Marquis Who's Who Celebrates Latin American Leaders in September's Maker's List

The Maker's List also celebrates philanthropic moguls whose societal contributions have impacted the world

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Sep 07, 2021, 14:21 ET

UNIONDALE, N.Y., Sept. 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Marquis Who's Who (MWW), the world's leading biographical publisher, is proud to announce the honorees selected for its September Maker's List, celebrating Latin American Leaders. The Maker's Lists are directed by Erica Lee, CEO of MWW. These lists aim to recognize both established and emerging leaders in their respective fields.

"We cannot emphasize enough, the importance of the Latin American Leaders list," said Erica Lee, CEO of MWW. "According to the 2019 U.S. Census, there were over 60.6 million people claiming Hispanic descent, which accounted for 18.5% of the U.S. population." Lee continued, "The impact Latin Americans have on America is evident in nearly every aspect of our lives, so it was long overdue for Marquis to spotlight extraordinary members of the community in this manner."

The MWW Maker's List series began in January 2021 with Thought Leaders and progressed to include African American Catalysts for Change, Women Luminaries, Business and Finance Leaders, Influencers in STEM and AAPI, LGBTQ+ Catalysts for Change, and Attorneys, Activists and Agents of Change. MWW Maker's Lists are curated by a selection committee of 13 individuals to bring into focus outstanding thought leaders and change-makers across industries. Members of the selection committee hail from diverse professional backgrounds in publishing, entertainment, law, business, journalism, marketing, graphic design, public relations and print media.

The Latin American Leaders list includes:

Dolores Huerta: Huerta is a co-founder, alongside Cesar Chavez, of the National Farmworkers Association (now the United Farm Workers). Celebrated for being an American labor leader and civil rights activist, Huerta is recognized as a paradigm to many in the Latin American community and has earned several accolades in light of her service to and advocacy for workers', immigrants' and women's rights. In 2012, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from former President Barack Obama.
Ellen Ochoa: Ochoa is a past director of the Johnson Space Center, having been recognized as the first Hispanic director and second female director of the center. She became an astronaut in 1991 and the first Hispanic woman to go to space during a nine-day mission aboard the Discovery Space Shuttle in 1993. Ochoa has subsequently received numerous awards from NASA for her service, including the Distinguished Service Medal, Exceptional Service Medal, Outstanding Leadership Medal and four Space Flight Medals, and was inducted into the United States Astronaut Hall of Fame in 2017.
Lin-Manuel Miranda: Miranda is an award-winning entertainment prodigy who is most recognizable for his roles as an actor, director, producer and songwriter for the Broadway musicals "In the Heights" and "Hamilton." He has received a Pulitzer Prize, two Laurence Olivier Awards, three Tony Awards, three Grammy Awards and an Emmy Award. Outside of his work, Miranda is active politically, having met with politicians to advocate for debt relief for Puerto Rico in 2016 and contributed fiscally to rescue efforts and disaster relief following Hurricane Maria in 2017.
Miguel Cardona: Cardona is the current U.S. Secretary of Education, having assumed office on March 2, 2021 under President Joe Biden. Previously serving as the Commissioner of Education in Connecticut from 2019 to 2021, he safely guided school reopening efforts in Connecticut amid the COVID-19 pandemic by prioritizing public health mitigation efforts and equitable educational opportunities, including allowing access to remote learning for students. Cardona's work helped Connecticut become the first U.S. state to provide technological opportunities to fulfill the needs of all students. Even during the pandemic, under Cardona's leadership, Connecticut established the first national requirement for secondary schools to offer courses on Black and Latino studies. He received the National Distinguished Principal Award in 2012 following a two-decade tenure as a public-school educator and, later, school principal.
Sonia Sotomayor: Sotomayor is an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, to which she was nominated by former President Barack Obama in 2009. The third woman to hold the position, she is also the first woman of color and first Hispanic member of the Court. Sotomayor has made several dissents on issues related to race, gender and ethnic identity and has given more than 180 speeches focusing on ethnicity and gender. In January 2021, she swore in Kamala Harris as the vice president of the United States. Sotomayor received the Outstanding Latino Professional Award from the Latino/a Law Students Association in 2006.

The full Latin American Leaders list is organized alphabetically below, by first name:

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Antonio Neri
Ariel Torres
Diana Taurasi
Dolores Huerta
Edward James Olmos
Elena Medo
Ellen Ochoa
Eva Longoria
Eva Mendes
Evelyn Cisneros
Flavia Pease
France A. Córdova
Francisco La Rosa
George Lopez
Gloria Estefan
Isabel Allende
Isaias J. Rivera
Jaime Contreras
Jane L. Delgado
Joe Quesada
Jorge Pérez
José Andrés
Jose Ramiro Cruz López
Juan Felipe Herrera
Juan M. Tapia-Mendoza
Laurie Hernandez
Linda Ronstadt
Lin-Manuel Miranda
Marcelo Claure
Marco Rubio
Maria Contreras-Sweet
María Elena Salinas
Mayra Vasquez
Miguel Cardona
Nathalie Rayes
Patricia Engel
Ramiro Cavazos
Ramona Ortega
Rea Ann Silva
Rita Moreno
Robert Rodriguez
Rosario Dawson
Sofía Vergara
Sonia Sotomayor
Sylvia Mendez
Tony Jimenez
Wendy Garcia
Yiselle Santos Rivera
Zoë Yadira Saldaña

Marquis Who's Who has also announced the release of its supplemental Maker's List for September: Power Players in Philanthropy. The list pays homage to individuals whose tireless and selfless contributions to charitable organizations have aided in the betterment of society on local, national and international scales.

The Power Players in Philanthropy list includes:

Gordon and Betty Moore: The Moores are the founders of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. Established in 2000 to support scientific discovery, environmental conservation, patient care improvement and preservation of the San Francisco Bay Area, the foundation awards around $270 million in grants each year. The foundation has also partnered with Lyda Hill Philanthropies to support communities by providing knowledge on a comprehensive toolkit on COVID-19 testing and testing services, launched by the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. Lifetime giving of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation exceeds $5.15 billion.
MacKenzie Scott: Scott has been recognized as the third wealthiest woman in the United States and the 21^st wealthiest person in the world. A signatory to The Giving Pledge, she donated $5.8 billion to charitable causes in 2020 alone. Much of her charitable donations are to nonprofit organizations focusing on racial equality, LGBTQ+ equality, democracy and climate change, as well as to COVID-19 economic relief causes. As of June 2021, she has given in excess of $2.7 billion to more than 280 organizations.
Tim Gill: Gill is the founder and co-chairperson of the Gill Foundation, one of the largest philanthropic foundations to secure equity among the LGBTQ+ community in the United States. Nationally recognized as a pioneering force in the pursuit of LGBTQ+ rights, Gill has donated more than $500 million to LGBTQ+ rights movements since the early 1990s. He is credited as a major contributor to the Goodridge v. Dept. of Public Health decision in 2003, which made Massachusetts the very first U.S. state to allow same-sex marriage, as well as the Obergefell v. Hodges decision in 2015, in which the U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage across the nation. Gill is also the founder of the Gill Action Fund, a political fund, and OutGiving, a private philanthropic conference.
Warren Buffett: Buffett is chairman and chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway. Considered one of the most successful investors and the seventh wealthiest person in the world, he is notable for pledging to give away 99% of his fortune to philanthropic causes, including to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He founded The Giving Pledge in 2009, an effort to which billionaires pledge to give away at least 50% of their fortunes. As of June 2021, he has donated $41 billion to charitable causes, with a recent donation of $4.1 billion of his Berkshire Hathaway shares to five charitable foundations.
Yolanda Johnson: Johnson is the founder of Women of Color in Fundraising and Philanthropy (WOC), which celebrates, inspires and champions women of color in fundraising, philanthropy and related fields. WOC endeavors to be the hub and heart for women of color in fundraising communities around the world. Johnson has led fundraising operations for several nonprofit organizations, launching creative events, sponsorship and marketing initiatives that produced new streams of both contributed and earned income. Her work includes counseling philanthropists on where to direct their resources and, through her own YFJ Philanthropies, she gives back to causes supporting racial and gender equity, those with disabilities and the arts.

The full Power Players in Philanthropy list is organized alphabetically below, by first name:

Bill and Melinda Gates
Bill and Rebecca Rau
Brock Pierce
Charles Koch
Chuck Feeney
Darren Walker
Deloris Jordan
Dolly Parton
Donté L. Gibbs
Eddie C. and C. Sylvia Brown
Gary Paul Wright
Gordon and Betty Moore
Jean Shafiroff
Jim Simons
Lynn and Stacy Schusterman
MacKenzie Scott
Marcy Syms
Mark Zuckerberg
Michael Bloomberg
Michael Jordan
Oprah Winfrey
Philip and Penelope Knight
Rajiv "Raj" J. Shah
Robert F. Smith
Shirley and Walter Wang
Tim Gill
Tom Joyner
Tyler Perry
Warren Buffett
Yolanda Johnson

About Marquis Who's Who®

Since 1899, when A. N. Marquis printed the first edition of Who's Who in America^®, Marquis Who's Who^® has chronicled the lives of the most accomplished individuals and innovators from every significant field of endeavor, including politics, business, medicine, law, education, art, religion, and entertainment. Today, Who's Who in America^® remains an essential biographical source for thousands of researchers, journalists, librarians, and executive search firms around the world. Marquis^® publications may be visited via the official Marquis Who's Who^® website at www.marquiswhoswho.com.

About the Marquis Maker's Lists

The Marquis Maker's Lists seek to highlight, celebrate and recognize those people whose ideas, philosophies, positions, example or standards, talents, gifts or aptitude, discoveries, innovations or breakthroughs have the ability to influence, affect and transform. The selection committee for the Marquis Maker's Lists is comprised of 13 diverse professionals from a variety of backgrounds in publishing, entertainment, law, business, journalism, marketing, graphic design, public relations, and print media. Committee members conduct extensive independent research and analyses to vet candidates relevant to each month's Maker's List theme. The committee meets routinely to thoughtfully dialogue through individual nominations to determine eligibility for inclusion. Thereafter, a thorough and objective ranking system is utilized and applied by the committee and tabulated by the executive director to confirm, authenticate and finalize each list.

SOURCE Marquis Who's Who