ZOO MIAMI FOUNDATION (ZMF) PROUDLY ANNOUNCES ADDITION OF NEW BOARD OF DIRECTORS

The Board of Directors are integral to building financial fortitude and community for Zoo Miami Foundation and Zoo Miami

Zoo Miami Foundation announces addition of new Board of Directors dedicated to building financial fortitude and community for the foundation and Zoo Miami.  New members of the Executive Committee include Chair Jose Felix Diaz, Chair-Elect Alan Atkinson, and Treasurer Alexander Binelo.  Other new board members include Jason Bell, Javi Borges, James Carenza, Ricardo Garbati, Daniel Diaz Leyva, Joseph Salzverg, Daniel Sanchez, Eduardo Soto, and Fred Voccola*.  Further information about each member is below. 

 Our Chairman of the Board, Jose Felix Diaz is Executive Vice President of Ballard Partners and a partner of the Panza Maurer law firm. 

With more than a decade of legal experience at one of Florida's top law firms, Jose has represented various individuals, nonprofit organizations, and entities throughout South Florida and beyond. He was recognized as one of the “Best of Miami’s Legal Leaders” by Miami Today and as one of “Top 100 Lobbyists in America” by the National Institute for Lobbying & Ethics.

A four-term elected member of the Florida House of Representatives, Jose served as Chairman of the Miami-Dade Legislative Delegation and the Commerce & Regulatory Affairs Committee.  He currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the National Park & Recreation Association, the Parks Foundation of Miami-Dade, the Orange Bowl Committee, and the Millennial Action Project.  He resides in Miami with his wife, Therese, and their three children. 

Alan Atkinson joined Commvault as a Chief Partner Office in September 2022. He is responsible for all partners, alliances, distribution, and system integrators. Prior

to Commvault, Alan was at Dell for eight years. Most recently, he led Commercial Datacenter Sales and was the Commercial Sales CTO. Alan also sits on several charitable boards including the Engineering Technical Advisory Board at University of Pennsylvania, the

entrepreneurship board at University of Miami and the Board of Trustees at Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart. He holds a Master of Science degree in Computer Science from the University of Pennsylvania.

Alexander Binelo, CPA is a Partner at BDO.  He has been in the accounting profession since 2003 and has vast experience auditing healthcare organizations under Generally Accepted Accounting Principles as well as under accounting practices prescribed by State Offices of Insurance Regulation. Alex’s healthcare audit work experience includes various health maintenance organizations (HMO), hospitals, and durable medical equipment companies, amongst others. In addition, Alex has extensive work experience in the audits of various retail, wholesale/distribution, manufacturing, nonprofit, and sports and entertainment organizations.

Jason Bell, MBA is Assistant Vice President of Operations for Baptist Health Academics with responsibility over the Office of Academic Affairs, Business Education, Pharmacy Education, administrative project management and system-wide Green & Sustainability initiatives and is the Program Director for the Healthcare Administration Fellowship program.

Javi Borges serves as the Ernst & Young (EY) Miami Office Managing Partner leading more than 500 professionals across EY service lines of assurance, consulting, strategy and transactions, and tax services. In this role he strives to connect EY’s dynamic team to clients’ business strategies and to create an impact on our local community through meaningful skills-based volunteerism. He brings over 23 years of experience helping commercial and public sector organizations achieve their strategic, operational and risk management goals. To accomplish this, he leverages the collective power of our Global firm, which means clients
get the right resources at the right time in the right place – focused on building long-term, trusted relationships and delivering exceptional service. He also serves on the EY US-Central Region Partner Forum, a board of 18 Partners elected to represent the 4000+ Partners of the region to leadership and oversee governance of the firm.

James A. Carenza is a shareholder in Greenberg Traurig’s Miami office and concentrates on commercial real estate law. He represents clients located in Florida and throughout the United States in a broad range of commercial real estate matters, including the acquisition, disposition and development of vacant land, office buildings, multi-family residential properties, single family home developments, industrial parks and self-storage centers. Jim also has deep experience representing both landlord and tenants in office, retail, restaurant and industrial leasing matters, including ground leases. Furthermore, Jim represents his clients in the negotiation of restrictive covenants, property and asset management agreements, license agreements, easements, loan documents and security agreements.

 Daniel Diaz Leyva is an accomplished attorney licensed to practice law in the State of Florida and the District of Columbia. A trusted advisor with a broad range of transactional experience, he focuses on the areas of real estate and business. He co-founded boutique law practice Diaz Leyva Group representing owner-operators, investors, family offices and developers as well as bank and non-bank lenders. Diaz Leyva is also part of the law firm of Day Pitney LLP.

Ricardo Garbati is Senior Vice President for Private Banking at City National Private.

Garbato started working at Gibraltar Private in 2004 after graduating from the University of Florida. He worked with the Private Banking area until 2013 when he transitioned to City National Bank.

Joseph R. Salzverg is a Shareholder in Miami/Tallahassee area at GrayRobinson.  Salzverg is a Miami native with over a decade of experience in Florida’s political and public policy arenas.  He has served as a campaign manager and political consultant to several members of the Miami – Dade Legislative Delegation dating back to the 2010 election cycle. He continues to enjoy very productive relationships with members of the delegation.  Joseph currently lobbies Florida’s Legislative and Executive branches of government on issues including appropriations, food manufacturing and distribution, growth management and construction, health care, insurance, local government, regulated industries, and utilities.

 Daniel Sanchez is IT Director at the public accounting firm PAAST, P.L. for the last 17 years. Sanchez has extensive experience in network design, system implementation, backup and disaster recovery, virtualization, cloud solutions and information security. He oversees the network management of PAAST, P.L. and assists with various types of information technology audits including cybersecurity, application, management, data and internet security, and vulnerability assessments. Additionally, he oversees the operations of the affiliate IT consulting organization Genesis Systems Consulting, LLC. Sanchez also assists in the technology management of various client networks from many perspectives, including advanced support, systems consulting, security, and business continuity.

Eduardo Soto, Partner at Weiss Serota Helfman Cole + Bierman, practices in commercial real estate, commercial lending and transactional matters. He has substantial experience in all aspects of real estate-secured and asset-based loans, including construction loans, permanent financing, public-private financing, and borrowing base financing. He has substantial experience in representing both lead and participant lenders in syndicated transactions and other co-lending arrangements. He also regularly represents developers and investors in the purchase, sale and development of real property.

 Fred Voccola is the CEO of Kaseya, the global leader in IT and security infrastructure management software for small-to-medium businesses around the world. As CEO, Voccola has led the transformation of Kaseya and grown the organization to more than 4,500 employees worldwide. The company provides industry-leading solutions to over 40,000 organizations across the globe.

With an engaged and diverse Board of Directors, Zoo Miami Foundation can be an exemplary organization representing not only the needs of Zoo Miami but the community of South Florida. Through their leadership, we are committed to education, conservation, and integration with the community at large.

The new members join an established Board of Directors group that includes: Alan Atkinson, Mary Barley, Mayor Daniella Levine-Cava, John Chibbaro, Diane Dickhut, Eric Eikenberg, Will Elgar, Armando Fernandez, George Leser, Daniel Licciardi, Sharon MacIvor, Kathy McDonald, Bill Moore, Maria Nardi, Marc Osheroff, Samantha Pencar, Ann Pope, Merrett Stierheim, and Peter “Chip” Vandenberg. 

New board members began their term in the fall of 2022 for fiscal year 2023.  They can serve two three-year terms, for a total of six years.  There is an election between first and second term.