Daniel Lubetzky, Jewish Founder of KIND Snacks, Replaces Mark Cuban on ‘Shark Tank’ as Series Regular Investor

Shiryn Ghermezian

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Daniel Lubetzky, CEO of KIND LLC, accepts the Civility and Compassion Award during The Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Awards Nov. 04, 2023. Photo: USA TODAY NETWORK via Reuters Connect

Jewish Mexican-American entrepreneur Daniel Lubetzky announced on Wednesday that after five seasons as a recurring guest investor on ABC’s “Shark Tank,” he will become a regular “shark” on the show when its new season premieres in October.

Lubetzky, the founder of the KIND snack company who is also the son of a Holocaust survivor, will replace billionaire Jewish American entrepreneur and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, who announced last year that he will leave the show after season 16. Lubetzky is the first new regular cast member to join the show in over a decade. The “Shark Tank” panel of series regular investors includes Barbara Corcoran, Lori Greiner, Robert Herjavec, Daymond John, and Kevin O’Leary.

“It’s an honor to be part of a production that continues to educate, entertain, and unite Americans behind the spirit of building together,” Lubetzky said in a released statement about joining the “Shark Tank” team. “I am so excited to be part of this fun, hilarious, exceptionally smart cast and crew. Most of all, I am looking forward to partnering with entrepreneurs from all walks of life as they come to ‘Shark Tank’ for their chance to realize the American dream.”

He added that he hopes his Jewish Mexican mother Sonia is “proud” of him and that his late father Roman, who survived the Dachau concentration camp in Germany during the Holocaust, “is looking from above and seeing not just what I’ve achieved but how I’ve achieved it — by trying my very best to always follow the values he taught me.”

Lubetzky shared in 2021 that his mother was raised in Tampico, “a cattle-ranching region in Mexico, where her family was one of only a handful of Jewish families.”

“She’s always had an extra sensibility about her responsibility to be an ambassador of the Jewish people,” he said. “I admire the ways in which she helps our family preserve both our Jewish — and Mexican — values and traditions.”

Lubetzky was born in 1968 and raised in Mexico City, where he was taught Hebrew, English, Spanish, and Yiddish. He moved to the US with his family when he was a teenager but studied abroad in Israel during his college years. At Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, his 268-page thesis was titled, “The Influence of Economic Factors in Resolving the Arab-Israeli Conflict.”

Lubetzky founded the KIND company in 2004. He sold a minority stake to the candy giant Mars in 2017 and sold the entire company to Mars in 2020 in a deal reportedly worth $5 billion. In 2002, he founded OneVoice Movement, which is a grassroots movement that amplifies the voices of Israeli and Palestinian activists with the vision for “an independent and viable Palestine and a secure Israel free from conflict.” He is also the founder of PeaceWorks Inc., a business that fosters cooperative ventures among neighbors in the Middle East.

In October 2023, shortly after the deadly Hamas terrorist attacks in southern Israel, Lubetkzy talked about being affected by the Israel-Hamas war.

“I literally have not been sleeping over the last two, three weeks because we’ve lost a lot of our family and friends to this war,” Lubetzky said in an interview in October. “We have Palestinian and Israeli staff and colleagues whose lives have been impacted. We have Palestinian staff in Gaza that we’ve been trying to evacuate, but Hamas has blocked the exits and prevented them from leaving. We have Israelis, both Jewish and Muslim Israelis, that were killed by the Hamas terrorists.”

According to the KIND website, Lubetkzy’s favorite quote is from Rabbi Hillel, who said: “In a place where there is no humanity, strive thou to be human.”

Season 16 of “Shark Thank” premieres Oct. 18 on ABC.

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