MCALLEN, Texas - Fernando De Leon, the billionaire businessman, investor and philanthropist who was born in Brownsville and grew up in Matamoros, says the building businesses is the best thing a person can do.
The founder and CEO of Dallas-based Leon Capital Group was the star attraction at VIDA’s 30th Anniversary Gala, held at the McAllen Convention Center on Oct. 9.
VIDA stands for Valley Initiative for Development and Advancement.
De Leon was featured in a conversation with Felida Villarreal, VIDA’s president and CEO. He spoke about growing up in Matamoros and going to school in Brownsville. He also spoke about AI and his business philosophy.
Asked by Villarreal what he thought his legacy would be, De Leon said he does not much think about this. He said creating successful businesses is what drives him. He said it is the most noble thing one can do.
“I really don't think about legacy very much. I think about my time here, and how I can impact people's lives. And I get a lot of questions about philanthropy, and we have worked hard to do things in scholarships in the (Rio Grande) Valley and North Texas and work in Mexico around poverty, especially Matamoros,” De Leon said.
“But the fact is that I think the most moral and the most philanthropic thing that a human being can do is to build businesses. I think that when you create employment, you allow people dignity, and you allow people their freedom to pursue whatever they want in the world.”
De Leon added: “And so I think that the most moral thing is creating businesses that create jobs and opportunity for people. And so that's my focus, and that's been my focus since I was 15 years old, and it'll be my focus until the end of my days.”
Here is a video recording showing some of the highlights of the conversation between Villarreal and De Leon:
Here is Fernando De Leon’s official biography:
Fernando De Leon is the founder and CEO of Leon Capital Group, a holding company overseeing twelve independently-managed subsidiaries in the three divisions: financial services, healthcare and real estate. Leon operates as a diversified holding company that takes the lead conceiving, developing, owning, and operating businesses.
Founded as a modest real estate development company in Texas, Leon has since evolved into a diverse holding company, capable of operating successfully across multiple geographies and industries. Today, Leon’s subsidiaries and externally managed companies with thousands of employees.
In Leon’s real estate holdings, Mr. De Leon has made real estate investments with an asset value of $15B+. Leon Capital has invested in or developed approximately 20,000 rental housing units, 25M SF of industrial, 15M SF of retail, self-storage, healthcare assets, and 10,000 lots of land in residential subdivisions. Additionally, Leon Capital, along with the Perot Companies, co-founded a European industrial operating company, which has developed over 40M SF of logistics assets in the European Union.
In Leon’s healthcare branch, Mr. De Leon and his team at Leon founded and currently operate Specialty Dental Brands, Frontline Dental Implant Specialists, Advanced Medaesthetic Partners, Physician Directed Partners, Texas Heart Partners, Mattison Avenue, and Turnwell Mental Health which collectively manage over 600 locations and provide healthcare to approximately 2 million people annually.
Leon Financial currently operates the investment management business and its various fund offerings. Leon Financial operates Bastion Insurance, Finsurity Premium Finance and Patient Capital, a specialty lending business designed to increase the accessibility of all Americans to critical health care offerings.
Mr. De Leon is a co-founder of Crexi, one of the largest digital marketplaces connecting buyers, sellers, landlords and tenants in the commercial real estate sector. Crexi’s intelligence products support 3M real estate professionals with real time transaction data.
Mr. De Leon began his career as an analyst at Goldman Sachs in New York. He received a BA, cum laude, from Harvard College, where he was a Hoover Foundation Scholar and a National Coca Cola Scholar. Mr. De Leon received the Horatio Alger Award and was inducted into the organization’s membership in 2025. Additionally, the De Leon Family Foundation focuses its work on poverty in south Texas and northern Mexico, and expanding access to healthcare. The foundation’s De Leon Scholars program awards scholarships to ten students annually across the state of Texas, who endeavor to improve their communities.
