Jesús González III (right) of Marble World receives his Migliore Award for Lifetime Achievement from Jonathan Zanger of Walker Zanger, the 2013 MIA president.

Jesús González III of Marble World in San Pedro Garza Garcia, Mexico has been awarded the 2013 Migliore Award for Lifetime Achievement by the Marble Institute of America (MIA).

González, who has been an active MIA member for over 50 years, accepted the award at the annual MIA Awards Luncheon held during StonExpo/Marmomacc Americas 2014 in Las Vegas.

When Jesús' father became ill and passed away many years ago, he took over management of what then was a modest stone business in Northern Mexico. The firm had limited financial resources and its future at the time was uncertain. But, with his passion for stone, imagination and drive, and a dream to build Marble World into the best stone company in Mexico, Jesús III far exceeded his own ambitions.

Today, the business has a worldwide presence. Most of the fabrication work is done at a facility in Gomez Palacio, Mexico, where the firm produces products like hand-carved fire places, hood ranges, columns and other pieces usually made from limestone and travertine. While Marble World has the kind of production equipment you’d find in most major shops, technology is not the major focus. “We search all over Mexico for the best carvers and the most skilled labor we can find to do what we call creative work,” says González. 

In addition to the Gomez Palacio facility, Marble World has numerous locations elsewhere in Mexico that do traditional marble and granite work for skyscrapers, shopping centers, department stores, museums, etc. The growth he generated created the need for more stone factories with bigger and better capabilities, so he expanded his operations to include several plants where quarries were close by.  González wanted to be vertically integrated, so he began quarrying and installing the stone.          

Monica Gawet, a former MIA president shared, “his passion, involvement, guidance and support for MIA is unwavering. As a person who was newly elected on the board in 1997, it was board members like Jesús who set the right tone for professionalism, realism, advocacy and support so that MIA could be the best association possible for the membership. He was very familiar with the operations of the MIA and was so helpful to explain things that I wasn’t fully aware of.”          

Bob Stasswender, also a former MIA president added, “I did my first job with Jesús in 1978. It was a small order using Rosa Mexicana marble that was fabricated in Monterrey and shipped to Austin for the Paramount Theater renovation. It was my first time dealing with an international order and without Jesús' help, I would have botched it completely.”

Jesús González has been an ambassador for the MIA in so many ways. He helped attract other members from Central and South America and always represented the interests of contractors and fabricators on the board. His keen business acumen was always present at MIA board meetings and he has provided extremely valuable counsel to the association and staff leaders. A very sharp international business person with knowledge and insight that most domestic stone company owners do not have, Jesús' reputation reaches far beyond the Americas. 

González's motto has always been, “I will only supply a stone job if it makes me proud.” He has stood by his word for over half a century. 

Jesús and his wife, Adriana, have four sons and 12 grandchildren.