María Asunción Aramburuzabala

María Asunción Aramburuzabala Larregui was born on 2 May 1963 in Mexico City, Mexico to Pablo Aramburuzabala Ocaranza, a Spanish Basque brewer in Mexico, and Lucrecia Larregui González, a Mexican painter whose father, José Larregui Iriarte, was a Navarrese miller in Mexico. She is the granddaughter of Félix Aramburuzabala Lazcano-Iturburu, a Spanish Basque immigrant who co-founded the Mexican brewery Grupo Modelo in 1925 with his friend and partner Pablo Díez Fernández.[2] Her father was the Executive Vice President of the Grupo Modelo brewery.[3]

Aramburuzabala graduated from the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México where she majored in accounting.[3]

The Mexican brewery, Cervecería Modelo, was founded in 1925 by a group of businessmen, including don Pablo Díez Fernández — who became the company's President, CEO and major stockholder — and Felix Aramburuzabala. Felix's son, Pablo Aramburuzabala, the executive vice president of the brewery, died unexpectedly in 1995 of lung cancer at the age of 63. After his death, several groups tried to gain control of his family's share in Modelo — his wife and two daughters bonded together against these groups.[4][5]

The family created Tresalia Capital ("tres aliadas" or three allies) in order to diversify the family investments. Through Tresalia, they have made investments in large Mexican companies, as well as the management of private equity, real estate, infrastructure, venture capital, technology and the creation of new companies.[6]

After Grupo Modelo's sale, she reinvested her proceeds into Anheuser-Busch InBev, continuing the family tradition in the beer business.

With a net worth estimated at $5.9 billion, she is the sixth richest person and second richest woman in Mexico.[1]

In 1982 she married Paulo Patricio Zapata Navarro. They had two children and divorced in 1997.[7]

On 26 February 2005, she married Tony Garza, US ambassador to Mexico, in a small religious ceremony in Mexico City. On 23 April, they had the civil ceremony near Valle de Bravo, west of Mexico City. U.S. First Lady Laura Bush attended. An estimated one-third of the guests were from Texas. The couple divorced in May 2010.[8]

• First woman to be inducted into the prestigious IAOP (International Association of Outsourcing Providers)[9]
• 2004, Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement, presented by Awards Council member Carlos Slim[10][11]
• 2007, Fortune Magazine’s “50 most powerful women in global business”[9]
• 2009, San Antonio Woman of Achievement[12]
• 2014, Named One of Mexico’s Most Powerful Women by Forbes[9]

• NY Times New Service (July 21, 2002). "Mexican tycoon excels in man's world". Taipei Times. p. 11, Page 11. Retrieved 2008-08-23.

• Gregory, Sean By SEAN GREGORY (August 25, 2002). "World Beaters: Maria Asuncion Aramburuzabala — Queen of Corona". TIME. Retrieved 2008-08-23.