Team

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XAVIER CORTADA

CHAIR AND ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

Xavier Cortada is a Cuban-American artist who has used art to engage communities across six continents in addressing social and environmental concerns over the past three decades. He is a Professor of Practice at the University of Miami Department of Art and Art History, with secondary appointments in the School of Law and the MIller School of Medicine’s Department of Pediatrics. Recently named Miami-Dade County’s inaugural Artist-in-Residence, Cortada has served as Chair of the Miami-Dade Cultural Affairs Council, Vice Chair of the Florida Arts Council, on the executive committees of the Community Relations Board and Regis House, and on the boards of South Arts and the University of Miami Alumni Association. His studio and social practice are based at Pinecrest Gardens, South Florida’s Cultural Arts Park.

JUAN CARLOS ESPINOSA

VICE-CHAIR

Juan Carlos Espinosa is a political scientist with degrees from the University of Miami and Florida State University. He is currently Dean and Faculty Fellow of the Honors College at Florida International University. Espinosa has taught numerous freshman and upper division seminars, most recently “Climate Change and Public Policy,” a two-semester course that blended climate science, literature, and community-based research. Espinosa is a national leader in interdisciplinary Honors education arguing an academic major does not give students sufficient preparation for life after college. A critical part of the reform is the tearing down of the wall between the curricular and the co-curricular and providing students with opportunities for experiential learning through internships, jobs, competitions, and projects.

LYDIA MARTIN

SECRETARY

Lydia Martín is an award-winning fiction writer and journalist who spent 25 years covering Miami’s growth and cultural evolution for The Miami Herald, as both reporter and columnist. Born in Havana and raised in Yonkers, Chicago, Flint and Miami, she was part of the Miami Herald team that won a Pulitzer Prize for coverage of Hurricane Andrew. Martín, a Yaddo, MacDowell and Bennington College fellow, has a BA in English and journalism from the University of Miami and an MFA in creative writing from Bennington College.

ANTHONY BAILEY

TREASURER

Dr. Anthony Bailey is the founding dean of the USC Bovard College and he also serves as the Vice President for Strategic and Global Initiatives at the University of Southern California. Before joining USC in 2011, Dr. Bailey led Kaplan International Colleges, a chain of 44 schools with operations across 20 countries, and earlier worked as a group brand manager at the Ford Motor Company and a marketing analyst at PortMiami. He started his career at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and he remains an active scientific diver and member of the American Academy of Underwater Sciences. Bailey received his BA and MA from the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science at the University of Miami, his MBA from the University of Virginia’s Darden Graduate School of Business Administration, and his doctorate in higher education management from the University of Pennsylvania.

FRANK JIMENEZ, ESQ.

DIRECTOR

Frank R. Jimenez is General Counsel of GE HealthCare, a NASDAQ 100 medical technology company. He previously served as the general counsel for NYSE-listed companies Raytheon Technologies Corp., Raytheon Co., Bunge Ltd., Xylem Inc. and ITT Corp. In prior public office, Frank served as the 21st General Counsel of the Navy, Chief of Staff of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and Deputy Chief of Staff and Acting General Counsel for Florida Governor Jeb Bush. He serves on the Board of Directors of Fortune 500 company HII (Huntington Ingalls Industries) and of the non-profit Equal Justice Works. He is a graduate of the University of Miami, the Yale Law School, the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, and the U.S. Naval War College.

JORGE MURSULI

DIRECTOR

Jorge Mursuli currently serves as executive director of Florida Gulfshore Ballet. Over his career, he has led a variety on non-profit initiatives. In 1998, Mursuli led Safeguarding American Values for Everyone (SAVE) before joining People For the American Way (PFAW) Foundation in 2001, becoming National Vice President of Hispanic Affairs. In 2004, Mursuli created Democracia USA, a non-partisan civic engagement organization that grew to become one of the most recognized Hispanic voter empowerment in the nation. He founded the Latino Donor Collaborative and co-founded both the Florida Alliance and Arms with Ethics. He received his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Florida where he was tapped as a member of Florida Blue Key. Mursuli is a Rockwood Fellow, class of 2007.