Courtesy of leonardbrennanrodriguez.com

Leonard B. Rodriguez has excelled as an entrepreneur, government official, economic and community developer and public health officer. He is an award-winning publisher with vast experience working at the National, State and local community level in both private and public sector roles.
Named as one of the country’s “Most Influential Hispanics” by both Hispanic Business and Poder Magazine, Rodriguez is best known for his work as a regional political advisor to the President of the United States.
He is known in publishing circles for his groundbreaking 1999 publication, “Celebrating Outstanding Hispanics – 500 Years of Latino Pride,” a colossal calendar-book profiling the accomplishments of more than 300 Latinos in the U.S. His publication won the Gold Award for Most Educational and Bronze Award for Most Original Calendar from the Calendar Marketing Association in 1999. Rodriguez credits his publishing venture for helping launch him into national politics and ultimately The White House.
While working for the President of the United States, Rodriguez served as the president’s liaison to members of the Cabinet, Congress, governors, state and local officials in the Southwest, Midwest and U.S. Territories, where he handled policy and outreach under Senior Advisor and Deputy Chief of Staff, Karl Rove. Among his many responsibilities, Rodriguez was responsible for coordinating the President’s agenda through all Federal agencies into more than 30 states including Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands and helping staff the Administration with more Latino political appointees than any other previous administration.
Rodriguez was recruited into politics by Ambassador Warren Tichenor and worked alongside him to achieve the highest Latino vote for a Republican Presidential candidate at the time. Starting with the campaign during its exploratory phase, Rodriguez witnessed and benefitted from seeing the evolution of a U.S. presidential campaign from the ground floor and early beginnings. In the summer of 1999, Rodriguez was deployed to Iowa where he turned-out an unheard of 500 Hispanics to support George W. Bush’s candidacy in a period of 3 months for the Iowa Straw Poll. The turnout provided Bush a convincing margin of victory and made Hispanic outreach a centerpiece of his campaign.
This experience made Leonard an invaluable asset to the campaign and he went to learn advertising under the mentorship of guru Lionel Sosa where he became the Account Executive for the Bush for President before being named the National Hispanic Coalition Director and returning back to the campaign.
Following his work at The White House, Rodriguez served as the Vice President of Government Affairs for S&B Infrastructure, a Fortune 500 engineering and design firm with more than 3,000 employees and revenues of $300 million. In partnership with S&B’s CEO and Vice-President of Operations, Rodriguez founded Alliance Consulting Group, a Washington D.C.-based federal government contracting and consulting practice where Rodriguez served as the company’s vice-president.
In 2005, Rodriguez embarked on a venture capital stint in New York while he also served as political director for Governor George E. Pataki working under the mentorship of political savant Arthur Finkelstein. Rodriguez helped seed a $2 million investment for a national Hispanic advocacy company working alongside media mogul Stephen Diener and a $7 million real estate investment for water rights in South Texas which helped him relocate back to Texas.
Around this time, Rodriguez established Corporate Political Strategies, LLC, with operations in San Antonio, Houston and Washington, D.C. Overseeing company operations and business development, Rodriguez was responsible for managing a team of senior consultants providing campaign and development management operations for corporations, real estate entities and non-profit organizations for domestic and international clients.
In late 2013, Rodriguez was recruited to serve as the President and CEO of the City of San Antonio’s Westside Development Corporation. In this capacity, Rodriguez was responsible for overseeing a 15-square mile inner-City economic development agency.
After leading the organization to a new level of operations, he was recruited to serve as the Vice President for the San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce while he put the finishing touches on his subsequent writing venture and memoir, The Last Great Straw Poll – How a Seven Box Strategy That Won the U.S. Presidency Can Win for Business, Government and Organizations, and figure out his next major career move before being interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic but landing quickly at The Center for Health Care Services just as Mental Health would become the next major priority for all of America. He currently serves as the Sr. Director of Development for The Center and Foundation Manager for the organization’s non-profit arm.
In his professional career, Rodriguez has successfully raised millions for endeavors including new ventures, infrastructure projects, 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(6) non-profit entities and public policy campaigns.
Rodriguez received his bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Southern Methodist University and is a graduate of Central Catholic High School where he led his team a State Championship title for legendary coach and mentor Joe Cortez.
In his spare time, Rodriguez is an accomplished collage artist and enjoys volunteering and serving on the Social Health and Research Center and La Prensa Texas Boards. He is a tenth generation Texan, married his high school sweetheart and has two beautiful daughters. He loves his community and helping others from the experience he has gained.

Learn more about his art at Leonardbrennanrodriguez.com