José María (Pepe) Noriega III is chairman and chief executive officer of Signal
Group, a leading provider, of advertising and video communications for the industrial and
commercial industries in Mexico.
Born on March 30, 1953, Noriega and his four sisters grew up in Mexico City. Their
father, José María Noriega II, was a Mexican entrepreneur. Their mother, Esther
Fernandez Solórzano, is a poet, and writer
Noriega attended elementary school at the Amado Nervo and Simon Bolivar colleges where
he excelled as a student and public speaker. In 1968 in the midst of turmoil of youth
rebellion in Mexico City he entered the Universidad La Salle. There, he began his interest
in music as guitar player, photographer, journalist, and started his career as sales and
advertising man.
In 1972, Noriega entered the Mexican National University (UNAM) as a freshman, in
Chemical Engineering. While at UNAM, Noriega worked on photographs, and film images for
him and his best mates and organized a promotional raffle contest for the first electronic
calculator on campus the HP 45. He was a nominated representative of his generation 1972
-1976 . In his spare time he also studied French and German and practiced swimming and
squash By 1978 In his professional examination and thesis presentation he and his studying
partners, Enrique Aguayo and Salvador Gallo were awarded the Juror´s Congratulation, one
of the jurors the actual Chairman of the University was Dr. Francisco Barnés de
Castro. Salvador got also an Honorific Mention
In his junior year, Noriega helped his father in the business and devoted his energies
working for the best industrial companies in Mexico: Celanese, Resistol & Peñoles,
where he developed information systems and market research and intelligence studies, in
1978 he was awarded, by CONACYT (National Council of Science and Technology), among
thousands of students, an International scholarship to study in England.
His masters degree studies in Brunel University covered materials technology,
production planning, research and development, of video, film and theatre. He also made
studies in Zen Buddhism, Sociology, and practiced, tennis, golf, and music. He was awarded
the title of being the best student in his generation by Mr. Gerald Griffin, his tutor and
mentor. He approved his exams and got his Certificate of Advanced Studies from Brunel
University.
Because of a very serious illness of his father he returned to Houston in 1979 and took
care of the Business of his family. In 1981 he started his career as independent
entrepreneur founding the first company of promotional items in Mexico.
The president of Mexico Jose Lopez Portillo thanked him for his commemorative recording
of the North South Dialogue Meeting in Cancun. Noriega’s foresight and vision
regarding advertising & promotion with magnetic media recordings and video have been
central to the success of Signal and the advertising and video industry.
Noriega is actively involved in key management and strategic decisions at Signal, and
because of his technical knowledge plays an important role in the development of new
products and services. A significant portion of his time is devoted to developing
multimedia ideas, meeting with customers and staying in contact with video scholars round
the world through e-mail.
Under Noriega’s leadership, Signal’s mission is to continually advance and
improve the video & advertising technology and to make it easier, more cost-effective
and more enjoyable for people to sell their products. The company is committed to a
long-term view, reflected in its investment of digital Cameras and 2 AVID postproduction
equipment.
In 1994, Noriega wrote The Mi Casa Business Program, his vision about where the cement
industry was heading to improve their sales to low income people.
This program was awarded the First Prize by the Swiss corporation HOLDERBANK as the
"Best Marketing Campaign in the World", Noriega thoroughly designed and revised
The Mi Casa program to reflect his view about the role of big companies in the developing
world . In addition to his passion for advertising, video & computers, Noriega is
interested in educational technology. He sits on the board of the PYLSA Corporation and is
a shareholder in NORMI, a subsidiary of Mexican-based SIGNAL GROUP.
He also founded PSIGNAL Corporation, which is developing one of the largest resources
of promotional information in the world—a comprehensive digital archive of videos,
photographs & promotional products. Noriega was married on Apr. 20, 1990 to Laura
Mendoza de Noriega. They have two children, Diego , born in 1991 and
Diana Laura born in 2000.
Noriega is an avid reader and enjoys playing tennis & golf.
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