Raúl was born in Texas and spent his childhood in Corpus Christi where he attended St. Patrick’s Elementary and Incarnate Word Academy. He was educated by Irish nuns who thought his conduct poor and academic effort lacking (the poor conduct kept him out of the National Honor Society but didn’t stop him from becoming a National Merit Finalist). Raúl is the first to admit that he spent too much time at the video arcade, playing hacky sack, and hanging out with friends drinking Black Label beer and listening to eighties music at Swantner Park. He wouldn’t change any of that (if he could).
Raúl got his act together during college on what he calls his “Tour of Texas”: Del Mar College, Baylor University, University of Dallas, University of the Incarnate Word (BA Philosophy, cum laude), St. Mary’s Law School (Juris Doctor, summa cum laude). Raúl has diverse interests and tends to enroll in universities every ten years or so. He has pursued and/or obtained several post grad degrees in addition to law: UT Austin’s McCombs School of Business (MBA, Kozmetsky Scholar); UT Austin Ph.D. Education Policy (ABD); UT Dallas Ph.D. Literature (in progress).
Raúl’s first career was law—he worked for ten years as a trial lawyer in Texas, then in-house at a Fortune 100 company. Post-MBA, he began his second career as a business executive, board member, and entrepreneur working first in the Fortune 500 in Europe and then in several start-up ventures. His third career took him to real estate investment and construction and included selling a Coral Gables home to Jeff Bezos.
Raúl’s fourth and current career is as an author. He publishes fiction under the pseudonym J.K. Franko (independently in English; with Grupo Planeta and Penguin Random House in Spanish).
While attending UT Austin, Raúl founded the Texas Education Review, which is now in its tenth year. He is also Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Sine Qua Non literary journal.
Raúl lives in Dallas, Texas with his wife and a lot of dogs.