The Hoover Tower and view above Stanford at sunset in Palo Alto in California

Daniel Montes Sr., founder, and CEO of Brilliant General Maintenance (BGM), a large cleaning contractor in California's Silicon Valley, has just been invited to become a member of the Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative. 

This initiative is a Stanford University research program housed within Stanford Graduate School of Business. It is a highly regarded platform that explores Latino entrepreneurship in the U.S. and its positive impact on the U.S. economy through research, knowledge dissemination, and facilitated collaboration. 

Invited members are some of the most respected Latino and Latina entrepreneurs in the country. Joining him this year are 77 other Latino and Latina entrepreneurs. 

Montes was born in Mexico and migrated to the U.S. in 1977. He started as a window cleaner, cleaning windows for homes, stores, businesses of all kinds.  

He entered the professional building maintenance industry as an employee, working with several building maintenance companies in the San Francisco Bay Area before starting his own company in 1983.  

At that time, many of the most recognized companies in Silicon Valley were getting their start. Today, Brilliant maintains many of these facilities with not only cleaning, but several of their other building maintenance service specialties.

“Daniel is a true inspiration," says Ron Segura of Segura and Associates, a longtime friend of Montes. "He came here with just the shirt on his back and now heads not only one of the largest [cleaning] companies in California, but has become one of the leading mentors and benefactors in the entire Silicon Valley area."

Montes will be directly involved with Stanford’s Graduate School of Business' Scaling Program. This program is designed to help him network with other entrepreneurs, grow his business, impart wisdom on younger entrepreneurs and more.

"At this point in his life, Daniel wants to help others," says Segura. "Being invited to join this organization will help him do that.”