Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA)Our Students

ALEJANDRO REGALADO
President | Above and Beyond Learning
As President and Founder of Above and Beyond Learning, Alejandro has created a full-service education company that offers supplemental education and tutoring services to customers in several states throughout the US. Mr. Regalado has also established a learning center in the South Florida area where the focus is on early childhood education. Alejandro has been instrumental in creating a platform to support an online tutoring service which has allowed customers to easily access his company's services. Alejandro graduated Magna Cum Laude from Barry University where he studied Public Administration and went on to obtain his master’s in business administration from Nova Southeastern University.

CARLOS E. BARED
Managing Director | 3e11 LLC
Carlos E. Bared is Managing Director and Founder of 3e11, LLC. 3e11 was founded and organized by a group of like-minded individuals dedicated to incubating and developing Blockchain related solutions for the world of tomorrow. Mr. Bared was formerly the CEO of Farm Stores Corporation and of Gardner’s Super Markets, Inc. Mr. Bared attended Loyola University in New Orleans and graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in finance. He earned his Master of Business Administration degree in 1995 from the University of Miami. Mr. Bared joined Farm Stores in 1997 as the CFO. In 1999, he became the Chief Financial Officer of United Petroleum Corporation, a publicly traded corporation and was a member of its Board of Directors. He served in those capacities until 2001, when he returned to the management of Farm Stores as its President and Chief Executive Officer. From 1992 to 1997, he was the President and CFO of the Bared Company, Inc., an electrical and mechanical engineering contracting firm. He was the President of the Construction Financial Management Association (CFMA) from 1994 to 1997 and was a director of CFMA from 1993 to 1997. Prior to that, Mr. Bared worked briefly at Merrill Lynch as an Assistant Financial Consultant. In October of 2002, Mr. Bared joined the Board of Directors of Associated Grocers of Florida, Inc., the largest grocery wholesaler in the State of Florida. He served in this capacity through 2008 and was a member of the Board’s Audit Committee. Mr. Bared was a Director and Past President of the Board of Directors, and was past Treasurer, of the non-profit Miami Children's Museum. He was also a Director of MCM Charter School. In December 2006, Mr. Bared was elected to the Board of Directors of the non-profit South Florida After School All-Stars, Inc, and served as Chairman of the Finance Committee until 2009. During 2007, Mr. Bared joined the Board of Directors of the Soccer Academy of the Americas-Real Madrid, CF Miami and oversees its Finance and Audit Committees. Mr. Bared was a Founder and Vice President of non-profit Network Miami, Inc. He was an advisory board member of the Miami-Dade County Commission’s Business Impact Committee during 1995-1996.

CLAY DICKINSON
Managing Director | Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL)
Clay Dickinson is a Managing Director of JLL's Hotels & Hospitality Group, responsible for Advisory and Asset Management Services in the Latin America region. Clay has held various senior management roles with other top tier firms, including: KPMG, where he became Partner of the Caribbean and Latin America region for the real estate and hospitality line of business in 1998; and to IBM and EDS, where he became a Client Industry Executive focused on Travel, Tourism and Hospitality. He has a dual master’s degree in international management and master’s in business administration from American Graduate School of International Management and ESADE as well as a Master of Science in the Management of Technology from Georgia Institute of Technology. 

CLAUDE KERSHNER IV
President | Reef Tropical
Claude serves as the President for Reef Tropical, a mid-size company founded in 1998 with focus on serving customers in the high end pool & landscape industry. The company operates from Key West to Boca Raton. He has been responsible for leading over 90 team members and implementing progressive changes for ten years. Claude has worked closely with his staff members to help them reach new heights in their careers in the service industry. His goal is to create value and opportunities for his staff and customers alike. Claude received his Master of Business Administration degree from Oklahoma State University.

DAVID FREER
Professor | Miami-Dade Community College
David is a full-time professor in Miami-Dade College with a focus in Management Systems and programming. He teaches courses in Android Programming, Java, Advanced Java, Introduction to Microcomputer Applications, C++ and Visual Basic .NET. David received his Master of Science in Decision and Information Systems from the University of Florida.

EVEROD DAVIS
Business Adjunct Professor | Valencia College
Everod Davis is an adjunct Business Professor at Valencia College where he teaches Management Theory & Practice, Business Writing & Communication, Marketing Management and Operational Decision Making. He previously served as a lecturer of business at the University of Technology West Campus in Jamaica where he taught International Business, Strategic Management, Organizational Development Design & Change Management and Advance Principles of Management.  Everod has a wealth of experience in banking & finance, oil & gas, logistics & retail management, advertising & marketing, construction materials and hospitality as a result of spending over 20 years in various corporate and executive positions. This includes 12 years of management at companies such as Royal Dutch Shell Petroleum Company and Gruppo Financo/International Materials Inc. USA. He is a strong believer in continuous leadership development which saw him introducing and spearheading the simulcast of John Maxwell’s annual one day leadership training for corporate executives to his native Jamaica for approximately 7 years. Everod earned his Master in Business Administration with a concentration in International Business from the University of the West Indies. 

FREDERICK WHITE
Senior Housing Finance Officer | Office of the Mayor-City of Los Angeles
Fred White is a seasoned real estate capital markets professional with over 20 years of commercial real estate and housing experience.  Currently, Mr. White is part of the recently created Mayor’s Housing Crisis Response Team (HCRT).  Fred’s responsibilities include implementing the City's $120MM Housing Challenge RFP in partnership with the LA Housing and Community Investment Department (HCIDLA) and providing HCIDLA and the Mayor's office with strategic advice on the development of alternative loan products.  Fred also served as the Head of the West Region for State Street Bank’s inaugural core Commercial Real Estate lending platform helping the firm achieve $1 billion in mortgages nationwide in its first year.  Prior to his most recent roles, Fred was a Senior Director in TIAA’s Global Real Estate business with responsibilities for all aspects of mortgage origination and real estate acquisitions as well as underwriting real estate social impact investments nationally. Fred graduated with his master’s in business administration from North Carolina Central University. 

HERNAN MORALES
Claims Supervisor | Progressive Insurance Company
Hernan is a successful insurance professional who has over 25 years of experience in the insurance and customer service industries. He has worked for Progressive Insurance Company since 1998 in various positions of increasing responsibility, scope and complexity. In his current role, he leads a unit of experienced field auto appraisers. He has managed several Diversity and Inclusion initiatives as part of the Progressive Latino American Networking Association, where he was a National Executive Board member for three years and mentored several individual contributors and leaders. Hernan earned his Master of Arts in Organizational Management from University of Phoenix. 

JUAN C. REY
Chief Executive Officer | A+ Achievers, LLC
As the Chief Executive Officer of A+ Achievers, Juan has various years of experience working in the education management industry. His company focuses on skilled coaching, tutoring, and Supplemental Educational Services. As a seasoned entrepreneur, Juan has opened 30+ Educational Centers throughout Florida and Texas, helping his company to become a leader among 100+ educational providers and achieve the rate of “Excellent Provider of Supplemental Educational Services” by the Florida Department of Education for three consecutive years. He graduated with his Executive MBA from Florida International University. 

LUIS ANGEL GONZALEZ JR.
Property Service Sales Representative (PSR) | Sherwin Williams 
As PSR in the Miami Metro areas of Downtown, Brickell and Miami International Airport, Luis is responsible for building and maintaining relationships with individual properties such as multi-family apartments, condos, multiple occupancy HOA’s and hotel and hospitality facilities. He is an experienced business professional with over twelve years of management and sales experience. Luis is a graduate of St. Thomas University, where he received his Master of Business Administration. 

LUIS ARMELIO GONZALEZ
Director of Finance | University of Miami
Luis serves as the Director of Finance from the Miller School of Medicine at the University of Miami. In his role, he oversees the Department of Surgery’s annual budget, provides financial variance analysis and reports and oversees the successful implementation of new clinical programs and service lines. Prior to working for the University of Miami, Luis worked with The Fresh Diet as a Director of Financial Planning where he developed and communicated companywide financial planning and forecasting activities. Luis received his Master of Science in Finance from Florida International University. 

MATTHEW BAUMANN
Assistant Vice President | Miami Cancer Institute
Matt Baumann is healthcare executive leader whose approach to problem solving and leadership is rooted in military planning and strategy. Matt spent the last several years in various leadership roles within Miami Cancer Institute (MCI), an entity within Baptist Health South Florida (BHSF). As the Assistant Vice President of Clinical Operations, Matt is responsible for the strategic leadership of Diagnostic Imaging, Breast Imaging, Laboratory Services, Safety, Transportation, Support Communications, Security and several other support departments. Prior to his current role in Healthcare, Matt spent seven years as an Infantry Leader in the United States Marine Corps (USMC). During this time, Matt led several infantry units and deployed to Afghanistan and South East Asia. As a Captain of Marines, Matt also led teams of statisticians, mathematicians and operations researchers in the test and evaluation of future weapons prior to Marine Corps acquisition. This technical and operational military experience shaped the thought processes and approach that drives Matt’s decision making today. Mr. Baumann received his MBA from University of Central Florida in 2010.

MAURO ECHEVERRI
Finance and Business Consultant
Mauro Echeverri has worked for over 15 years as a Finance and Business Executive with global corporations like Louis Vuitton, Swarovski, Tyco, and currently is a Business and Finance transformation, and Strategy consultant. Prior to this, he was the Head of Finance & Strategy at Swarovski for the Americas as well as the CFO, COO at Louis Vuitton for South America and the Caribbean. He is also a University Professor at several MBA programs where he teaches Financial and Operations Management and Digital Business in Europe, Colombia, and Mexico. His major concentration is financial management, strategic growth, process improvement, transformations, and Shared Service Centers build up. He has been a Speaker in multiple large events, mainly in Corporate and Finance transformations. Mauro holds an Executive Leadership Degree from HULT Business School in London and a master’s degree from NSU in Florida.

MICHAEL RUSSELL
President and Owner | Fastlane Marketing
Michael is the President and Owner of FastLane Marketing, a full-service marketing consulting, branding, and business development firm. It offers expertise in the areas of general market and diversity marketing, advertising, promotions, presence, events, product placement, entertainment, social media, and political marketing. The company has engaged and supports Fortune 500 worldwide companies, such as, Altria, Cisco Systems and Time Warner. Prior to starting FastLane Marketing, Michael Russell spent his entire career in marketing and sales, successfully managing some of the most revered international consumer brands such as IBM, Coca-Cola, General Motors, The Olympic Games, and Mercedes-Benz. Michael received his master’s in business administration degree from Atlanta University.

MOHIT MUKHERJEE
Founding Director | UPEACE Centre for Executive Education
Mohit is the Founding Director of the Center for Executive Education at the University for Peace in Costa Rica, which was established by the United Nations. Over the past decade, he has developed and delivered transformational learning experiences that are both face-to-face as well as online. His three main areas of focus are positive leadership, social innovation, and organizational happiness. Mohit’s work experience includes management consulting, teaching, working with a global non-profit, managing a private-public partnership, developing programs for social entrepreneurs, and running a profitable Center for Executive Education. He has worked in the U.S., India, Ecuador and Costa Rica before moving to Florida in 2010. Mohit completed his Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering from Stanford University and his Master of Education at Harvard University.  

NOEL WIJESINHA
Chief Executive Officer | Sciteqsoft Inc
Noel is the Co-Founder and CEO of Sciteqsoft Inc., which provides enterprise solutions, architecture and information technology services to North American Fortune 200 companies. He is a Senior Technology professional with over 21 years of experience in software development and technology management. Prior to starting Sciteqsoft, Noel worked as a technology executive at various Fortune 200 companies in USA, Canada and Sri Lanka. Noel received his Master of Software Systems from University of St. Thomas and master’s in business administration from Wayne State University.

NUSHINE HOSSEINI
Senior Manager & HR Business Partner, Operations (N.A. Region) | Del Monte Fresh Produce Company
Nushine is the Senior Manager & HR Business Partner for Operations (North America Region), for Del Monte Fresh Produce Company. She primarily oversees Employee Relations for team members working in Distribution Centers, Farms, Fresh Cut and Port Operations in the U.S. and Canada. While Employee Relations is her primary focus, Nushine's role also encompasses responsibility for immigration, safety compliance, workers compensation and assisting drivers in the Transportation Division. She works closely with the North America Leadership Team to strategize and plan objectives, to ensure alignment with overall company goals. Previously, Nushine served as the HR and Recruiting Manager, and held prior roles as Senior HR Analyst and Senior HR Coordinator for Del Monte Fresh Produce Company. She has also served in other industries including Call Center Operations and Banking. Nushine has tremendous "Panther Pride" and is a graduate of Florida International University (FIU), where she earned a Bachelor of Business Administration with a double major in Human Resources. She then returned to FIU to earn her Master of Science in Human Resource Management.

PALPOUGUINI IDANI
President | Lake Worth Church Inc.
General Manager | Chi-Ada Corporation
Palpouguini is President of Lake Worth Church Inc., a religious organization, and General Manager of Chi-Ada Corporation, a leading Firm in the distribution and janitorial industry. As Chi-Ada's General Manager, he develops key performance goals, manages the performance of the departmental managers, operations managers, project managers, and supervisors in Florida and Georgia, and creates and implements the company's strategies for growth. Previously, Palpouguini worked as Bids and Accounts Receivable Manager for Chi-Ada, Director of Missions for Church of All Nations, and Administrator for Africa for Christian Ministries International. He graduated from Nova Southeastern University with a Master of Accounting and Lynn University with an MBA in Financial Valuation and Investment Management.

SABINA RAMDAS
Business Analyst III | NextEra Energy, Inc.
After joining NextEra Energy in Marketing & Communications, Sabina assumed responsibility for conducting in-house customer and employee research. She also manages all three of their online research communities. As a Certified Professional Researcher, her career spans both agency and corporate environments, working for clients in many different industries. She is an active member of the Insights Association and the Junior League. Sabina holds a Bachelor of Arts in psychology (Tulane) and a Master of Science in marketing (FIU), along with certificates in marketing research (UGA) and human-computer interaction (MIT).

SELENA SEABROOKS
Senior Internal Investigator | Southern Glazer’s Wine and Spirits
As a Senior Internal Investigator, Selena is charge of investigating and analyzing internal employee relations complaints of discrimination, harassment, retaliation and violations of company policy/procedures. She was previously a Senior Human Resources Investigator for Publix supermarkets. Selena is a seasoned Human Resources professional with over 15 years of HR experience and a Master of Science in Human Resource Management from Florida International University.

TAMIKO SADLER
Chief Operating Officer | Fleetmaster Truck Parts Limited
Tamiko is currently the COO of Fleetmaster Truck Parts Limited, a Jamaican company that specializes in the wholesale and retail sales of truck & trailer parts and accessories. She is responsible for the day-to day administration, including oversight of the marketing, the finance & accounting as well as Human resources functions of the company. She was previously with Scotiabank for 20 years, with her last role being a District Vice President of Scotiabank, where she was responsible for profitable development of the retail & commercial portfolio, as well as high customer service delivery for a region of branches. She also takes great pride as a volunteer adult literacy teacher. Tamiko graduated with her MBA with honors from Nova Southeastern University.

TYRONE SAWYER
Chief Executive Officer | Jemima’s Playhouse
Tyrone launched Jemima’s Playhouse, a venture to combine and share a passion for music, learning, and languages with young minds. Today, Jemima’s playhouse serves multiple locations across the country and continues to expand in its effort to educate and entertain children everywhere. As the Chief Executive Officer, he leads operations and strategic direction for long term planning and has been instrumental in creating an innovative organizational strategy that increased annual company growth in five states within a five-year period. Tyrone graduated with his Master of Business Administration from Nova Southeastern University. 

UTHA BUTLER
Chief Coordinator for Special Digital Projects | Ministry of Finance
As the Chief Coordinator for Special Digital Projects, Utha is responsible for modernizing public service through a paperless and cashless initiative. Previously, Utha worked as the Chief Financial Officer for the Bahamas Public Parks where she was responsible for overhauling the financial management system and implementing a sustainable process which leads to the required production of yearly audited financial statements. She has over twenty years of experience within the Government Sector of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas.  Utha graduated with her Master of Business Administration from Nova Southeastern University. 

Casey Sowers
Systems Administrator, Project Lead | University of Miami
Casey Sowers is a 14-year Army veteran serving in Artillery and Military Intelligence branches, serving on deployments to Afghanistan, and separating as an officer at the rank of Captain. He has two children, both girls, ages twelve and three. Casey earned a Bachelor of Science from the Atlantic Intercontinental University, a Master of Intelligence Operations from the American Military University, and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Miami. With over 8-years of project management experience, he excels at identifying and creatively exploiting synergies by combining systems or operations and has a passion for making an impact. Casey has held multiple leadership positions in the U.S. Army, serving as Company Commander in his last assignment. After separating from the military, Casey served as Assistant Vice President with Detente, LLC, where he spearheaded business development in Central and South America. His contributions played a vital role in building a $349 Million contract waterfall within the company's first three years leading to the acquisition of Detente, LLC, by Ansible Government Solutions. He stayed on through the acquisition by Ansible, where he served as Aviation Program Manager. He provided program development and management of simultaneous defense contract operations with military and government agencies from Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Colombia, Ecuador, Lebanon, Mauritania, Mexico, Pakistan, Peru, Saudi Arabia, Uganda, and the United States. In his most recent position, with the University of Miami, Casey utilized his experience as a military intelligence officer and innovation to design and develop an information collection and management platform. This platform addressed information silos between the different schools within the university. Before this platform, each school operated on international research and activities entirely independently, without a central repository for the university's global research and operations. Currently, Casey is pursuing a Master of Business Analytics at the University of Miami and a Doctorate in Business Administration at Florida International University. He also provides consultation for the restructuring and rebranding of a non-profit organization supporting equal and shared parenting. Most recently, he designed, developed, and delivered a phone application, for the non-profit, on both Android and iPhone, to make their services more accessible to those they support.

Clara E. Arango
Principal Broker | ACE International Realty LLC
As the owner and president of this boutique real estate office, Clara serves the South American commercial and residential real estate investors. Before starting her own practice, she performed as the Financial Director of Fantasy Theatre Factory, a non-profit organization, for seven years. Born and raised in Colombia, she has over fifteen years of experience in the Colombian financial services industry, including commercial banking. In 2015, Clara graduated with her Master of Science in International Real Estate from Florida International University and will graduate with her Master of Accounting from Florida Atlantic University in August 2020. Afterwards, she will work on her Certified Public Accounting (CPA) certification.

Humberto R. Noguera
Systems Administrator | Greenlane Holdings, INC.
Humberto has over eighteen years of experience in the Information Technology and Information Systems field in support of commercial and pharmaceutical operations. MSIS, MIS, CIS, CJIS, MCPS, CCNA, Network+, A+ certified with a strong background in Information Technology Management, Computer Programming and Systems Administration. Founder and CEO of Manage Development Systems https://www.managesystems.net.

Huston Pullen
Chief, Energy Workforce & Economic Development Division
Huston Pullen serves as the Chief of the Energy Workforce Division for the Office of Economic Impact and Diversity in the U.S. Department of Energy. As Chief, Mr. Pullen oversees the minority workforce development and entrepreneurial development programming. Mr. Pullen also oversees the Department of Energy’s Equity in Energy Initiative, a nationwide initiative that is focused on building an energy economy for everyone. Mr. Pullen provides strategic oversight and implementation for the initiative and its programs throughout the United States. Mr. Pullen has a strong background in program management, economic & workforce development, and strategic communications. Mr. Pullen has led successful programs in economic and workforce development with the University of Nevada Las Vegas, the City of Henderson Nevada, and the Nevada Governor's Office of Economic Development. Mr. Pullen has also held positions with the U.S. Department of Justice and Booz Allen Hamilton where he led and supported public affairs and strategic communications programs. Considered a subject matter expert in economic and workforce development programming, Mr. Pullen is focused on building programs that build resiliency and sustainable job creation for communities. Mr. Pullen was awarded the 2015 Small Business Champion of the Year by the U.S. Small Business Administration for his work in leading technical assistance programs serving small businesses and significantly contributing to job creation efforts for the State of Nevada. Mr. Pullen has a passion for working within communities to help build opportunities and strengthen economic prosperity. Mr. Pullen holds a Bachelor of Science in Public Administration as well as a Master of Science in Crisis & Emergency Management from the University of Nevada Las Vegas, a Master of Business Administration from the University of Nevada Reno, and a Master of Music in Conducting from Azusa Pacific University.

Lisandro Sciutto
Senior Product Director | Infor Nexus
Lisandro is a product professional with more than 25 years of experience in the software industry. He has developed an extensive background in management, software development, technology, and enterprise applications providing solutions for manufacturing and supply chain. In the early ’90s, he led the development of one of Peru’s first prepaid cellular service. He was a pivotal contributor to the Mongoose development framework single-handedly design and development of the integrated development environment (IDE) component. Lisandro was Infor’s first LATAM product manager working with customers to enable regional requirements, introducing the transformation to the cloud, and keynote speaker at events explaining the business value of technology. Currently, Lisandro is working to integrate enterprise applications (ERP) with supply chain networks to solve complex sourcing, fulfillment, and transportation problems. Along the way, he has enjoyed adapting to new cultures with living experiences in Argentina, Peru, Brazil, and the USA. Lisandro has an MBA from Ohio Dominican University.

Luis E. Giralt
Managing Director l Citi Private Bank
Luis is a Managing Director, Team Leader and Private Banker, based in Miami. His team is responsible for deepening Ultra High Net Worth client relationships and for attracting and developing new relationships in Venezuela and Ecuador. Luis began his career in banking in 1988 as a Risk Manager with the Corporate Bank of Citi Ecuador, later becoming a Relationship Manager for the Local Corporate and Financial Institutions groups. After working for nearly six years with Merrill Lynch Private Finance in Miami, he joined Citi Private Bank in early 2001 and has worked with Ultra High Net Worth clients throughout South and Central America and the Caribbean. Luis received his MBA from the University of Chicago and his MA and BA degrees in Economics from the University of Florida. He is a CFA charterholder and holds FINRA Series 7 and 66 securities licenses.

Maria N. Molina
Higher Ed Consultant | Huron Consulting Group
Maria is a full time Higher Ed Consultant, specialized in Workday Financials and has more than 27 years of experience in Accounting, Finance, Management and Leadership. Maria participates in engagements pertaining to Workday Human Capital Management, Payroll and Financials for different clients and helps them define ERP business solutions. Prior to Huron, Maria held multiple roles at the University of Miami, including Assistant Director in the Controller’s Office – General Accounting area, Development Services in the Advancement area and Functional Lead during the ERP implementation. Maria received her Master of Science in Management and Leadership from the University of Miami.

Mariano Herrera
Senior Accountant & Consultant | Gentech Associates at United States Department of Veteran Affairs, Austin, Texas
Mariano Herrera is an experienced Accountant, Auditor & Financial Analyst with more than 15 years of experience working as a Financial & Management Accountant for the Federal Government, State Government, and Non-Profit Entities. Mariano graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Puerto Rico where he studied Business Administration with a major in Corporate Finance and minor in Business Management and went on to obtain his Master in Business Administration with a double specialization in Financial Accounting and Corporate Finance, he has made a name for himself in this industry due to his sound decision-making abilities, analytical skills, business acuity, and problem-solving skills. He is experienced in strategic financial planning, budgeting, financial reports, funds management, revenue projections, and internal control.

Currently, Mr. Herrera is part of the Financial Service Center (FSC) Team of the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs. The FSC is accountable for implementing, incorporating, and executing correct financial practices over the financial resources to be managed in the direct and indirect service through the Veterans. Mariano has also served as a Compliance Auditor over the Purchase Card Program. He was one of the cornerstones programs of the VA, with an allocation in expenses of more than $5 billion worth in transaction yearly. Before his most recent roles, Mariano has taken up roles in several positions, such as being a Senior Accountant and being an Interim Chief Financial Officer under a Non-Profit Organizations directly related to the U.S. Federal Government.

Marc A. Love, MBA
State Chief Operating Officer (COO) | WellCare of Georgia
"Marc Love is the State Chief Operating Officer (COO) for WellCare of Georgia. WellCare is the largest Medicaid health plan in Georgia and the fourth largest Medicare Advantage plan. Marc is primarily responsible for Health Plan Operations, Network Management, and Member Experience. In addition he is responsible for driving financial performance, improving quality outcomes, and managing the relationship with the plan’s government partners. Marc’s experience and leadership in health administration spans more than 25 years, including hospital management, post-acute care management and big 3 consulting. Marc earned his Masters of Business Administration (MBA) from Howard University and a Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry from Talladega College. "

Oscar Hecht
Energy Project Manager | ABM Industries, Inc.
Oscar Hecht is an Energy Project Manager for ABM Building Solution, a Division of ABM Industries, Inc. In his current capacity, Oscar is currently managing an energy portfolio of projects totaling $38MM+ in the tri-county area. Passionate about project management, operations, and growth-driven professional, he has held different roles for Siemens Industry and Halliburton Energy Services. Like most engineers, always curious about the functioning mechanisms behind the many objects we use in our daily lives, Oscar is always looking to holistically manage and implement new technology that can save energy for technology projects. He has become highly adaptable, a detail-oriented team player, and has a great ability to engage with a diverse group. Oscar recently earned his Master of Business Administration from FIU and obtained his Engineer bachelor’s degree from the University of Houston in 2014.

Patrick Dulcio
Associate Professor | Miami-Dade College
Patrick is an Associate Professor at Miami Dade College (MDC) where he teaches Basic Business Statistics, Business Mathematics, Finance for Non-Financial Major, Investments in Stocks & Bonds, Managerial Finance, Principles of Finance and Principles of Management. Patrick received his Master of Business Administration degree from NOVA Southeastern University, specializing in Finance. His undergraduate studies were in marketing and finance from Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University. Patrick come with a solid technical background with a strong interest in business and a passion towards strategy. He is passionate about teaching, especially within the business development and innovation practice areas.

Ricardo Galeano
Regional Sales Manager
Ricardo is originally from Colombia, 41 years old. He has been living in the US since December of 2013. He has an associate degree in chemistry from Colombia, Graduated Cuma Laude from Lynn University where he studied BS International Business, and went for a master’s in business administration with a concentration in Global Management from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. His professional background started in the Textile Industry where he worked for ten years and moved to the chemical industry where he has 13 years of experience in the sales field; currently, he works for Sigura Water holding and is the Regional Sales Manager for the Caribbean territory. He loves to spend time with his family, workout and help people. His daugther is 20 years old and his wife works for Broward Public Schools as a World Language Teacher.

Robert Alrod
Chief Executive Office | Aldor LLC
"Robert Alrod was educated in Canada at McGill University in Montreal (BSc mathematics & physics) and subsequently acquired a Masters' Degree at New York's Columbia University Graduate School of Business. An accomplished entrepreneur and senior executive/CEO, his exposure has spanned activities performed in diverse industry and institutional sectors, and national and international, private and public, milieus. Thoroughly experienced in new enterprise development and expansion and highly motivated by the scope of such complex challenges, he was co-founder of Simalex Aluminum Company (sold to the Aluminum Company of Canada in 1966); Head of Operations Control for the 1967 World Exhibition (Expo '67); Principal and Executive Vice President of QSP Limited, an integrated Canadian steel fabrication and processing company (Montreal Stock Exchange); and President and Chief Operating Officer of Rozon Milling Inc., an independent flour milling company in Montreal. He has acted, as well, in a number of consulting capacities in marketing, merchant banking & finance and strategic planning involving complex relationships with private equity, debt sourcing, foreign and domestic business and various government agencies, inclusive of developmental and regulatory entities, in North America, Europe (west and eastern bloc) and Japan."

Russell Kaufman
Chief Information Officer
Russell is an experienced leader in Information Technology and is currently the Chief Information Officer for Miami Dade College’s Kendall Campus. In this role, he serves on the President’s Cabinet, IT Leadership Team, Campus Crisis Management Team, and multiple committees. The division of Campus Information Technology, comprised of Network Services and Media Services, supports the College’s mission of providing a high-quality teaching and learning experience for over 40,000 students. He serves the community as a member of Broward County Public School’s Technology Advisory Committee, which provides strategic input and recommendations for the procurement and implementation of technology within the school system, and is an adjunct professor at Miami Dade College and Broward College. Russell earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Florida Atlantic University and a Master of Science in Information Systems from Florida International University. 

Sy Henderson
Sr. Director of Procurement | Global PSIM (Professional Services, IT, and Marketing)
Sy Henderson has worked for over 15 years as a Global Procurement Executive with global corporations like Procter & Gamble, Mars, Coca-Cola, and is currently the Senior Procurement Director of Professional Services, Information Technology, and Marketing Services at The Kimberly-Clark Corporation. Prior to his recent role, he led the North American Sweeteners team for Coca-Cola and built an agile procurement team focused on sourcing logistics, professional services, and merchandise materials for the company.  Sy is active in his local community and serves as a volunteer and board member for Kate’s Club and the United Way’s African American Partnership. Sy holds a Master of Business Administration and Bachelor’s degree from Florida A&M University.

Varun Ramberran
Professor | Miami Dade College
Varun is a full-time professor at Miami Dade College for the School of Global Business focusing in the area of supervision and management.  For the past seven years, Varun has lectured on business management concepts ranging from the business environment, understanding economic systems, business ethics, operations management, quantitative methods in business as well as high-performance teams and leadership styles.  In addition, he serves on various academic committees and has designed and developed curricula for general business disciplines ranging from sales and customer service to digital marketing and advertising.  Prior to teaching, Varun spent five years as a Senior Finance Manager at the University of Miami, overseeing both internal and external funding portfolios.  In addition to working at the University of Miami, Varun also earned his Master of Business Administration from there as well.     

Yingbo Cao
Functional Architect | Boeing Distribution Service Inc
Yingbo Cao is a Business Partner/System Architect at Boeing Distribution Service Inc. Yingbo is responsible for delivering strategic IT projects and enhancements for Supply Chain and Operations business. He has extensive experience developing project scopes and objectives, finalizing business requirements, and coordinating efforts in completion. He works closely with business stakeholders to provide the best IT solutions to satisfy the business need. He also leads and manages both on-site and off-shore resources in the project team consisting of testers and developers using Agile and Waterfall methods throughout the Software Development Life Cycle. Yingbo graduated with his Master of Business Administration from Florida International University.

Joseph G. Archer
Transformation Executive at TK Elevator
Joe is a highly accomplished transformation executive adept at envisioning strategic roadmaps that yield business breakthroughs. He has led transformative efforts across multiple business capability and domain areas including Human Capital, Finance, Software, Cloud, and Cybersecurity. In his current role, Joe partners with leaders to ensure successful on-time delivery of value creation initiatives by way of robust resource planning across North America. He previously led global financial systems and modernization efforts at Hilton Worldwide that systematically reduced processing times during month-end close by 65% for more than 1,000 hotels across 90 countries in Europe, Middle East, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America. Joe is a PMI certified Project Management Professional (PMP), Prosci ADKAR certified Change Management Expert, ITIL v3 Expert, AWS Cloud Practitioner, Certified Scrum Master (CSM), HCI Global Human Capital Strategist (GHCS), Certified Workforce Planning Associate, and an IIN Certified Executive Coach. Joe received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and a Master of Business Administration degree from Western Governors University.

Alicia Berrios
Executive Assistant
Alicia Berrios, Executive Assistant to Chief Executive Officer at On Lok, supports to oversee a family of non-profit organizations that have served vulnerable seniors for 50 years. Alicia joined On Lok in 2016 and served in a variety of executive projects, including supporting organizational health seminars for leaders and supporting the growth and expansion of On Lok PACE (Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly). On Lok created the prototype for the PACE model of care and currently cares for over 1,700 frail seniors in the San Francisco Bay Area. Alicia migrated to the United States at the age of 9 years old and has relentlessly worked hard and studied to achieve her educational goals. She is quadrilingual, speaks and writes, English, Spanish, Portuguese and French. She has managed law firms, non-profits and currently runs her own business; Berri International. Alicia holds a Master of Business Administration from Florida International University and Bachelor of Arts in International Affairs from Florida State University. Alicia lives in San Francisco. In her free time, she enjoys traveling, humanitarian projects, poetry, learning languages, dancing, hiking, reading, swimming, cooking, photography, and spending quality time with her family and friends.

Robert A. Bertulli
Deputy Chief, Manager of EMS Operations | Lee County Department of Public Safety, Division of Emergency Medical Services
Robert Bertulli is an experienced public administrator with over 17 years working in local government and emergency medical services. Robert currently serves as the Deputy Chief in charge of operations for Lee County Emergency Medical Services. In his current role, Robert is responsible for managing and coordinating emergency medical responses in Lee County for over 800,000 residents. In addition to being a paramedic and a certified public manager, Robert holds a Master of Business Administration from Barry University and graduated Magna Cum Laude from Florida South Western State College with his bachelor’s degree in Public Safety Administration.

Angel Cobb
Civil Engineer II | Project Manager
Angel is currently working in the Programming and Project Delivery Division in the Street Transportation Department for the City of Phoenix. She is responsible for managing projects with varying degrees of complexities. Angel has over 18+ years of experience working as an Associate Engineer, Civil Engineer II, Program Manager Specialist, and Project Manager within different municipalities. Angel earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from Tennessee State University and a Masters in Business Administration in Information Technology from the University of Phoenix. Angel also mentors young engineers to inspire, encourage, and pass on tools for leadership and advancement.

Patrick Colbert
Principal, Digital Customer Experience | Capgemini
Patrick is an enthusiastic practitioner/researcher with depth in CX & ecommerce consulting (Capgemini, TCS, Hitachi) and corporate marketing (Disney, Hard Rock, Bonnier). He helps life sciences, health care, media/communications, software, retail/CPG, and manufacturing clients create and execute digital roadmaps that address customer engagement, go-to-market, and economic challenges.

Greg Desrosiers
Co-Founder & Vice President | Smart Grid Ventures, LLC
In search of the American Dream, a recently graduated University of Manitoba Geological Engineer ventured out to the oilfields of Oklahoma’s panhandle. Thus began the career of Greg Desrosiers, a travelling man, nearly a quarter century ago. Early exposure to industry leading technology implementations fueled his desire to formulate, implement, and enable technological business disruptions and advancements while simultaneously feeding his intrinsic and engrained nature to solve problems. Be it wireless e911 mandates post the 9/11 tragedy, the first ever business-class Voice Over IP service offering, evolution of the utility industries from electro-mechanical measurement devices to solid state ‘smart’ endpoints, or uncovering predictive insights from petabytes of data in milliseconds, Greg is engaged with, and works to understand, the underlying technology and the problems they solve coupled with the business values they bring. In 2009 Greg received his Master of Business Administration, with honors, from Drexel University, was invited and accepted lifetime membership into the Beta Gamma Sigma Honor society, and has a Certificate in Corporate Leadership and Strategy from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Currently, as the Co-Founder and Managing Member of Smart Grid Ventures, LLC, Greg supports clients through consulting assignments and oversees the operation and day-to-day management of Smart Grid Ventures - a growing consulting and analytics business. Greg now strives to transform himself from business practitioner to engaged practitioner-scholar through Florida International University’s Doctor of Business Administration program. While he had no idea the journey would culminate in allowing him to help his employees, mentees, and clients achieve tangible results with meaningful business value, he’s held fast that through understanding, listening, good old-fashioned hard work and by following a moral compass, success ensues. Greg enjoys solving complex business problems and has fun while doing it! He is happiest, however, spending quality time with his wife, their two lovely daughters, and their two rescue dogs.

Christina Hidalgo
Senior Accountant
Christina Hidalgo is a happy go lucky resolute hybrid digital transformation & operations management professional. Experienced in internal and external full cycle financial accounting, operations, reporting, employee analytics, and technical architectural program management. Her professional career includes past and current senior leadership roles in both the public and private sector of full company day to day operations and process implementation. She considers herself to be a very a humble, and well-seasoned individual. She enjoys keeping an open mind and have an extreme hunger for knowledge. This hunger keeps driving her forward traction in all things business and personal related. She is said to be incredibly fun to work with, because enjoys making people laugh with silly clean antics. She believes in focusing on all the positive in all things available, even the hardest of situations. She has been labeled as very "Hakuna Mata" because she does not expect others to get the job done for her. She is always the first one to roll up her sleeves, and willing to do the research needed to drive forward. She is not easily intimidated and does not have a fluctuating personality type. She considers herself to be a very emotionally stable person, who does not need compliments to feel valid. If you are an insecure person, she cannot be your friend. She loves the saying "Rivers never go in reverse. So, try to live like a river. Forget your past and focus on your future. Always be Positive!- Avinash Singh Alag” and “The single biggest way to impact an organization is to focus on leadership development. There is almost no limit to the potential of an organization that recruits good people, raises them up as leaders and continually develops them.- John C. Maxwell”

Stacy Howell-Pereira
Senior Director | Foreside Financial Group, LLC
Stacy Howell-Pereira is a Senior Compliance Consultant at Foreside Financial Group, LLC, the nation’s leading regulatory compliance consulting firm to regulated financial services institutions. She provides strategic and regulatory guidance to investment advisory firms under the Advisers Act of 1940 and state securities laws. She also assists investment advisers of diverse complexities with regulatory examinations, annual compliance reviews, mock examinations, firm and individual registrations, written policies and procedures, federal and state regulatory rule interpretations and risk assessments. Stacy supports firms in the development and execution of effective compliance programs and assists in solving complex regulatory issues. Stacy holds a Bachelor of Laws from the University of London, a Bachelor of Business Administration from Baruch College and a Master of Business Administration from Nova Southeastern University.

Chabela McFashion
Entrepreneur
Chabela started her own jewelry company in 2018. Prior to taking the leap of faith into entrepreneurship, she was the senior accounting associate at ExED. Prior to that, Chabela was an accounting consultant for Robert Half International. During her tenure at Robert Half international, she worked with over 20 fortune 500 companies and created and analyzed financial statements; processed payroll for client schools; managed payroll deductions, and retirement system eligibility determination; and assisted with budget forecasting. Chabela graduated from Clark Atlanta University back in 2007. She studied for her master’s in accounting at CAU. Currently, Chabela lives alone in Los Angeles, CA. When she is not busy running her business, or working as an accounting consultant, you can find her traveling, enjoying the fruits of her labor.

Alexandre Prati
School Principal
Alexandre grew up in a business environment. His family is the founder of Group Prati-Donaduzzi, which is one of the largest companies in the Brazilian pharmaceutical industry. After college, he worked as a business consultant for local companies. Alexandre then became the supply chain manager of Group Prati. During this period, he led important changes within the company, considerably improving all performance indicators in the department. Alexandre personally audited over 40 companies abroad, mainly in India, and some European countries, such as Italy, Spain, Netherlands and Germany. He is also co-founder of three companies: Vizeme Cosmeticos (cosmetic), Harbor Bilingual School (Pre, Elementary & Middle Schools) and Prati Empreendimentos (construction & real estate). He worked eight years as sales director at Vizeme and two years as Principal at Harbor School. He volunteered as a mentor in a start-up program at the Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná – PUC, which is a well-recognized university in Brazil. Alexandre earned his Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Maringá, Brazil. He earned a Master of Business Administration from University of Pittsburgh, USA. Alexandre is married and has three sons.

Elizabeth Ramaya
Global Analytics | AI GTM Leader
Elizabeth Ramaya Hincapie is the Global Analytics and AI GTM Leader within Microsoft’s Commercial Partner group. With over 15 years’ experience in the tech industry across the US and worldwide, she is building the path for Microsoft’s global acceleration of its Analytics and AI strategic partnerships with global services integrators. As the GTM Lead, she is responsible for designing the market strategy, campaign planning, pipeline acceleration programs and programmatic execution for the Data & AI solution area. She is also responsible for accelerating the co-selling partnership which enables partners to drive joint sales pursuits, revenue and ultimately customer success. Prior to this role, she led several initiatives in commercial windows device business, partnering with OEMs and channel partners to drive new customer experiences, business and growth opportunities within the SMB segment. Elizabeth holds a master’s degree in Health Services Administration and Executive Leadership from Barry University. Elizabeth, her husband Edwin and her 2 children reside in Miami, Florida. Elizabeth is passionate for architecture, interior design, traveling and spending quality time with her kids. She is a passionate advocate for women and girls in STEM and the cloud.

Harley Rockhill III
Head of Enterprise Analytics/ BI
Harley is a business analytics professional and United States Marine Corps Veteran with over 10 years of proven experience in the sports, hospitality, and entertainment industries. After honorably serving in the Marine Corps he traveled the world as a professional Circus Performer and Instructor with the international resort company Club Med before eventually returning to Florida State University to complete his Masters in Business Administration. He began his Revenue Management and Business Intelligence career with Caesars Entertainment Corporation in Las Vegas, NV where he optimized pricing and inventory management strategy for several Las Vegas Strip casinos. He was then brought on as the Director of Ticketing Analytics for Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment where his team was responsible for the ticketing strategy for the Brooklyn Nets, New York Liberty, and Barclays Center concerts and events. Currently, he serves as the Head of Enterprise Analytics and Business Intelligence for Resorts World Las Vegas. Additionally, he acts as an advisory board member and an Adjunct Professor for Temple University's Masters in Sports Business analytics concentration where he teaches the capstone course 'Professional Portfolio in Sports Analytics'.

Negar Sangtarash
Senior Commercial & Marketing Manager
Negar graduated with a Master of Business Administration and Master of Finance from Hochschule Bremen in Germany and University of North Carolina at Wilmington with more than 10 years work experience as a Business Consultant, Business Developer, Financial Advisor and Entrepreneur in Germany. Skilled in communication, sales and marketing, financial analysis and strategic planning with a passion for investment in real estate market and strategic business consultancy.

Sherrard Spiers
Vice-President of Sales | Adjunct Lecturer | Consultant
He is an is an accomplished sales strategist with more than 25 years of experience in sales, sales management, sales strategy, customer service, marketing, training, and sales leadership development both in the United States and the Caribbean. He is a seasoned executive and entrepreneur with over 25 years of experience in international sales, marketing, distribution, logistics and management of premium flagship consumer products and durables. His professional career began his career in Sales and Marketing in 1985, when he started working for The Home Depot. He has more than 25 years of in the sales, marketing and management discipline and helps people and students to understand the meaning of sales management and marketing management. He has been part of several large organizations including Federal Express, The Ansa McAl Group of Companies, Kimberly Clark Corporation and Power Up Rental Equipment in the Caribbean and at Jet Ready, Journey Aviation and Eola Power in the United States. Currently, Sherrard is the Vice President of Sales – Eola Power, LLC and is responsible for meeting the company’s revenue targets, providing strategic direction to Eola Power’s sales team, developing sales plans to drive revenue and increase market share as well as working directly with all its customers (domestic and international). He serves as an Adjunct Professor at both Florida Atlantic University in the College of Business Sales Management Program in Boca Raton, Florida and The University of The West Indies’ Department of Social Sciences, St. Augustine, Trinidad & Tobago. He earned his Master of Business Administration and a Master’s in Philosophy in Management Studies from The University of The West Indies.

Michele Viso
Senior CRC & Services Manager | Cartier South America
Michele is an accomplished Operations and Client Services professional with proven leadership skills, who is fluent in Portuguese, Spanish, and English. After spending over a decade in the luxury industry, holding positions in sales, marketing operations, and e-commerce operations, Michele knows what truly drives an efficient operation, focusing on the bottom line. In her current position, she manages a network of 26 decentralized jewelry & watches repair centers, in 16 different countries in South America and the Caribbean, monitoring for quality and ensuring Maison Cartier standards are applied while delivering world-class customer experience. Michele also fostered and promoted the growth of the after-sales business in the network by analyzing client traffic and deploying marketing activations. She is an avid researcher with an insatiable knack for analyzing and gathering information on how to improve processes. Michele received both her Master of Business Administration degree, specializing in Marketing, and her undergraduate degree in Marketing, from Nova Southeastern University.

Courtney White
Business Specialist
Courtney White is an experienced business professional within the retail market. He started his journey with Verizon Wireless in 2010 as a member of the retail leadership development program. After completion of this rigorous program, he progressed into a management position within the company. Courtney was very successful in this role, using the skills he attained during his program to develop a high performing team. He remained in retail management for a total of 8 years before he progressed to his current role as business specialist within the company. As a business specialist, Courtney supports multiple stores and is in charge of coaching and development.

Benjamin Womick
Operations Manager
Benjamin Womick is an accomplished, results-driven operations and project professional with extensive experience leading strategic planning, organization, schedules, and systems on process and project operations. He is currently a planning consultant for GE Renewables’ On-shore Wind Turbine programs. His background is in supporting capital programs and implementing lean manufacturing and continuous improvement initiatives to promote sales and profit objectives. He prides himself in driving productivity, innovation, and growth while reducing costs and risks to meet evolving business demands and has been recognized by senior executives and customers in multiple industries for enforcing best practices, creating internal controls, and establishing high-performing teams to drive innovation within complex environments. His areas of expertise include project/program management, change management, FinTech, and management accounting.

Ijeoma Odizuru-Abangwu
Asset Integration Lead | Mars Corrider Assets
Ijeoma Odizuru-Abangwu is an Oil & Gas professional with 16 years of experience in petroleum engineering, production, midstream, strategy & planning, and operations management, across 3 continents. She holds a Bachelor of Engineering Degree in Electrical Electronics Engineering from FUTO, Nigeria and a Master of Arts in Energy Management from BI Norway, ESCP Europe & IFP Paris. She is currently the Asset Performance Lead for Shell’s leading assets in the Gulf of Mexico, the Mars Corridor assets, and is responsible for ensuring that the long-term strategy, development and production of those assets meets and exceeds business expectations.

Audrey Burke
Customer Development and Innovation Lead I USPS
Audrey is a dynamic marketing professional specializing in customer research. Her attention to detail and focus on qualitative research methodology allow her critical insight into both consumer needs and corporate strategy. Over the course of her career, she has demonstrated strong analytical skills in her work with business leaders to improve decision-making based on data and evaluation of user experience and customer behavior. In well over a decade of marketing, she has partnered with business entities to find winning solutions and drive profitable outcomes through enhanced customer engagement. In her current role Audrey plays a vital role in optimizing product development by evaluating new concepts and designs to determine the strongest course for the future. Additionally, her extensive experience in both management and consulting has set the foundation for her expertise in innovative problem solving upon which she builds success for those she works with and mentors. Audrey holds an MBA from Clark Atlanta University. When she’s not working, Audrey can be found enjoying the outdoors or traveling the world seeking new experiences.

Kevin Brown
Cloud Solutions Architect
Kevin D. Brown is an accomplished Technology Strategist, Advisor, Business Leader, and highly skilled Cloud Solutions Architect specializing in Modern Data Management and Digital Transformation advisement in driving the adoption of the Microsoft Intelligent Cloud ecosystem for his Enterprise, Startup and State and Local Government clients. He is a trusted advisor with over 20 years of consultative and pre/ post sales experience solving complex business problems and leading the adoption of Intelligent Data, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) solutions. Kevin currently serves as a Senior Client Technology Director for Microsoft where he is responsible for the Digital Transformation Strategy and Tactical execution for Texas based municipalities and government entities. He also serves as the lead Cloud Solutions Architect for the Research @ Microsoft Extreme Labs and Innovation Center in Las Colinas, Texas. He and his team work directly with Startups, Venture Capitalist, Local Higher Education Institutions and related Partners, Vendors, and Suppliers to build and fortify an ecosystem of resources for the North Texas Regional Startup Community. In past roles, Kevin served as a Senior Cloud Solutions Architect (CSA) focused exclusively on Data, AI & ML solutions development at Microsoft, Principal & Systems Product Manager at AT&T’s Big Data Center of Excellence, Associate Director of IT and Data Management at AIG, and Senior IT Consultant and Senior IT Architect for IBM. He began his career as a graduate of the Bank of America Management Associate Training Program, where he completed the 3-year program in 1.5 years. Kevin completed a fellowship with the Data Science For All (DS4A) program managed by Correlation One in August 2021. In addition to numerous certifications, Kevin also earned a Master of Business Administration in Corporate Finance and Investments from the University of Dallas, a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting Information Systems from Georgia State University, and a Bachelor of Business Administration in Financial Management from Savannah State University.

Alex A. Djahankhah
Information Operations Officer, USMC
Currently conducts and participates in the planning of military operations in the information environment for the III MEF Information Group from Okinawa, Japan. Education background includes BA in Mathematics from FGCU and dual-masters, MBA and MS in Information Systems Management from ASU. Enlisted in the Marines in 2009 and commissioned in 2013, serving mostly in IT communications roles. In total, directly supervised over 150+ personnel and held multiple roles focused on leadership, communications network planning, policy, managing department budgets, and accounting for millions of dollars’ worth of radios, vehicles, and networking equipment.

Camille Edwards
Program Manager
An accomplished Program Manager, Professional Developer, and Organizational Leader, Camille is driven by a passion to see positive growth. She has 30+ years of successfully leading planning and executing programs by mobilizing diverse work styles. She takes pride in providing supportive leadership for people and organizations to succeed. Currently Camille manages Broward County Public School's Global Learning program. She has successfully increased school and student participation in digital, international, academic programs.

Hope E. Greene
Workday Practice Director & Consultant
Hope is a charismatic consultant, human resource management and information systems leader with exceptional leadership combining functional-technical expertise with deep knowledge of HR and Information Systems. In the industry sector, Hope is a personable and focused professional with a robust track record of results as a comprehensive leader and subject matter expert (SME) of human resources (HR) management, information systems, and digital transformation implementations with oversight, strategy, design, deployment, and continual improvement experience for 12+ years. A counselor and leader to organization executives, managers, individual contributors, and end users providing operational, functional and technical guidance and support remotely and face-to-face. A SME who possesses exceptional knowledge of application management for diverse industries that includes financial services, healthcare, professional consulting services, insurance, automotive, chemicals and building products, telecommunications, etc. Consistently sought as an expert on cloud solution implementation for human resources programs. A professional who utilizes her expertise to train and transfer knowledge to direct and indirect associates and clients while providing best practices for formal and informal policies and procedures. In the public service sector, she is an accomplished manager of human resources (HR) and HR technology professional, offering more than 20+ years of key experience. A leading generalist skilled in all HR management areas with proven ability to work with leaders while integrating the human resource programs and technology within the overall business operating strategy. A leader who applies strong HR ethics and administration of policies and procedures on a daily basis as HR business partner and key point of contact throughout non-profit and Educational institutions in areas of HRIS (i.e. payroll, performance management, organizational development, workforce planning, change management, restructuring, succession planning and development, talent acquisition, training & development, compensation, bookkeeping, benefits, employee relations, labor relations, compliance (ADA, EEO, FMLA, FLSA, safety, etc.) and who educates on best practices, the link between initiatives, and the impact to business units and the bottom line. A SME with effective interactions liaising between company and community.

Elaine Hodge
Academic Advisor III
Elaine is a personable and focused higher education professional with over thirteen years of experience and four years teaching The First Year Experience course. She has a deep and genuine commitment to working directly with students and a desire to advance student learning, development, and student success in higher education. She has presented at several Regional/National Academic Advising conferences. Elaine was born and raised in Aruba, a Dutch Caribbean island, and is fluent in Dutch, Spanish and Papiamento and conversational French. She earned her Master of International Business from Florida International University.

Racquel Robinson Jones, PMP, CSM, CSPO
Technical Program Manager | VMware
Racquel is a project/program manager professional with more than 25 years of experience in the IT industry. She has developed an extensive background in business management, technology and continuous improvement resulting in frameworks and solutions for manufacturing, supply chain and software. Racquel is a former Systems Engineer from Electronic Data Systems (EDS), Process Flow Integration (PFI) Engineer and Engineering Manager from Intel Corporation. She has also held positions with Motorola, the City of Phoenix and Freescale Semiconductor. Racquel is a PMI-certified Project Management Professional (PMP), certified Scrum Master, certified SCRUM Product Owner and certified Objectives, Key Results (OKR) Coach. Racquel is active in her local community by mentoring young women to pursue and/or remain in STEM careers. Racquel earned a Bachelor of Science in Information Systems from Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). She received her Master of Science in Information Systems from the University of Phoenix. Racquel is also pursuing her Master of Science in Data Analytics from the University of Texas – Rio Grande Valley.

Maria Lovera
Marketing Executive & Consultant
Maria is the Vice President of Marketing for Bloom Medicinals, a medical cannabis company with locations across the U.S. She oversees the company’s marketing strategy and works closely with the operations team to ensure that the patient experience is optimized across all touch points including all of the dispensary locations. Maria has over 20 years’ of marketing experience across CPG and Retail, and has been successful in developing strategic plans, product and pricing strategies, packaging designs, spearheading innovation as well as developing and executing integrated marketing campaigns. She holds a Master of Business Administration in Marketing from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Kimberly Mendelson
Chairman Board of Directors | Lehrman Community Day School
Kimberly is the Past Chairman of the Board of Lehrman Community Day school, the current Chairman of Development, and an executive committee and board member. She has raised nearly $3 million dollars to improve infrastructure and increase the school’s footprint. Kimberly has taught science and business for over 10 years. She has developed and implemented a science and business curriculum based on both the national and state standards in two elementary schools. She has a diverse background in product development and strategic sales development and served as the Vice President of Marketing at Federal Discount Centers (Fedco, Inc.) for 10 years. By creating, exporting and merchandising several private label products in 30 stores, she increased profit margins and allowed for further growth. She was also a buyer of national brand health and beauty care products for the stores. Kimberly’s passion for protecting South Florida’s water supply and developing science and business education for children has motivated her to serve as a board member on both the Everglades Foundation and the Frost Science Museum Board. She is active on various committees on those boards. Kimberly attended Tulane University and received her BSM, and University of Miami where she received her MBA.

Michelle Mullman
Entrepreneur I Financial Services Professional
Michelle earned her MBA at the University of Pittsburgh in 1998 at the Katz Graduate School of Business and then began her career working in NYC at Bear Stearns and Salomon Smith Barney. Her career began in Financial Reporting and Planning roles. She later joined American Express in 2003 and spent 8 years in various leadership roles with her later roles as Chief of Staff within the World Service organization and then moving into management of a portfolio of outsourced programs for the US Card business. Her roles in World Service lead her to an operations management role at a joint venture with American Express and that experience inspired her to pursue her own ideas which lead her to launch Harperslove, a website for customizable fine jewelry. While Harperslove is not her primary focus today, the experience gave her an opportunity to learn about e-Commerce and the world of start-ups. Through her experience, she has learned to navigate many angles of starting a business and she is looking to pursue opportunities in the start up ecosystem. Today, Michelle is a full time volunteer as a President of the PTO in her community which is similar to running a small startup. She is a busy parent of 2 children (ages 10 and 12) and a dog (age 1.5). Michelle has a Bachelor of Art in Italian with a minor in Spanish/Biology and her passions are travel, creating art, teaching Zumba, coaching and mentoring elementary school students in academic competitions (i.e. Odyssey of the Mind, First Lego League) and of course spending time with her family.

Pedro Santos
Chairperson for School Pathways | Miami Dade College
Pedro Santos works at Miami Dade College West Campus as the Chairperson for School Pathways overseeing multiple academic disciplines, such as The School of Business, The School of Technology (ENTEC), The School of Science, and The School of Criminal Justice. In his current job, he connects every piece of the campus for the benefit of the students. This includes finding a faculty for a specific class, guiding a student to decide on their career, and bringing what is happening in the world to the College. It happens that sometimes due to the ways the working environment was initially configured, many things stay in the past and they barely change over the years. One of the main goals in Pedro's career is to show everyone new and more efficient ways to work, caring about their team, and making sure everyone feels valuable across the organization, including respecting everyone's jobs, and making sure everyone knows the importance of their roles for the students and community. As an Academic Administrator, Pedro has been talking to the Business Community and Public Officials on ways to adjust and grow offerings thinking about the best for the City and the Community.

Dumakas Al Snipes
Sr. Manager, Supply Chain | HD Supply
Al is currently Senior Manager of Supply Chain Operations at HD Supply, an industry leading industrial distributor, where he leads labor management and process improvement for a national network of 40+ distribution centers. Al has over 10 years of experience in industry helping companies in retail, industrial goods, manufacturing, and pharmacy maximizing their supply chain capabilities and leverage advances in supply chain technology. Prior to joining HD Supply, Al held roles of increasing responsibility in consulting that assisted lead organizations through complex supply chain transformations. Prior to this, Al supported a large network of distribution centers at the Home Depot. Al holds both Bachelor and Master of Industrial & Systems Engineering degrees from Auburn University and a Master of Business Administration degree from IE Business School.

Geri Wolff
President | Market Works International
Wolff specializes in business development helping clients develop their businesses to achieve greater profitability. She enjoys creating innovative programs that drive incremental revenue, helping prepare clients to raise capital funding, designing market strategy, authoring business and marketing plans, designing and conducting market research, creating and facilitating management, sales training and taking companies to market.

Fidel Chacon
Onboarding Strategy Manager
Fidel Chacon is a Payment Products Operations professional with over 20 years of experience in the USA and in Latin America. He’s currently a member of the FedNow Onboarding team with the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston (First District). FedNow is a Real Time Funds Settlement Service being developed by the Fed and expected to revolutionize the US Payments Industry Landscape for years to come. Before this role, Fidel was Senior Payment Products Manager for Amazon Latin America, right after a successful 17-year career with Visa Inc in different operational and leadership roles within the USA and Latin America Regions. He received his Bachelor of Arts, Economics, from the Universidad Central de Venezuela in 1993 and his Master of International Business (MIB) from FIU in 2003. Fidel has experienced firsthand the evolution of the Payments Industry at a global scale. From the traditional plastic-based transaction to the ecommerce explosion, technological milestones, digital payments revolution (chip, token), as well as moving funds real time. All in all, a professional journey being part of a resilient and innovative industry focused on technology, evolution and financial inclusion.

Samantha B. Dacius
Project Controls Professional Project Controls Professional III | Consultant
Samantha is a Project Control Professional at Jacobs who maintains financial cost controls for transportation portfolio for Collier County in Naples, FL. Her duties include but not limited to financial analysis, monthly forecast reporting, project proposal pricing and maintain project performance to achieve organizational goals. Separate from Jacobs, Samantha also started a consulting firm that caters to small businesses where she provides a range of services such as strategic planning, organizational change development, managerial training, space renovation, workflow centralization and more. The focus of the firm is to support small businesses manage staff most effectively and help daily processes and procedures become more efficient. Samantha holds a bachelor’s degree in Biology (Premed) from Regis College in Weston, MA and a Master of Science in Leadership Management, Corporate Communication from Northeastern University in Boston, MA.

Lucia De Paz
Entrepreneurship and Innovation | Associate Professor
Lucia De Paz is Associate Professor for Business Administration at Principia College in Illinois. She also serves as Director for the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. She has 15 years of experience in multinational corporations, including Nestlé, Johnson & Johnson, and Millicom. She has worked internationally with oversight or roles in 25 countries in Latin America, Europe, and Africa. De Paz has managed products with yearly revenues of over $30 million and budgets of over $4 million. While at Nestlé, De Paz managed and was brand champion of NESQUIK® and MILO® in Ecuador, two of the company's multibillion dollar, worldwide brands. Though at Edelman only briefly, De Paz gained a keen sense for public relations, which later allowed her to generate three strong PR campaigns that reached Free Press records and earned her a Silver Effie and a first-place Nestlé brand award.

James Hatcher
Retired U.S. Army SSG
James Louis Hatcher is retired from the United States Army, where he served ten years as a paralegal specialist. As a Florida native, he enlisted in the Army shortly after his first year of college. Initially entering as a way to fund his education, he found a liking for serving the national and decided to make a career out of it. James has served in a variety of leadership positions throughout his military career including key operational assignments in Iraq, Afghanistan, and South Korea. As a paralegal Noncommissioned officer, James made it his mission to provide mentorship, leadership, and guidance to subordinates as well as top leadership alike. James military education includes Basic Combat Training, Advance Individual Training (27D), Warrior Leaders Course, and Advance Leaders Course. James earned an Associate in Arts in Business Administration and a Bachelor’s in Applied Science in Supervision and Management (Human Resource Management Concentration), both from Miami-Dade College. He is currently in the last term of the Master of Science in Human Resource Management at Florida International University. James' accomplishments include: Miami-Dade College Foundation Scholarship Awardee 2019-2020; Fort Motor Scholarship Awardee 2019-2020; Graduated U.S. Army Advance Leaders Course with honors, exceeding course standards, earning four superior ratings on evaluations, and making course Commandant's List with a final GPA of 98.6% (2016); Recognized by Lieutenant General Flora Diana Darpino, The Judge Advocate General, with a coin of excellence for outstanding performance and leadership 2016; Recognized by Major General Thomas E. Ayres, Deputy Judge Advocate General, with a coin of excellence for outstanding performance and leadership 2014; Non-Commissioned Officer Professional Development Ribbon (2), and a Meritorious Service Medal.

Bianca C. Houston
Consultant
Bianca Houston is an innovative, collaborative, and energetic Consultant with a decade of experience leading government agencies and Fortune 500 companies to achieve operational excellence within the Healthcare sector. Bianca began her career managing complex integration projects for healthcare companies. Her passion, leadership, and tenacity has been acknowledged by way of promotions to coveted Data Analyst, Data Scientist, and External Consultant Roles. She has experience in Healthcare Revenue Cycle, Project Management, Data Analytics and Visualization, AI, and Machine learning. As a forever learner, Bianca holds both a Master of Business Administration from Purdue University and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, in addition to several certifications. Born in Queens, NYC and raised in Florida, Bianca spends weekends with her children visiting beaches, trying new restaurants, and attending sporting events.

Kunmin Kim
Director and Trust Fund Administrator
Kunmin KIM(Mr.) is a Director of the Ministry of Economy and Finance of Korea, currently serving for the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI, BCIE in Spanish) as a Trust Fund Administrator. His mission in CABEI is to identify and prepare development finance projects in Central America that incorporate Korean content, technologies, and solutions. He has 16 years of policy experience, mainly from the Korean government and international organizations. Kunmin KIM has built up expertise in various corporate policies, such as SME support policies, public enterprise evaluation policies, and chaebol regulation policies.

Mauricio Klecky
Financial Planning and Analysis Director
Mauricio is a skilled professional with substantial financial and operational reporting, project valuation and technological innovation experience at one of the main bottling companies in the world. His professional career in financial transformation spans the airline industry, heavy machinery, and the insurance sector. Born in Chile, he has worked there and in Connecticut. Mauricio holds an industrial Engineering degree from the University of Chile and an MBA from the University of Maryland.

Alfredo Moran Hassan
Project Manager, EPIC Consultants
Alfredo is an Entrepreneur, engineer, professor and CFO with a B.S. and M.S. in Industrial Engineering from FIU and twenty-five years of struggles, victories and defeats in the consulting and construction arena with EPIC Consultants Inc, founded in 2003. He takes pride in applying a continuous improvement approach in all aspects of life; thus, his goal for the next three years is to keep growing, challenge his paradigms and perhaps have a positive impact on the program, his colleagues, and mentors.
Through the years, he has implemented, coached, and facilitated process improvement in over 40 industries such as manufacturing, medical, aviation, banking, and supply chain, and trained over 2000 professionals in Supply Chain Management, ISO Systems, Leadership and Lean 6 Sigma Certifications in the US and Latin America. On the construction side, for the past 10 years, worked on projects utilizing Lean principles at Miami International Airport, Miami Dade County and Jackson Health System and currently expanding to military bases in Florida, Georgia, and Louisiana.

Grace Odediran, MBA, MSC
Sr. Director of Administration, Hackensack Meridian Health
Grace Odediran serves as the administrative leader for all neuroscience hospital and practice operations for the HMN Neuroscience Institute at Jersey Shore University Medical Center. Hackensack Meridian Health is New Jersey’s largest and most comprehensive health network. Jersey Shore University Medical Center is ranked #6 in New Jersey, and is ranked High Performing in the U.S. in nephrology and orthopedics. Grace works in collaboration with Department Chairs to provide leadership to institute staff and manages the operational rollout of strategic business plans, her responsibility include creating and managing subspecialty, neuroscience care teams, service line oversight in collaboration with the executive team of JSUMC.
Grace’s career spans a course of over 15 years in public service in providing strategic leadership to cross-functional teams in support of transforming organizational operations with the ultimate goal of delivering and maintaining excellent service levels while simultaneously championing continuous improvement and profitable growth.
By defining impactful visions and objectives and implementing impactful strategies dedicated to achieving them, Grace has enabled the attainment of immediate, noteworthy results, while building a foundation for long term sustainable success. Grace graduated from New Jersey City University where she studied accounting and went on to receive her Master in Accounting with a concentration in Government and not for profit Accounting from Rutgers University. Grace is married with two children and enjoys spending time with her growing family.

Fernando Parrado
General Manager and Founding Partner, Global Minds SAS
Fernando Parrado is an accomplished entrepreneur and seasoned executive with more than 20 years of experience in technology, management, sales, customer service, and training in multinationals, government, and the educational sector in USA and Colombia.
Mr. Parrado's professional career began in the IT sector. He had several roles like Project Manager, IT Projects Supervisor and Director of Technology. He managed several IT projects, supporting critical systems 24/7 for the bank, communication and airline industries and led IT project using methodologies like PM and Scrum. At the public sector, he led projects, valued in 3.5 million dollars to improve the state of the IT systems in Colombia.
After living 10 years in USA, Mr. Parrado returned to Colombia and because of his International/Intercultural experience he started a career in the International Business field. Mr. Parrado has designed and delivered a range of executive training programs and conference examining the cultural impact in negotiation and cross-cultural communication. In 2011 Fernando Parrado created Global Minds S.A.S.
Global Minds S.A.S. specializes in Intercultural training and support companies to open international markets focusing in the Americas. Fernando Parrado had been consulting and helping Colombian companies in understanding how to reach the US market, and USA companies in how to grow business in Colombia and Latin-America markets.
Fernando Parrado serves as an Adjunct Professor at both Sergio Arboleda University in the College of Business in Bogota Colombia and Andes University in the field of Multiculturality and Multicultural Projects. He had been researching the culture impact in Intercultural communication and Global Negotiation. He is part of Globe 2020 team in Colombia.
Fernando Parrado is based in Bogotá, Colombia. He is trilingual: Spanish is his native language; he is fluent in English and speaks conversational Portuguese. Fernando has a B.S. in Industrial Engineering, a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the Javeriana University in Colombia and a M.S. of Science from the University of Tennessee in the United States.

Nicole Rudner
Director, Practice Groups & Industry Sector Teams
Nicole Rudner is the Director of TerraLex’s Practice Groups and Industry Sector Teams. She connects members across the globe for the purposes of knowledge sharing and collaboration. She also works closely with TerraLex leadership on the development of strategies to leverage the combined strengths of members for the benefit of clients with cross-border and multijurisdictional legal needs. With a background spanning multiple industries, Nicole works creatively, resourcefully, and strategically. Previously, she held business development and marketing roles at one of the largest law firms in the world, as well as at one of the largest law firms in Florida. She has also held a senior marketing role at a not-for-profit organization. Nicole holds the designation Certified Association Executive from the American Society of Association Executives.

Danielle Santos
Head of Internationalization, Ânima Educação
Danielle is an enthusiastic international business development leader with a large experience in the education industry. A results-oriented person with strong interpersonal and cross-cultural skills acquired over the years living in different countries of South America, Europe, and Asia. She leads international projects for an educational group from Latin America, identifying opportunities and understanding complex business problems across institutions and geographies. Her projects impact approximately 330,000 students, through more than 140 international cooperative agreements in favor of quality education and global competencies. Danielle has also worked for multinational companies and enabled global business through enhancing intercultural competency. She holds a Master's degree in International Business from FIU. Additionally, Danielle is passionate about education, culture, and people development.

Albert Seither
Director, Business Growth Lab & Entrepreneurship Academy
Albert is a serial entrepreneur, turned business coach, turned educator who has founded a handful of startups, run multiple others, and helped thousands of startups clarify and execute their growth strategy. For the past few years, he has worked in entrepreneurship education. Albert was the Director of the Entrepreneurship Academy and Business Growth Lab at the State College of Florida. Before that, he was at the University of Tampa where he taught for the Entrepreneurship Department and was also the Entrepreneur in Residence at UT’s Lowth Entrepreneurship Center. Albert oversaw the Spartan Incubator and Accelerator which included developing entrepreneurship programming and coaching both student and community businesses. He also was responsible for opening The Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Clearwater Central Catholic High School, the first entrepreneurship center (with a dedicated space) at a high school in Florida where he also taught entrepreneurship, design technology, and business management. The decade before delving into the academic world of entrepreneurship, Albert was the Founder and CEO of The Startup Expert, a coaching and business services company aimed at turning business owners' ideas into reality. Albert graduated from The University of Florida with a degree in Public Relations, and is a Certified SCORE Mentor, and Certified Small Business Coaching Specialist. He earned a Master's in Entrepreneurship from The University of Tampa and won first place in the 2019 New Venture Expo with one of my businesses. Albert fell in love with startups when he moved to NYC in his twenties where he got a job at a startup accounting firm as the first sales rep. It took 5 years to scale it to $60 million in new business, annually. Whether he is helping you form a pitch deck, reworking monetization strategy, defining your ideal growth hacks, or helping you create a culture that ensures minimal customer churn and maximum customer satisfaction, he deeply cares about the effectiveness of the businesses his clients and students are building!

Kostas Stamatiadis
IT Project Manager, Dominion Energy
Kostas is a senior telecommunications and IT infrastructure implementation manager with over 25 years of diverse international experience. He has both led and been part of teams that deployed large-scale mobile phone networks, constructed cellular and microwave towers, installed fiber optic networks, built data centers, etc. His background includes several ground up network deployments in the U.S. and internationally in places like the Netherlands, Belgium, and Italy with well-known companies such as AT&T, PacBell, American Tower, Lucent, British Telecom, Nokia, and others. Kostas has a wide span of expertise ranging from engineering, to real estate development, to construction management, finance, etc. Originally from Greece, Kostas came to the U.S. after graduating with a degree in Public Administration from Panteion University to earn his MBA from California State University, Sacramento.

Matthew Thompson
Founder, Driven Leadership Solutions
Upon retirement from the United States Navy as a Naval Aviator, Matt took on many roles centered around business. He worked as a management consultant for i3 consulting, and in his spare time started his own training company. As Founder of Driven Leadership Solutions, Matt built a training company that focuses on Project Management and Project Management Institute certification preparation. He is also a franchise owner of multiple unites of Hammer and Nails, a California based grooming shop for men. To ensure his education matched the rest of his fully loaded resume, he completed a BS in Chemistry from the University of Oklahoma in 2000. Receiving his first Master’s degree in 2009 in Information Technology from the University of Maryland Global Campus, and to put a feather in the business cap, he received an MBA from the Jack Welch Management Institute. With an intent to teach business after completing working, he has begun the journey to earn his DBA from Florida International University.

Erika Abreu
Benefits Specialist, BOP - ICE The Geo Group
Erika has worked in the hospitality industry since 2004 and left in 2021. She started her career in hospitality as a reservation agent and moved up to Sales Manager, Area Sales Manager, and Director of Sales. She loves the industry, as it allowed her the opportunity to travel, meet influential people, and establish long-lasting friendships. She was able to advance in her career, build her portfolio, and start a consulting company. After starting a family in 2015, she was inspired to make a change in her career and wanted to have more of an impact in her community, so she decided to go back to school and obtain a master’s in education to become a teacher. Being a New York City teacher had many challenges, the main challenge was dealing with the administration and its bureaucracy.
Late 2019, her husband was provided a career opportunity and they decided to relocate to South Florida. January 2020, Erika started working for the Hyatt Place in West Palm Beach then shortly after that due to pandemic, her hours dropped significantly, so she decided to take on a part time remote job as a human resources coordinator for a glass company with offices in New York and Fort Lauderdale. After a year and a half of working as a Director of Sales for the Hyatt Place, she decided to leave the industry and work full time in Human Resources. June 2021, she started at Geo Group as a recruiting coordinator, promoted to field HR, and in February 2022, was promoted to Benefits Specialist.
Her goal is to become a Senior Executive within the Human Resources Field.

Joshua Benson
Sr. Financial Analyst | Entreprenuer
Joshua is a result driven finance professional with over 15 years of experience in FP&A, asset management, accounting, revenue management, commercial strategy, and now currently a Senior Financial Analyst with Chewy Inc., with an assumed responsibility for managing P&L reporting, margin analysis, data analytics at all levels of reporting up to the C-Suite. Prior to corporate finance, Joshua spent over 10 years in the banking industry with JP Morgan Chase managing mortgage underwriting and leading loss mitigation efforts during the 2008 financial crisis. Joshua is also a partner with RIL Financial, an accounting firm, based out of Naples, FL, focusing on accounting and tax consulting, FP&A, bookkeeping, strategic development, and small business consulting. He’s also involved in the local community with Think Pineapple Foundation, which focuses on raising funds to bring awareness with the hospitality industry. Previous experience also includes WellDyne Rx, CVS, ACI Worldwide, Hertz Corporation, CIT Bank and Geico. Joshua earned his Bachelors in Business Administration majoring in Finance from the University of North Florida in 2017 and received his Master of Science in Finance from Florida International University in December 2021.

Brandon Brown
Worldwide Category Manager - Rhythm of Business & Field Readiness, Microsoft
Brandon’s professional journey began in the Food & Beverage industry, where he spent a cumulative ten years at Whataburger, in which time he completed a bachelor’s degree in Business Management (2014) and an MBA (2017) from The University of Texas at San Antonio.
During the second semester of his graduate program, and after five years in the Operations side of the business, Brandon transitioned from role as an Operations Manager into a Corporate Marketing role, helping to define the company’s competitive pricing strategy. A year and a half later, he would promote up into a Business Manager role, supporting the Operations Vice Presidents with corporate strategy & performance. Then, in his final two years with the company, in a Financial Planning & Analysis role, primarily as an advisor, to all of Operations Leadership.
Brandon is now currently in role as a Windows Category Manager for the Worldwide team at Microsoft, once again supporting Field Leaders with strategy & performance and managing marketing communications to and from the Corporate Marketing team.

Michael Danvers
Theater Engagement Analyst, Graham Technologies
Michael directs product and service development for an information technology portfolio. His portfolio provides an IT suite that enables enterprise-level coordination of finance, logistics, assessments, and integration. His client domain covers all of South and Central America, the Caribbean, and parts of North America. He regularly interact with executives representing 8 different organizations operating in 30 foreign nations. In this role, he has created product strategies that incorporate the unique goals of our international customers, organizing our business practices to enhance development, testing, delivery, and post delivery support. His leadership as the portfolio principal oversaw his teams development of over 20 products and services effecting user interface/user experience, risk modelling, and database(s) integration.

Ilka Jordan Whitaker
Founder and CEO, Jordan Alliance Group (JAG)
Ilka Jordan is the founder and CEO of Jordan Alliance Group (JAG), a black-owned, women-led management consulting firm servicing the fashion retail industry. With 20+ years as a transformation executive, Ilka brings experience and expertise in bridging corporate culture, resources, technology, and operations across the retail value chain. She serves as a strategic advisor to retail executives seeking a competitive advantage with business models that are more purposeful, sustainable, and profitable. Ilka's passion for sustainable business practices led her to brand TAG Forward®, a highly effective and proven transformation management model. TAG Forward® is offered through JAG's consulting services and online learning programs.

Otis Kopp
Manager of Marketing and Media, Divine Hope Restoration Ministries, Int.
Otis was born and raised in the city of Boston, MA. He has over 20 years of experience in graphic design, web development and marketing activities. He has earned a Master’s of Science in Marketing from Florida International University and is continuing his educational pursuits in order to advance his marketing firm and teach as a professor. In addition, he is an experienced software engineer, a skill he uses to enhance his services as a marketing professional. Working both for an agency and doing freelance work, he has assisted entrepreneurs, small businesses, artists and politicians in both marketing and promotion.

Anouar Larhzal
Banking and Financial Consultant , Wells Fargo Bank
Anouar has worked for one of the oldest and biggest financial institution in the country for over 9 years managing personal and business clients’ portfolios. He was appointed for different job assignments and leadership roles, and his latest position was the head of one of the groups working the PPP (Paycheck Protection Program) in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic, where 282,000 loans of nearly $14 billion helping keep 1,739,000 Americans employed were funded. Further, in 2021, the Mortgage Forbearance Department successfully assisted more than 250,000 homeowners to keep and stay in their homes. Anouar holds a Bachelor of Business Administration with a double major in Business Management and International Business & Trade from Florida Atlantic University and a master's degree from Florida International University in Business Administration, where he also earned a Specialization in International Business from the College of Business at Florida International University qualified as a specialist in the field of International Business

Victor Orozco
Financial Controller, Bupa Worlwide Corporation
Victor is a seasoned financial professional with more than 20 years of experience working at a wide range of international organizations, managing accounting and financial functions across U.S. and LATAM companies, collaborating with European entities in the financial reporting submission and consolidation process, fostering different industries such as Insurance and Reinsurance, Retail, Entertainment, and Technology, holding different positions including Financial Controller and CFO. He attained his Master’s in Business Administration at Universidad Tecnologica de Mexico and is a Certified Public Accountant for the state of Florida, and a Certified Public Accountant in Mexico. Victor enjoys becoming a true business partner to the organizations by producing critical financial indicators based on data analytics, and leading financial projects to booster process improvements/automation to drive productivity.

Joe Parson
Data Scientist, Elder Research
Joe is a Data Scientist at Elder Research Inc, a Virginia-based industry-leading data science consultancy. In this capacity he designs and implements sophisticated quantitative models to solve business problems on international trade as well as develops neural networks for qualitative language extraction tasks. Joe has over 15 years of combined experience in military intelligence and business intelligence providing analytics on the energy sector, international trade, and political risk. In the latter role, he has consulted for the world’s largest multinational firms in the oil & gas, shipping, and heavy industry sectors. He has a Masters of Science in Political Science, with honors, from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) as well as an honors MBA from the American Military University.

Junie Richardson
Chief Accounting Officer, CH RECYCLING, LLC
Experienced CAO with over 25 years of experience fixing struggling operations, organically growing businesses, acquiring and integrating recycling companies. Junie has managed accounting departments of companies ranging between $20 million to $500 million in revenue in the import, waste, recycling, and trading businesses. Junie holds a Master of Liberal Arts - Finance from Harvard University, an MBA from University of New Haven, and a BS in Accounting from Florida Atlantic University.

Dian Rodriguez
Revenue Agent, Internal Revenue Services
Dian Rodriguez is an accountant that works for the Internal Revenue Services (IRS) and his primary job is to audit individuals and small business tax returns. He has recently joined the IRS after having a successful career in the banking and finance industry. Because of his vast experience in tax laws, finance, and management, he is also an Adjunct professor at Miami Dade College. Dian's shared passion for both Business activities and education prompted him to succeed in different industries like Insurance and Finance, Banking, and Public Accounting. Before joining the IRS and starting working for the public sector, he worked for J.P Morgan Chase in which he was able to help affluent individuals achieve their financial goals. His primary goal was always to be the number one source and solution for his clients and get the work done by going above and beyond with every single one of them. Dian's natural affinity for developing connections and relationships, combined with his great work's ethic, honesty and integrity had helped him succeed in the financial industry for over 10 years. Dian holds a bachelors and a masters in Accounting from Florida International University, and now is on his way to achieve his Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA).

Antonio Saiz
Director of Financial Planning and Treasury Operations, CE NORTH AMERICA LLC.
Antonio is an ccomplished Global Finance Director with over 15 years of experience working for leading, first in class, Global US Corporations such as Hewlett Packard, Gillette/Procter & Gamble and Tech Data Corp. Antonio speaks three languages (English, Spanish, and Portuguese) and holds three master degrees in Finance (MBA), Accounting (MACC), and Taxation (MTAX) plus a Bachelor Degree in Managerial Economics. He designs and implements unique financial strategies that bring significant improvements to bottom line profits.

Liliya Yausheva
Associate Director, UnitedHealth Group/Optum
Results and customer-focused professional, Liliya has over 15 years of experience in business process management within the healthcare industry. Extensive background in process improvement, quality, project, and change management. Liliya is a certified Six Sigma practitioner and led a variety of improvement initiatives estimated in savings of over $5M for a healthcare company. In her 10 years with Optum, a business segment of UnitedHealth Group, a Fortune 500 company, Liliya gained and continues to gain subject matter expertise in enterprise capabilities such as operational excellence, issue management, and overall enterprise readiness for healthcare products/services implementation. As an Associate Director today, Liliya’s main focus is on the identification and mitigation of end-to-end risks, issues, and gaps for a new product launch to ensure a high-quality infrastructure, onboarding, and ongoing support experience. Liliya obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the Metropolitan State University in Twin Cities, MN, and a Master’s of Business Administration from Capella University. Liliya is seeking a Doctorate in Business at the Florida International University to help advance her career in the short term and start her own consulting company as a long-term goal.