Small Business, Big Dreams: Women in Business Summit

1 North Fort Lauderdale Beach Boulevard,Fort Lauderdale FL 33304

27 October, 2021

Description

Small Business, Big Dreams: Women in Business Summit 8:30am – 9:00am: Registration & Breakfast 9:00am – 9:10am: Opening Remarks Lisa Shim, EVP, Consumer & Small Business Banking, BankUnited 9:15am – 9:45am: Breakfast Keynote Speaker Raquel “Rocky” Egusquiza, Vice President of Diversity, Equality and Inclusion, Miami Marlins Raquel “Rocky” Egusquiza is in her third season with the Miami Marlins, joining the organization in March 2019 as the Executive Director of the Miami Marlins Foundation. In January 2021, Ms. Egusquiza was named the organization’s first Vice President of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Throughout her career, Ms. Egusquiza has been an advocate for and active in creating a diverse working environment, while promoting multicultural efforts both internally and externally. In this new capacity, Ms. Egusquiza guides the Marlins’ efforts to continue to promote a culture with a variety of qualities, characteristics and unique experiences for individuals of all backgrounds, while fostering a feeling of belonging amid a community of support and collaboration. Alongside this reshaped function of the organization, Ms. Egusquiza continues her outstanding work as the Executive Director of the Miami Marlins Foundation. In overseeing both functions and working alongside recently appointed Vice President and Chief People Officer Beth Elletson, the Marlins continue to create and nurture a diverse and inclusive culture, on and off the field, creating meaningful impact for our staff, our fans, our players and our community. Ms. Egusquiza’s work expands the organization’s principles and action beyond Marlins Park and throughout the Marlins’ supplier and partner ecosystem. In her role as Executive Director, Ms. Egusquiza leads the Miami Marlins Foundation, with a focus on building strong partnership and engagement with the South Florida community. The Miami Marlins Foundation aims to impact South Florida’s youth by creating opportunities to stay active, achieve academic success, and build leadership skills through wellness and empowerment. She also oversees the community relations division as she creates, implements, and brings to market initiatives across the Foundation’s focus areas. Ms. Egusquiza joins the Marlins having most recently served as Vice President of Community Affairs for NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, where she oversaw corporate social responsibility, community engagement, and partnerships. A talented corporate social responsibility, diversity, and business strategist, Egusquiza combines her political, business, non-profit, and media industry expertise that spans 27 years to drive results. Her distinguished career also features assignments with world renowned brands like NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, AARP, Ford Motor Company and AT&T, where she held positions in corporate social responsibility, multicultural marketing, and government affairs. Her experience also includes time as Executive Director for the Dade County Legislative Delegation and as a Legislative Assistant in the Florida Senate. A native of Miami, Ms. Egusquiza earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from the University of Miami and an Associate of Arts degree from Miami Dade College. 9:50am – 10:55am: Guest Speakers Beverly Raphael-Altman, CEO & Chairwoman, RCC Associates Beverly Raphael Altman is an entrepreneur by nature with roots in the fashion/retail industry. Despite numerous opportunities to sell RCC following the death of her husband Richard in 1998, she instead defied expectations in a male-dominated industry and assumed the helm, growing the business from a respectable $20 million in annual revenue to over $100 million, and overseeing its expansion into 32 states. She has received numerous leadership distinctions, recently having been named one of South Florida Business Journal’s Ultimate CEO’s for 2017 and awarded an honorary doctorate from Nova Southeastern University’s H. Wayne Huizenga School of Business & Entrepreneurship, where she was previously inducted into the Hall of Fame. A businesswoman, mother, grandmother and philanthropist, Beverly lives in Boca Raton, FL with her husband, developer Joel Altman. Merritt Baer, Principal, Office of the CISO, Amazon Web Services Merritt (Twitter: @MerrittBaer) is a Principal in the Office of the CISO at Amazon Web Services. Merritt provides technical cloud security guidance to complex, regulated organizations like the Fortune 100, and advises the leadership of AWS’ largest customers on security as a bottom line proposition. She also helps build strategic initiatives for how AWS secures itself, running on AWS. Merritt has experience in all three branches of government and the private sector. Before Amazon, Merritt served as Lead Cyber Advisor to the Federal Communications Commission. She has also served at the US Department of Homeland Security, the Office of US Senator Michael Bennet, and the US Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces. Before joining the government, Merritt started a business advisory / legal practice, working with emerging tech companies. Merritt speaks regularly on infosec, including cloud computing, artificial intelligence and machine learning, quantum computing, and the future of the Internet. Her insights on business strategy and tech have been published in Forbes, The Baltimore Sun, The Daily Beast, LawFare, Talking Points Memo, and ThinkProgress. Her academic work has appeared in the journals of Temple, Georgetown, Santa Clara, UPenn, and UVA. Merritt is a graduate of Harvard Law School and Harvard College. She is admitted to the Bars of New York, the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, and the United States Supreme Court. Based in Miami, FL, she has been a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a National Security Fellow at the Center for New American Security, and a Cyber Fellow at the East-West Institute. She is founder of women’s tech expert network Tech & Roses; Adjunct Professor of Cybersecurity at the University of Maryland; a mother, and an amateur boxer. 11:45pm – 12:30pm: Lunch 12:30pm – 1:00pm: Lunch Keynote Presentation Molly Fletcher (from Leadercast series) Sponsored by SFBJ 1:05pm– 1:35pm: Guest Speaker Sandra Reus, Vice President, Sunshine Gas Distributors Sandra Reus has been Vice President of Sunshine Gasoline for 20 years, a family business that is also one of the largest gasoline distributors and retailers in the US. She began in Sunshine in early 2000, stepping into several roles throughout the years. Sandra oversaw the company’s expansion into Puerto Rico in 2002. In 2008 and 2009, Sunshine began a major expansion with acquisition of almost all BP and Shell branded locations in South Florida, followed by the buyout of 2 other distributors in South Florida in 2012 and 2016. Sandra was directly responsible for the financing of these transactions, as well as, all legal and operational transitions. Over the years, Sandra has been involved in the dynamic and ever-changing fuel industry, including being named to the Marathon Petroleum Advisory Council and a board member of the Florida Petroleum Marketers Association. As the daughter of a member of Operation Pedro Pan, she believes in helping in the local community and being involved in organizations such as Habitat for Humanity, Hope for Vision, and Miami Children’s Hospital Foundation. Sandra is a Miami native and a graduate of the University of Miami with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration in 1999 and her MBA in 2001. She is married to her husband, James, for over 18 years and has 2 sons, ages 11 and 15. 1:40pm-2:40pm: Networking Break 3:00pm – 4:15pm: Women in Business Challenge 4:15pm – 4:30pm: Closing Remarks Lisa Shim, EVP, Consumer & Small Business Banking, BankUnited Thank You to Our Sponsors!