Alex Meruelo

Álex, born in New York, is the son of Homero and Belinda Meruelo, two Cuban immigrants who left their native island in 1961 and moved to the United States. From New York the family moved to Los Angeles, California.

He attended the Instituto Técnico Don Bosco in Rosemead, CA and received his B.S. from California State University, Long Beach. Subsequently he began working in his father's tailoring business.
Years later, in 1985, Álex Meruelo bought a restaurant for $25,000 (about €20,000) and launched a pizzeria that he named La pizza loca. By 1990, that establishment had transformed into a franchise with locations and shops with annual profits of twelve million euros.

He expanded his commercial focus, founding Grupo Meruelo, which has become a construction and real estate development firm.

Today he is a prominent real estate developer in California and majority shareholder of several banks.
He is a great basketball enthusiast; in 2011 he acquired ownership of the Atlanta Hawks, and in 2014 he attempted to buy the iconic Trump Plaza casino for twenty million euros, a property of the current president of the United States, but that deal did not go through.

Meruelo Group owns Neal Electric Corp, Select Electric Inc and Doty Bros in the Southern California area.

The group also owns a bank, the Los Angeles-based television station KWHY-TV, a MundoMax affiliate, Grand Sierra Resort, and other businesses.

Mr. Alex Meruelo was co-founder of the Commercial Bank of California (the "Bank"), where he serves on the Board and is its majority shareholder. Since December 2014, he is also majority shareholder and Board member of NCAL Bancorp, the parent company of Banco Nacional de California. He served as president of Herman Weissker, Inc. He serves the Hispanic community through his contributions to various charitable organizations and organizations such as the Cuban American National Foundation, the C.A.U.S.E Annual Toy Drive, and the Salesian Boys and Girls Club of Los Angeles, receiving commendations from the California State Assembly and Northern Trust of California. He is also a major donor to Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, California and the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, and the Pretend City Children's Museum in Irvine, California, funding the construction of major facilities at each one.
The SLS Las Vegas in Las Vegas, NV, formerly the Sahara Hotel and Casino, was purchased by Meruelo Group in June 2017.

Alex Meruelos is married and resides in the Newport Coast neighborhood of Los Angeles.