New York Magazine New York Award (1999); Hispanic Business Magazine 100 Most Influential Hispanics (1999); Hispanic Business Magazine 100 Most Influential Hispanics (2000); Crain's New York magazine "2000 All-Star Business Leader" (2000); Latin Trade Magazine's Bravo Award, "Internet CEO of the Year" (2000); Hispanic Business Magazine "Hispanic Entrepreneur Award"(2000); The Hollywood Reporter "THR's Latino Power 50" (2007); U.S. Hispanic IT Executive Council "100 Most Influential Hispanics and Rising Stars in Information Technology" (2008 & 2009); Poder Magazine "The Nation's 100 Most Influential Hispanics" (2012)
Fernando Espuelas (born August 6, 1966) is an American entrepreneur,[1] author,[2][3][4] and journalist.[5][6][7][8]
Espuelas is one of the pioneers of the consumer Internet.[9][10][11] He is the co-founder (along with Jack Chen) and first CEO of Starmedia, the first pan-Latin Internet portal, launched in 1996 and now part of Orange, France Telecom's Internet services company.[10][12][13][14]
By the year 2000, Starmedia was the world's leading Latin portal,[15] serving over 25 million Spanish and Portuguese speakers every month across Latin markets in America and Europe, making it one of the top sites by audience size in the world.
Espuelas was the co-founder and Chairman of the StarMedia Foundation which, in partnership with the Inter-American Development Bank and Microsoft, built technology training schools in poor neighborhoods in Brazil, Colombia and Uruguay.[24] Espuelas served on the board of directors of the Educational Broadcasting Corporation, operators of PBS' New York flagship television station Thirteen[25] (WNET) and sister station WLIW, as well as on the Board of Trustees of Connecticut College.[26] In 2009, Espuelas became a spokesman for the Los Angeles Parent's Union, also known as Parent Revolution,[27] a non-profit group that seeks to reform public education across the United States. In 2010, Espuelas was elected to the Board of Directors of Parent Revolution.
In 2008, Espuelas created Radio Espuelas, a daily bilingual talkshow broadcast on the Univision Radio Network.[28][29]
^Connecticut College Alumni Office Staff (2013-04-13). "Reunion 2013". Connecticut College. Archived from the original on 2013-11-28. Retrieved 2013-11-13.