Members

Riqui is an associate financial advisor at PNC Wealth Management in Chicago. He sits on a team of investment advisors and relationship strategists who assist multigenerational families accumulate and manage their wealth. Riqui is also the founder of CHOMP Cancer, a charitable fund benefiting the Palliative Care Program at UF Health/Shands Hospital. Riqui was born and raised in Miami, Florida where he attended Ransom Everglades High School. He went on to receive a B.A. in finance, cum laude, from the University of Florida and is now a Certified Financial Planner and an MBA candidate at the Northwestern Kellogg School of Management.

Jordan Valdés is a senior director in APCO Worldwide’s Global Solutions practice and part of the headquarters leadership team. Based in the firm’s Washington office, Ms. Valdés is an international public affairs expert and assists clients on a wide range of issues from international crises to campaigns changing public perceptions.

Ms. Valdés guides a team of global public affairs strategists who have a blended approach to external affairs, focusing on the integration of seamless government affairs strategies with effective communications and media savvy. Ms. Valdés has advised corporates, sovereign governments, trade associations and individuals on their engagements with Congress and the Executive Branch, media, and the think tank communities. Ms. Valdés’s work has resulted in top-tier media placements for her clients, meaningful and lasting partnerships with government agencies, and an advocacy footprint in Congress that have ultimately improved her client’s relationships and reputations.

Prior to joining APCO, Ms. Valdés served as senior vice president for the Podesta Group, where she developed international government relations and strategic communications campaigns. A political appointee in the Obama Administration, Ms. Valdés served as a senior advisor for the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Office of International Trade before joining the Podesta Group. During her time with the administration, she represented the SBA at the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations and developed key messaging and communications for the agency. Ms. Valdés started her career in journalism in the Middle East. She has advised political campaigns from the local to the presidential levels on their foreign affairs and communications strategies.

Ms. Valdés is a graduate of the University of Miami and holds a master’s degree from Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. A first-generation Cuban American, she has been named a 40 Under 40 Latinos in American politics. Ms. Valdés is fluent in Spanish and French and trained in Arabic and Italian.

Adam San Miguel is a social entrepreneur, civic leader, and soldier. As CEO of Cortaditos, Adam owns and operates five Cuban style coffee shops in New Jersey with over 60 employees. Also, as founder and chairman of the Cuban American Alliance for Leadership & Education, a local nonprofit organization recognized as the Nonprofit of the Year by the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of NJ in 2020, Adam leads scholarship giving and leadership development programming for over 100 students. Prior to opening Cortaditos, Adam spent over a decade in the technology sector working for Google, Microsoft, and Dell, where his responsibilities covered Enterprise Sales and Technology for Social Impact. Also as civic leader, Adam is a member of the Cuba Study Group, a Miami based non-profit organization aimed at promoting civil society development in Cuba. Also on the international stage, Adam is a member of the Cuba Emprende Foundation, a non-profit charitable organization that supports the Catholic Church of Cuba’s Proyecto Cuba Emprende in offering entrepreneurial training and business advisory services to Cuban entrepreneurs. Adam is also a Maritime Enforcement Specialist in the United States Coast Guard reserve. Adam earned a B.A. in finance from Monmouth University, where he also holds the school record for most receptions in a single season as well as career (Football), a B.S in Spanish from New Jersey City University, and an MBA from Fordham University.

Andrew Otazo is the former executive director of the Cuba Study Group. He previously worked as a Harvard Business School casewriter and assistant to former Mexican President Felipe Calderón. He also interned at the U.S. State Department’s Office of Andean Affairs. Andrew attended West Point for two years before graduating from the University of Miami with a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree.

Andrew has published over 30 pieces, including business case studies, scholarly articles, white papers, op-eds, and press releases.

Monica is currently the Director of Special Projects at eMerge Americas, which serves as a catalyst for transforming Miami into the tech hub of the Americas and fostering innovation and entrepreneurship throughout South Florida and Latin America. In 2018, eMerge’s annual conference brought together more than 15,000 attendees from over 400 participating companies and 40 countries. Monica leads the year-round startup programming at eMerge Americas and hosts startup competitions around Latin America and the Southeast US.

Monica holds a bachelor’s degree from Babson College in Business Administration and Entrepreneurship, with concentrations in Human Rights and Global and Regional Studies. She remains a part of her alma mater by serving as an Interview Ambassador for potential students throughout the year. Since 2008, Monica has been a part of Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Children’s Cancer Fund and continues to be an advocate for patients and families undergoing treatment. In her spare time, Monica enjoys traveling and collecting contemporary art.

Ms. McKeague is a Director and member of McLarty Associates’ Latin America practice. Previously, she served as Director of Government Relations at Council of the Americas, and as a Legislative Assistant for the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Ms. McKeague was also a consultant for Freedom House, and an electoral observer for the Organization of American States. She was a Nancy S. Reynolds Scholar at Wake Forest University, with a BA with honors (cum laude) in Political Science and Spanish. She has an MA in International studies from Universidad Torcuato Di Tella.

Natalia Martínez-Kalinina was born in Cuba and grew up in Havana, Moscow, and Mexico City before being granted asylum in the United States. She is an organizational psychologist and holds degrees from Harvard University and Columbia University. She works primarily at the intersection of entrepreneurship, technology, economic progress, and urban development and is deeply passionate about connecting across geographies, access gaps, and narratives of otherness.

Most recently, Natalia is founding Principal at NMK Group, where she advises clients on economic development, human capital design, and impact strategy. Previously, she was the Founding General Manager and Latin America Lead for Cambridge Innovation Center and Chief Innovation Officer at Roots of Hope.

Natalia has also been the founder of Awesome Foundation, Aminta Ventures, and Immigrant Powered, among other organizations. She has been a contributor to outlets such as The Huffington Post, the World Economic Forum, Mic, and La Nación, The Miami Herald.

Stephanie Grayson is an investment associate at Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Company (KKR), where she is a member of the Real Estate team. Previously, Stephanie worked at Goldman Sachs in the Alternative Investment and Manager Selection group, where she focused on real estate private equity investing. Prior to joining Goldman Sachs, Stephanie worked in commercial real estate financing and Latin American debt capital markets at JP Morgan. Before joining JP Morgan, Stephanie spent time at Brunswick Group consulting for a variety of clients, including a number of large Latin American financial institutions. Stephanie graduated from Harvard University with a degree in Government and Economics. During her time at Harvard, Stephanie served as President of the Harvard Cuban-American Undergraduate Student Association (CAUSA) and volunteered with Raíces de Esperanza, a national non-profit dedicated to empowering Cuban youth. Stephanie is a first-generation Cuban American from New York City. Stephanie is fluent in Spanish and conversational in Portuguese.

Alejandra Franganillo is a graduate of the Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, where she obtained a Master’s in Latin American Studies, with a concentration in Government, Leadership and Political Economy. She studied two years at the University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez and graduated from Florida International University with a Bachelor’s degree in political science in 2021. In Puerto Rico, she interned for the President of the Senate and the U.S. State Department. During her time at Georgetown, she interned for the Office of Senator Marco Rubio and the Cato Institute.

Born in San Juan, Puerto Rico to Cuban parents, her love and passion for Cuban studies contributed to her decision to embark on her Capstone project, The Voices of the MiPYMES: A Reflection of the New Non-State Actors of the Cuban Economy for Georgetown University and the FIU Cuban Research Institute.

Cynthia Fernandez Lumermann is a litigation associate at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz and joined the firm in 2013. Cynthia has worked on a broad range of litigation matters, including international arbitration, corporate, commercial and deal-related litigation, securities litigation, and federal criminal cases.

From July 2016 to November 2016, Cynthia took a leave of absence from Wachtell Lipton to join Hillary for America as a vetting specialist.

Before joining Wachtell Lipton, Cynthia served as a law clerk to the Honorable Kenneth M. Karas of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York during the 2011-2012 term and to the Honorable Joseph A. Greenaway of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit during the 2012-2013 term.

She completed a J.D. magna cum laude from New York University School of Law in 2011 where she was a member of the Order of the Coif and the Developments Editor of the New York University Journal of International Law and Politics. Cynthia received an A.B. cum laude from Harvard College in 2004.

Cynthia also serves as a board member of the NYU Law Alumni Association, chairs her firm’s annual fundraising efforts for the Legal Aid Society, and is a member of the Associates’ Committee, an associate-led grant foundation that provides funding to legal public interest organizations.

Sara Egozi is a member of Twitter’s global public policy strategy team in San Francisco. Her background intersects policy, business, and social entrepreneurship. Over the last three years, Sara’s consulted tech companies and social ventures on marketing and partnerships. She was one of the first hires at TwentyFirstCenturyBrand, a purpose-driven brand consultancy.

Sara completed a dual MBA at Stanford and MPA at the Harvard Kennedy School, where she championed initiatives fostering U.S.-Cuba engagement. She founded and led Harvard and Stanford educational trips to Cuba. Last summer, she managed Alter Global’s work in Havana with AlaMesa, the Yelp and Uber Eats of Cuba.

Sara previously drove interagency partnerships at the U.S. Institute of Peace, developing partnerships with the State Department, USAID, and Pentagon, as well as international and non-governmental organizations. She also supported the President of McLarty Associates, an international diplomatic advisory firm. Sara received her B.A. from Yale in Political Science.

Karina DuQuesne is an Associate at DLA Piper LLP’s Miami office where she focuses her practice on Mergers & Acquisitions transactions across several industries. She is experienced in representing private equity & venture capital funds, management companies, and emerging, high-growth companies. Karina actively represents clients in structuring and negotiating mergers, acquisitions, dispositions, joint ventures, affiliations, employment, management and consulting agreements. Karina began her career at Goldman Sachs as a Financial Analyst in the Securities Division’s Pension, Endowment, & Foundation Group, which manages relationships with pension funds, endowments, and foundations and works with investors to develop and implement cross asset investment, risk hedging, liquidity management, private placement, and co-investment strategies. She earned a Juris Doctor and Certificate in Dispute Resolution from Benjamin N. Cardozo School in New York City, as an E. Nathaniel Gates Scholar and a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Andres is a Senior Strategy Consultant with Strategy&’s Financial Services practice, where he advises global financial services institutions on growth strategy, technology transformation, and customer centricity. Previously, he led Latin America advisory and product management for Gartner Research and Advisory, and served as a Senior Advisor at the U.S. Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration and as an Attorney at the U.S. Department of Energy. Andres was born in Havana and is passionate about helping to cultivate Cuba’s private sector.

Evan Deahl is an Associate at Evolution Media, and assists with origination, structuring, and execution of sports, media, and entertainment M&A and financing transactions. Evan is a graduate of the Roy and Diana Vagelos Program in Life Sciences and Management at the University of Pennsylvania, holding a B.S. in Economics from the Wharton School and a B.A. in Biological Basis of Behavior from the College of Arts and Sciences.

Brian Cofer is a customer development and sales leader at Procter & Gamble. During his three years at P&G, Brian has been responsible for managing partnerships with top global retailers, representing brands within P&G’s largest global category (Tide, Downy, Gain, Bounce). Additionally, Brian leads organizational initiatives at P&G, such as talent development and end-to-end business operations implementation. Brian is a graduate of Indiana University – Bloomington.

Mercedes Barba is an Account Manager at IF Studio, a New York City brand strategy and graphic design agency. She is also the Chairwoman of Friends of Caritas Cubana’s New York Young Professionals Committee. Mercedes previously worked as an Account Coordinator for MGA Media Group.

Aldo Alvarez is a Cuban-trained, Havana-based attorney and commercial analyst who represents U.S. and international companies that require sound independent legal advice, business intelligence, and Cuba market entry planning assistance. As a graduate of both the University of Havana’s school of law and Carlos III University of Madrid’s master’s program in corporate law, Mr. Alvarez is one of the only European-trained lawyers currently providing independent services on the island. In addition to his roster of European and Latin American clients, Mr. Alvarez has worked alongside several U.S. law firms to help guide American companies through the Cuban market’s unique legal and bureaucratic challenges. Since 2015, Aldo has assisted airlines, cruise lines, online travel platforms, live events companies (Major Lazer – 2016), sports leagues, consumer goods companies, financial services providers, shipping and logistics providers, building materials exporters, and many others. He has also advised individuals on wills and estates matters and the procurement of official documents (birth certificates, death certificates, marriage certificates, etc.). Prior to his return to Cuba in February 2015, Aldo spent six years in Madrid, Spain where he completed his post-graduate studies and worked as an associate attorney advising European businesses on Cuba at Spanish law firm Interjuris. In addition to his Havana offices, Aldo maintains a presence in Madrid, Spain through his corporate entity, Mercatoria S.A. He is proficient in English.