Jesus Lara

Jesus Lara has dedicated his career to the Latin music and media landscape, working at the intersection of music, technology, and media. As Founder and CEO of Fundamental LLC, he provides strategic guidance to technology companies, investors, artists, and creators.

Most recently, Lara served as President of Local Media at TelevisaUnivision, overseeing local TV, audio, and music strategy across 22 top Hispanic markets with operations generating over $700M in revenue. Before, as President of Radio (2017-2022), he led the digital transformation of the company’s audio division Uforia, which reached 22 million weekly listeners across 39 terrestrial stations and digital platforms. He developed the Uforia Music Series during this time, expanding Latin music’s experiential footprint. He was the executive producer of the 2020 Bad Bunny Live from NY livestream event, which set a record of 10.5 million concurrent video streams.

At Spanish Broadcasting Systems (2013-2016), Lara directed the digital strategy for LaMusica, effectively growing the company’s digital presence and revenue across platforms during significant industry change.

From 2004 to 2011, Lara worked as Senior Vice President of Music and Talent/Artist Relations at MTV, leading MTV Tr3s and MTV/VH1 Latin America’s programming strategy. His work included revitalizing the MTV Unplugged franchise with artists like Zoé, Camila, and Los Tigres del Norte, creating the multiplatform MTV 5 Star initiative launched with Shakira, and producing the 2009 Los Premios MTV award show across four cities. Throughout his tenure, he helped introduce Latin artists, including Wisin y Yandel, Aventura, and Calle 13, to broader audiences.

Lara began his music industry career at EMI Music Latin America (1998-2004), where, as Vice President of A&R and Marketing, he led marketing campaigns for international artists like Robbie Williams, Norah Jones, Gorillaz, and Coldplay in Latin American markets while also working with Latin artists such as Thalia and Carlos Vives.

He has been named to Billboard’s Power 100 (2020, 2022), Digital Power Players (2019), and Latin Power Players for nine consecutive years (2017-2024). Lara is a graduate of IE Business School and Thunderbird School of Global Management and has completed graduate-level programs at Stanford, Wharton, and MIT.

Throughout his professional journey, Lara has consistently worked to connect artists with audiences across cultural boundaries while leading digital strategies and transformations.