FEATURE
Powerful People
The ones you know.

ANTONIO VILLARAIGOSA
Mayor, Los Angeles

He’s not L.A.’s first Latino mayor—that distinction belongs to Cristobal Aguilar, who was mayor in the 1870s. But the megalopolis Villaraigosa governs is a far cry from the village Aguilar ran. This son of a Mexican immigrant built a coalition and trounced the incumbent—the son of a popular politician— to coast to victory. Villaraigoisa is a consensus-builder, a useful trait in one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the world.

ROBERT RODRIGUEZ
Producer / Director / Writer

He could best be described as a one-man band. Rodriguez does everything on his movies, from writing to producing, casting, directing and scoring them. And he delivers his flicks on time, on budget and to universal acclaim. Rodriguez was recently named one of the 10 hottest minds in Hollywood by Fast Company. Rodriguez, who with his Troublemaker Studios has proven himself to be one of the most astute
businessmen in Hollywood, is perhaps the first Hispanic mogul.

J. LO & MARC ANTHONY
Power Couple

This power couple tied the knot in June 2004, merging two of the hottest properties in entertainment. Marc Anthony is a successful pop and salsa artist, crossing over back and forth between genres (pop and salsa) and languages (English and Spanish.) La Lopez is the highest paid Latina in film (she was paid $12 million for Gigli and $15 million for Monster-in-law, both flops).

Apart from a few duets, the pair only recently started to work together, on the film El cantante, now in production. Both star in this story of the life of salsa pioneer Hector Lavoe, with Lopez doubling as exec producer.

ALEX RODRIGUEZ
Third Baseman, New York Yankees

A-Rod sparked a controversy last year when he decided not to play in the World Baseball Classic–which pits players from different countries against each other. “When faced with the decision to choose between my country, the United States of America, and my Dominican heritage, I decided I will not dishonor either,” said Rodriguez. The 3rd baseman is the highest-paid player in the game, and many were looking forward to seeing him on an international diamond.

LUNY TUNES
(Francisco Saldana and Victor Cabrera) Music Producers

Nearly every reggaeton hit has the Luny Tune imprint. The Dominican dynamic duo were both born on the island, raised in Puerto Rico and later moved to Boston, where they met. Luny (Saldana) and Tunes (Cabrera) produced Daddy Yankee’s Gasolina, Voltio’s Bumper, and have also worked with R Kelly, Sean Paul and Ricky Martin.

JORGE PEREZ
Real Estate Developer

After permanently altering Miami’s skyline, Perez has joined forces with Donald Trump, and entered a partnership with actor George Clooney and Rande Gerber in Las Vegas. Perez is developing luxury condos with The Donald, and with Clooney and Gerber is building Las Ramblas, a $3 billion project which consists of 11 high-rises (with condos, a hotel, casino, restaurants and night clubs). And Perez continues to impress beyond his real estate ventures: He was recently named one of Time’s most influential Hispanics, and one of the richest Americans by Forbes.

JORGE RAMOS
Anchor Univision

He consistently beats evening news anchors in ratings in major markets, but, incredible as it sounds, there are still some folks in the U.S. who don’t know who Jorge Ramos is. And the Emmywinning journalist has been at it for a long time—2006 marks his 20th year as lead anchor for Univision.

AL GONZALES
Attorney General

His appointment last year was not without controversy, but his rise to the upper echelons of power is the stuff of legends. Alberto Gonzales, the son of migrant workers, studied hard, went to Harvard, became a lawyer and impressed many along the way with his intelligence and industriousness. One of those was then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush, who appointed Gonzales his general counsel in 1994, and has kept appointing him ever since.

EDUARDO CASTRO-WRIGHT
Executive Vice President and COO, Wal-Mart Stores USA

His stellar career as a global corporate executive— president of Nabisco Asia-Pacific, president of Nabisco in both Mexico and Venezuela, president of Honeywell Transportation and Power Systems Worldwide, Mexico, and president of Wal-Mart Mexico—may have prepared Castro-Wright to take up his current post. But his early training in the family business is what initially set him on the retail path. His grandfather started over 50 years ago what is now Ecuador’s premier grocery store chain.hi bun

LUIS BALAGUER
President and CEO, LatinWe

Through his management and production company, Balaguer manages some of the country’s top Latino talent, including Sofía Vergara and Raúl de Molina, and is branching out into movie production. His marketing division has made significant strides in recent months and is quickly positioning itself as the leader in marketing Hollywood studio features with marketing for the Hispanic community.

ARMANDO CODINA
President and CEO, Codina Group

Codina is the founder, chairman and CEO of Codina Group, Inc., a real estate development, construction, brokerage and property management company in Coral Gables, Florida. He currently sits on the corporate boards of directors of BellSouth, AMR Corp., GM and Merrill Lynch. He has also been part of many noncorporate organizations, such as the Board of Trustees of Florida International University, Co-Chair of Community Partnership for the Homeless, and the Advisory Board for the Panama Canal, just to name a few.

GEORGE REYES
CFO, Google

George Reyes helped stage Google’s $1.67 billion initial public offering in August 2005. He joined Google as chief financial officer in 2002, coming from ONI Systems where, as interim CFO, he assisted in the sale of the optical networking company to Ciena Corp. Before that, Reyes spent 13 years at Sun Microsystems in a number of finance roles. Reyes is also Director of Symantec Corp. and BEA Systems, Inc.

HERB SCANNELL
President, Nickelodeon Networks,
Vice Chairman, MTV Networks

Scannell heads up the top-rated cable network for children, where he helped launch Dora the Explorer and The Brothers Garcia (based on Los García, a show he used to watch in Puerto Rico.) The worldwide network reaches more than 300 million homes in 30 countries.

Scannell was born and raised on Long Island but he spent his summers with his mother’s family in Puerto Rico, where he perfected his Spanish.

REMAINING 12