DR.  RICARDO
KOMOTAR
MD, FAANS, FACS

Carlos A. Migoya has served as CEO of Jackson Health System since May 2011, overseeing one of the nation’s largest and most respected public healthcare networks. Jackson has the distinction of bringing world-class medical care – including the medical school faculty and students from the University of Miami and Florida International University – to a taxpayer-owned system that guarantees a single high standard of care for all residents of Miami-Dade County. The system is anchored by Jackson Memorial Hospital, one of the most respected hospitals in Florida. The system also includes three neighborhood community hospitals, Holtz Children’s Hospital/The Women’s Hospital at Jackson Memorial, Jackson Behavioral Health Hospital, the Christine E. Lynn Rehabilitation Center for The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis at UHealth/Jackson Memorial, two nursing homes and a network of urgent care centers, physician practices, and clinics. In his first year at Jackson, Mr. Migoya led a transformation that reversed years of massive losses, including an $82 million loss in the prior year, and produced a surplus of more than $8 million. It was the first time Jackson produced a surplus since 2006, and the system has earned an annual surplus every year since. At the same time, key indicators of healthcare quality and patient satisfaction improved, proving that public hospital systems need not choose between medical excellence and operational sustainability.

Mariandl Hufford is the first female head of school at Miami Country Day School, one of the top schools in the USA. Mariandl is the seventh head of the school, which is located in Northeast Miami-Dade near Miami Shores. The private, co-educational school has about 1,250 students from preschool to 12th grade. Previously, Hufford served as the assistant head of school and director of the Center for the Advancement of Girls at the Agnes Irwin School in Rosemont, Pennsylvania. Hufford grew up in Suriname and Belgium before attending Bryn Mawr College, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in classical studies. She holds three master’s degrees in teaching and curriculum, educational leadership and psychological services, from Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania, respectively. She succeeded James Connor, the interim head of school during the previous school year. Dr. John Davies retired in 2018 after 32 years, including the last 18 years as head of school. Miami Country Day was founded in 1938.

Dr. Nownes is an internationally renowned scholar on American Politics. His research focuses upon interest group politics in the United States. His book, Total Lobbying: What Lobbyists Want (and How They Try to Get It) was published by Cambridge University Press in 2006. He is currently working on a number of projects, including one that examines the role of lobbyists in the government procurement process.

Dr. Sandberg is Professor of Pediatric Surgery and Neurosurgery and is the Dr. Marnie Rose Professor of Pediatric Neurosurgery at McGovern Medical School/UT Health. He received his undergraduate degree from Harvard University and his medical degree from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He completed neurosurgery residency training at Weill Cornell Medical College at Cornell University and New York-Presbyterian Hospital. He was awarded the Resident Traveling Fellowship in Pediatric Neurosurgery by the American Association of Neurological Surgeons and the Congress of Neurological Surgeons. He completed this fellowship at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. After residency, he completed fellowship training in pediatric neurosurgery at the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. After 8 years on the faculty of the Miller School of Medicine of the University of Miami and Miami Children’s Hospital, he moved to Houston to become the Director of Pediatric Neurosurgery at the McGovern School of Medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. He holds a joint faculty appointment at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, where he is co-director of the Pediatric Brain Tumor Program. His major research interest involves novel delivery methods to treat malignant brain tumors in children.

Dr. Andrea J. Heuson has been on the Finance Faculty at the School of Business Administration at the University of Miami since 1982. She served as the Director of the International Finance and Marketing major from 1998 to 2008 and was appointed Academic Director of Real Estate Programs in 2009. Dr. Heuson has presented research at more than 100 academic conferences in her career and published articles on mortgage finance and other fixed-income markets in numerous academic journals while teaching valuation, international finance, management of financial institutions and real estate finance in undergraduate, graduate and executive level programs. Her research has appeared in Real Estate Economics, the Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, the Journal of Real Estate Research and the Journal of Housing Economics. In addition to her academic duties, Heuson serves as a consultant on all aspects of real estate brokerage and appraisal licensing for the State of Florida, including evaluation of licensing examinations and educational materials. In addition to her 2015 appointment as the Secretary of AREUEA, she is also the Treasurer of the Financial Management Association and is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Financial Research.

Paul A. Pavlou’s research has been cited more than 90,000 times by Google Scholar, and Thomson Reuters recognized him among the “World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds” based on an analysis of Highly Cited Researchers. Paul was ranked No. 1 globally in publications in top Information Systems journals from 2010 to 2016. He earned a Ph.D. in Information Systems and a master’s in electrical engineering from the University of Southern California, and a bachelor’s in electrical engineering and managerial studies, magna cum laude, from Rice University. In his former position as Dean of the Bauer College of Business at the University of Houston, Paul helped raise over $150M in philanthropic gifts and commitments. During his tenure, the Bauer College led all business schools by ascending 34 spots in the U.S. News & World Report rankings to become a Top 50 MBA program; climbed 44 spots in the online master’s programs rankings; joined the Top 15 public undergraduate programs by Poets&Quants; and ranked #1 undergraduate entrepreneurship program by The Princeton Review for five consecutive years. He also prioritized experiential learning and job placement through initiatives like the Office of Experiential Learning and various research institutes, while also enhancing community inclusion with programs such as the Center for Economic Inclusion, securing over $10M in philanthropic support.