Andy Unanue
Andy Unanue is the current Managing Partner of AUA Private Equity Partners, an operationally-focused, lower middle-market private equity firm that targets Hispanic-oriented and family-owned companies. Unanue is the former Chief Operating Officer of the family-owned Goya Foods, the largest Hispanic-owned food company in the United States. In 2008, he flirted with candidacy for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate seat in New Jersey. Biography Unanue was born and raised in New Jersey, the grandson of Goya Foods' founders, Spaniards Prudencio Unanue Ortiz and Carolina Casal, and son of Joseph A. Unanue. He attended St. Joseph School in Bogota, New Jersey, Alpine Public School and Bergen Catholic High School. Unanue received a bachelor's degree from the University of Miami and an MBA from Thunderbird, the American Graduate School of International Management. He began working in his father's company in their Miami office, working his way up to President of Goya de Santo Domingo. After his brother Joseph F. Unanue died of myelodysplastic syndrome in 1998, he became Executive Vice President. Unanue became Goya's COO in 1999. In February 2004, Unanue left Goya to establish a family office. Through his family office AU & Associates, LLC, he has made investments in