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Henry R. Munoz III

Henry R. Muñoz III (link) by Socialmco is licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 (link)
Born:

1959
Occupation(s):

Businessman, philanthropist, political activist

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Henry R. Munoz III is a businessman, philanthropist, Democratic political activist, and politician. He spent much of his career as the CEO of design architecture firm Munoz and Company in San Antonio, Texas. Through his contract connections he became involved in local civics and then moved into federal politics. He partnered with actress and political activist Eva Longoria in Democratic fundraising and political activism, and was a main fundraiser for former President Barack Obama and former President Joe Biden. He was formerly finance chair and vice chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC). 1 2 3

Background and Education

Henry R. Munoz III was born in San Antonio, Texas in 1959. His father, Henry “The Fox” Munoz, Jr., was a Latino labor and immigration activist. 2 He co-founded the San Antonio branch of the Political Association of Spanish Speaking Organizations which focused on increasing the Mexican-American vote and electing Mexican-Americans into office. He also worked for the Texas AFL-CIO and the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees labor unions. 4

Munoz graduated from Loyola University in New Orleans and sits on its board of trustees. He joined the architectural firm Jones and Kell, Inc. in 1993. 5

In 2017, Munoz and his husband Kyle Ferrari-Munoz were married by former Vice President Joe Biden. 6 Ferrari-Munoz, now known as Kaia Ferari, is a philanthropist and activist “for marginalized communities.” Ferari is vice president of external affairs for Munoz’s company, Cultural Productions, a board member of the LGBTQ Victory Institute, and was previously a board member of the Latino Victory Fund. 7 8

Career

In 1993, Henry Munoz joined architecture design firm Jones and Kell, Inc. Even though he did not have a degree in architecture, he was hired to “forge a bond with the community.” 9 In 1999, Munoz became the CEO. In 2013, with the departure of John Kell Jr., the firm was renamed to Munoz and Company, Inc. The architecture design firm was one of the largest and oldest ethnic minority-owned design firms in Texas, with projects supporting government, education, and corporate work. 10

According to the Munoz-founded Latino Victory political group, Munoz and Company “pioneered an inclusive approach to architecture, urban planning, and design that acknowledges the imprint of the Latino community.” 1 Some of its projects included the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, the Mission Branch Library, BiblioTech, the San Pedro Creek Culture Park, and a new federal courthouse. Munoz retired from the firm in 2020 to take on a role on Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign. 11

In 2021, Munoz bought comedy studio Funny or Die (FOD) “to advance diverse story telling in Hollywood.” He launched After Midnight, a late-night show on CBS that is hosted by the only female late-night host. He has produced two films and several Broadway shows. 1 In June 2024, Munoz was awarded the Critics’ Choice Awards Industry Leadership Award at the Inaugural Celebration of LGBTQ+ Cinema and Television for his “philanthropic involvements and commitment to advance diverse storytelling through his leadership at Funny or Die.” 12

Philanthropy and Civic Activities

After joining the architectural firm Jones and Kell, Henry Munoz became involved in local civics. He was the founding president of Texas Public Radio, chair of the hosting committee for a visit from the Mexican president, and a board member of the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce. 9

In 2014, Munoz co-founded TheDream.US along with former Washington Post owner Donald Graham, journalist Amanda Bennett, and former U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez. It is a national scholarship program for undocumented immigrant youth known as “dreamers” and it advocates for college education funding for illegal immigrant youth who are ineligible for federal education loans or Pell Grants. 13 2 14 TheDream.US donors include several left-of-center philanthropies and business leaders such as the Gates Foundation, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Sheryl Sandberg, Jeff Bezos, MacKenzie Scott, and the Pritzker Traubert Foundation. 15

In 2015, Munoz co-founded SOMOS Community Care in New York with Ramon Tallaj. It is a nonprofit physician-led provider network that provides healthcare services to immigrant and low-income communities in New York City. 16 According to SOMOS tax returns, Munoz continues to provide consulting services to the organization. 17

In 2015, Munoz created MSTZO LLC, also known as Cultural Productions. It is his consulting organization that provides advertising services. 18 19

Munoz is a board member of the National Parks Foundation, where he has established the American Latino Heritage Fund to support the creation of National Monuments and Heritage Sites that record the contributions of Latinos to the history of the country. 2

Munoz is a former vice chair of the Smithsonian Institution national board and a former chair of the Smithsonian Institution national Latino board. 20 He was appointed by former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to a commission to study the creation of the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Latino. 1 21 3 In December 2020, legislation passed creating the museum under the Smithsonian, and Munoz was elected its first board chair by the board of trustees in March 2022. 22

Munoz is on the Latino Advisory Board of the National Committee for the Performing Arts of the John F. Kennedy Center. 3 He is a board member of the Eva Longoria Foundation which supports Latina women’s opportunities for entrepreneurship and STEM educational programs for Latina youth. 23 24

LGBT Advocacy

In 2019, the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (USHCC) named Henry Munoz the LGBTQ Advocate of the Year at the USHCC Awards Gala. 25 The USHCC is a membership organization that promotes the development and growth of Hispanic businesses across the United States through advocacy and networking. 26

Munoz was a key figure in the efforts to declare the Stonewall Inn, the site of a major early gay-rights demonstration, as the first National Monument devoted to the LGBT movement. 27 28 Former President Barack Obama approved legislation to designate it as a National Monument in 2016 “to honor the broad LGBT equality movement.” 29

In 2022, Munoz was a panel speaker on “The Power of LGBTQ+ Representation” at the Global Conference 2022 organized by the think tank Milken Institute. 30

Political Activities

From 1991 to 1994, Henry Munoz was the Transportation Secretary in the state cabinet of Texas Governor Ann Richards (D) and was chairman of VIA Metropolitan Transit from 2008 to 2013. 31 11 32

In 2012, during the Obama 2012 Presidential Campaign, Munoz co-founded the Futuro Fund with actress and political activist Eva Longoria. 2 The Futuro Fund was focused on the Latino vote and raised $30 million for President Obama’s re-election campaign. 33

In 2013, then-President Barack Obama appointed Munoz to be the finance chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC). Munoz led the effort to eliminate the DNC debt of $35 million and raised over $500 million for the Democratic Party and its candidates. He was unanimously re-elected in 2017 and was the longest serving finance chair in DNC history. He is as of 2024 the DNC finance chair emeritus. 1 3

In 2014, Munoz co-founded the Latino Victory network of organizations with Eva Longoria to “build a pipeline of Hispanic candidates in elections at all levels of government.” Latino Victory recruits “progressive Latino champions” to run for both national and local offices across the country, endorses them, and supports their fundraising efforts. Latino Victory has 3 arms: the Latino Victory Fund is the political action committee that “supports progressive candidates who support Latin values,” the Latino Victory Foundation that does research and Latino leadership development, and the Latino Victory Project which is the lobbying and advocacy group. 34 35 36

Munoz was a superdelegate to the 2016 Democratic National Convention from Texas. A superdelegate is an unpledged delegate to the convention who is typically a current or former politician. 37 38

Munoz raised more than $200,000 for the 2020 Presidential campaign of Joe Biden, and in 2022, then-President Biden held a fundraiser at Munoz’s home that “reportedly raised more than $2 million.” 39

In 2020, Munoz co-founded Momento Latino along with actress and political activist Eva Longoria and U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX). It is a coalition of Latino activists, leaders, and artists focused on left-of-center issues related to education, health care, the economy, voting rights, and immigration that impact the Latino community. 40

In 2022, Munoz was elected a DNC vice chair along with Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer (D), U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), and Minnesota Democratic Party chairman Ken Martin. 27

In 2024, Munoz was a top fundraiser and donor to the Democratic Party. According to the New York Post, he gave a “max-out donation” of $6,600 to the 2024 Biden-Harris campaign, over $37,000 to the DNC, and over $62,000 to Democratic candidates including U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY), U.S. Rep. Pat Ryan (D-NY), and former U.S. Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-NY) in 2024. 39

Controversies

While Henry Munoz was with the Texas Department of Transportation, he was viewed as “wasteful, reckless, and eager to use his position for political gain.” According to an internal audit, Munoz met with a USAA lobbyist when his firm was designing a building for the local insurance company. The audit also found that his office provided a Mexican construction business with “insider information” while Munez was being entertained with private aircraft, hotels, meals, and receptions. A former TxDOT official claimed that he was forced to resign, but Munoz claimed that he was unhappy in the job. In 2002, his name was attached to scandals regarding contract bribes and kickbacks, but he was never accused of a crime. 9

In 2023, the Daily Beast published articles questioning Munoz’s links to SOMOS Community Care. The article states that SOMOS, a healthcare provider network that provides services to New York City’s low-income immigrants, paid more than $15.7 million to his limited liability company, MSTZO LLC, and over $14.3 million to him directly.” 41

According to more recent SOMOS tax returns, Munoz’s MSTZO LLC was paid $9,361,500 in 2022 and $4,740,000 in 2023 for “consulting services.” 42 17 SOMOS was founded in 2015 and was funded by a new Medicaid program that expired in 2020. SOMOS was the second biggest beneficiary of this program, receiving almost $700 million in state funds. After that, it relied on city and state funding to provide healthcare services to immigrant communities. From March 2020 through June 2021, the state of New York paid SOMOS $113.7 million to operate COVID-19 testing and vaccine centers. In July 2021, Munoz and several SOMOS physicians and staff donated $230,000 to former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s (D) re-election campaign. Most recently, Munoz ran a Latino voter mobilization drive on behalf of New York Governor Kathy Hochul (D) and the New York State Democratic Party. 43 41

References

  1. “Henry R. Munoz III.” Latino Victory – About. Accessed January 10, 2025. https://latinovictory.org/staff/henry-r-munoz-iii/
  2. “Biography. Henry Munoz.” Politicon. Accessed January 10, 2025. https://politicon.com/speaker/henry-munoz/
  3. “Henry R. Munoz III.” Princeton University School of Architecture. Accessed January 10, 2025. https://soa.princeton.edu/content/henry-r.-mu%C3%B1oz-iii
  4. “Henry R. “The Fox” Munoz Jr. Papers A Guide.” Texas Archival Resources Online. Accessed January 10, 2025. https://txarchives.org/utarl/finding_aids/00391.xml
  5. “LGBT History Month October 24: Henry Munoz III, Designer, Entrepreneur & Leader.” PrideIndex. October 24, 2021. Accessed January 11, 2025. https://www.prideindex.com/lgbt-history-month-october-24-henry-munoz-iii-designer-entrepreneur-leader/
  6. “Former Vice President Joe Biden Officiates DNC Staffer’s Wedding.” CBS News Philadelphia. May 30, 2017. Accessed January 10, 2025. https://www.cbsnews.com/philadelphia/news/former-vice-president-joe-biden-officiates-dnc-staffers-wedding/
  7. “Kaia Ferari.” LGBTQ+ Victory Institute. Accessed January 11, 2025. https://victoryinstitute.org/team/kaia-ferari/
  8. LinkedIn – Kaia (Kyle) Ferrari. Accessed January 11, 2025. https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaia-ferrari-077430264/
  9. Brian Chasnoff. “Henry Munoz’s successes come at the cost of controversy.” My San Antonio. January 26, 2011. Accessed January 10, 2025. https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/article/Henry-Mu-oz-s-successes-come-at-the-cost-of-972635.php
  10. Munoz and Company, Architect Magazine. Accessed January 10, 2025. https://www.architectmagazine.com/firms/munoz-and-company_1
  11. Shari Biediger. “Munoz & Co. CEO Stepping Down, Citing New Role in Biden Campaign.” San Antonio Report. January 27, 2020. Accessed January 10, 2025. https://sanantonioreport.org/munoz-co-ceo-stepping-down-citing-new-role-in-biden-campaign/
  12. The Critics Choice Association Announces Inaugural Celebration of LGBTQ+ Cinema & Television Hosted by Sherry Cola.” Critics Choice Association. April 25, 2024. Accessed January 10, 2025. https://www.criticschoice.com/2024/04/25/the-critics-choice-association-announces-inaugural-celebration-of-lgbtq-cinema-television-hosted-by-sherry-cola-2/
  13. “About Us.” TheDream.US. Accessed January 10, 2025. https://www.thedream.us/about/
  14. “TheDream.US.” Candid Philanthropy News Digest. July 11, 2017. Accessed January 10, 2025. https://philanthropynewsdigest.org/features/nonprofit-spotlight/thedream.us
  15. “Meet Our Supporters.” TheDream.US. Accessed January 10, 2025. https://www.thedream.us/about/our-supporters/
  16. “SOMOS Community Care in Jackson Heights With Health Fair.” Queens Latino. September 27, 2022. Accessed January 10, 2025. https://queenslatino.com/somos-community-care-in-jackson-heights-with-health-fair/
  17. Somos Healthcare Providers Inc. dba Somos Community Care. Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax. (Form 990 – Part VII.) 2023.
  18. LinkedIn – Cultural Productions. Accessed January 11, 2025. https://www.linkedin.com/company/cultural-productions/
  19. “MSTZO, LLC.” OpenCorporates. Accessed January 11, 2025. https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_tx/0802156868
  20. “Henry R. Munoz III.” Eva Longoria Foundation – Leadership. Accessed January 10, 2025. https://evalongoriafoundation.org/leadership/
  21. “Biography.” Munoz. Accessed January 10, 2025. https://www.henrymunoziii.com/biography
  22. “National Museum of the American Latino Elects Board of Trustees Leadership.” Smithsonian National Museum of the American Latino. March 8, 2022. Accessed January 10, 2025. https://latino.si.edu/about/press-room/national-museum-american-latino-elects-board-trustees-leadership
  23. “Our Leadership.” Eva Longoria Foundation. Accessed January 10, 2025. https://evalongoriafoundation.org/leadership/
  24. “Our Programs.” Eva Longoria Foundation. Accessed January 10, 2025. https://evalongoriafoundation.org/our-programs/
  25. X – USHCC. Post dated October 1, 2019. Accessed January 10, 2025. https://x.com/ushcc/status/1179236470982356992
  26. “About the USHCC.” USHCC. Accessed January 10, 2025. https://www.ushcc.com/about-the-ushcc/
  27. “Henry Rueben Munoz III.” Democrats.org – Who We Are. Accessed January 10, 2025. https://democrats.org/who-we-are/leadership-2-2/
  28. “Stonewall.” NPS.gov. Accessed January 10, 2025. https://www.nps.gov/ston/index.htm
  29. Simone Leiro. “President Obama Designates Stonewall National Monument. The White House President Barack Obama. June 24, 2016. Accessed January 10, 2025. https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2016/06/24/president-obama-designates-stonewall-national-monument
  30. “Henry Munoz III.” Milken Institute – Events – Global Conference 2022. Accessed January 10, 2025. https://milkeninstitute.org/events/global-conference-2022/speakers/henry-munoz-iii
  31. “Former Commissioners.” Texas Department of Transportation. Accessed January 10, 2025. https://www.txdot.gov/about/leadership/texas-transportation-commission/former-commissioners.html
  32. Vianna Davila. “Munoz plans to quit as VIA’s boss on Feb. 1.” My San Antonio. October 18, 2013. Accessed January 10, 2025. https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/mu-oz-plans-to-quit-as-via-s-boss-on-feb-1-4907218.php
  33. “Eva Longoria.” Eva Longoria Foundation – Our Leadership. Accessed January 10, 2025. https://evalongoriafoundation.org/leadership/
  34. David Rennie. “The political passion of Eva Longoria.” The Economist. May 3, 2016. Accessed January 9, 2025. https://www.economist.com/1843/2016/05/03/the-political-passion-of-eva-longoria
  35. Abby Livingston. “Eva Longoria is famous for her acting, but she’s increasingly recognized as a political player in Texas and beyond.” KSAT.com. October 29, 2020. Accessed January 9, 2025. https://www.ksat.com/news/texas/2020/10/29/eva-longoria-is-famous-for-her-acting-but-shes-increasingly-recognized-as-a-political-player-in-texas-and-beyond/
  36. “About Us.” Latino Victory. Accessed January 9, 2025. https://latinovictory.org/about/
  37. “Henry R. Munoz III.” Ballotpedia. Accessed January 10, 2025. https://ballotpedia.org/Henry_R._Mu%C3%B1oz_III
  38. Antonio Moore. “How Democratic Superdelegates Decided the 2016 Election.” HuffPost. December 6, 2017. Accessed January 10, 2025. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/how-super-delegates-decid_b_10098414
  39. Will Bredderman. “Biden, Obama pal and top Dem fundraiser owed millions in back taxes while dishing out tens of thousands to Harris: records.” New York Post. September 21, 2024. Accessed January 11, 2025. https://nypost.com/2024/09/21/us-news/biden-obama-pal-and-top-dem-fundraiser-henry-munoz-owed-millions-in-back-taxes-while-dishing-out-tens-of-thousands-to-harris-records/
  40.  Marc Malkin. “Eva Longoria Baston, Rep. Joaquin Castro Help Launch Momento Latino.” Variety. July 13, 2020. Accessed January 10, 2025. https://variety.com/2020/politics/news/eva-longoria-joaquin-castro-momento-latino-1234704918/
  41.  William Bredderman. “How the DNC’s Former Chief Fundraiser Turned a Medicaid Program Into His Personal Money Hose.” Daily Beast via Yahoo!News. March 19, 2023. Accessed January 11, 2025. https://uk.news.yahoo.com/dnc-former-chief-fundraiser-turned-001444598.html
  42. Somos Healthcare Providers Inc. dba Somos Community Care. Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax. (Form 990 – Part VII.) 2022.
  43. William Bredderman. “Democrat Big Shot Raked in Millions Meant for NYC’s Poor.” Daily Beast via Yahoo!News. June 11, 2023. Accessed January 11, 2025. https://www.yahoo.com/news/democrat-big-shot-raked-millions-003915186.html
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