The Next Generation

Adriana and Gustavo Cisneros
Listen

Bringing your 8-year-old to a business meeting wouldn’t be typical for most working parents. But for Gustavo Cisneros ’68, H’19, it was just one of the many ways he introduced his daughter, Adriana, to the family business.

Together, Gustavo and Adriana Cisneros represent the past and the future of Cisneros, a multibillion dollar conglomerate with subsidiaries throughout Latin America. In 1929, patriarch Diego Cisneros founded the business in Venezuela. His son, Gustavo, took the helm in 1970 at age 25. In 2013, 33-year-old Adriana stepped into the CEO role.

The father/daughter Cisneros family duo joined Lauri Union, executive director at Babson’s Institute for Family Entrepreneurship, for a conversation about succession in family businesses during Babson’s recent Centennial Celebration.

A Father/Daughter Bond

“I had chemistry with Adriana and she had chemistry with me,” the elder Cisneros says. As a child, she traveled with him to business meetings. “She was always interested in bringing coffee for us and listening in to the business,” he says, cupping his ear playfully. “She gets it.”

For her part, Adriana says she connects with her father in a way that goes beyond love and emotion. She describes often feeling alone in the room as the one with new business ideas. But, with her father, it’s different.

“The times that we’ve decided to make the boldest changes or the biggest bets, the person who’s understood me has been my father. Everyone else is perfectly willing to learn or to follow along, but he’s the one who is like ‘OK, we get it, now how are we going to execute.’ It’s really special and it’s really fun.”

Passing the Torch

Unlike many family business families, the Cisneros family has a long history of embracing the transfer of leadership. “There’s no mandate that leadership in a family business has to come from within the family,” Adriana says. “Over the years, we’ve had many [outside] CEOs.” So, when she and her father began discussing her future, she says there was never a guarantee, “never a sense that it had to happen.”

She recalls asking her father, “Why the rush? You’re in great health, your brain is sharper than ever, why don’t you demote yourself from chairman and come run the business again. It’s a lot of fun, you’d be great at it!”

Instead, the elder Cisneros said, “Adriana, I took over when I was 25 and it was a hot mess. I needed so much energy and passion in order to be able to fix things and grow things. You’re going to need to not sleep, you’re going to need to run a marathon at sprint speed. The only way you’re going to be able to do that is if you start now, and not when you’re in your 40s.”

Hear from Adriana and Gustavo Cisneros in their own words.
Watch the video

A Direct Link to the Past

“We would have never bet on the businesses that we’re in today if it hadn’t been for the businesses we were involved with in the past,” says Adriana. She credits the businesses her father and grandfather set up with shaping the bold thinking and strategies she and her team work on today.

“I remember these incredible stories, starting with my grandfather who brought Ford Motor Company to Latin America, and my father, who brought Apple computers, Burger King, and Pepsi Cola.” It was a formative part of Adriana’s upbringing, and gave her the spark she needed to pursue Facebook.

“We weren’t invited to be part of the RFP,” she says, “but we found our way in. The only way I could explain to [Facebook] why I thought we could do a good job was by telling them our history of representing great American brands in the region. And, we won. Even the youngest of companies, when they become grownups, realize that having a partner that has been around for 100 years is actually pretty cool.”

Expert Advice

With nearly 100 years of experience also comes sage advice and perspective. “If you are part of a family business, make up your mind early on and voice your opinion about whether you want to be part of the business or not,” advises Adriana. “It takes an equal amount of courage to join the business as it does to say, ‘I really don’t want any part of it.’” The latter, she warns, is often the most difficult, especially if there are family expectations.

For her part, Adriana came to the decision to step into family business leadership with her eyes wide open. “I knew when I made the decision that it would be what I would do for the rest of my life, and I knew that it meant my life was going to be radically different from the life that I thought I would have.”

Gustavo emphasizes the importance of strengthening the parent/child relationship. “Talk to them, and have them talk to you,” he says. “It’s a two-way street, and you have to do things together to unblock [your relationship]. Go skiing, go fishing, and be active with your children.”

Posted in Entrepreneurial Leadership

More from Entrepreneurial Leadership »

Latest Stories

Babson Study Reveals the Power of Customer Kindness New Babson-funded research shows that customer kindness can boost employee satisfaction, reduce turnover, and spark a cycle of positivity in service industries.
By
Hillary Chabot
Writer
Hillary Chabot
Hillary Chabot is a writer for Babson Thought & Action and Babson Magazine. An award-winning journalist, she is known for her insightful reporting and dedication to detailed storytelling. With a career spanning over two decades, she has covered a wide range of topics, from presidential campaigns and government policy to neighborhood issues and investigative series. As a reporter for The Boston Herald, Hillary earned a reputation for tenacity and integrity. Her work at Babson College fuels her passions—to learn something new every day and conduct thoughtful, empathic interviews. She’s thrilled to be at Babson College, where students, faculty, staff members and classes provide compelling copy daily.
September 3, 2025

Posted in Community, Insights

Three photos in a side-by-side collage depict Michael Kopelman coaching, Brady Anderson in action, and the doubles team celebrating
Courting Success: How Babson Tennis Teams Transformed into National Powerhouses With championships and top-tier recruiting classes, Babson Director of Tennis Michael Kopelman has overseen the transformation of the men’s and women’s programs into national powerhouses.
By
Scott Dietz
Writer
Scott Dietz
Scott Dietz is Babson College's Associate Athletic Director for Strategic Communications. Dietz is responsible for the department's internal and external communications, including branding, campus engagement, marketing, social media, sponsorships and website management. Additional duties consist of event coverage, facilitation of interview requests, media pitching, video content, writing and editing. Before Babson, Dietz spent 13-plus years at fellow NEWMAC institution Wheaton College, worked for the NFL, New England Patriots, and in the media relations department with the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers. A native of South Park, PA, Dietz began his sports information career at Westminster College.
September 2, 2025

Posted in Community

Babson Build students from HBCUs participate in an exercise in the Weissman Foundry
An Entrepreneurial Summer: How Babson Impacts Communities Year-Round The school year may be over, but Babson’s work of educating entrepreneurial leaders doesn’t stop. In the summer, many entrepreneurs, educators, and leaders descend on campus. They come from around the globe to connect and to learn. What they take away from the College can impact their companies, their classrooms, and their communities.
By
John Crawford
Senior Journalist
John Crawford
A writer for Babson Thought & Action and the Babson Magazine, John Crawford has been telling the College’s entrepreneurial story for more than 15 years. Assignments for Babson have taken him from Rwanda to El Salvador, from the sweet-smelling factory of a Pennsylvania candy maker, to the stately Atlanta headquarters of an NFL owner, to the bustling office of a New York City fashion designer. Beyond his work for Babson, he has written articles and essays for The Philadelphia Inquirer, Notre Dame Magazine, The Good Men Project, and other publications. He can be found on Twitter, @crawfordwriter, where he tweets about climate change.
August 29, 2025

Posted in Community, Entrepreneurial Leadership