Felix Sanchez is the Chairman and Co-founder of the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts, which he launched with Jimmy Smits, Sonia Braga, Esai Morales and Merel Julia in 1997 – with help from then-First Lady Hillary Clinton. As Chairman, Felix has created a number of impactful programs focused on creating diverse content and a new generation of diverse content creators, including the Scholarship Program, the PitchProgram, InformaGente and Coctelitos con Rita Moreno and Joaquin Castro. In 2023, he was nominated by President Biden to be a Member of the Board of Directors for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Sanchez’s work on behalf of the Foundation has been honored by the National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP), (Advocacy Award), and the Government of Mexico (Ohtlí Award its highest national honor presented to Mexican American and Latino philanthropy leaders). 

Sanchez also serves on a number of advisory boards, including the American Jewish Committee’s (AJC) Latino Jewish Leadership Council; the Kennedy Center Latino Advisory Board, the El Rey Network’s Diversity Council; the Creative Thread Foundation and Storytelling Unbound. He also advises the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Congressional Multicultural Media Caucus; and the Congressional Caucus for Advancement of Studio Talent (CAST) on diversity and inclusion issues in the entertainment industry. Felix is a CNN Opinion contributor.

Sanchez began his career as a legislative assistant to then-U.S. Senator Lloyd Bentsen, D-TX, with principal responsibilities for issues arising from the U.S. Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. He has been an advisor to numerous Democratic presidential and corporate campaigns. He served as the first National Deputy Campaign manager to the Paul Simon for President campaign and served as the head of the inaugural Hispanic Outreach office for the Dukakis/Bentsen campaign, where he originated the first Latino celebrity engagement/outreach campaign effort. He duplicated this role in the Clinton 1992, 1996 and Gore 2000 campaigns. On the 2008 presidential campaign trail, Felix created a signature Florida campaign event with former President Clinton, then-Presidential Candidate Obama and former TV POTUS Jimmy Smits (The West Wing).

Felix has a B.A. in Child Psychology and an M.A. in Curriculum & Instruction from The University of Texas at Austin; Felix also holds a J.D. in International Law from the University of Houston Law Center. Felix’s daughter, Isabella is a 2018 summa cum laude graduate of Boston University and his son Philippe is a 2020 West Point graduate, currently stationed at Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson, Alaska.