Adriana Cisneros

Early life and education

Cisneros was born in Caracas, Venezuela, to Gustavo Cisneros and Patricia Phelps. 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.

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

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.

Grupo Cisneros

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

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.

Cisneros is the third generation of her family to lead Grupo Cisneros. 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.

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.

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. 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, Mobly, Idea.me and Queremos

Cisneros Real Estate: Real Estate division which includes Tropicalia, 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, 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.

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. They have two children, and live in Miami, Florida.

Leadership

AST SpaceMobile, board member

Citibank Private Bank Latin American Advisory Board, Member

Council on Foreign Relations, Term Member

Endeavor Miami, co-chair and board member

Ford Motor Company, board member

International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' International Emmys, Director and Executive Board Member

Knight Foundation, Board of Trustees member

Mattel, board member

Museum of Modern Art, International Council and Latin American and Caribbean Fund

MoMA PS1, board member

Paley Center for Media, Trustee

The Aspen Institute. Henry Crown Fellowship

The Electric Factory, board member

John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, trustee

Wyncode, Advisory Board Member

University of Miami, Board of Trustees member

Awards

2015: NATPE Brandon Tartikoff Legacy Award recipient with her father, Gustavo Cisneros