Global Connections - Haiti

When:

February 26th, 2010

8:00 -9:30 a.m.

Where:

Hotel Sofitel (5800 Blue Lagoon Drive, Miami FL 33126)

monthly open forum for South Florida’s multinational business community

We are not often given an opportunity on the scale of what we now have in Haiti.

Haiti, ravished last month by a monstrous earthquake that left more than 200,000 people dead and the hemisphere’s poorest nation immeasurably poorer, affords interested people, governments, NGOs and businesses the world over with the opportunity to get it right.

We can donate with dollars — and WorldCity will be donating 50 percent of all registration fees from this event — but more importantly, we all can also “do well by doing good.”

For us here in South Florida, we are uniquely positioned by geography and our strong bonds to Haiti and the Haitian people to wield a strong partnership/leadership role in making sure that the effort is neither short-lived nor misguided.

With that in mind, we have assembled a first-class panel:

Mark D’Sa is Senior Director of Gap International Sourcing Americas. Mark has been actively involved in Haiti since before the earthquake struck. As it turns out, the California-based retailer had already chosen Haiti as one of three nations in the world where it wanted to focus its sourcing efforts, a decision that has not changed. Mark, who has testified before Congress on Haiti, will be meeting with USTR Ron Kirk prior to the meeting.

Liz Alicea-Velez is the Executive Vice President for Latin America and the Caribbean for Western Union. Western Union plays a critical role in the remittance business in not only Haiti but all over the Caribbean, Latin America and the world. After the earthquake struck Haiti, Western Union had not only to get its communications ability back online, it had to locate its more than 200 agents in the island nation.

Joining Mark and Liz is Gary Goldfarb, Executive Vice President of WTDC. WTDC is a locally grown logistics and warehousing company that is handling supply chain needs for the Federal Aviation Administration, the Federal Emergency Management Administration and charities such as Save the Children. Particularly in the tense and frantic first few days, Gary and WTDC were working around the clock trying to get supplies in to Haiti.

Goldfarb / Alicea-Velez / D’Sa

I have also asked a representative of the U.S. Southern Command to provide an overview of its extensive efforts as well as one of our sponsors, Florida International University, which as created a task force.

If you represent either of our corporate sponsors, FIU’s Chapman Graduate School of Business or our new 2010 sponsor, the Waterford at Blue Lagoon, or if you see your company logo or name to the left and are either a Table Sponsor or corporate member, please respond to the invitation and RSVP.

If you are interested in registering to attend and are not a member or sponsor, please send an email to Tak Takasu at ttakasu@worldcityweb.com and make your payment arrangements. One half of the $75 admission price will be donated to a pooled fund dedicated to Haitian relief efforts.

I hope to see you on February 26.

Ken Roberts
President
(305) 441-2244