Mark L. Madrid, at age 48, is accomplished as a pinnacle achiever in business and social impact.  Today he serves as CEO at Latino Business Action Network (LBAN).  LBAN collaborates with Stanford University to champion the Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative.

As a national 501(c)(3) organization, LBAN’s mission is to strengthen the United States by empowering Latinx leaders to grow substantial firms that create jobs, develop leaders and spawn a new generation of influential U.S. companies.  LBAN’s goal is to double the number of $10+ million, $100+ million, $1+ billion Latino-owned businesses in the U.S. by 2025.

Since joining LBAN as CEO in 2017, Mr. Madrid has generated a notable presence in the Bay Area of Northern California, as illustrated by his recognition as 2019 Silicon Valley Nonprofit CEO of the Year by the Silicon Valley Business Journal. 

Before his standout national nonprofit leadership, Mr. Madrid left his mark in banking, with a number of national senior executive banking roles dating back to his banking debut on Wall Street with JP Morgan.  What makes this story riveting is Mr. Madrid is a first-generation college student who was raised in a small farming community in the Texas Panhandle.  His parents had a limited education, with his mother completing grade school and his father junior high.  After having to shut down a bank during the height of the Great Recession, he pivoted his purpose and legacy to champion equity and inclusiveness in order to create economic development opportunity for all.

During his twelve years in the nonprofit sector, Mr. Madrid has served as COO of the Houston Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, President and CEO of the Greater Austin Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and CEO of LBAN.  In the civic engagement sphere, he is an Honorary Colonel of the United States Army, Founding Member of the Silicon Valley Business Journal Leadership Trust, member of the Forbes Nonprofit Council and creator of the Mark L. Madrid Scholarships, which are awarded to Latino and Latina college students who major in business at the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Notre Dame, and Texas State University.

Previously, Mr. Madrid served as Co-Chair of President Barack Obama’s My Brother’s Keeper (MBK) Austin initiative with the goal of ensuring that boys and young men of color have opportunities to improve their life outcomes and overcome barriers to success.  He served as a mentor for the University of Texas at Austin LBJ School of Public Affairs Executive Master in Public Leadership (EMPL) program.  He is a former McBee Fellow for the Austin Area Research Organization (AARO).  AARO is a non-partisan nonprofit organization that builds on the savvy and brainpower of 100 prominent leaders from the Central Texas region of Travis, Williamson, Hays, Caldwell, Bastrop and Burnet counties.  As well, he serves on the Board of Directors for the Central Texas Regional office of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) in Austin.  

In recognition of academic achievements, Mr. Madrid earned a Bachelor of Business Administration with honors from the University of Texas at Austin McCombs School of Business where he graduated with honors and earned designation as Endowed Presidential Scholar. Subsequently in his forties, he earned his Master’s at the University of Notre Dame Mendoza College of Business, receiving a Master of Nonprofit Administration, cum laude.

For Mr. Madrid’s excellence as a humanitarian, he has received numerous honors including the Jefferson Award, University of Notre Dame Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh CSC Founder’s Award, Community Emerging Legacy Award by the University of Texas at Austin Division of Diversity and Community Engagement, Mendoza’s Alumni Service Award by the University of Notre Dame Mendoza College of Business and the American Airlines Extra Mile Award.

Mr. Madrid is the 2020 Recipient of the Latino Leaders Maestros Award in the Category of Leadership for his lifetime accomplishments as a distinguished influencer in promoting Latinx entrepreneurship and for his legacy as advisor, entrepreneur, diversity business promoter, civic champion, all which place him as one of the most exemplary Latino leaders in the United States.  In 2018 he was named one of the top Latino leaders in the United States by the National Diversity Council.

For the University of Texas at Austin McCombs School of Business Centennial Celebration, Mr. Madrid was one of 60 BBA alumni featured in a campaign celebrating the 80,000+ alumni.  The San Francisco Business Times named Mr. Madrid one of ten Outstanding Voices in the Bay Area for his standout presence as a role model in advocating for a safer, more inclusive space for LGBTQ employees and the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce named him the 2017 LGBT Advocate of the Year.

Mr. Madrid serves on the Board of Trustees of Scholarship America, the nation’s leading nonprofit scholarship and educational support organization, and Texas State University McCoy College of Business.

With his notable distinction in business and social impact, Mark L. Madrid is the living example of paying it forward.  He remarks that every human being is uniquely formed to leave a distinct mark in this world.  It comes down to discovering purpose and the “why” of existence.  Certainly, Mark is leaving his unique mark on this world.