The Education Fund provides private sector leadership for innovation in public education.  We design and implement initiatives that involve the entire community in improving our schools. Our work reaches all 390+ schools and all 22,000+ teachers in Miami-Dade County Public Schools, benefitting thousands of students.

Executive Committee

Co-Chair - Patricia Fernandez-Lefebvre - Chief Retail Banking Executive - BankAtlantic

Co-Chair - Barbara L. Romani, Regional Director South Community Relations, Global Community Relations - Citi

Vice Chair - Roland B. Garcia, Sr., President- Original Impressions, LLC

Secretary- Nelly Rubio, Director, Community Relations - WFOR-TV/CBS4/WBFS/My33

Treasurer - Hector J. Ponte, Community Bank President, Dade/Broward Countyline - Wachovia Bank, N.A.

At-Large - Lisa Sloat, Consultant - Public Relations/Marketing

Immediate Past Chair - Gary M. Pappas, Shareholder - Carlton Fields

The Education Fund - Linda Lecht - President

Board Members

Ian Abrams – Sr. Vice President - Golin Harris

Rolando Aedo – Sr. VP Marketing & Tourism - Greater Miami Convention & Visitor Bureau

Karen Aronowitz - President - United Teachers of Dade

Hugo P. Arza - P.A. - Hugo Arza P.A.

Bob Balsam - General Manager - Miami Beach Convention Center

Brenda Bassett - Cefalo's International Wines, LLC

Michael Bell - School Reform Program Director - Nova Southeastern University

Robert M. Brochin - Partner - Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP

Marty Brown - Sr. VP, CIO - PBS&J

Alberto Carvalho - Superintendent - Miami-Dade County Public Schools

Scott Deutsch - President - Orange Clothing Company

Patricia Fairclough - 2010 Teacher of the Year - Air Base Elementary School

Larry Feldman - Board Member - School Board of Miami-Dade County

Betsy H. Kaplan - Civic Leader

Teresa King Kinney - Chief Executive Officer - Realtor Assoc. Of Greater Miami & The Beaches

Myrna Palley - Civic Leader

Lucy W. Petrey - Civic Leader

Ileana Carrera Portal – Sr. VP Marketing Director - US Century Bank

Angela Ramos - Program & Public Affairs Director - Univision 23/Telefutura 69

Kerry Lynn Rapport - Managing Director - Bessemer Trust Company

Raj Rawal – Sr. VP & Chief Information Officer - Burger King Corporation

Cheryl Rees – Sr. VP & Marketing Director - Ocean Bank

Douglas Rodriguez - 2008 Principal of the Year - Miami Central Senior High

Waldo Romanovski - First VP – Reg Manager - WaMu/JP Morgan Chase

Daniel Rosenthal - Chief Executive Officer - UnitedHealthcare of Florida, Inc.

Mitch Shapiro - Partner - Beber Silverstein Group

Anita Sharma - Sr. Director Business Systems - Florida Power & Light

George A. Torres - Sr. Director, Corp Com. & Dev. - Dolphins Enterprises, LLC

Highlights of foundation programs:    

·        $35.5 million raised for public schools;

·        10,000+ refurbished computers and training for low-income students and their families;

·        400 at-risk children provided an opportunity to grow their own food, resulting in an 80% increase in children eating vegetables and a 50% decrease in unhealthy food consumption;

·        1.2 million trilingual Parent Resource Guides distributed;

·        $2 million in individual classroom grants to teachers in more than 1,000 classrooms;

·        $3.4 million leveraged for one of the nation's most comprehensive leadership development programs for secondary school administrators;

·        $526,000 for public schools' visual arts programs;

·        $5.6 million in free supplies distributed during 15,040 teacher visits to our reuse-and-recycle center, benefitting 526,000 students.

Updated:  8/10/09