We are fortunate to receive the financial, moral, and organizational support of several prestigious institutions. We are tremendously thankful for their trust and continued commitment to Puentes’ mission.

Stanford Graduate School of Business, Center for Social Innovation (CSI)

The CSI awarded Puentes the inaugural 2009 Social Innovation Fellowship. The Center cultivates leaders to solve the world’s toughest social and environmental problems. Center participants lead corporate efforts to improve sustainable practices, manage nonprofits through strategic growth, and launch social enterprises that bring life-changing solutions such as loans to small businesses and safe lighting to the world’s poorest places. The Center provides research, education, and experiential programs that reach across the usual silos separating the business, nonprofit, and government worlds and that promote development of innovative solutions to build a more just, sustainable, and prosperous world.

The Office of Congressman José Luis Velaso Lino

Congressman Velasco represents the State of Mexico (the country’s most populous state), in the Mexican Lower House of Congress. He was elected to office with a significant majority in July 2009 and has been a staunch supporter of Puentes ever since. Mr. Velasco is Secretary of the House’s Economic Commission, and a member of the Science and Technology Commission and Energy Commission. He has a long and successful background in business, academia, and public service. Congressman Velasco holds a degree in Business Administration from ITESM Campus Toluca and a Masters in Management Science from ITESM Campus Monterrey.

Mexican Employers’ Confederation (COPARMEX), Mexico State

Founded in 1929, the COPARMEX is Mexico’s largest employers’ confederation, which represents 36,000 corporations—amongst them, the country’s largest and most successful, including Bimbo, Cemex, and Wal-Mart. The organization promotes greater collaboration between public and private institutions, acts as a sounding board for Mexico’s corporate sector, and advances worker education and training programs. The COPARMEX is also a champion of corporate social responsibility initiatives and collaborates with organizations—such as Puentes Global—to increase the access to secure and rewarding employment opportunities for Mexican workers.

Lex Mundi Pro Bono Foundation

The Lex Mundi Pro Bono Foundation calls upon Lex Mundi’s unique global network of 160 top-tier commercial law firms to provide legal assistance to select social entrepreneurs on a pro bono basis. By providing social entrepreneurs with access to critically needed legal assistance, the Foundation joins the global social entrepreneur movement for positive social change. The Lex Mundi Pro Bono Foundation also aims to strengthen the rule of law by organizing teams of legal experts to help design and implement selected international legal reform projects.

Stanford University

Uría Menéndez Abogados S.L.P.

Uría Menéndez, Puentes’ legal council in Spain and one of Europe’s leading law firms, was established in the 1940s by the late Professor Rodrigo Uría González. Today the firm has fifteen offices throughout Europe, the United States, and Latin America where its lawyers advise primarily on Spanish, Portuguese, and European Union law.

The firm provides advice in law relating to all areas of the business world and has, for many years, assisted companies in developing their businesses. Uría Menéndez has always worked closely with the academic world, universities in particular, and frequently provides legal support in humanitarian projects.

In 2009, Uría Menéndez was named “best Spanish law firm” by the following prestigious publications: Who’s Who Legal, Euromoney, International Financial Law Review, PLC Which Lawyer?, and ACQ Finance.

Fundación Basham, Ringe y Correa A.C.

For over 95 years Basham, Ringe y Correa, S.C.—one of Latin America’s premium law firms—has provided legal services and pro bono work.  In February 2008, Fundación Basham, Ringe y Correa, A.C. was created with the aim of giving legal advice and assistance to persons or groups in need. It is through Fundación Basham that Puentes Global has been offered Basham’s distinguished, high-caliber legal representation.

In addition to its principal offices in Mexico City, Basham has branches in two strategic industrial areas: Monterrey and Queretaro. Basham received the “Client Choice Award” in 2006 and 2008 from International Law Office, was recognized as Mexico’s top firm by Who’s Who in 2007, 2008, and 2009, and as the “Best Banking and Finance Team” in Mexico by World Finance in 2008, and was given the “Silver Award” by the International Legal Alliance Summit in 2008.