Media Giant Steven Bandel ’74 Always Aims Higher

Brains, heart, courage. Steven Bandel ’74 will tell you these are the ingredients for success. His own story, however, suggests they are but a starting point.

“You can always aim higher,” he advises.

Bandel grew up in Venezuela as the son of Holocaust survivors. He fulfilled his parents’ hopes when he enrolled in college in the U.S., where he was able to attend Stevens on a scholarship from Exxon.

Bandel is the retired co-chairman and CEO of the Cisneros Group, one of the most prevalent conglomerates in South America, with holdings in media, entertainment, telecommunications, tourism, real estate and more. During his 32 years with the company, Bandel led Cisneros while the middle class in Latin America reached a historic high, as tens of millions of enriched consumers sought new goods and services. 

During the early telecom boom, Bandel introduced DIRECTV Latin America and AOL Latin America in 27 countries. He also pursued opportunities in supermarkets, soft drinks, beer and fast food that appealed to emerging tastes.

Today, Cisneros continues to hold diverse assets Bandel helped develop, including a leading television network (Venevision) and its creative arm (Venevision International), plus RedMas and Adsmovil, a pair of digital mobile and web advertising agencies. 

Bandel received Stevens’ 2017 International Achievement Award and serves on the President’s Leadership Council. He is active with the Stevens Latin American Club, which hosts international “summits” every few years, and which recently established an undergraduate scholarship.