The Miami Foundation Elects New Officers, Adds Five Board Members

Dec. 6, 2011 - PRLog -- The Miami Foundation recently elected new officers to its Board of Trustees and has added five new board members for the upcoming year. The board provides leadership for the foundation’s philanthropic efforts throughout Miami-Dade County.

"These new officers and members represent a broad range of talents and a shared commitment to Miami," said Miami Foundation President Javier Alberto Soto. "Each will bring valuable experience and expertise to our board, along with philanthropic leadership."

The returning Board of Trustees members who will serve as officers for 2012 are:

Louis-Albert H. Jolivert, Board Chairman
Senior Director, BNY Mellon Wealth Management

Penny Shaffer, Board Vice-Chair
Market President, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida

Juan Martinez, Secretary, Treasurer and Finance Committee Chair
Vice-President/CFO and Treasurer, John S. And James L. Knight Foundation

Alex Fraser, Program Committee Chair
President, Smart Merchant Processing

Michael Marquez, Development Committee Chair
Managing Director & Senior Resident Officer, Bessemer Trust

Raul Rodriguez, Governance Committee
President, Rodriguez & Quiroga Architects

The Miami Foundation also welcomes five extraordinary community leaders to its Board of Trustees.

Manny Diaz  - Senior Partner, Lydecker Diaz, PA
Manny Diaz was first elected City of Miami Mayor in 2001, having never before held elective office. He was reelected to a second term in 2005, and was chosen to lead the United States Conference of Mayors as its president in 2008.  He recently served as a Resident Fellow at Harvard’s Institute of Politics, and is currently now resumed his successful corporate and real estate law practice as a senior partner at Lydecker Diaz in Miami, Florida.

Martin Kalb - Shareholder, Greenberg Traurig, PA
Martin Kalb has more than 35 years of experience representing clients in all aspects of tax law, estate planning, corporate matters and mergers and acquisitions at Greenberg Traurig. Kalb has served as Executive Vice President and General Counsel of UniCapital Corporation, a former New York Stock Exchange equipment leasing company. Prior to joining Greenberg Traurig he was an attorney in the Office of the Chief Counsel of the Internal Revenue Service in Washington, D.C. He also serves as Chairman for the Foundation of Jewish Philanthropies, Greater Miami Jewish Federation.

Melissa Krinzman - Founder & Managing Director, Venture Architects, LLC
Melissa Krinzman has a twenty-year history of starting, growing and advising private companies and non-profit organizations and is an expert and frequent speaker on the topics of business planning and capital raising. She currently serves as the Senior Entrepreneurial Fellow for the University of Miami's Launch Pad, and as a board member of the Ransom-Everglades School Alumni Board and Locust Projects.

Rafael (Rafo)  Saldaña  - CEO & President, Banesco USA
Rafael Saldaña is a multidisciplinary banker and business manager with diverse experience in U.S. and European banking organizations.   Banesco USA, a domestic state-chartered bank based in Coral Gables, Florida has branches in South Florida and Puerto Rico.  He currently serves on the Board of the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce where he is Vice Chair of the Education Committee, the Board of the Commercial & Industrial Association of South Florida, and was a Board Member and Chairman of the Audit Committee of The Community Foundation of Central Florida.  He is a graduate of the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, and served as Group Executive of Wachovia Corporation in North Carolina, Executive Vice President at Banco Santander in San Juan, and Business Director at Capital One.  He resides with his family in Miami.


Raul G. Valdes-Fauli  - President & Chief Executive Officer, Professional Bank
Mr. Valdes-Fauli is a highly respected South Florida banking leader with two decades of executive experience including most recently as President of the South Florida market at CNL Bank where he managed the tri-county market and prior to that as President/CEO of Commercial Banking for Miami-Dade County for Colonial Bank.   In addition to Mr. Valdes-Fauli’s extensive South Florida banking experience, he also has deep roots in the local community where he serves on the boards of the Adrienne Arsht Performing Arts Center Trust, WPBT Channel Two, Miami Finance Forum and he was Past Board Member of Big Brothers & Big Sisters of Greater Miami and a graduate of the Miami Fellows Initiative Program. Mr. Valdes-Fauli was also a Peace Corp volunteer in Honduras.

Also returning to the Board of Trustees are:

Maria C. Alonso
Corporate Social Responsibility
Market Manager
Bank of America

Marta F. Anido, CPA
Of Counsel
Morrison Brown Argiz & Farra LLP

Sergio Bendixen
President
Bendixen & Associates

Mitchell A. Bierman, Esq.
Weiss, Serota, Helfman,
Pastoriza, Cole & Boniske, PL

Ana Lopez-Blazquez
Chief Strategic Officer
Baptist Health South Florida
Chief Executive Officer
Baptist Health Enterprises

Pablo Cejas
Chairman and CEO
Ascendant Commercial Insurance

Robert C. Gilbert, Esq.
Of Counsel
Grossman Roth, P.A.


Divina Grossman, PhD.
Vice President for Engagement
Florida International University

Marlon A. Hill, Esq
Founding Partner
delancyhill, P.A.

Juan Martinez
Vice President/CFO and Treasurer
John S. and James L. Knight Foundation

Raul L. Rodriguez, AIA
President
Rodriguez & Quiroga Architects

David P. Samson
President
Florida Marlins

Richard E. Schatz, Esq.
Managing Partner
Stearns Weaver Miller Weissler
Alhadeff & Sitterson, P.A.

Bruce Turkel
CEO/ECD
Turkel

About the Miami Foundation:  Established in 1967, The Miami Foundation has helped hundreds of people create personal, permanent and powerful legacies by establishing custom, charitable funds. With foundation expertise, fund holders have fostered the arts, awarded scholarships, championed diversity, taught kids to read, provided food and shelter for the hungry and homeless, and more. More than $150 million in grants and scholarships has been awarded in the Foundation’s 44-year history. Today, the foundation is steward to nearly $150 million in charitable assets. More information can be found at www.miamifoundation.org.