José María Figueres is the son of the famous thinker and three-time president of Costa Rica, José Figueres Ferrer declared “Person of the 20th Century” by the leading newspaper in Costa Rica[1]. His mother, First Lady Karen Olsen Beck, born in the United States to Danish immigrants, later adopted Costa Rican nationality. After being First Lady she was appointed Ambassador to Israel in 1982. In 1990 she was elected Member of Congress for the 1990 - 1994 legislature.

With both parents actively involved in public service, José María Figueres grew up in La Lucha, a farm community his father Don Pepe founded in 1928. There José María attended the public school Cecilia Orlich Figueres, before going on to study at the Colegio Humboldt and later Lincoln High School, both in San José. Upon graduating from high school he worked for a couple of years, and then was accepted into the Corps of Cadets at the United States Military Academy (West Point), where he graduated with the Class of 1979, having majored in Engineering.

Upon returning to Costa Rica, he worked and later led the restructuring process of the deeply indebted family businesses, Sociedad Agroindustrial San Cristobal (SAISC), towards profitability and professional management.