MANAGEMENT TEAM
LESLIE PANTIN, JR., President
In
2000, Leslie Pantín, Jr. became president of Pantín/Beber
Silverstein/Public Relations, a strategic alliance between
The Pantín Partnership, founded in 1988 by Pantín,
and JGR + Associates, founded in 1983. This alliance,
part of the Beber Silverstein Group, produced one of Florida’s
largest Public Relations agencies, representing, among
others, McDonald’s, Ford Motor Company, American
Airlines, Merrill Lynch, and Univision (www.pantin-beber.com).
He is a member of the Counselors Academy of the Public
Relations Society of America, consisting of just 1,000
professionals from around the world.
A
native of Havana, Cuba, Pantín began his career
with his family’s insurance agency. His unique introduction
to the world of public relations and special events came
in 1977, when he and friends created Calle Ocho, the World’s
Largest Block Party (www.carnavalmiami.com).
This event has evolved into the 10-day festival known
as Carnaval Miami, organized by the Kiwanis Club of Little
Havana, one of Miami’s most active civic organizations.
Pantín was the founding president and served for
25 years as a director. He also served as the chairman
of the Kiwanis International Convention in Miami in 2000,
with 10,000 visitors. Pantín is a past president
of the Inter-American Business Association (AIHE), the
oldest Hispanic business group in Miami.
In
1999 Pantín conceived CubaNostalgia, an annual
expo of the Cuba of yesteryears. The annual weekend event
attracts 30,000 people, as well as prestigious sponsors.
In 2004, it was named one of the Top Ten events in Florida
by BizBashFla Magazine, and
one of the Top 20 events in the Southeastern United States
by the Southeast Tourism Society. In her coverage of the
event, Pulitzer Prize winner Liz Balmaseda of The
Miami Herald called Pantín, “Miami’s
marketer extraordinaire.” (www.cubanostalgia.org)
Client
Merrill Lynch wanted an event that would cater to the
upscale market. In 2003, Pantín created Merrill
Lynch arteaméricas—the first art fair to
focus exclusively on art from Latin America. The annual
fair attracts more than 50 of the most prominent art galleries
from around the world dealing with art from Latin America,
and has become the premier fair of art from the Americas.
(www.arteamericasmiami.com)
Pantín
is actively involved in a host of civic organizations,
community affairs, and special events in the South Florida
region. In 1997, he served as president of the Orange
Bowl Committee, which hosted college football’s
National Championship game, and is the founding chair
of the Orange Bowl Foundation (www.orangebowl.org).
He also is a past member of the Miami Business Forum (formerly
the Non-Group): Miami’s preeminent civic association.
In 1996, he co-chaired the City of Miami Centennial and
actively campaigned for the Safe Neighborhood Parks Act,
a $200 million bond program which won approval from voters.
In the past, he has held leadership positions for events
such as the Summit of the Americas (where President Clinton
hosted 31 heads of state from Latin America), Super Bowl
XXIII, the Miss Universe pageant, the 1987 Papal visit,
and The Breeders Cup.
A
Florida State University business school graduate, as
well as Oklahoma St. Gregory’s College, Pantín
has been awarded the highest alumni award from both institutions.
He graduated from Miami’s Columbus High School.
Pantín has almost two decades of experience in
the insurance field and is an active member of Miami’s
thriving business development community. He has served
on the board and the executive committee of Barnett Bank,
South Florida, then Florida’s largest bank, and
on the advisory board of NationsBank Dade and Monroe.
In 2004, he was an organizer and is a director of Great
Florida Bank which set a U.S. record of raising $60 million
in start up capital (www.greatfloridabank.com).
He also serves on the advisory board of AvMed Health Plans.
Pantín
has served on the executive committee of the Greater Miami
Chamber of Commerce, where he is a past vice-chairman,
and currently serves on the Board of Governors and as
director of One Community: One Goal, which is the agency
responsible for Miami-Dade’s economic future. On
a statewide level, Pantín served as an executive
committee member of the Florida Chamber of Commerce and
is currently on its Board of Governors.
Pantín’s concern for education has led him
to his current post as chairman of the board of trustees
of Barry University, a women-founded institution with
more than 8,000 students attending its main campus in
Miami Shores and law school in Orlando (www.barry.edu),
and is on the advisory board of Our Lady of Lourdes Academy.
He has also served on the boards of Florida State University’s
Alumni Association, Foundation, and Seminole Boosters.
He served on the board of directors of St. Thomas Episcopal
Parish School. In April 1992, Governor Lawton Chiles appointed
Pantín to the board of trustees of Miami-Dade Community
College.
Pantín
is a member of the South Florida National Parks Trust,
which supports the Everglades, Biscayne, and Dry Tortugas
National Parks, Trust for Public Land’s South Florida
Advisory Council and of the Dade Heritage Trust’s
Board of Advisors. In 1999 the Chief Justice of the Florida
Supreme appointed him to the Florida Judicial Management
Council. Pantín was on the board of directors of
the Collins Center for Public Policy.
As a 44-year
resident of Miami, Pantín is committed to his hometown
and its unique diversity. He continuously pursues and
develops programs through his business and affiliations
which benefit South Florida’s various communities.
He is a member of CAMACOL (the Latin American Chamber
of Commerce), and is an advisor and honorary board member
of the Black Executive Forum. In 1995, he served on an
ad-hoc committee, which helped Cuban rafters settle as
productive workers in the United States. Later that year,
he led the effort to bring Super Bowl XXIX to the neighborhoods
of South Florida by developing the McDonald’s Super
Bowl Huddles, day long clinics for underprivileged children
featuring NFL players at local city and county parks.
In
1988, The Miami Herald identified
Pantín as one of the 18 private citizens who have
shaped Miami, and in 1993 as one of the 100 people to
shape the history of South Florida. In 1998, Pantín
was among seven individuals awarded the Spirit of Excellence
by The Miami Herald.
Pantín,
Jr. lives in Coral Gables, where he attended elementary
school, with his wife Martha, and two children.
back
EMILIO CALLEJA: Vice President
A native of Havana, Cuba, Calleja has had a well-rounded
business and civic career in the City of Miami and South
Florida. As co-founder and executive director of the Downtown
Miami Business Association in 1977, he recruited and organized
downtown retailers, property owners, hoteliers and professionals
to form a representative group that promoted and lobbied
for downtown interests. While there, Calleja put together
major advertising campaigns for downtown businesses, lobbied
city and county government for better services and organized
special events such as the Downtown Summer Fiesta for
the central business district.
After five years as executive director, Calleja left to
join Miami Motorsports to work in sales and marketing
for the Grand Prix of Miami. This event, which ran through
the streets of downtown Miami, became a world-class street
race that received major media coverage throughout the
globe. Calleja sold major corporate sponsorship to national
and international companies, put together their signage
packages and media exposure and directly supervised all
hospitality and exhibition areas for the entire track.
Calleja has been involved in many civic organizations
such as the Citizen's Crime Commission of Greater Miami,
and he was one of the original co-chairmen of Crimestoppers.
He has served on the board of directors of the Bayfront
Park Management Trust, the Latin Orange Festival Council,
the Minority Affairs Committee of the Council of Arts
and Sciences, is an alumni of Leadership Miami and is
currently Vice President of the Board of Directors of
the Bayside Merchants Association.
Calleja has lived in Miami for forty years. He attended
Miami-Dade Community College and the University of Miami.
For the past twelve years, he has been in the restaurant
business as co-owner of Mambo Cafe in Coconut Grove and
Bayside and Snappers in Bayside.
As a founder and partner of CubaNostalgia, the quintessential
Cuban event of our generation, Calleja brings a passion
and love for all things Cuban that will serve as an inspiration
to our children and their heritage.
Emilio and his wife, Liliana (Nuñez) have three children:
Luis, Cristina, and Andrés.
back
|
