Fernando De Leon counts himself as one of the luckiest guys in the world.

 

The Mexican American billionaire grew up in Brownsville, Texas, and Matamoros, Mexico, graduated cum laude from Harvard, and began his career as an analyst at Goldman Sachs before launching Leon Capital Group.

The humble real estate company in Texas has grown into a powerhouse with businesses across financial services, healthcare, and real estate. Along the way, De Leon hit billionaire status and receiving a self-made score of 10 from Forbes—putting him in the ranks with twenty other people with the same score, including Oprah.

De Leon is deeply committed to giving back through his family foundation, which focuses on tackling poverty in South Texas and northern Mexico, and through the De Leon Scholars Program, which invests in the next generation of changemakers across the state to Texas.

In a special live taping of The Latino Majority podcast held at The Alumni Society’s Leadership Summit in Chicago, De Leon shares his story of resilience and success from humble beginnings to becoming one of the few Mexican American billionaires.