28 November 2011

The Beacon Council, Miami-Dade County’s economic development arm, named attorney Alan Becker, managing partner of Becker & Poliakoff, chairman for its 2011-2012 year.

He has served on the agency’s board since 1996 and has been a member of its executive committee and the international committee. Most recently, Becker has been focused on helping the Beacon Council work to launch the Miami International Aerospace Show (MIAS),  a commercial trade show geared toward airplane and parts manufacturers, airlines, the military and others.

He’s to also focus on growing South Florida’s burgeoning bioscience sector, “and helping the community address the issues involved in potentially expanding gaming,” according to a press release. Beacon Council President and CEO Frank Nero has advocated a closer, more critical look at the impact of gambling in Miami-Dade, should Malaysian gambling giant Genting Group receive permission to build a 5,000 room hotel with attached casino in downtown Miami.  Though he’s publicly discussed many of the drawbacks of gambling, the Beacon Council has yet to take an official position on the issue.

Becker started his career as an assistant public defender and served as a Florida state representative from 1972 to 1978. He opened Becker & Poliakoff in 1973, which today has more than 135 attorneys in offices in throughout Florida as well as New York, New Jersey, Washington D.C. and Prague.

The Beacon Council is a public-private partnership funded by Miami-Dade County and the private sector that focuses on economic growth by working to help local businesses expand and attract new business from around the nation and world to relocate or open offices in Miami-Dade County.

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