WorldCity Business Magazine

(6) WorldCity People

by WC

CONSULTING – John Price and InfoAmericas team join forces with Kroll

As 2007 came to a close, the investigations firm Kroll acquired Miami-based InfoAmericas, one of the top market intelligence firms specialized in Latin America. As a result, InfoAmericas founder and president John Price, a fixture on the speaking circuit in South Florida, is now managing director of Krolls newly-minted market intelligence division. InfoAmericas was launched in Mexico in 1993, expanded to Brazil and later set up its regional headquarters in Miami. All three InfoAmericas offices were incorporated into Krolls offices in the same countries.

InfoAmericas brings a new suite of market intelligence services to Krolls Latin American operations and consolidates Krolls position as one of the leading business intelligence firms in the region. Now Krolls clients can measure both the risks and opportunities facing their operations in Latin America. The idea of an integrated collaboration is not new to either firm, and is a natural outcome of over a decade of working together, said Price. We felt that this was the best moment to make that happen against a backdrop of economic growth in the region and growing demand for our services.

HIGHER EDUCATION – FIUs College of Business names Jerry Haar associate dean

Dr. Jerry Haar was appointed associate dean for international affairs and projects at Florida International Universitys College of Business Administration. Haar will coordinate the colleges international activities, including the development and implementation of a five-year strategic plan for international off-site program development, as well as externally-funded international research. Haar will serve as the international face of the college to its various advisory boards, to professional organizations and to the media. He will also support in fundraising for the colleges international programs and activities.

Dr. Haar has been serving as associate director of the Knight Ridder Center for Excellence in Management, as faculty director of the colleges International Business Honors Program, and on the faculty of the Management and International Business Department. A board member of the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce, he also is a Fellow of the Columbia Program on International Investment at Columbia University.

Before joining the college, Dr. Haar was director of the Inter-American Business and Labor Program at the North-South Center, University of Miami, and has held visiting appointments at Wharton, Harvard, Oxford, Stanford, and the American Enterprise Institute. He was also a research associate at Columbia University and a Fulbright Scholar at the Fundao Getlio Vargas in Brazil. He has written twelve books, published numerous articles and consulted for firms such as Exxon, IBM, Microsoft, Heineken, Ford, Shell and Merrill Lynch.

AIRLINES – Pablo Yunis appointed VP at LAN Airlines

LAN Airlines appointed Pablo Yunis as its new vice president North/Central America for the companys passenger division. Based at LANs North American headquarters in Miami, Yunis is directly responsible for the airlines passenger operations in the United States, Canada and Central America, overseeing sales and marketing, accounting and cost control, operations, reservations and ticket offices, government affairs, human resources, and the carriers sales agents throughout the region.

Yunis, who joined LAN Airlines 10 years ago, was most recently the companys Commercial Director for Europe, based in Madrid for almost four years. During his career with LAN, he has spearheaded the companys migration to e-ticketing, directed the U.S. call center operation and overseen sales for the southern region of the U.S. Yunis earned an industrial engineering degree and a masters in economics at the Pontificia Universidad Catlica in Santiago, Chile.

ARCHITECTURE – Ricardo Tao Feijo joins RTKL

The Miami office of international design firm RTKL has hired architect and business development veteran Ricardo Tao Feijo to strengthen the firms presence in the Miami market. Tao Feijo brings over 20 years of experience in business development, marketing, public relations, architecture and interior design.

Prior to joining RTKL, Tao Feijo served as the senior VP of business development for Miami-based Holly Real Estate. Tao Feijo has extensive experience in designing and implementing marketing strategies for the Latin American and European markets. As an architect, he has worked at Swanke Hayden Connell Architects in Miami, Barry Sugerman Architects in North Miami; A&P Arquitetura in So Paulo, Brazil and Beyer Blinder Belle in New York.

Tao Feijo is expected to play a fundamental role in the continued local and global growth of RTKLs workplace practice in Miami. Originally from Uruguay, Tao Feijo holds a MBA in Marketing and International Business from Barry University and a Bachelor of Architecture from CUNY City College of New York.

REAL ESTATE – CBRE promotes Paul Marko and Scott Allen

CB Richard Ellis promoted Paul Marko IV and Scott Allen to first vice president of the Fort Lauderdale office. Scott Allen joined CBRE in Tampa in 1996, while Paul Marko joined CBRE in Fort Lauderdale in 2000. In 2000, they established an office services team focused on the needs of corporate office occupiers, banks, professional and financial services, technology companies and law firms. In addition to single transactions, the brokers handle the needs of multi-market accounts, offering transaction management, lease/portfolio administration, project management and consulting.

Together, Marko and Allens transaction value is in excess of $1.6 billion. Markos career began as a commercial real estate appraiser and consultant. Prior to joining CBRE, he was an office tenant representative broker with Codina, Bush, Klein ONCOR International. Allens professional experience began in the in-house real estate departments of two national corporations, Intermedia Communications and Spherion. The assignments involved working directly with the corporate executives to strategize all facets of their real estate portfolios.

LAW – Holland & Knight names three South Florida partners

The global law firm Holland & Knight promoted 18 attorneys in various offices throughout the firm to partnership, including three in South Florida associate Eduardo Ramos and senior counsel Emma Cristina Solaun of the Miami office, and senior counsel Michael Taylor of the West Palm Beach office.

Eduardo Ramos, a member of the Litigation Section, practices in the areas of international and commercial litigation and arbitration and intellectual property. He received his B.A. from American University and his J.D. from Syracuse University.

Emma Cristina Solaun, a member of the firms Business Section, concentrates her practice in the areas of corporate and commercial law representing U.S. and foreign clients, with an emphasis on mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, intellectual property licensing, and venture capital transactions. She received her B.A. cum laude from the University of Illinois and her J.D. from the New York University School of Law.

Michael Taylor, also a member of the firms Business Section, practices in the areas of securities, mergers and acquisitions, venture capital and other corporate finance, and corporate governance. He received his B.A. with distinction from Stanford University and his J.D. from Stanford Law School.

Holland & Knight is among the worlds 15 largest law firms, with more than 1,150 lawyers in 17 U.S. offices. Overseas offices are located in Beijing, Tokyo and Mexico City, with representative offices in Caracas, Helsinki and Tel Aviv.

FOOD INDUSTRY – Burger Kings Marlene Gordon joins chamber board

Burger King vice president and assistant general counsel Marlene Gordon joined the board of directors of the Miami-Dade Chamber of Commerce. Gordon, whose career with Burger King Corp. (BKC) spans almost 10 years, will assist the board of directors in planning the chambers programs and initiatives.

The chambers board provides key counsel and leadership to help realize the chambers objectives. At BKC Gordon leads a team of lawyers and paralegals who are responsible for providing legal support to the companys global marketing, information technology and operations service functions. She also manages the companys global trademark and patent portfolios. In 2006, she received BKCs Crowning Achievement Award for her outstanding work and accomplishments in support of the companys Go Forward Plan.