Antonio Garza serves as Counsel in the Mexico City office of White & Case LLP, one of the world’s leading global law firms with 42 offices in 28 countries, and is Chairman of Vianovo Ventures, a management consultancy with a focus on U.S./Mexico cross-border business development. Prior to joining White & Case, Garza served as the U.S. Ambassador to Mexico for the period beginning 2002 – 2009.
Drawing on decades of high profile, political, legal, and business experience, Garza serves as a strategic counselor to CEOs, investors, and entrepreneurs. He is acknowledged as one of the top experts on U.S.-Mexico relations and on the business and political environments of both nations, and currently advises companies and investors active in Mexico.
Ambassador Garza, a National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) Governance and Board Leadership Fellow, currently serves as a director to Kansas City Southern (NYSE: KSU) and Chairman of its subsidiary Kansas City Southern de Mexico (KCSM), a rail-based transportation company, MoneyGram (NYSE: MGI), a global money transfer company, and Americas Technology Acquisition Corp. (NYSE:ATA), A Fifth Partners-sponsored acquisition company focused on technology, media and telecommunications. Mr. Garza also serves as an independent director to Grupo ODH, a privately held Luxemburg domiciled holding company, focused on the ultra-deep water drilling industry in Mexico, SaaviEnergía, a Mexico based, private equity owned, private power producer and Tricolor, a Dallas headquartered, investor owned, tech enabled Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), and the nation’s largest used vehicle retailer to the Hispanic consumer.
Mr. Garza is currently a member of the Board of Trustees of Southern Methodist University, the Development Board of the University of Texas at Austin, the Economic Advisory Council to the George W. Bush Presidential Center, and formerly served as chairman and President of the Texas Exes, the alumni association of The University of Texas at Austin.
He is a director to the Texas Tribune, Americas Society/Council of the Americas, American Chamber of Commerce in Mexico City, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and COMEXI, the CFR’s Mexican counterpart. Garza is a past recipient of the “Aguila Azteca,” or Aztec Eagle, the Mexican government’s highest honor bestowed upon a foreign national.
Mr. Garza served as the U.S. Ambassador to Mexico from 2002 through 2009. Prior to assuming that responsibility, Garza was chairman of the Texas Railroad Commission, a statewide office to which he was elected in 1998. During that same period, Mr. Garza was appointed Vice Chairman of the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission, which represents the governors of 30 member and 8 associate states in the development of comprehensive energy and conservation policies. Mr. Garza was formerly a partner at Bracewell & Patterson (now Bracewell) and served as Secretary of State of the State of Texas and Senior Policy Advisor to the Governor of the State of Texas from 1994 to 1997, and as Cameron County Judge from 1988 to 1994.
Mr. Garza holds a BBA from The University of Texas at Austin and a Doctor of Jurisprudence from Southern Methodist University School of Law and has been honored as a distinguished alumnus at both institutions, and was recently inducted into the McCombs School of Business Hall of Fame.
Mr. Garza is a member of the State Bar of Texas, the District of Columbia Bar and is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court. Garza is married to Dr. Liz Atkinson Garza.