Mike Allen, Ph.D. began his tenure as the seventh president of Barry University on July 1, 2019. An experienced higher education administrator, Allen came to Barry University from The Catholic University of America in Washington D.C. where he served as Vice President for Student Affairs for the past six years and as Associate Vice President and Director of Athletics for eight years.
Additionally, he designed and implemented academic support programs for students at Florida Atlantic University and the University of Connecticut between 1993 and 2005.
Allen holds a Bachelor of Arts from Trinity College, and a Master of Arts and Doctoral degree from the School of Education at the University of Connecticut, where his dissertation and research focused on the academic socialization and personal development of intercollegiate student athletes.
Allen is the first man and lay person to lead Barry University since its founding in 1940. He and his wife, Beth, have two children, Maya and James.
Some of Dr. Allen’s major accomplishments include:
Principal, Tax Services
Art has 22 years of experience advising both U.S. and international high net-worth individuals with their wealth tax planning and structuring, as well as, advising on family governance/business succession matters. Art is a leader of the south Florida private client services practice.
Art began his career as a Florida estate planning and asset protection attorney more than 20 years ago. Prior to joining RSM, Art practiced law with a south Florida law firm, later joining a Big Four firm in Miami where he managed their private client services practice. He later joined a private bank in Miami where he managed the U.S. and Latin American estate and tax planning teams. As a co-leader of the firm’s private client services group, Art works with clients in Miami, Naples, Fort Lauderdale and Palm Beach, handling the planning, structuring and succession planning for high net-worth clients and family office groups.
954 356 5674
Executive Vice President and Provost, Florida Memorial University
Dr. Michelle Howard-Vital leads Florida Memorial University in Miami Gardens. From 2007 to 2014, Dr. Howard-Vital was president of Cheyney University in Pennsylvania. Since that time, she has done independent consulting work and was a senior fellow of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities.
Earlier in her career, Dr. Howard-Vital served as interim chancellor of Winston-Salem State University and as associate vice president for the University of North Carolina System. From 1993 to 2003, she served as vice chancellor and associate provost at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.
President Howard-Vital holds bachelor’s and master’s degree from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. in public policy analysis from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Rosyln Clark Artis, president of Florida Memorial University, stated that “Dr. Howard-Vital brings a wealth of academic and administrative experience to the Florida Memorial University Cabinet. She is an advocate for high quality education and will do much to highlight the skills and expertise of our phenomenal faculty. She is a prolific writer and scholar in her own right and will certainly set a high standard for all of our academic programs.”
Executive Vice President and Provost, Florida Memorial University
CEO of the Miami-Dade Chamber of Commerce
Eric Knowles has lead the Miami-Dade Chamber of Commerce since 2014. He oversees the operations of the organization by implementing its strategic plans and policies as established by the Board of Directors. Knowles is the successor to Bill Diggs, who resigned in 2013.
Knowles is the former Senior Director of Government Affairs for Sun Life Stadium and The Miami Dolphins. Some of his core accomplishments in this role include managing a 72,500 person facility (Sun Life Stadium, home of the Miami Dolphins and former Florida Marlins), managing tenant relations that included the Miami Dolphins, Florida Marlins, Orange Bowl Championship, and related events; handling the training and management of 3,500 game day employees, and directing all government affairs, as it pertains to Sun Life Stadium and the Miami Dolphins.
Eric holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Florida International University and is a proud veteran of the United States Army.
CEO of the Miami-Dade Chamber of Commerce
President/Chief Executive Officer, Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce
Alfred Sanchez is the president and chief executive officer of the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce, South Florida’s first and the longest-sustaining business development organization and one of the largest chambers in the southeastern U.S.
In this role, Alfred directs a team of 25 chamber professionals, supporting more than 400,000 employees of chamber member companies in South Florida. His involvement with the chamber spans 21 years and includes serving on the board of directors, chairing the Marketing Committee and Leadership Programs Group, and serving on the Nonprofit Committee. He attributes much of his success in South Florida to his deep involvement with the chamber.
Previously, Alfred served in a variety of leadership roles with the American Red Cross. Most recently, he was the regional chief executive officer for its South Florida region, where he led a team of over 3,000 volunteers and staff, supporting almost eight million residents across 13 counties to prepare for, respond to, and recover from natural and man-made disasters.
Before this, he led the YMCA of Greater Miami as president and chief executive officer. During his 12-year tenure at YMCA, he expanded its financial development and led strategic planning initiatives that culminated in the opening of three new Family YMCAs. These were the first facilities built by the Miami YMCA in 40 years and substantially increased the organization’s reach to thousands more community members.
Alfred also served as director of government and community relations for Royal Caribbean Cruises and Celebrity Cruises. In this role, he oversaw the charitable programs and helped implement the company’s mission to enhance communities throughout 160 international ports of call.
Alfred received a bachelor’s degree in psychology and English from Beaver College and a master’s degree in community and clinical psychology from the University of Maryland. Active in his church and in the Miami community, he serves on local and national boards including Greater Miami & the Beaches Resilient City Steering Committee of the 100 Resilient Cities—Pioneered by the Rockefeller Foundation; The Beacon Council; Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau; Orange Bowl Committee and Great Commission Alliance Board, serving the people of Haiti.
President/Chief Executive Officer, Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce
Shareholder at Carlton Fields
Edmund Zaharewicz has broad experience in federal securities and commodities regulation, insurance regulation, and related employee benefit and general corporate matters. He focuses on regulatory matters affecting the development, distribution and administration of life insurance and annuity products and related investment products, including mutual fund, private fund, and managed account offerings.
His practice includes advising clients with respect to bank- and corporate-owned life insurance products, individual and group annuity products, stable value products, registered and private placement variable insurance products, mutual funds and private investment funds for institutional and high net worth clientele. He represents insurance companies, investment advisers and investment companies in regulatory compliance examinations and investigations and has served as legal counsel to boards of directors of registered investment companies.
He also advises in a wide variety of related areas, including InsurTech, ecommerce, privacy, data security, anti-money laundering, custody of client assets, agent licensing and supervision, insurable interest, group life eligibility, assumption reinsurance transactions, fund mergers and liquidations, proxy statements, regulatory filings and reporting, product and client disclosures, soft dollar arrangements, suitability, product advertising, client communications, market conduct standards, personal securities transactions, codes of ethics, and trading practices.
Shareholder at Carlton Fields
Vice Provost at Miami Dade College
Dr. John Wensveen is Vice Provost of Academic Schools at Miami Dade College providing direct leadership and direction for the College’s professional education programs including the Academic Schools (Business, Trade & Transportation; Education; Engineering, Technology & Design; Justice, Public Safety & Legal Studies, Science), School of Continuing Education & Professional Development, and the Office of Workforce Education & Partnerships. He is responsible for creating corporate relationships with local, regional, national, and international boards and organizations and with leaders of foreign governments, businesses, and nongovernmental organizations.
He has extensive academic leadership experience including Professor and Head of the School of Aviation & Transportation Technology at Purdue University, Dean of the School of Aviation at Dowling College, and Professor of Airline Management at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
John has held a variety of industry leadership positions including Partner/EVP at Mango Aviation Partners, Global Head of Airline Advisory Services at Radixx International, President of Airline Visions, Executive Consultant at InterVISTAS, Senior Director at Marriott Vacation Club International, Vice President of International Affairs at MAXjet Airways, Director of Strategy and Communications at Corporate Visions, and Manager of Pacific Rim Flight Operations & Passenger Services at Canada 3000 Airlines.
John is an External Instructor at the International Air Transport Association (IATA), a frequent contributor to the media, provides expert witness testimony, and is author of two leading industry books including a “best-seller” (Air Transportation: A Management Perspective and Wheels Up: Airline Business Plan Development).
John earned Masters and Ph.D. degrees in International Air Transport and Business from Cardiff University (United Kingdom) and a B.A. in Geography and Transportation Land Use Planning from the University of Victoria (Canada). Currently, he is working toward the U.S. Coast Guard, Masters Upgrade (100 Gross ton license) certification.
In his free time, John is an avid boater, scuba diver, and enjoys hitting the open road in the RV.
https://www.miamidade.gov/citt/library/presentations/2017-2018-presentation/dr-john-wensveen.pdf
Vice Provost at Miami Dade College
President & CEO at Coral Gables Chamber of Commerce
Mark A. Trowbridge is the President & CEO Chief executive, administrative and fiscal officer of the Chamber. Responsible to the Board of Directors for a full range of activities including coordination of the program of work, organizational structure and procedures, interpretation of policy, strategic planning, communications and branding.
President & CEO at Coral Gables Chamber of Commerce
President & Chief Executive Officer, Miami-Dade Beacon Council
Rodrick Miller has emerged as one of the nation’s foremost economic development leaders respected globally for his ability to maneuver in complex political and business environments, and craft strategies and structure deals to provide long-term value to communities and investors. His skills as a salesman, negotiator, policy expert, and corporate strategist have been refined in over 10 countries. Over the course of his career, he has brought more than $6B in private investment and 50,000 new jobs to communities where he has worked. He firmly believes sustained economic development growth is only achievable through an approach which is people-centered, leverages assets to add distinct value, and encourages strategic capital flows to create new opportunities.
As President and Chief Executive Officer of Miami-Dade County’s official economic development organization, Miller is focused on attracting and retaining companies that create high-value jobs and actively invest in the community. Miller champions Miami’s unique advantages as a diverse, global business destination, collaborating with key stakeholders in both the private and public sectors to leverage the strengths of the market’s target industries, deliver workforce solutions, and create opportunities that drive long-term economic prosperity and inclusive growth for both residents and businesses.
Experienced in leading economic recovery efforts in challenged markets across the country, Miller has launched or turned public-private development agencies around in New Orleans, Detroit and, most recently, Puerto Rico, where he served as Chief Executive Officer of Invest Puerto Rico. He led these efforts during and after some of the most challenging times these communities faced – bankruptcy, natural disasters, and entrenched economic decline. In each of these roles, Miller focused on enhancing competitiveness, providing prescriptive solutions to fix market challenges, building more inclusive economies, and attracting catalytic high-value private investment. Miller pulled together diverse stakeholders to craft actionable strategies with broad buy-in, provide integrated support to facilitate turnkey investment, and craft new narratives to reposition these markets for growth. The solutions he led encompass real estate and infrastructure, small business and entrepreneurship, workforce development, capital access, project finance, foreign direct investment and trade, and more.
Prior to those positions, Miller served as the Executive Vice President of the Baton Rouge Area Chamber, Vice President of International Economic Development for the Greater Phoenix Economic Council (GPEC) and held several other positions in the public and private sectors. He began his career in the private sector in management consulting and infrastructure finance, is fluent in Spanish and proficient in Portuguese.
Miller is also Founder and CEO of Ascendant Global, a boutique economic development firm focused on providing bold growth solutions to help economies sustain themselves, gaining jobs and private investment. Ascendant Global has led diverse economic initiatives for a range of clients including Living Cities, the Kellogg Foundation, The Fund for our Economic Future, and the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. Some of their engagements have included developing comprehensive economic growth strategies, setting up an economic development department for a municipality, creating a procurement program to grow revenues of local businesses, and designing a workforce development solution focused on opportunity youth.
Miller holds a Master of Public Policy from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and a Bachelor of Science in International Business from St. Augustine’s College. He also gained a Graduate Diploma in Finance from the Monterrey Institute of Technology (ITESM) in Mexico as a Fulbright Fellow. A scholar practitioner, he has been a featured speaker to organizations such as Google, AIG, and the World Bank, and has lectured at Harvard University, Arizona State University, The University of Michigan and the Georgia Institute of Technology. He has written extensively in scholarly and trade publications on the future of work, inclusive economic development, and market competitiveness. Miller is currently a Visiting Fellow at Harvard University’s Taubman Center for State and Local Government where he is building a community of practice to rethink how economic development should be more inclusive and sustainable, training the next generation of economic development leaders, and researching diverse economic development topics including inclusive economic growth, incentives, and the Build Back Better program.
Miller is a board member of the New Growth Innovation Network, the Harvard Kennedy School Alumni Board, New Corp (CDFI), and St. Augustine’s University. He is a former board member of the International Economic Development Council and completed a term membership with the Council on Foreign Relations. He has advised various federal agencies on economic policy including the Federal Reserve Board, the Economic Development Administration, and the White House. Miller has received numerous accolades including Young Economic Developer of the Year (2013), Michigan Man of Excellence (2016), the Distinguished Alumni Award from the Harvard Kennedy School Black Student Union (2018), and various others. He enjoys playing the piano, reading, and spending time with his family.
President & Chief Executive Officer, Miami-Dade Beacon Council
Vice President, Research & Strategic Planning
Christos is an established thought leader with more than 20 years of international hands-on research and strategy experience across financial markets and commercial real estate.
He brings a global perspective to the organization having lived in several countries including The United States, Europe, and The Middle East and has held client-facing positions covering institutional investors in asset management, investment banking and commercial real estate. Prior to joining the Miami-Dade Beacon Council, Costandinides held a position at CoStar as South Florida Director of Market Analytics and CBRE’s South Florida Thought leader. Before joining CBRE he ran his own strategy advice practice and led Deutsche Bank’s ETF Research and Strategy desk out of London, UK.
Christos holds an MBA from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, and a BA in Industrial Economics and Accounting from the University of Nottingham, United Kingdom.
Vice President, Research & Strategic Planning
