Henry G. Cisneros

Chairman
CityView

Henry Cisneros is chairman of CityView, a community-building company dedicated to producing work force homes in the central neighborhoods of America’s urban areas.  The component entities, City View West and City View America, work to identify sites, plan neighborhoods, acquire and develop land, finance communities, and build homes.  The results are reasonably priced “villages within cities” designed to respect community preferences traditions and to provide homeownership opportunities for residents of the nation’s cities.  With his wife, Mary Alice, Cisneros is also the founder of American Sunrise, a community-based nonprofit organization focused on homeownership for working families and after-school curricula for central city children.

From 1997-2000, Cisneros was president and chief operating officer of Univision Communications, the Spanish-language broadcaster which has become the fifth-most-watched television network in the nation.

From 1993 to 1997, Cisneros served as secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.  As a member of President William Jefferson Clinton’s Cabinet, Secretary Cisneros was assigned America’s housing and community development portfolio.  He is credited with initiating the revitalization of many of the nation’s public housing developments and with formulating policies which have contributed to today’s record homeownership rate. 

Prior to joining the Cabinet, he was chairman of Cisneros Asset Management Company, a fixed income management firm operating nationally.

In 1981, Cisneros became the first Hispanic-American mayor of a major U.S. city, San Antonio, Texas.  During his four terms in office, he helped rebuild the city’s economic base and spurred the creation of jobs through massive infrastructure and downtown improvements, making San Antonio one of the nation’s most progressive cities.

In 1984, Cisneros was interviewed by the Democratic Presidential nominee as a possible candidate for Vice President of the United States and in 1986 and was selected as the “Outstanding Mayor” in the nation by City and State magazine.

Cisneros has served as president of the National League of Cities, chairman of the National Civic League, deputy chair of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, as a board member of the Rockefeller Foundation, and presently as national chairman of the After-School All-Stars.  He is also a member of the board of Countrywide Financial, a Fortune 500 company which is the nation’s prime originator of home mortgages.

Cisneros holds a Bachelor of Arts and a master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning from Texas A&M University.  He earned a master’s degree in public administration from Harvard University, a doctorate in Public Administration from George Washington University, and has been awarded over 20 honorary doctorates from leading universities.  He served as an infantry officer in the U.S. Army.

Revised:  07/20/05