Spouse(s) Elizabeth (m. 2002) Political party Democratic Party | Name Ruben Figueres Children KaiLucaOlivia | |
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Born February 14, 1974 (age 50) ( 1974-02-14 ) Gandia, Spain | ||
Rubén Figueres
Ruben Figueres is a Spanish/American political consultant and advertising executive who advised the mayoral campaign of Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel and the 2012 presidential campaign for Barack Obama.
Contents
"De Gandía a la Casa Blanca"
Advertising
Figueres came to the United States in 1998 and entered the advertising world in 1999 working for Starcom, the Hispanic media department at Leo Burnett. Later he joined Telemundo before starting his own advertising company, Alario Group, which is an advertising agency catering to the Hispanic market. The firm is based in Chicago.
Chicago Political Work
Figueres worked on Rahm Emanuel's Chicago Mayoral campaign and was part of a team of advisors including Stanley Greenberg and David Axelrod, both of whom worked on Barack Obama's 2008 presidential election campaign. Figueres' experience with Emanuel's election win and relationships with advisors connect to both Emanuel and Obama led to Figueres' work on Obama's 2012 campaign.
Figueres was also an advisor of Barack Obama's 2012 re-election campaign and was tasked with bringing out the Hispanic vote. His Alario Group was brought on to handle Hispanic advertising for the campaign with a goal to match or beat the 2008 campaign's success of garnering 68% of the Hispanic vote. After the election he helped commercialize a software system used in the campaign called The Optimizer, which gathers all the information that potential voters generate through social networks on a daily basis and then aggregates that data to assist with forecasting their eventual vote.
In 2015 he published an autobiography and his reflections on the Obama campaign titled "De Gandia a la Casa Blanca," which translates to "From Gandia to the White House."
Athletics
Figueres has competed in over 100 triathlons across the world and has represented both Spain and the United States in five world triathlon championships.
Family
Figueres lives in Chicago with his wife, Elizabeth and children, Kai, Luca and Olivia.