WorldCity Business Magazine

WorldCity People

by Joachim Bamrud

Wendy’s Hartenstein promoted

Jim Hartenstein, who has worked as Wendy’s Miami-based regional vice president for Latin America the past seven years, has been promoted to international senior vice president. He will relocate to the company’s Dublin, Ohio-based headquarters.

Hartenstein’s successor is Ben Mansoor, who has worked as international franchise area director in the Latin America/Caribbean region and as country director in Argentina. His most recent position was as director of area operations in Sacramento, California, responsible for 21 Wendy’s restaurants.

Hartenstein goes from overseeing 178 Wendy’s restaurants in 14 countries and territories in Latin America and the Caribbean to overseeing nearly twice that number in 20 countries and territories located outside the United States and Canada.

The new international vice president joined Wendy’s in 1998 after holding senior marketing and regional management positions in the Latin America and Caribbean region with Goodyear, American Express and TNT Express Worldwide.

Hartenstein has a Bachelor’s degree in economics from Denison University in Ohio, and an MBA in international management from the American Graduate School of International Management (Thunderbird).

Prior to joining Wendy’s in 1997, Mansoor was the country director for a Pizza Hut franchisee in Argentina and headed up Pizza Hut’s operations in Puerto Rico. He holds a Bachelors degree in business administration from the University of Wisconsin.

Cole new Latin America head at palmOne

Brazilian native Valeria Cole has been appointed director of Latin America for palmOne, the top PDA vendor in the region. Cole succeeds Carlos deVries, who has joined Linksys, the company owned by Cisco.

Cole has worked at the company’s Miamibased Latin America office since 2000. Prior to that she worked with Compaq Computer’s Latin America division for five years and as a financial analyst for the Savoy Group.

She holds a master’s in business administration in International Business from Our Lady of the Lake University in Texas and a bachelor’s degree in business management from Le Tourneau University, also in Texas.

Alonso joins Crawford & Company

Nicaraguan native Mauricio Alonso has been named senior vice president and regional director of Crawford & Company International’s Latin America and Caribbean operations in Miami.

Prior to joining Crawford, Alonso worked as vice president of the Latin America claims division for AIG. His 20-year career in the insurance sector also includes working as claims manager for AIG in Mexico and Brazil and as regional director for AIG in Mexico. He has also worked as regional claims supervisor for Geico.

Alonso earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration management from Mercer University in Macon, Georgia and a master’s degree in international business administration from United States International University in San Diego, California.

Hemlock honored for piracy story

Doreen Hemlock, the Miami-based correspondent who covers international business for Sun-Sentinel, has been honored with an award from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers (Sabew) for an article on how Chinese piracy hurt a small Ft. Lauderdale firm, Uniweld Products Inc.

The story makes a complicated, international subject accessible to anyone, but also leaves the reader with the feeling that the situation is utterly hopeless, the jury said.

Hemlock last year reported how Uniweld re-engineered its products only to see Chinese copies appear again in weeks. The company even gets warranty claims for the Chinese knockoffs. She wrote the story while doing research to go to China last year with a Broward delegation.

While Microsoft, Gillette and other global giants spend millions annually to fight the massive problem, small- and medium-sized firms such as Uniweld generally lack the resources to pay legal fees and lobby for action that could protect their goods from the Chinese knockoffs that wind up elsewhere, Hemlock wrote in the article, titled Pirates still prey on small firms.

The article won in the category of enterprise for medium-sized newspapers (with a daily circulation between 125,001 and 250,000). Missouri based Sabew’s mission is to promote business journalism through education.

Ryder exec to head Mexico chamber

Eugenio Gene Sevilla-Sacasa, VP and Managing Director, Latin America at Miami based Ryder Systems, has been elected president of the United States-Mexico Chamber of Commerce’s Inter-American Chapter in Miami.

“His valuable experience, commercial trade skills and leadership will take our organization to a very superior level,” Elba Hentschel, the chamber’s executive director in Miami, said in a statement.

Prior to his current position, Sevilla-Sacasa served as vice president and managing director of Ryder Mexico and his education includes a bachelor of science degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering from the Instituto Tecnolgico de Monterrey in Mexico.

Hoffman returns from D.C., FTC post

After four years at the Federal Trade Commission in Washington, D.C., D. Bruce Hoffman has returned to Hunton & Williams’ Miami office as a partner and vice chair of the company’s Antitrust Practice Group.

At the FTC, Hoffman worked as deputy director of the Bureau of Competition, overseeing all antitrust enforcement activities, including investigations, merger reviews, litigation, and policy development.

He held direct supervisory responsibility for two of the bureau’s four merger divisions, including the International Antitrust Division.

He supervised several merger investigations, including the competing bids by Royal Caribbean and Carnival for Princess Cruises and GE/Vivendi Universal.

Ex-Penelas aid heads up new lobbying office

Javier Alberto Soto has been appointed vice president and general counsel for the Miami office of lobbying and polling company Dutko Worldwide.

Soto will head up the new office, which will serve Florida clients as well as play a role in Dutko’s expansion into Latin America, the Washington, D.C.-based firm says.

Soto has served as a chief of staff for former Miami-Dade County Mayor Alex Penelas and as transition chairman for current Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Alvarez.

Soto has also served as director of Intergovernmental Affairs for Miami-Dade County and began his career as a litigator in the Miami-Dade County Attorney’s office. Soto graduated cum laude in History and Political Science from Florida State University and earned his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center.

Dutko has also hired former Bush-Cheney campaign aide Michele Azel, who will join the Miami office as an associate.

Azel previously worked as the Miami-Dade regional field director for the Bush-Cheney presidential campaign in 2004, and as the executive affairs manager for the Florida Marlins baseball team.

IBM’s Di Leo promoted to Europe

Bruno Di Leo, who has overseen IBM’s Coral Gables-based Latin America headquarters since October 2002, will be moving to Europe to oversee the company’s global services division there.

His successor, Spanish native Juan Fernandez-Oliva, will be based in Sao Paulo. IBM has been gradually moving its operations from Coral Gables to Brazil and other markets in Latin America.

In his new job, Di Leo will be responsible for IBM global services in more than ten European, North African and Middle Eastern markets, where the company has announced it expects to make big cuts. Di Leo has worked with IBM for 29 years.

Fernandez-Oliva, a 16-year IBM veteran, previously headed the company’s global services division in Latin America, with operations in 11 countries and more than 10,000 employees.

The Spaniard, who has a degree in Industrial Engineering from the Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, has held a number of positions in the services division of IBM Europe, including vice president of IBM Global Services Latin America.

Port Everglades gets new director

Debbie Bowers, former Broward County Director of Real Property, has been appointed Port Director for Port Everglades following the resignation of Ken Krauter, who has served in the position since August 2002.

During her two-year tenure with Broward County, Bowers was responsible for overseeing a $400 million general obligation bond to purchase conservation and park land.

Prior to joining Broward County, Bowers was an independent real estate and environmental consultant in Chicago and was Vice President of Transactions Services and Corporate Real Estate for CAN, National Insurance Company in Chicago.

Bowers holds a law degree from Chicago-Kent College of Law, Illinois Institute of Technology and a Master of Business Administration degree from Florida Atlantic University. She graduated in 1982 from the University of South Alabama with a degree in chemistry.