South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Finance PEOPLE ON THE MOVE
Community
Safeguarding American Values for Everyone, SAVE, named Orlando Gonzales as its new executive director. Gonzales previously served as board chairman for the SAVE Foundation, in Miami.
Equality Florida announced Robin Schwartz as its new Miami development officer. Schwartz is a co-founder of Aqua Foundation for Women where she was most recently managing director. In addition to her nonprofit experience, she has worked for Konica Minolta, and for the past five years, Schwartz has worked as a loan originator at Caliber Home Loans. Also joining the South Florida staff is Shreyas Amol Jethwani, as South Florida field organizer. Jethwani is a former candidate for The Florida House of Representatives. He worked on the Nikki Fried for Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services Campaign before joining the Equality Florida Team as the municipal campaign organizer. Equality Florida has
35 employees in nine Florida cities; and
320,000 members and volunteers.
Ellen Andel was appointed executive director of the Promise Fund of Florida, a nonprofit for those in need in Palm Beach County, focusing on patient care navigation, education and community outreach, partnerships with qualified healthcare providers and advocacy for policies at the local, state and federal levels to help eliminate deaths from breast and cervical cancers. Previously, Andel was executive director of the Leslie. L. Alexander Foundation, a project manager for corporate real estate projects at Next Era Energy/FPL, vice president of a custom home builder, and a project estimator for a luxury custom home builder.
Marc D. Hopin was named chief executive officer of Ferd & Gladys Alpert Jewish Family & Children’s Service of Palm Beach County and its sister agency, Melvin J & Claire Levine Jewish Residential and Family Service of Palm Beach County. Hopin has worked at the nonprofit for more than six years, most recently as Interim CEO.
Boca Raton-based, Digital Bridge, an investor in and operator of companies enabling the next generation of mobile and internet connectivity, appointed Geneviève Maltais-Boisvert as a principal on its investment team. Previously, Maltais-Boisvert was director of infrastructure investments at PSP Investments.
Professional Bank, in Coral Gables, has hired Joshua Sweatt as vice president and chief information security officer. He was an information technology Sweatt and cybersecurity leader at the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security before joining the bank’s digital innovation center.
Beta Music Group Inc. in Sunrise, through its operating subsidiary Get Credit Healthy Inc., announced that Elizabeth Karwowski, chief executive officer of Get Credit Healthy, has resumed her position as CEO of Beta Music Group. Get Credit Healthy Inc. is a fin-tech company with a platform and technology that maximizes business opportunities for national lending partners, while providing consumers with needed resources to improve financial well-being,
Mark Friedlander was appointed by the Insurance Information Institute as its Florida-based communications consultant. Previously, Friedlander was head of corporate communications and assistant secretary at property/ casualty insurance carrier The Main Street America Group. He has also served as a communications consultant for the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety and has held marketing and communications senior leadership roles at Arthur Andersen, Prudential Financial and HSBC Holdings.
Lifestyle
Williams Island promoted Debra Lavoie as vice president of operations, human resources, training and development. For the past seven years, Lavoie has worked as director of human resources with the Lavoie Williams Island Community, in Aventura. In the past, Lavoie has held human resources positions with the Seminole Casino in Coconut Creek, and Seta Corp. in Boca Raton.
East Ridge at Cutler Bay announced that Stan Hodes was named executive chef for the life-plan community, which offers independent living, assisted living, memory support and skilled nursing. Previously, he was executive chef and manager of dining services operations at Baptist Hospital of Miami, a position he held for 27 years.
Education
Michelle A. Clark, Ph.D. has been named dean of Nova Southeastern University’s College of Pharmacy, in Davie. Clark has been a member of the College of Pharmacy since 2001 and has served as interim deal since August
2018.
Douglas Meléndez Ruíz, the former attorney general of El Salvador, has joined Florida International University’s Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs as a senior fellow, in Miami. He will lead workshops on justice reform and anti-corruption at FIU and in Central America.
Florida Atlantic University has announced Stephen Silverman, Ed.D., as its new dean of the College of Education. Silverman was professor of education and senior adviser to the provost for research preparation at Columbia University’s Teachers College. He also was with Teachers College for five years as chair of the Department of Biobehavioral Sciences.
Government
Palm Beach County Constitutional Tax Collector Anne Gannon announced that the agency was recognized for excellence in financial operations at the annual Florida Tax Collectors Association Education Forum held in Orlando, where Gannon accepted the Legacy Award in Financial Operations. A judging panel of government financial executives examined the agency’s proficiency in several key areas including budgeting, customer focus, innovation and automation. The agency also received a perfect annual audit. The process for consideration for The Legacy Award includes a comprehensive review of the agency’s financial functions. In addition, the agency’s Chief Information Officer, Joseph Sverak, was recognized with the association’s Distinguished Service Award. Constitutional Tax Collector Gannon serves a one-year term as president of the FTCA, a collaborative network of Florida’s 67 tax collectors working together to provide leadership and legislative advocacy.
Real estate, development
Berkadia hired Roberto Pesant as senior managing director, investment sales, in the company’s Miami and Boca Raton offices. He previously was managing director in Walker & Dunlop’s Miami office.
CGI Merchant Group LLC named Juan Yepesas vice president of asset management, in Miami.
The Altman Companies, a developer of rental apartment communities, promoted Timothy Peterson to chief operating officer and hired Robert Rabin as chief financial officer. Peterson joined the company in 2003 as chief financial officer and partner.
Colliers International South Florida added Daniel Crann as director of development services, in Fort Lauderdale.
Aviation
Paul Rose has returned to Banyan Air Service after a three-year tour with Embraer Executive Jets. He rejoins Banyan as vice president of technical sales, a role he previously held with Banyan for over 14 years.
Law
McIntosh Sawran & Cartaya P.A. announced the addition of attorney Christopher C. Horne, assigned to the firm’s insurance defense litigation division.
Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin, a leading civil defense litigation law firm, added Jason S. Sandler and Jesse T. Schwartz as associates in the firm’s Fort Lauderdale office.
Chambers
The Deerfield Beach Chamber of Commerce announced its Community Heroes Awards honorees: Young Leader of the Year, Justin DuVernois, Bateman Gordong & Sands, Inc.; Citizen of the Year, Judi Stanich; and Business Leader of the Year, Danielle Rosse, Oceans 234. These individuals, and other groups and organizations, will be recognized at the chamber’s Inaugural Community Heroes Awards on Nov. 8 at the Wyndham Deerfield Beach Resort.
John Carr, a managing director of Venture Construction Group of Florida, was named chairman of the Palm Beach North Chamber of Commerce for 2019-20.
Medical, wellness
Freslaine Saint Louis, a youth minister at Bethel Evangelical Baptist Church in Delray Beach, has become one of the first Creole-speaking trainers in the county for Mental Health First Aid, a nationally renowned eight-hour course that gives people the skills to help someone who is developing a mental health problem or experiencing a mental health crisis. Saint Louis, who also provides training sessions in English, was introduced to MHFA through Healthier Delray, a Palm Health Foundation initiative focused on behavioral health.
Healthy Start Coalition of Miami-Dade, the county’s prenatal and infant care coalition, announced Jeannette Torres as the new director of programs. Torres was previously the education director at the United Way Center for Excellence in Early Education.
Hospitality
Joe Imbrogno was named director of guest excellence at Plunge Beach Resort, in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea.
Sonesta Fort Lauderdale Beach appointed Michael Dutton as director of sales and marketing.
Cultural
ArtServe, South Florida’s historic arts incubator, welcomed guests for the VIP preview of “HOME: An Artistic Celebration of Community” and also recognized arts influencers and organizations for their contributions to the region’s arts and culture landscape. The inaugural Broward County Arts & Culture Visionary distinction was awarded to Broward Cultural Council Vice Chair Darran Blake of UBS Financial Services, Inc.; South Florida artist George Gadson; Art Fort Lauderdale and Choose954 co-founders Andrew Martineau and Evan Snow; Broward Cultural Council Chair Jodi JeffreysTanner of Las Olas Capital Arts; and WLRN, South Florida’s NPR and PBS station.
More Online
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