Background

Guillermo Salinas Pliego was born on April 25, 1960, in Mexico City. He is the son of Hugo Salinas Price and Esther Pliego Muris.

His parents, originally from Monterrey Mexico, moved to Mexico City in 1954 where Guillermo and his family grew up.

He has five siblings: Ricardo, Elisa+, Esther, Rebeca+, and Norah Emilia+.

He graduated from St. Andrew’s College (’78) in Ontario, Canada, and in 1982 he earned a bachelor’s degree in public accounting (CPA) from ‘Instituto Tecnológico de Monterrey – ITESM’.

Throughout his life, he has shown interest in reading, finance, technology, architecture and design.

He currently resides in San Pedro Garza García. He is married and has four children: Guillermo, Federico, Pablo, and Eugenio.

Ricardo B. Salinas Pliego, Hugo Salinas Rocha, Guillermo E. Salinas Pliego, Hugo B. Salinas Price.

The Salinas family has been prominent in business since the early 20th century when Guillermo’s great-grandfather, Benjamín Salinas Westrup, established his business called ‘Benjamín Salinas y Cía.’

Later on, he partnered with his brother-in-law Joel Rocha to manufacture home furniture, forming the company ‘Salinas y Rocha’ (SYR). Subsequently, Hugo Salinas Rocha, Guillermo’s grandfather, began SYR operations in Mexico City. Later, his father, Hugo Salinas Price, founded Elektra in partnership with his grandfather.

Today, Grupo Elektra, led by Ricardo his brother, is one of the leading retail chains in Mexico. Elektra has over 1,100 stores and over 7,500 bank points that belong to its subsidiary Banco Azteca (BAZ). The bank is the largest individual account holder bank in Mexico with over 30 million accounts.