Daniel Lubetzky

Daniel Lubetzky (born 1968) is an American billionaire businessman, philanthropist, author, and founder and executive chairman  of snack company Kind LLC.

Early life and education
Lubetzky is the son of Sonia and Roman Lubetzky. A Holocaust survivor and a Lithuanian Ashkenazi Jew, Lubetzky's father was a partner in International Bonded Warehouses and United Export Trading Association, two duty-free shop chains with headquarters in Laredo, Texas. Daniel Lubetzky was born and raised in Mexico City, Mexico. As a teenager, he moved with his family to the U.S.

He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics and international relations, graduating magna cum laude, from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. As an undergraduate, he studied abroad in Israel and France. Lubetzky then earned his Juris Doctor from Stanford Law School in 1993.

In March 2008, Lubetzky married Michelle Lynn Lieberman, a physician. They have four children. Lubetzky is the cousin of three-time Oscar-winning cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki.

Business career
While in college Lubetzky created a retail watch operation, Da'Leky Times. After graduating from law school, Lubetzky worked briefly at Sullivan & Cromwell and at McKinsey & Company.

In 1993, Lubetzky was awarded a Haas Koshland Fellowship to write about legislative means to foster joint ventures between Arabs and Israelis. While carrying out his research, he discovered a sun-dried tomato product that provided the foundation for PeaceWorks Inc. in 1994. PeaceWorks is a "not-Only-for-profit" business pursuing both peace and profit. Its flagship brand – Meditalia – is made through cooperation among neighbors striving to co-exist in the Middle East.

In 2003, concerned about unhealthy snacking choices and the rising obesity and diabetes epidemic in America, Lubetzky launched Kind Snacks with the slogan "Kind to your body, your taste buds and your world". In 2015, Kind was the fastest-growing snack company in the US.

In 2010, Lubetzky co-founded Maiyet, a luxury fashion venture committed to partnering with artisans in developing economies to create high-end products, while promoting self-sufficiency and entrepreneurship.

In 2015, President Barack Obama and Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker named him a Presidential Ambassador for Global Entrepreneurship. In 2018, Lubetzky founded a New York-based family office, Equilibra, which backs entrepreneur-run businesses that offer packaged goods to consumers; investments include Greek yogurt brand Ellenos, and social enterprise Yellow Leaf Hammocks. As of November 2021, Lubetzky had a net worth of $2.2 billion.

In November 2020, it was announced that Kind North America would be purchased by Mars in a deal worth $5 billion. Lubetzky said he would retain his stake in the company and remain involved in its operations.

In September 2021, Lubetzky teamed up with two of Kind's former executives to create Somos (meaning "we are" in Spanish), an authentic Mexican food company.

In January 2023, Lubetzky relaunched Equilibra as Camino Partners, a business incubation and investment platform.

In May 2024, Lubetzky was one of a group of billionaires and business interests who privately pressured New York City Mayor Eric Adams to deploy police on pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University. A WhatsApp group with some of the country’s wealthiest people detailed donations to Adams’s campaign and conversations with the mayor. Some of those involved include real estate magnate Barry Sternlicht; Daniel Lubetzky, founder of the Kind Snacks brand; hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb; and founder of Thor Equities, Joseph Sitt.

Investments
Lubetzky established Equilibra Partners Management Inc. in 2018. The firm backs entrepreneur-run businesses that offer packaged goods to consumers.

In May 2020, Equilibra purchased a 25% stake in Yellow Leaf Hammocks for $1 million when Lubetzky sat as a guest shark on Shark Tank.

In 2020, Equilibra invested $18 million in Greek yogurt company Ellenos. Towards the end of the year, it made a $250,000 investment in FitFighter, a fitness brand which began with equipment for firefighter training programs and expanded to full-body fitness tools and workouts.

In 2021, Equilibra purchased a 10% stake in Quevos, an egg white protein snacks company, also on Shark Tank. That same year, they invested in Tandm Inc., a family-owned business that created a tandem boogie board.

Other investments include: Cava Group, Justin's, Krave Jerky, gimme Snacks, Chapul, food company Belgian Boys, and HummViewer.

Media
Lubetzky is the author of the New York Times bestselling book Do the Kind Thing, Think Boundlessly, Work Purposefully, Live Passionately. The book is based on Lubetzky's entrepreneurial experience, and was inspired by his father's stories from the Holocaust. Lubetzky has also published multiple opinion posts to CNN describing his opinions on how to stop violent extremists and lessons he will pass on to his children.

Since 2019 Lubetzky has been a recurring guest shark on Shark Tank from Season 11-Present.

Philanthropy
In 2002, he co-founded the OneVoice Movement, an international grassroots effort, to amplify the voices of moderate Israelis and Palestinians seeking to end the conflict.

In 2015, Lubetzky and Kind Snacks created the Kind Foundation. Its signature initiative, Empatico, is a video-conferencing and digital learning platform that connects classrooms around the world to help kids explore their similarities and differences and expand their world views.

In 2017, he launched a public advocacy organization called Feed the Truth to counteract the food industry's influence on food policy and public health. He pledged $25 million to the organization.

In 2019, he was appointed to the Anti-Defamation League's inaugural board of directors.

In April 2020, Lubetzky's Kind Foundation launched the Frontline Impact Project in consultation with Project N95. The project is a platform for healthcare and other frontline responders to request resources needed in the fight against COVID-19. As of May 14, 2020, Frontline Impact Project had partnered with more than 40 brands including Unilever, Nestle, and Mars, reaching more than 180,000 people working mostly in hospitals, nursing homes, and outpatient medical practices.

In 2021, Lubetzky launched Starts With Us. Its movement partners include Jason Alexander, Mark Cuban, and Andrew Yang, amongst others.

In September 2022, in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Lubetzky Family Foundation announced a scholarship program for Ukrainian students studying in the US. The program was launched in partnership with Jose Andres and Garry Kasparov.

Lubetzky was involved in a long-standing WhatsApp group chat from October 2023 through early May 2024 with some of the United States' most powerful business leaders with the stated goals of "chang[ing] the narrative" in favor of Israel and "help[ing] win the war" on U.S. public opinion following Hamas's October 7th attack on Israel. Members of the group chat discussed how they received private briefings by, and worked closely with, members of the Israeli government, including former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett; Benny Gantz, a member of the Israeli war cabinet; and Israel’s ambassador to the United States,  Michael Herzog.

Members of the 2023-2024 WhatsApp group chat, including Lubetzky, also held a video call in April 2024 with New York City Mayor Eric Adams in an effort to, according to reporting by The Washington Post, "pressure Columbia’s president and trustees to permit the mayor to send police to the campus" to shut down  criticism of  Israel's offensive military operations in Gaza, which many campus protesters, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, civil servants, and governments around the world  have alleged to be genocide. During the video call, group members discussed making political donations to Adams. Following the video call, Lubetzky suggested that group members should take specific concrete steps, including resharing a link to offer financial support to Adams, calling and writing to Columbia’s president and board of trustees, and, according to the Post, “getting Black Leaders to condemn Anti-Semitism,” asking if anyone in the group knew Jay-Z, Beyoncé, or LeBron James. A spokesperson for Lubetzky said he did not donate to Adams.

Awards and recognition

 * Koshland Fellowship
 * 100 Global Leaders for Tomorrow by the World Economic Forum
 * Trinity Outstanding Alumnus Award
 * World Association of NGOs bestowed him with its Peace, Reconciliation and Security Award
 * Catholic Theological Union's Blessed Are the Peacemakers Award
 * King Hussein Humanitarian Leadership Prize
 * Named a Young Leaders Forum fellow by the National Committee for United States-China Relations.
 * Named as one of "43 Entrepreneurs Who Are Changing the World" by Fast Company.
 * Recognized as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.
 * Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship
 * Named among "America's Most Promising Social Entrepreneurs" by Bloomberg News.
 * Named among "25 Responsibility Pioneers" of social innovation by Time magazine.
 * Selected as Entrepreneur of the Year by Entrepreneur magazine.
 * Named among Advertising Age 50 most creative people.
 * Named among 100 most intriguing entrepreneurs by Goldman Sachs.
 * Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2013 Award.
 * Heroes of Conscious Capitalism 2017 Common Ground Awards Winner
 * Hispanic Heritage Award
 * Horatio Alger Award
 * 2023 Honored with the Carnegie Corporation of New York's Great Immigrant Award.