Financiero.