Linda G. Alvarado

Linda Alvarado is a Hispanic business woman who has been successful in a number of fields. Her initial success came in the rather unlikely field of construction. Not only did she have to overcome being Hispanic but she had to prove herself in a field that is normally dominated by men. In this she was spectacularly successful as her company has grown to become one of the largest general contractors in the country.

Linda Alvarado was born and raised in Albuquerque New Mexico where her father worked for the Atomic Energy Commission. She was the only daughter in a house with five brothers. During high school she excelled at both her studies and at sports when she was the captain of the baseball team. Ultimately she received an academic scholarship to Pomona College. She eventually graduated with a degree in Economics. Following graduation she took a job in the construction industry so she headed back to school to take courses in construction estimating. Despite this she often found herself working in the company's offices rather than on the construction site. It was then that she decided to strike out on her own.

When she first set out to start her own construction company Alvarado had trouble raising the required funds. She was turned down by every bank that she went to for a loan. Ultimately her parents mortgaged their home to raise the money that she required. In the early days her company started small taking basic jobs, mainly doing paving. However she eventually got the contract to install a number of bus shelters. Eventually her company became a full fledged general contractor, and a very successful one at that.

Following on the success of her construction business Alvarado soon moved into the food service industry as well. At one point her construction company was building a new strip mall when she ended up in negotiations with Taco Bell about the store they were putting in there. Eventually she became a franchisee for Taco Bell. This initial success would lead to the purchase of several other restaurant franchises. Ultimately she would come to own over one hundred and fifty franchises of various restaurant chains through a subsidiary company that she founded.

Having moved her business to Denver she decided that she wanted to bring Major League Baseball to the city. She became part of the group that bid for an expansion franchise. The group won the bid and became the owners of the Colorado Rockies. In accomplishing this she achieved two firsts, she was the first Hispanic owner of a Major League Baseball team and she was the first women owner who hadn't inherited the team that she owned. Like all of her other business ventures owning the Rockies has been a great success as the team has done well both on and off the field.