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Board of Directors
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Lois E. Silverman
Founding Chairperson, The Commonwealth Institute
Lois E. Silverman was the founder of CRA Managed Care (now Concentra Managed Care), a provider of services to reduce the costs of workers' compensation, automobile, disability and health insurance claims. She served as Chairman of the Board of the public company from 1994 to September 1997 and as Chief Executive Officer from 1988 to 1995. Mrs. Silverman is one of the first women in Massachusetts to bring a company public.
In October of 2005, Mrs. Silverman became the first woman chair of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. She is a director of Fiduciary Trust Company and Immunetics, Inc., a former trustee at Brandeis University, a corporator at Simmons College, a member of the Chairman's Cabinet at the Hebrew SeniorLife and a director of Kramer Senior Services Agency and Morse Geriatric Center in Florida.
She has received numerous honors for her business acumen and leadership abilities. In 2003, she was named to the Top 100 Most Influential Women in Boston by Boston Magazine. In the fall of 2005, she received the Philanthropic Innovator Award from The Committee of 200 and was chosen as a Woman Who Makes a Difference from the International Women’s Forum. She received her nursing degree from Beth Israel Hospital in 1961, an honorary undergraduate degree from Simmons College in 2002, and an honorary doctorate from Babson College in 2003.
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Emily Berlin
Senior Managing Director, Helm Holdings International, Inc.
Emily Berlin is a Senior Managing Director of a holding company based in Miami, Florida that exercises consolidated operating services to approximately 100 companies operating throughout Latin America, Central America, the Caribbean and Miami, including a financial division operating banks, investment banks and insurance brokerage services and a machinery and energy division operating Caterpillar equipment dealers in Colombia, Guyana and the Bahamas and the Caterpillar energy dealer building power plants throughout the Latin American region.
She also currently serves on the Board of Directors of Birks & Mayors, Inc., an AMEX listed company, and on the Advisory Board of the National Association of Corporate Directors, South Florida Chapter, serving directors of public companies. She is also a member of The Strategic Forum, a South Florida entrepreneurs group.
She was a partner in the law firm of Shearman & Sterling in New York City until 2000, serving as a Practice Group Leader for the Bank Finance and Bankruptcy Group. She was also formerly a legislative assistant to U.S. Senator Joseph Biden.
Emily holds Bachelors and Master degrees in Art History from Columbia University and a law degree from Columbia as well.
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Dorothy S. Eisenberg
Treasurer, TCI South Florida, Gerson, Preston, Robinson & Co.
Dorothy S. Eisenberg, a prominent certified public accountant, brings a wealth of taxation experience to Gerson, Preston, Robinson & Company, and is highly regarded by the clients she serves. Ms. Eisenberg focuses her practice on managing some of the largest and most complex tax and general accounting matters for high net-worth individuals and businesses served by the company. She has an extensive background in a wide variety of industries including healthcare, real estate, manufacturing, retail and professional services.
With 18 years of experience in the public accounting field, Ms. Eisenberg has established a fine reputation for excellence and superior results for clients. Ms. Eisenberg represents clients during federal and state tax audits. She has successfully handled and negotiated assessments that minimized client's exposure.
Providing strategic counsel in multi-state tax issues, Ms. Eisenberg advises clients on all aspects of their business decisions in the areas of tax planning and consulting, accounting, partner compensation, compliance, mergers and acquisitions as well as operational and strategic planning.
Ms. Eisenberg began her career working for a large New York City firm and later joined Gerson, Preston, Robinson & Company in 1993. In addition to serving clients, Ms. Eisenberg trains and supervises professional staff at the firm.
Dorothy Eisenberg is a member of the American and Florida Institutes of Certified Public Accountants and the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants.
Dorothy believes strongly in giving back to our community. In fact, she is so committed to this ideal, she aids in the advisement of the firms contribution program, ranging from coaching little league sports to holding board positions with large, charitable organizations. An active community supporter herself, Dorothy is on the board of the Children’s Home Society of Broward County and the Boys and Girls Club of Boca Raton; a mentor in the University of Miami, School of Business’ Mentoring Program; High School Coordinator to Plantation High School for the FICPA (to promote accounting); and a member of the Boca Raton Chamber of Commerce Trustees, Academy of Finance of Broward County Schools, The Common Wealth Institute, and Temple Kol Ami. She resides in Plantation with her husband, Joel, and two children.
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Regina Frazier
Private Supporter
Regina Jollivette Frazier retired in 2007 after more than 33 years as Director of Pharmacy at the University of Miami Hospital & Clinics, the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center. During that time, she developed the pharmacy service from a staff of four to a staff of 40 with annual revenues exceeding $150 million dollars.
She has served as national parliamentarian for the Association of Black Health-System Pharmacists and on the boards of Miami-Dade County Addiction Services, the Healthcare Coalition, Center for Health Technologies and the University of Miami Medical Sciences Subcommittee for the Protection of Human Subjects (IRB).
Frazier is the immediate past president and board chair of the Girl Scout Council of Tropical Florida, Inc. which serves 16,000 girls and 5,000 adult volunteers in Miami-Dade and Monroe counties. She serves on the board of the Commonwealth Institute, the advisory panel for the Funding Arts Network, the International Women’s Forum and is a life member of the Orange Bowl Committee. She has been recognized by Ebony magazine four times as one of the 100 Most Influential Black Americans and was listed among America’s Top 100 Black Business and Professional Women by Dollars and Sense magazine.
Prior leadership activities have included service nationally and internationally as president of The Links, Incorporated and The Links Foundation, Incorporated, chairman of the Miami-Dade County Zoning Appeals Board, member of the executive committees of the United Way of Miami-Dade County, the New World School of the Arts and the YWCA of Greater Miami and Dade County, Inc. Frazier has also served nationally as a member of the boards of the American Association of University Women, Council of Presidents, United Negro College Fund, National Coalition of Black Voter Participation.
Frazier holds a bachelor of science in pharmacy degree from Howard University and a master of business administration from the University of Miami.
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Ann M. Holmes
Private Supporter, Consultant
Ann M. Holmes has been a successful entrepreneur starting and selling medical communications companies in New York City for more than 20 years. Ms. Holmes began her career in medical communications at MedCom, Inc. She subsequently moved to Biomedical Information Corporation, where she rose to Vice-President, Executive Editor. During that time she also co-authored a book with Ezra Amsterdam, MD, Take Care of Your Heart, and wrote Nutrition and Vitamins , a book published by TIME. In 1998, she co-authored VIAGRA with Robert Kloner, MD, PhD and Jonathan Jarow, MD.
Ms. Holmes co-founded her first company, TransMedica, Inc., in 1981. TransMedica, Inc. created MD/TV, the first medical education network broadcast on open-channel television that produced half-hour medical education programs targeted at physicians. Each program segment also carried advertisements for brand-name prescription drugs, the first time in the history of broadcast television that prescription drugs were advertised on television. In 1984, TransMedica, Inc., was sold to CBS, Inc., New York, NY.
Ms. Holmes left CBS, Inc., in late 1986 to start her second medical communications company, AM Medica Communications, Ltd. AM Medica was acquired by ACCESS Worldwide Communications, Inc. in October 1998. Ms. Holmes remained as President of AM Medica until March 2000, and then became a consultant to ACCESS through June 2003.
In 1995 Ms. Holmes co-founded AMM-Adelphi, LLC, another medical communications company that focused on strategic publication planning. In 1998 Ms. Holmes took over this company and changed the name to AMM Publications, Inc. The company's business was subsequently acquired by ACCESS Worldwide in June, 2000. In 1997, Ms. Holmes co-founded MultiMedia in Medicine, Inc., with two physician partners. This company created medical educational computer- interactive programs and was successful in its first year. The company was dissolved in 1998, after ACCESS Worldwide acquired AM Medica.
Ms. Holmes currently works as a consultant to business startups and is active in several professional organizations that support women in business and women entrepreneurs. She is a mentor at The Center for Women & Enterprise, a nonprofit organization that empowers women to become economically self-sufficient and prosperous through entrepreneurship; a benefactor of The Women's Venture Network in New York City ; a member of Business & Professional Women/USA and she is on the South Florida Board of The Commonwealth Institute. From 1995-1997 Ms. Holmes also served on the New York State Board of Directors of the American Diabetes Association.
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Teresa Klaassen
Founder, Executive Vice President and Chief Cultural Officer
Sunrise Senior Living
Teresa (Terry) Klaassen is Founder, Executive Vice President and Chief Cultural Officer of Sunrise Senior Living, Inc. Headquartered in McLean, Virginia, Sunrise is the nation’s largest and most experienced provider of personalized senior living services. Sunrise has over 425 communities either open or under construction in the United States, U.K. and Canada, serving over 53,000 residents. The company went public on The Nasdaq Stock Market in May of 1996, and moved to the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: SRZ) in May of 2000.
Terry and her husband, Paul, founded Sunrise in 1981 and are nationally recognized pioneers of the assisted living concept in the United States. In the past 25 years, they have championed a resident-centered model of care-giving that offers a full range of personalized senior living services, from independent living, to assisted living, to care for individuals with Alzheimer’s and other forms of memory loss and nursing and rehabilitative care.
As the Chief Cultural Officer, Terry helps the company stay focused on its commitment to its corporate core values and principles of service, encouraging staff to promote independence, dignity, freedom of choice and nurturing of the spirit. Utilizing her years of hands-on management experience she gained as the first care manager the administrator of the first Sunrise home to the national Chief Operating Officer, Terry helps develop and promote programs to educate and motivate current and future team members.
• Terry and Paul founded the industry trade association, ALFA (Assisted Living Federation of America) in 1990.
• Vice Chairman of the Sunrise Senior Living Foundation Board
• Director of the Sunrise Foundation Education Board
• Member of The Women’s Forum, Washington, D.C.
• Appointed to Virginia State Health Reform Commission 2006
• Recipient of the 1993, Greater Washington, D.C., Entrepreneur of the Year Award
• Recipient of the 2000, George Mason University Alumnus of the Year Award
• Recent past rector of George Mason University
• Member of The Committee of 200
• Member of the Board of Visitors of Eastern University
• Member of the Commonwealth Institute of Miami
A graduate of George Mason University with a degree in Business Administration and received an honorary Doctorate from Eastern University. Terry is a frequent speaker, locally and nationally, on senior living, aging and long-term care issues. Terry and her husband, Paul, have been married for 29 years. They have three children, Christin, David and Lindsey and live in McLean, Virginia.
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Jo Kling
President, Landry & Kling Cruise Event Services
Entrepreneur Josephine Kling has served 20 years as president/CEO of Landry & Kling Meetings at Sea, the new breed of travel company she and Joyce Landry founded in 1982. Their company provided the first distribution channel between cruise lines and corporate America by providing cruise event management services for Fortune 1000 companies such as GE, Radio Shack, AFLAC, Motorola, Miller Brewing, EDS, and others who use travel to motivate peak performance.
Kling and Landry started their venture in New York City, with Kling responsible for marketing/media relations, finance, retail sales and administration. In 1988 the business relocated to Miami, Cruise Capital of the World. From a $26,000 start-up, annual sales have grown to $20 million by focusing on full-ship charters for incentive programs and high profile events such as the Jacksonville Super Bowl in 2005.
As a pioneer of corporate cruises, Kling became a virtual industry spokesman, speaking, writing, and appearing as a cruise expert (twice on NBC’s Today Show) and serving on cruise industry advisory boards. Landry & Kling Inc. is now one of the most highly visible and widely imitated companies in the incentive cruise industry.
Kling achieved an entrepreneur’s dream in 1998 when the company was sought after and purchased by a public company, Travel Services International, the first specialized distributor of leisure travel to be traded on Wall Street. In 2005 the partners completed the buy-back of 100% of the stock of the company.
Kling started her cruise career with Royal Viking Line in San Francisco. Later, in New York City, she was director of planning & research for Holland America Line, where she started a long friendship with Joyce Landry.
Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, Jo Kling graduated cum laude from St. Louis University, St. Louis, Missouri; with a BS in Psychology.
She serves on the advisory board for The Commonwealth Institute of South Florida, a non-profit organization founded to help women entrepreneurs build successful businesses. She’s also a family partner for Habitat for Humanity and helped launch their first Women’s Build in Vero Beach. In 2004 Kling was a delegate to the Riga Women Business Leaders Summit in Riga, Latvia, a business development initiative in the Baltic sponsored by the US State Department. Kling Also serves on the board of directors of a steel fabricating business in Cincinnati, Ohio
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Lisa A. Landy
President, TCI South Florida
Attorney, Akerman Senterfitt
Lisa A. Landy is an attorney at Akerman Senterfitt. Her industry experience includes Aviation, Banking and Financial Institutions. Miami Metro Magazine listed Lisa as 101 Women to Watch in 2001 and she was also listed in Who’s Who 2001 in International Business in Miami and South Florida. Lisa is also the author of “Autolatina Inter-American Law Review” in 1991. Lisa graduated cum laude from the University of Miami School of Law and has a B.A. from Brown University in International Relations.
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Susie Levan
Founder, CEO and Board Chairwoman, Work-Life Balance Institute for Women
Susie Levan is Founder, unpaid CEO and Board Chairwoman of The Work-Life Balance Institute for Women. The Institute publishes Balance Magazine, a eight-year old, quarterly lifestyle magazine that is passionate and committed to being the essential resource for today’s busy women ages 30-59. As Publisher, she is responsible for the editorial quality and for all the editorial content. Balance Magazine is totally digital via the Balance Magazine website and distributed in the three most diverse and affluent counties in South Florida: Miami/Dade, Broward and Palm Beach.
In addition, Susie and The Work-Life Balance Institute for Women take networking to the next level with Power Networking™ Luncheons. Susie has created a unique and dynamic atmosphere for women CEO’s, presidents, company owners and elite businesswomen to support one another with a distinctive networking process and information exchange. Women gain knowledge of new strategies, ideas, information sharing and expertise that cultivate new business relationships, strategic alliances and friendships. This is a high-energy, stimulating and powerful, networking process that encourages women to learn from top women in business, support one another and their businesses by building mutually beneficial business partnerships. She also has started an annual signature event, the Work-Life Educational Conference For Businesswomen whereby Balance Magazine comes “alive” with experts in the fields of Work-Life Balance, Business, Leadership, Health, Wealth, and Happiness. Scholarships are given to 5 deserving businesswomen at this event.
Her 25-year business career includes 16 years in the real estate syndication field where she was the Chief Operating Officer at the time of her retirement.
Susie is a member of
• Board Chair and Founder of The Work-Life Balance Institute for Women, Inc.
• Broward Workshop
• Board Member of the Tower Club
• NSU Farquahar School of Arts and Sciences-Former Advisory Board Member
• The Broward Women’s Alliance
• The Strategic Forum
• Board Member of The Children’s Foundation-Chris Evert Children’s Hospital
• 2006 Chair for American Heart Association – Go Red For Women Initiative
• Steering Committee of Speaking of Women’s Health
• Executive Committee Alexis de Tocqueville Society of United Way of Broward County.
• Founding and Executive Committee of Women’s Way of United Way Broward County (UWBC)
• Past Chairman of Shoes for the Soul, Inc.
• Facilitator/Moderator of the YPO Spouses Boca Forum
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Linda Paresky
Private Supporter, Founding TCI Board Member
Linda Paresky is an entrepreneur, educator and leader of women’s initiatives. A pioneer in the travel industry, Linda Paresky has profoundly impacted the business of travel. In 1965 she co-founded Crimson Travel in Cambridge, MA and, through internal growth, and later mergers, became co-chairman and owner of Thomas Cook Travel, USA, the third largest travel agency in the country. When American Express acquired Thomas Cook in 1994, she became a Senior Vice President of American Express.
Understanding the value of a skilled industry workforce, in 1975 she founded the Travel Education Center, a nationally accredited travel school that launched the careers of thousands of travel professionals. She also created the first accredited travel training program on the internet.
A noted industry columnist and advocate, Ms. Paresky served on many travel boards including the Research Issues Task Force of the White House Conference on Travel and Tourism, the Academy of Travel and Tourism and the Travel Business Roundtable. Working Woman Magazine and the National Foundation of Women Business Owners named her one of the “Top 50 Women Business Owners”.
From her roots as a graduate of a women’s college, she has been deeply committed to the notion of women helping other women. She is past chair of the board of trustees of Simmons College (a women’s college with graduate programs in education, business, social work, library and information science and health studies), and chair emerita of the Committee of 200 Foundation (an organization devoted to mentoring and supporting the next generation of women business leaders). She is a founding director of the Commonwealth Institute (which helps women entrepreneurs grow their businesses); a past chapter president of the International Women’s Forum; a director of the Thyroid Foundation of America; and former member of the Investment and Services Policy Advisory Committee (INSPAC) to the US Trade Commissioner.
She was a keynote speaker and national judge for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award, and has received numerous awards for leadership and service.
Ms. Paresky holds a bachelor’s degree from Simmons College, a master’s degree from Harvard University, a PhD from Boston College and is also the recipient of two honorary degrees. She and her husband have 3 children and 7 grandchildren.
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Toni Randolph
Private Supporter
Toni Randolph was founder of RANOR, Inc., a private label manufacturer and brand management company. Her customers included major retailers, Wal-Mart, K-Mart JC Penny and Petrie Stores.
Toni also served a 4-year term as a member of the Small Business and Agriculture Advisory Council of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Her responsibilities included reporting to the Federal Reserve System, Washington, on the economic conditions in industry, including relationaships with banks, problems facing small businesses to comply with new regulations, labor and inventory conditions, and long range planning for the industry.
She was also Trustee for the New York State Board of The Nature Conservancy; Trustee of New York Community Trust; Advisory Board Member of ALMA(Adult Literacy Media Alliance-TV411); Trustee of The RARE Center for Tropical Conservation; Chair of Mentoring Committee of the Women Venture Fund of New York; Co-founder of the African American Educational Center of New Jersey; Co-Leader of the African American/Jewish Relations Group of New Jersey; Advisory Member for the Black Retail Action Group(BRAG); and Board President of the Supportive Children Advocacy Network of New York(SCAN).
Toni now resides in Florida and is a Board member of; The Miami Art Museum(Executive Committee); United Way of Miami/Dade County and Co-Chair of United Way Center for Excellence, a national model for children 0-5; The Commonwealth Institute of South Florida(Executive Committee) helping women entrpreneurs, CEO's and Senior Corporate Executives build successful businesses; Funding Arts Network. She also serves on the advisory board and mentor for the Miami Fellows Initiative of the Dade Community Foundation; Co-Founder of Partners for Artisians international micro lending organization; member of the Links, Inc. of Greater Miami and member of the executive committee of the Florida Chapter of the International Women's Forum; Founder of Women for Girl Scouting as a Board Member of The Girl Scout Council of Tropical Florida.
Her other interests include golfing and birding.
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Sue Romanos
Vice President, TCI South Florida
President, CAREERXCHANGE
With over 20 years of experience in the Human Resources and personnel recruitment field, Sue Romanos has built CAREERXCHANGE® into the 28th largest diversity business in Florida. In 2004, CAREERXCHANGE was also named the 172nd top diversity business in the US.
In 1988, Sue founded CAREERXCHANGE in Miami, Florida. Through a combination of internal growth and acquisition, she has built CAREERXCHANGE into one of the most prominent organizations in its field. CAREERXCHANGE serves the South Florida market, and also provides staffing solutions to over 500 companies ranging from mid-size to large Fortune 500 corporations. The company’s success stems from its business philosophy as well: increasing performance, reducing cycle times, and improving return on investment in its client’s core business through use of a contingent workforce and qualified direct hire candidates. Last year CAREERXCHANGE provided jobs for over 2000 employees.
Sue is a Certified Personnel Consultant (CPC), a Certified Temporary Specialist (CTS), and a Certified Staffing Professional (CSP). Currently, she serves on the Executive Committee and is a founder of ANSERTEAM, the Alliance of National Staffing and Employment Resources. Enterprising Women Magazine has just honored Sue as Enterprising Woman of the Year for 2005. In 2002, she received the Business Woman of the Year Award from the South Florida Business Journal, in the Corporation category.
Sue has published numerous articles, and has been cited in both newspapers and national magazines. She has lectured at Nova, FIU and Miami Dade College. Sue is a resident of Weston, FL.
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Adriana Sanchez
Vice President, Goldman, Sachs & Company
Adriana is Vice President of Private Wealth Management in the Miami office of Goldman Sachs, one of the world's leading investment banks. Adriana has had a long and successful career advising families, individuals and institutions in South Florida and Latin America on investing strategies and comprehensive wealth management. Adriana is part of the Goldman Sachs Women's Network Steering Committee and the Recruiting Committee. Before joining Goldman Sachs, Adriana worked as a Senior Professional with Price Waterhouse in Boston and several international offices, where she worked mostly with clients in the investment management industry. Adriana obtained her MBA from Harvard Business School. She is actively involved with local community organizations, and serves on the Advisory Boards of the Girls Scouts of South Florida, Saludarte and The Commonwealth Institute of South Florida. She lives in Miami with her husband and two daughters.
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Penny S. Shaffer
Merket President-South Florida
BlueCross BlueShield of Florida
Penny S. Shaffer is Market President, South Florida, for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida (BCBSF). In this role, Shaffer is responsible for BCBSF business operations in Broward, Martin, Miami-Dade, Monroe, Palm Beach, St Lucie, Okeechobee and Indian River counties.
Before joining BCBSF in May 2006, Penny served as AT&T’s Vice President of Global Services for the Americas region (Canada, the Caribbean, Mexico, Central & South America). Throughout her 26 years at AT&T, Penny held various positions including responsibilities in sales, service, quality management and global operations. Internationally, she has lived and worked in Dublin, Ireland, Madrid, Spain, and Mexico City, Mexico.
Throughout her career, Shaffer has held leadership positions with various charitable and professional affiliations. She is currently a Board Member and active participant in several organizations including: The Commonwealth Institute; The Beacon Council; Take Stock in Children: The Orange Bowl Committee; The American Red Cross of Greater Miami and the Keys; The Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce; Miami Dade College Foundation; Florida FTAA; Miami Children’s Museum; The Work-Life Balance Institute for Women, Sister to Sister National Women’s Heart Day and others.
Penny has a Ph.D. in International Business Administration from Kennedy-Western University. She also has an International Executive M.B.A. from Fordham University’s program conducted in Dublin, Ireland and a B.A. in Political Science from Frostburg University in Maryland.
Penny serves on the:
- Advisory Board of The Commonwealth Institute
- The Leadership Council and as a mentor for Take Stock in Children, a non-profit mentoring and scholarship organization
- Board of The American Red Cross of Greater Miami and the Keys
- Board of Florida FTAA, Inc.
- Board of The Beacon Council
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Janá Sigars-Malina
President, Artissima Group, Inc.
Janá Sigars-Malina is Of Counsel to the law firm of Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg, P.A., as well as Director/Principal of Xebec Trade Finance Corporation.
Janá's legal practice has involved international commercial transactions and business law, including foreign and domestic intellectual property, licensing and distribution, product development and technology transfer, foreign trade and immigration work. She has represented national and multinational corporations as their domestic and international trademark counsel and has advised them regarding protection of their intellectual property rights through various legal vehicles including licensing, merchandising and distribution agreements, technology transfer and joint ventures. Janá has lectured extensively and authored numerous articles on topics such as U.S. and international trademark matters, intellectual property rights, product development, protection, distribution and licensing in the U.S., Latin America and Taiwan.
Janá's finance business, Xebec Trade Finance Corp., is a Miami-based international trade finance corporation that provides non-traditional financing and logistics services to multinational corporations. This includes purchase order financing, back-to-back letters of credit, export asset lending, and bank trade facilitation.
As part of her commitment to the business and cultural community, Janá serves on the Board of Directors of the Jay Malina International Trade Consortium and the Board of the Cultural Affairs Council, both part of Miami-Dade County Government. She also serves on the Board of Trustees of Fairchild Tropical Garden and on the Board of Miami City Ballet, previously serving as the organization's President for three years.
Janá was appointed by former Florida Governor, the late Lawton Chiles, to the Florida/São Paulo Sister State Cooperation Committee. She has served as the Chair of the Florida Bar International Law Section and as Southeast Regional Chair of the WIN Committee of the Section of International Law and Practice of the American Bar Association. She has served on the Board of Governors of the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce, was past Chair of the Chamber's Southern Cone Committee as well as past Chair of its Miami-Brazil Committee, its Export Development Committee and Editor of The Exporter, Miami's Guide to Export Resources. She is a member of the International Trademark Association Janá has co-produced the highly acclaimed musical comedy “Flamingo Follies.” She is a member of the Board of Lovewell Institute for the Creative Arts. Janá graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and received her law degree from the Cleveland-Marshall School of Law.
Janá has three-year-old twin daughters, Brezlan and Makenna Malina.
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Patricia Thorp
Secretary, TCI South Florida
President, Thorp & Company
Patricia Thorp is the president and founder of Thorp & Company. Her public relations and marketing consulting firm is one of the largest independent PR agencies in Florida and the Southeast. She has more than 20 years of experience managing successful public relations and marketing communications firms.
Patricia has developed integrated communications programs for leading telecommunications, computer hardware and software companies; the nation’s top professional services firms; and the world’s largest healthcare and pharmaceutical companies.
Prior to founding Thorp & Company, Patricia was vice president of public relations at one of the largest advertising agencies in Florida. Before this, she managed the Miami office of one of the largest PR firms in the world, where she was promoted from freelancer to general manager in less than three years.
Active in industry and community affairs, Patricia was the convening chair of the Communications Task Force for the Alliance for Ethical Government and is vice chair of the Chairman’s Circle of the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce. She is a member of the Counselor’s Academy of the Public Relations Society of America, the National Investor Relations Institute, the International Women’s Forum, Who’s Who in America, the International Who’s Who of Professionals, Metropolitan Registry’s Who’s Who and Strathmore’s Who’s Who. She was a member of the 2003 Gala Committee of the National Conference for Humanity and Justice. She is a charter member of the Small Business Leadership Commission, representing business leaders in Coral Gables, Florida. She has also served as chairperson of the Miami City Ballet’s marketing committee and the International Advertising Association’s events committee. She is a Fellow of Fairchild Tropical Garden as well as a member of the Garden’s Rare Event committee. Patricia also serves as Advisory Board member of Uniphyd Corporation.
Patricia earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Florida, where she majored in public relations, was named Outstanding Student of the Year and received four honors scholarships.
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