L. Felice Gorordo
Gorordo in 2021
Born
Leonardo Felice Gorordo

(born 1982)
Miami, Florida, United States
NationalityAmerican
Alma materGeorgetown University
Complutense University of Madrid
Occupation(s)U.S. Alternate Executive Director of the World Bank
SpouseBianca Ferrer Gorordo[1]
Children3
Parent(s)Francisco J. Gorordo
Martha Gorordo Mohr (née Serra)[2][3]

Leonardo Felice Gorordo is an American entrepreneur, investor and advisor, most recently serving as CEO of eMerge Americas. On May 10, 2023, Gorordo was confirmed[4] as the United States Alternate Executive Director of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development for a term of two years. He is best known for his work on Cuba–United States relations through advocacy and public service. Gorordo previously served in the White House under Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush, and as an advisor to President Joe Biden's Cancer Initiative.[5][6][7]

Early life and education

Gorordo was born and raised in Miami, FL, to a Cuban-American family and attended Belen Jesuit Preparatory School.[5][8][9] From 2000 to 2001, he served as International Vice-president of Key Club International, an international service program for high school students in 38 countries.[6][10] Gorordo attended Georgetown University and graduated with a bachelor's degree in government in 2005.[9] He also studied at the Complutense University of Madrid in Spain.[11] While in college, he was an intern in the White House Office of Political Affairs during the Administration of President George W. Bush.[12] As a sophomore at Georgetown University, Gorordo co-founded (with a group of college students) Roots of Hope (Raíces de Esperanza), a non-profit focused on youth empowerment in Cuba through technology and entrepreneurship.[13][9][14]

Public service

Upon graduating from college, Gorordo served in the Administration of President George W. Bush as an aide to the U.S. Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez, and later as Special Assistant to the Director of the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services Col. Emilio T. Gonzalez.[15] From 2006 to 2007, Gorordo was detailed to the U.S. Department of State and served in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs.[16][17] He also served as an advisor to the President & CEO of Jackson Health System.[18] In 2011, Gorordo was appointed by President Barack Obama as one of fifteen White House Fellows.[19] From 2011 to 2012, he served as the White House Fellow to the President's Domestic Policy Advisor Cecilia Muñoz, and worked in the White House Office of Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs.[20] In this capacity, he worked on Latino and immigration outreach and led the organizing of the first “White House Conference on Connecting the Americas. ” The conference included the participation of then-U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, several cabinet secretaries and high-level business and government leaders from throughout the Americas in lead up to the 2012 Summit of the Americas.[21]

In 2021, Gorordo advocated for the passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and attended the White House bill signing ceremony with President Joe Biden.[22][23] America Magazine reported that Gorordo was under consideration to be appointed U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See by President Biden.[24]

As CEO of eMerge Americas, Gorordo has been instrumental in connecting Florida's major tech hubs of Miami, Tampa and Orlando in 2021 to work on a more open business environment for startup ecosystem building.[25] In April 2022, in collaboration with the U.S. Conference of Mayors, Gorordo helped to organize a conference for mayors and private sector leaders to discuss the ways cities can benefit from digital assets and blockchain technologies.[26]

On July 18, 2022, President Joe Biden nominated Gorordo to be the U.S. Alternate Executive Director of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.[27]

President Biden renominated him on January 23, 2023, to be considered under the new session of Congress.[28] Gorordo was favorably reported by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on December 7, 2022, and again on March 8, 2023.[29][30] The entire Senate confirmed his nomination on May 10, 2023 [31] In this role, Felice serves as a U.S. representative on the Board of the World Bank.[32][33]

Entrepreneurship

Following the White House Fellowship,[34] Gorordo joined Clearpath, (acquired by L1BRE), a venture-backed tech company focused on revolutionizing the paper-based immigration filing process – just as TurboTax transformed tax filing.[35] In 2014, he became CEO & President of Clearpath, which leveraged patented-technology to enable individuals to file their own immigration applications.[36] He established partnerships with LegalZoom, H&R Block,[15] and Univision,[37] and successfully sold the company in 2016 to L1BRE. After the acquisition of Clearpath, Gorordo served as CEO of L1BRE, a tech company with operations in the U.S. and Mexico.[38] In 2018, Gorordo was named CEO of eMerge Americas, a venture-backed platform which seeks to foster innovation and entrepreneurship across the Americas, and transform Miami into becoming the tech hub of the Americas.[5][39] In 2019, he led the organizing of the sixth annual eMerge Americas conference, which attracted more than 16,000 attendees and 400 participating companies from over 40 countries.[40] Gorordo also served as co-host for AOL co-founder and Revolution LLC's CEO & Chairman Steve Case’s “Rise of the Rest” Tour through South Florida in 2019.[41]

He also served as a venture partner at private equity fund I Squared Capital.[42]

Advocacy

U.S.- Cuba relations

In 2003, Gorordo co-founded Roots of Hope after traveling to Cuba for the first time with the purpose of building bridges between young people on and off the island.[43] He built and led a network[44] with over 5,000 students and young professional members across 50 universities in the U.S.[45] He also organized 10 youth leadership conferences at leading universities, including Harvard, Georgetown, Princeton, and Cornell. In 2009, Gorordo served as an advisor to Grammy winner Juanes and helped organize the historic "Peace without Borders" (Paz Sin Fronteras) concert in Havana, Cuba, with 1.2 million young people in attendance.[46] Gorordo contributed to the re-establishment of U.S.-Cuba diplomatic ties,[47] and accompanied then-U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry[48] to the re-opening of the Embassy of the United States, Havana in 2015,[49] and President Barack Obama[50] on his historic trip to Cuba in 2016[51] (the first sitting U.S. president to travel to the island since President Calvin Coolidge in 1928).[52] Following the peaceful protests in Cuba inspired by the song Patria y Vida on July 11, 2021, Gorordo, alongside a diverse group of Cuban-American community activists, was invited for the meeting with President Joe Biden to discuss the current political situation in Cuba and how to support the Cuban people to bypass the censorship and get access to free media and internet.[53]

Cancer Moonshot

In 2015, Gorordo and his mother participated in the pilgrimage trip to Cuba with Pope Francis, which led to her being blessed by the Pope[3] and reuniting with her family on the island after 46 years.[54][55] After losing his mother to pancreatic cancer, Gorordo became involved with then-Vice President Joe Biden’s “moonshot to cure cancer.”[56] In 2016, he helped in the organizing of the White House Cancer Moonshot Summits.[57] In 2018, Gorordo joined the Biden Cancer Initiative and led the organizing of more than 450 Biden Cancer Community Summits across the U.S. to focus national attention on creating actionable solutions in the fight against cancer.[18] In 2018, Gorordo also served as an Entrepreneur-In-Residence at StartUp Health, a venture fund and accelerator investing in “Health Moonshots” – like curing cancer – and building a portfolio of digital health companies in over 20 countries.[58]

Affiliations

Gorordo has appeared as a guest commentator on CNN,[59] BBC,[60] NPR,[61] MSNBC,[62] NBC Nightly News, Univision,[63] and Telemundo.[64] His views and articles have also been published in Forbes,[15] Newsweek, The Economist, The Hill,[65] The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post.[66] He previously served as Senior Fellow at the Georgetown University Beeck Center on Social Impact and Innovation.[13] Felice was selected to serve as a delegate for the 2020 Democratic National Convention. He also served as National Co-chair for Catholics for Biden[67] and member of the Biden for President National Finance Committee.[68][69][70] Felice serves as a Lifetime Member of the Council on Foreign Relations[71] and serves on the Democratic National Committee's National Finance Committee, Latino Victory Fund National Committee, and the boards of the American Business Immigration Coalition, the Immigration Partnership and Coalition Fund[72][73] and Baptist Health Foundation.[74]

Personal life

Gorordo is married to Bianca Ferrer and has three children, Catalina, David, and Marina Lucía. The Gorordos live in Miami, Florida.[2][3][1]

References

  1. 1 2 “Florida Residents Directory:"Leonardo Felice Gorordo”
  2. 1 2 “Mumu Fund”
  3. 1 2 3 Gomez, Ivonne (December 2, 2015). "Martha Serra Mohr, who inspired empowerment in Cuba, dies at 56". Miami Herald. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
  4. ↑ "L. Felice Gorordo — International Bank for Reconstruction and Development".
  5. 1 2 3 Rogers, Bruce (May 23, 2019). "Felice Gorordo Working To Make Miami A Global Hub For Venture-Backed Business StartUps". Forbes. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
  6. 1 2 John P. Dugan (2017). Leadership Theory: Cultivating Critical Perspectives. John Wiley & Sons. p. 186. ISBN 978-1-11886-430-2.
  7. ↑ “The Washington Times:"Topic - Felice Gorordo”
  8. ↑ “Wolverines: Belen Jesuit Alumni Magazine (Felice Gorordo - p.27)”
  9. 1 2 3 “A new voice in Miami: Felice Gorordo's Roots of Hope”
  10. ↑ “Key Club International:"Former Key Clubber starts his own nonprofit”
  11. ↑ "Universidad Complutense de Madrid Madrid Area, Spain: "Alumni US"". Complutense University of Madrid. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
  12. ↑ Vogel, Mike (April 30, 2013). "Snapshots of Florida's Hispanic Community". Florida Trend. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
  13. 1 2 “The Hoya: Rethinking social impact”
  14. ↑ “Kiwanis International Magazine:"Key Club Alum Felice Gorordo turns enthusiasm into action”
  15. 1 2 3 Joeveer, Mamie (March 14, 2015). "CEO Of Startup Hopes To Empower Legal Immigrants Through Online Document Filing System". Forbes. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
  16. ↑ “Cuba Study Group: "Felice Gorordo Profile”
  17. ↑ Schoon, Robert (January 29, 2014). "TurboTax for Immigration Paperwork: Clearpath's Latino CEO Seeks to Make the Process Easier". Latin Post. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
  18. 1 2 “Biden Care Initiative/Staff:"Felice Gorordo, Advisor”
  19. ↑ “The White House - Office of Communications:"WHITE HOUSE APPOINTS 2011-2012 CLASS OF WHITE HOUSE FELLOWS (September 7, 2011) ”
  20. ↑ Rabin, Charles (June 2, 2012). "Airport director says MIA's new immigration, customs facility faces federal staffing shortfall". Miami Herald. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
  21. ↑ “The Obama White House:"White House Conference on Connecting the Americas: Part 1”
  22. ↑ "Why this tech leader believes everyone can benefit from Miami tech". Miami Business Journal.
  23. ↑ "Infrastructure bill a bipartisan triumph. DeSantis should accept funds Florida badly needs". Miami Herald.
  24. ↑ "Who will Joe Biden send to Rome? 8 top contenders for U.S. ambassador to the Vatican". America Magazine. 12 April 2021.
  25. ↑ Coffey, Lauren (2021-11-18). "Synapse Florida teams up with Miami-based eMerge Americas to further boost Florida's startup scene". Tampa Bay Business Journal.
  26. ↑ Portero, Ashley (2022-03-16). "eMerge to host crypto summit with U.S. Conference of Mayors". Miami Inno.
  27. ↑ "Nominations Sent to the Senate". The White House. 2022-07-18.
  28. ↑ "L. Felice Gorordo — International Bank for Reconstruction and Development". Congress.gov. 2023-05-10.
  29. ↑ "PN148 — L. Felice Gorordo — International Bank for Reconstruction and Development". Congress.gov. 2023-05-10.
  30. ↑ "PN2387 — L. Felice Gorordo — International Bank for Reconstruction and Development". Congress.gov. 2023-01-03.
  31. ↑ "PN148 — L. Felice Gorordo — International Bank for Reconstruction and Development". Congress.gov. 2023-05-10.
  32. ↑ Portero, Ashley (2023-08-08). "Exclusive: eMerge Americas CEO steps down, successor named". South Florida Business Journal.
  33. ↑ "eMerge Americas Appoints President & Co-Founder Melissa Medina as New CEO". Yahoo Finance. 2023-08-08.
  34. ↑ “Talented Young People Are Choosing the Private Sector Over Government”
  35. ↑ Alcón, Maria Eugenia (May 15, 2015). "Clearpath CEO Felice Gorordo Aims to Simplify Immigration Applications". NBC News. Retrieved 20 December 2019.
  36. ↑ “St. Augustine:"Online firm seeks to become immigration “TurboTax"”
  37. ↑ “Arriba Valle Central”
  38. ↑ Reiser, Emon (June 5, 2018). "eMerge Americas announces new CEO". BizJournals. Retrieved 20 December 2019.
  39. ↑ “Miami Herald:"eMerge Americas conference is getting a new leader. The old one isn't going far”
  40. ↑ “Miami Herald:"Our success is Miami’s success.’ eMerge Americas to open with new leader, same vision ”
  41. ↑ “Miami Herald:"Former AOL head praises Miami startup scene: ‘There’s a hunger here, a scrappiness.”
  42. ↑ "Felice Gorordo". TwinGlobal.
  43. ↑ “Non-profit Quarterly:"Roots of Hope Charts a New Course for Cuban-Americans and Cuba”
  44. ↑ “BEST GRASSROOTS ORGANIZATION Raices de Esperanza (Roots of Hope) ”
  45. ↑ “Generation gap: Renewed ties expose painful Cuban-American rift ”
  46. ↑ “The Economist:" If music be the food of love...”
  47. ↑ “Gulf News:"Obama’s Miami connections helped smooth path to meeting with Castro ”
  48. ↑ “Miami Herald”
  49. ↑ “Millennial Monitor:" ”
  50. ↑ Adams, David (December 21, 2014). "Young Cuban-American groups emerge as Obama allies". Reuters. Retrieved 20 December 2019.
  51. ↑ “The White House - Office of the Press Secretary:"Readout of the President’s Meeting with Cuban-American Leaders”
  52. ↑ “Spring Break in Havana, Obama headed to Cuba”
  53. ↑ "Biden assures Cuban Americans, face to face, he is committed to empowering the Cuban people". Miami Herald.
  54. ↑ “NBC News:"Bridging the Gap With Young Cuban Generation through 'Roots of Hope'”
  55. ↑ “CNN:"Cancer victim returns to Cuba to see Pope Francis”
  56. ↑ “Miami Herald: Op-ed”
  57. ↑ “El Nuevo Herald:"A decisive battle against cancer”
  58. ↑ “Health Transformer:"From Pain to Peace & Purpose”
  59. ↑ “Improving Cuba's Internet Access”
  60. ↑ “US visa-free residency for Cubans ends”
  61. ↑ “Trump Cuts Back Travel, Remittances To Cuba. A Lot Of Cuban-Americans Won't Be Happy. ”
  62. ↑ “Generational divide among Cuban-Americans on US-Cuba policy shift”
  63. ↑ “Univision: Biden’s Case for Investing in Education”
  64. ↑ “Telemundo:"Comienza evento tecnológico "Emerge Americas 2019"”
  65. ↑ "This is our moment to end cancer as we know it". The Hill. 16 February 2022.
  66. ↑ “Young Cubans follow in footsteps of Payá and Cepero”
  67. ↑ "Biden y Trump en busca del voto católico". TeleMundo. 21 October 2020.
  68. ↑ Córdoba, José de (17 October 2020). "Trump Campaign Battles Democrats for Latin Votes in Florida". The Wall Street Journal.
  69. ↑ "Exclusive: Biden Campaign Spent $125 Million on Latino Voters, Who Helped Him Win Arizona". Newsweek. 7 November 2020.
  70. ↑ Univision: Biden campaign switches focus to November, asking who is the right man for a crisis?
  71. ↑ "Members of the CFR". Council on Foreign Relations.
  72. ↑ Miami Herald: Out front or out of sight, Rubio takes Miami heat for immigration work
  73. ↑ Impact: BOARD OF DIRECTORS
  74. ↑ "Foundation Leadership". Baptist Health Foundation.
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