Jaime Lucero

Biography

This biography was written in Spanish and appears here in translation.

A Mexican immigrant entrepreneur, born on May 12, 1957, in Independencia, Puebla, Mexico.

From age 9 to 18 he lived, studied, and worked in Mexico City. He then emigrated to the United States in search of a better life for himself and his family.

He arrived in New York City in 1973 like millions of immigrants before him: undocumented and unable to speak English. Today he owns Gold and Silver Inc., one of the most successful logistics companies in the Northeastern United States.

He is the founding president of Casa Puebla New York, a nonprofit that was active for 43 years. It laid the groundwork for more than 80 nonprofit organizations that today serve the Latino community in areas such as culture, health, education, and women's empowerment. He also founded more than eight chambers of commerce chapters that help coordinate the efforts of Mexican businesses in the United States.

For more than eight years, he chaired the Guadalupan Committee of the Archdiocese of New York.

He invested more than $20 million in Puebla, Mexico, creating 5,000 jobs in the textile industry. The New York Times described him as “an immigrant pioneer” for launching projects that create jobs and educational opportunities in New York and in Mexico.

In 2015, the Government of Mexico awarded him the national Ohtli Award, an honor recognizing his valuable contributions to empowering the Mexican community abroad.

In recognition of his philanthropy on behalf of undocumented students, the City University of New York (CUNY) named its Mexican Studies Institute after him.

The New York Assembly proclaimed that the Jaime Lucero Mexican Studies Institute “serves as a pathway to the American dream for Mexican Americans living in the United States.”

CUNY's Lehman College also honored his public service, awarding him an honorary doctorate in 2015. Don Jaime Lucero became the first Mexican to receive this distinction from the college.

In 2016, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio recognized him as “an entrepreneur, a leader, a champion of education, and a philanthropist who exemplifies the city's global spirit of generosity, because he is paving the way for other young Mexican New Yorkers to reach their full potential.”

Thanks to Don Jaime Lucero's work, Mexican students and students of Hispanic origin from eight different countries have gained, and continue to gain, access to a university education and professional development seminars. These students also commit to community service at a nonprofit, which builds their awareness of why civic participation and social involvement matter.

On December 10, 2019, he brought together leaders from across the United States to found the Binational Council of Fuerza Migrante (FM), a binational movement that seeks to empower the Mexican community living abroad through education.

Fuerza Migrante is the latest chapter in Don Jaime's story. Under his leadership, a binational education platform has been created, offering a wide range of programs designed to meet the needs of the immigrant community, their families in Mexico, and second- and third-generation Mexican Americans in the U.S. In its first stage, the platform has signed more than 20 collaboration agreements with public and private educational institutions in both Mexico and the United States.

On December 1, 2022, the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) presented him with the “Alonso García Robles” award, named for the 1982 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, for his work defending, promoting, protecting, and upholding the human rights of migrants.