Henry Cisneros

His mother was the daughter of Rómulo Munguía, a relatively wealthy and well connected Mexican printer and intellectual, and Carolina Malpica Munguía, an educator, radio host, and community activist, who chose to leave Mexico in 1926 after the leftist Mexican Revolution and Cristero War

Cisneros's father, who came from a family of small farmers who had settled in Colorado after losing their Spanish land grant during the Great Depression was a federal civil servant and later an Army colonel who met Elvira Munguia while he was stationed in San Antonio.

As his parents survived great adversity and advanced through life with an unfailing belief in hard work, education merit leading to a better life, Cisneros along with his two brothers and two sisters were raised in a highly structured environment that put emphasis on scholarly studies and the arts.

Cisneros received a Catholic school education, first at the Church of the Little Flower, followed by attendance at Central Catholic Marianist High School in San Antonio.

Henry Gabriel Cisneros (born June 11, 1947) is an American politician and businessman.

He entered Texas A&M University in 1964 and quickly became a student leader with the MSC Student Conference on National Affairs.

In his sophomore year, he switched his major from aeronautical engineering to city management.

In 1967, through MSC SCONA, Cisneros was selected to attend the annual Student Conference on United States Affairs at West Point where he first learned that U.S. cities were in serious trouble.

Relating what he heard to the problems of his largely poor hometown, the meeting, plus a visit to New York City, was a personal and professional turning point for him.

While at A&M, he servied in the Corps of Cadets as a member of the Ross Volunteers and as combined band commander of the Fightin' Texas Aggie Band.

Graduating from A&M with a Bachelor of Arts in English in 1968, he went on to earn a Master of Arts in Urban and Regional Planning in 1970 from A&M as well.

In 1969 Henry Cisneros married his high school sweet heart, Mary Alice Perez.

They have two daughters, Teresa and Mercedes, and a son John Paul.

Cisneros' community-building career began in urban public service, and setting in motion a focus he would maintain through his entire career to present.

The summer after earning his undergraduate degree, he worked in the office of the City Manager of San Antonio.

While earning his master's degree from Texas A&M, Cisneros worked in the office of the City Manager of Bryan, Texas, and later as the assistant director of President Lyndon B. Johnson's Model Cities program for urban revitalization in San Antonio.

After completing his education at A&M in January 1970, Cisneros and his wife moved to Washington, D.C., where he became the assistant to the Executive Vice President of the National League of Cities.

In 1971, the year his eldest daughter Teresa Angelica was born, Cisneros was honored as a White House Fellow and served as an assistant to the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, Elliot Richardson.

Upon earning a Ford Foundation Grant in 1972, Cisneros and his young family moved to Boston, where he earned his second master's degree at Harvard.

He earned an additional Master's in Public Administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in 1973, studied urban economics and did doctoral research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1974, and received a Doctor of Public Administration from George Washington University in 1976.

Cisneros served as an infantry officer in the Massachusetts Army National Guard while at MIT.

Before his tenure as mayor, Cisneros was elected to three two-year terms on the city council, on which he served from 1975 to 1981.

Throughout his career in politics and business, Cisneros has remained actively involved with housing development and urban revitalization.

Cisneros is also an active advocate for the Latino community.

He has and continues to serve on corporate boards, as well as chairing and serving on several non-profit boards to promote Latinos and the immigrant population.

Cisneros has authored, edited, or collaborated on several books and is an in-demand public speaker.

He served as the mayor of San Antonio, Texas, from 1981 to 1989, the second Latino mayor of a major American city and the city's first since 1842 (when Juan Seguín was forced out of office).

Prior to his Cabinet position, Cisneros served four terms as the mayor of his hometown of San Antonio, from 1981 to 1989.

As mayor, Cisneros worked to rebuild the city's economic base, recruited convention business, attracted high tech industries, increased the level of tourism, and worked to bring more jobs to San Antonio.

A Democrat, Cisneros served as the 10th Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in the administration of President Bill Clinton from 1993 to 1997.

As HUD Secretary, Cisneros was credited with initiating the revitalization of many public housing developments and with formulating policies that contributed to achieving the nation's highest ever rate of home ownership.

In his role as the President's chief representative to the cities, Cisneros personally worked in more than two hundred cities spread over all fifty states.

Cisneros's decision to leave the HUD position and not serve a second term was overshadowed by controversy involving payments to his former mistress.

After public office, Cisneros served as President and COO for the Spanish-language network Univision from 1997 to 2000 before forming American City Vista to work the nation's leading homebuilders to create homes priced within The Range of average families.

That company evolved to become CityView where Cisneros is Chairman.

He is a partner in the minority owned investment banking firm Siebert Cisneros Shank & Co.

Cisneros co-chairs the Bipartisan Policy Center's Housing Commission and Immigration Task Force.

The eldest child of George and Elvira (née Munguia) Cisneros, Henry Gabriel Cisneros was born in San Antonio, Texas, in a neighborhood that bordered the city's predominantly Mexican west side barrio (now the city's inner west side).

Cisneros was named after his mother's youngest brother who developed Hodgkin's disease at the age of 14 and asked from his deathbed that his sister give his name to her son.

He is descended on his father's side from early Spanish settlers in New Mexico.