Adriana Cisneros

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Cisneros and the second or maternal family name is Phelps.

Adriana Cisneros
Adriana Cisneros
Cisneros in 2017
Born
Adriana Cisneros Phelps de Griffin

(1979-12-17) 17 December 1979 (age 44)
Caracas, Venezuela
Alma materColumbia University (BA)
New York University (MA)
Occupation(s)CEO and vice-chairman, Grupo Cisneros
SpouseNicholas Griffin
Children2
Parent(s)Gustavo Cisneros
Patricia Phelps de Cisneros
RelativesDiego Cisneros (grandfather)

Adriana Cisneros Phelps de Griffin (born 17 December 1979) is a Venezuelan businesswoman and the CEO of Grupo Cisneros, a privately-owned media, entertainment, digital media, real estate, tourism resorts and consumer products company. She is also president of the Fundación Cisneros.[1][2]

Early life and education

Cisneros was born in Caracas, Venezuela, to Gustavo Cisneros and Patricia Phelps de Cisneros. Cisneros' paternal grandfather was Diego Cisneros, who founded Grupo Cisneros. Her maternal grandfather was William H. Phelps, Jr. Her maternal great-grandfather was William H. Phelps, Sr., who, in 1953, started the first television station in Venezuela. Both were noted businessmen and ornithologists. She has an older brother, Guillermo Cisneros, and an older sister, Carolina Cisneros de Rodríguez.[2]

In 1998, she graduated from Deerfield Academy, a boarding school in Deerfield, Massachusetts, which she and other family members attended.[3][4]

In 2002, Cisneros received a bachelor's degree from Columbia University. In 2005, she received a master's degree in journalism from New York University. In 2010, Cisneros attended Harvard Business School's Program for Leadership Development.

Career

Cisneros worked at the organization Aid for AIDS, which promotes awareness and treatment of AIDS in Latin America.[5][6]

Grupo Cisneros

Grupo Cisneros is one of the largest privately held media entertainment organizations in the world.[7]

From 2009 to August 2013, Cisneros was vice chairman and director of strategy at Grupo Cisneros. In this position, Cisneros worked with her father and then CEO, Steven Bandel, to create a transition plan. In 2013, at the age of 33, Cisneros was appointed CEO of Grupo Cisneros, taking over from Bandel.[1][3][8]

Cisneros is the third generation of her family to lead Grupo Cisneros.[9] Her paternal grandfather, Diego Cisneros, was the organization’s founder, and she is the daughter of its former chairman, Gustavo Cisneros and Patricia Phelps de Cisneros.[2][10]

Cisneros reorganized the company into three divisions. The three divisions are: Cisneros Media, Cisneros Interactive and Cisneros Real Estate. Cisneros Media was the legacy business, while Cisneros Interactive and Cisneros Real Estate were business units that she created from scratch.[3]

  • Cisneros Media: Includes the Venezuelan TV Channel, Venevisión, as well as cable TV channels Venevision Plus, VmasTV and VePlusTV. Cisneros is the owner of the Miss Venezuela Organization, which holds a record six Miss World and seven Miss Universe titles.[11] It also includes the corporate enterprises as Cisneros Media Distribution; Venevision Productions; the record labels VeneMusic and Siente Music and the concert producer and promoter VeneShow
  • Cisneros Interactive: Digital media division created on 2011, focused on digital and mobile publicity, e-commerce, social games and crowd-founding. It includes RedMas and Adsmovil companies, besides investment enterprises as Cuponidad,[12] Mobly, Idea.me and Queremos
  • Cisneros Real Estate: Real Estate division which includes Tropicalia,[13] a sustainable tourism development located in Dominican Republic

Cisneros has said that she built upon approaches used first by her grandfather, Diego Cisneros, and later perfected by her father, Gustavo Cisneros, to establish pan-regional business relationships. An example of her father's work to distribute risk and innovate across the region was his roll-out of DirecTV Latin America in the 1990s. Corporate social responsibility is an integral part of decision-making, as Cisneros sees it as being good business to focus on responsible and strategic members within the communities they operate. One example of this is the January 1996 launch of Cl@se [es], the first pan-regional education channel initiative, coordinated with each country's ministry of education, that utilized DirecTV Latin American feeds and created accessible free educational programming on TVs in classrooms throughout the region.[3]

Cisneros has been instrumental in establishing a nimble approach to business for Cisneros. She uses a small team of generalist finance and legal specialists to work on long-term goals, acquisitions, and planning.[3][14]

Cisneros Interactive focuses on monetizing digital traffic with a pan-regional approach to extending their ad network.[15] In November 2016, Cisneros Interactive started a partnership with Facebook Latin America to be its exclusive reseller in Latin American countries including Venezuela, Paraguay, Ecuador and Bolivia.[16]

Fundación Cisneros

Cisneros has served as the President of the Fundación Cisneros, a non-profit organization founded by her parents, Gustavo Cisneros and Patricia Phelps de Cisneros, that strives to improve education in Latin America and foster global awareness of the region’s heritage and its contribution to world culture. She also oversaw the foundation’s educational initiatives, including the teacher training program, Actualización de Maestros en Educación (AME).

Personal life

In 2007, Cisneros married British novelist Nicholas Griffin.[17] They have two children, and live in Miami, Florida.[18][19]

Leadership

Awards

  • 2015: NATPE Brandon Tartikoff Legacy Award[25] Recipient, with her father, Gustavo Cisneros[26]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Krischer Goodman, Cindy (27 October 2013). "Adriana Cisneros: The New Face of Cisneros Group". Miami Herald. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
  2. ^ a b c Yearwood, John (1 February 2012). "Adriana Cisneros - Interview with The World Desk The Miami Herald". Miami Herald. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
  3. ^ a b c d e Collins, Tim; Cisneros, Adriana (1 February 2017). "A Conversation with Adriana Cisneros, CEO of Cisneros, a Becton Fellowship Program" (Video). Yale School of Management.
  4. ^ "Student Program & Support: Cisneros Fund for Latin American Studies". Deerfield Academy. 2000. Archived from the original on 29 July 2018. Retrieved 18 April 2017.
  5. ^ "Who We Are". Aid for AIDS International.
  6. ^ Neuman, William (9 January 2005). "Big Deal; Never Too Rich or Too Thin, Even With a Town House". The New York Times.
  7. ^ "NATPE 2015 Bio Reel: Gustavo & Adriana Cisneros, Brandon Tartikoff Legacy Award Recipients" (Video). NATPE. 28 January 2015.
  8. ^ "A Conversation with Adriana Cisneros, CEO of Cisneros". Becton Fellowship Program, Yale School of Management. 2 February 2017.
  9. ^ Pons, Corina (15 November 2013). "Cisneros's First Female CEO Seeks Latin America Expansion". Bloomberg L.P.
  10. ^ Wooldridge, Jane (23 January 2012). "The Woman behind the Cisneros Group screens". Miami Herald.
  11. ^ Associated Press (9 November 2013). "Venezuela wins seventh Miss Universe as nation keeps churning out beauty amid economic crisis". Fox News. Associated Press. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
  12. ^ Mendoza de López, Antonieta (26 July 2012). "The Cisneros Group Teams up with the E-Commerce Company, Cuponidad, to Maximize Its Potential in Latin America". Reuters. Archived from the original on 27 March 2014. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
  13. ^ "Cisneros Names Patrick Freeman President Of Newly Formed Cisneros Real Estate". PRWeb. 1 October 2013. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
  14. ^ Cisneros, Adriana; Bolloré, Yannick; Bourkoff, Aryeh (4 November 2016). "Paley Dialogues: Adriana Cisneros, Yannick Bolloré and Aryeh Bourkoff in Conversation at the Paley Center" (Video).
  15. ^ Venitis, Basil (23 March 2017). "Adriana Cisneros". Venitism.
  16. ^ "Cisneros Interactive firma alianza con Facebook". El Economista (in Spanish). 29 November 2016.
  17. ^ Neuman, William (9 January 2005). "Big Deal; Never Too Rich or Too Thin, Even With a Town House". The New York Times. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
  18. ^ Gordon, Amanda (12 September 2007). "Out & About". The New York Sun. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
  19. ^ "Authors: Nicholas Griffin". Simon & Schuster. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
  20. ^ "Adriana Cisneros - AST & Science". AST & Science.
  21. ^ a b c Cancel, Daniel; Marques, Felipe (16 August 2023). "Heir to Venezuela TV Empire Drops Soap Operas for Satellites". Bloomberg News. Archived from the original on 16 August 2023.
  22. ^ "Adriana Cisneros - Miami: Cisneros CEO & Vice Chairman; Co-Chairman, Endeavor Miami". Endeavor Miami.
  23. ^ Rodriguez, Ana Carina (12 July 2024). "Ford elige a la venezolana Adriana Cisneros como miembro de la junta directiva" [Ford selects Venezuelan Adriana Cisneros as board member]. Qué! (in Spanish).
  24. ^ "About: Executive Members". International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on 28 August 2016. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
  25. ^ "Brandon Tartikoff Legacy Award". NATPE. Archived from the original on 1 April 2015. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
  26. ^ "NATPE 2015 Bio Reel: Gustavo & Adriana Cisneros, Brandon Tartikoff Legacy Award Recipients". NATPE. 28 January 2015. Retrieved 6 September 2015.

Further reading

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