Alumni Award Recipients

Gene Baca
Zia Award, 2009

Birthdays in the Baca family always included a celebratory dinner of enchiladas and cake made by mom. But on Gene Baca’s twelfth birthday, his mother was ill and wasn’t able to make the meal. So, Gene came home from school and cooked his birthday dinner for the entire family himself. That’s just like Gene: enterprising, self sufficient, festive, caring . . . and a good cook.

Not many 12-year old boys have culinary skills, but when you’re a member of New Mexico’s first family of food, you’re bound to know your way around the kitchen. Gene’s father and uncles started in Bueno Foods in Albuquerque’s Barelas neighborhood back in 1951. Today, Bueno’s delicious tortillas, chile, sauces, and more are sold in grocery stores far and wide.

Along with his sisters, Gene grew up working at Bueno and eating chile. I know you’re wondering, so I’ll tell you… Gene’s answer to New Mexico’s state question-- “Red or Green?”-- is that he was “bred on red, and weaned on green.”

He received his bachelors in biology from UNM and earned his law degree from Harvard University, about which he's very modest. Gene returned to New Mexico and the family business where he’s helped the company grow and expand its product line through good old fashioned elbow grease, vision, and a talent for turning great ideas into reality.

Today as senior vice president, Gene co-manages the company with his sisters and mother. Bueno has seen sales grow tenfold thanks to popular products like authentic Autumn roast green chile and Grandma’s tortillas. In fact, both of those products are innovations Gene painstakingly developed to preserve the company’s culinary heritage.

As a founder and current president of the New Mexico Chile Association, Gene is leading the charge to automate the chile harvesting processes and to certify New Mexico Green Chile so consumers know they’re getting chile grown in Hatch, New Mexico.

Gene is also active in other community organizations including the Association of Commerce and Industry and UNM’s Alumni Board of Directors. And he continues his family’s tradition of improving Hispanic educational achievement by helping develop Bueno’s Good Grades Program, which rewards the children and grandchildren of Bueno employees for doing well in school.

In his spare time – can you believe that he has any? – Gene is a dedicated family man with four children, who loves to read, exercise, and research whatever happens to be his newest interest. Of course, he still loves to cook, and is an avid fan of Greatest Chef.

For his innovations, vision, contributions to the community -- and the great food he helps create that we all enjoy -- we’re proud to present this Zia Award to Gene Baca.

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