Longtime community volunteer and founding board member of the Morgan Hill Community Foundation, Mario Banuelos, has been named the 2023 Leadership Excellence Award recipient.
Banuelos will be honored at a Sept. 9 evening outdoor celebration and fundraiser at Guglielmo Winery, says a press release from Leadership Morgan Hill, the local nonprofit that annually bestows the Excellence Award.
The Leadership Excellence Award each year recognizes an individual for vision and leadership that advance the spirit of community and charity; reflect courage and insight; and inspire others to lead in a like manner, says the press release.
“The LMH Board is excited about Mario’s selection,” said LMH Board President Steve Tate. “His broad, extensive community support aligns completely with the values of the Leadership organization.”
Banuelos was born in Jerez, Zacatecas, Mexico and immigrated to Stockton, California, when he was 4 years old, says the press release. He lived in Stockton for three years before his family moved to the Berryessa area of San Jose. His family later moved and bought a home in east San Jose, where he and his four younger siblings grew up and where his mother still lives today.
Banuelos earned an AA in engineering at Evergreen Community College before transferring to San Jose State, where he graduated with a major in math with an emphasis in statistics, the press release continues. While in school, he worked with one of his brothers providing satellite conferencing services.
Once he graduated, he started his career with the City of San Jose in transportation planning using computer modeling to mitigate congestion impacts. Later in his career, he was instrumental in stitching together a whole series of digital maps for the city, integrating multi-faceted and diverse sets of data. He retired from San Jose in 2014.
Banuelos and his wife, Fawn Myers, were married in 1986 in San Jose, says the press release. In 1988, they moved to Morgan Hill and became parents when they adopted a 3-year-old boy. The following year, when their son Frank was four years old, they added sister Tirza and in four-year increments, two more siblings—Valarie and Max. They raised their four children in Morgan Hill, and now have two grandchildren, Tattiyanna and Cisco.
Banuelos loves to travel and is an avid hiker, the press release continues. He fondly remembers traveling to Spain in 2018, walking the Camino de Santiago, a 30-day hiking trail, with his daughter Valarie.
Some of Banuelos’ early volunteering included the Hispanic Association of City Employees in San Jose, where he spent 23 years on the board supporting leadership training, says the press release. In the 1990s, Banuelos helped with the fundraising and operations for the Dayworker Center in Morgan Hill.
In the early 2000s, he became a founding board member of the Morgan Hill Community Foundation, a role he has held for 21 years. Through the MHCF, he has been involved with many other local nonprofits for which the foundation is the umbrella organization. He is currently the incoming president of Rotary and is on the Morgan Hill Chamber, the Morgan Hill Historical Society and the Silicon Valley Hispanic Boards.
Banuelos is a quiet volunteer, doing lots of work behind-the-scenes without any fanfare, the press release says. He feels like he personifies the American dream, and he wants to give others the opportunities that he has had. He quietly goes forward paving the way with “one brick at a time,” a philosophy passed down from his late father.
Banuelos’ friend and Honorary Committee Chair Peter Anderson said, “Mario is perhaps the most unrecognized, broadly engaged and deeply committed person we have in our community.”
Banuelos will receive his medal at the Sept. 9 gala at Guglielmo Winery. Dinner and the award program will be followed by music and dancing. In keeping with the setting, dress for the event is upscale casual, late summer fun.
Additional information about the Leadership Excellence Award celebration will be announced later this spring.
Leadership Excellence Awardees are selected by a blue-ribbon panel of community leaders featuring former Leadership Excellence Award recipients, says the press release. Funds raised will benefit the nonprofit LMH educational organization, now in its 27th year of building community leadership.
The annual LMH program provides insight, tools and training that enables and inspires leaders in all walks of life to give back to the community through service, the press release adds. LMH graduates are found in leadership positions throughout the community in government, education, business and nonprofit organizations.
More information is available at www.leadershipmorganhill.org.
