This is the Cuban American Bar Associations Next President
By Julie Kay
Daily Business Review
December 2, 2015
Anna Marie Hernandez
AM Holt
Holland & Knight partner Anna Marie Hernandez has been elected president of the Cuban American Bar Association and will lead the powerful, 2,500-member organization through 2016.
The Miami litigator who focuses on complex real estate and commercial litigation matters was elected Tuesday night to succeed Manuel Crespo Jr. of Coral Gables law firm Sanchez-Medina, Gonzalez, Quesada, Lage, Crespo, Gomez & Machado. The live election was held with nearly 200 members voting in person.
Javier Lopez, a partner at Kozyak Tropin & Throckmorton in Coral Gables, was chosen president-elect.
Both ran unopposed. Other officers, including vice president, secretary and treasurer, will be elected by the CABA board in January.
Hernandez has served on CABA’s board for 10 years. A major assignment will be organizing the multi-day El Congreso De Cuba conference on Cuban issues at the San Carlos Institute in Key West.
“I want to bring the focus back to our roots,” Hernandez said. “I would like to reinvigorate the organization. I want to keep us relevant and keep our ties to the past but also educate our newer members on the significance of what’s going on around us.”
Hernandez also instituted the first online voting of CABA officers and board members in the organization’s 41-year history, “bringing us into the 21st century.”
The 12 newly elected board members are: Nory Acosta-Lopez of Barakat Law in Coral Gables; A. Dax Bello of Stewart, Tilghman, Fox, Bianchi & Cain in Miami; Gina Beovides of Dade Legal Aid in Miami; Maria Garcia of Zumpano, Patricios & Winker of Coral Gables; Frances Guasch De La Guardia of Holland & Knight in Miami; Yara Lorenzo of Hogan Lovells in Miami; Kristina Maranges of Broad and Cassel in Miami; Jennifer Perez of Bupa Worldwide Corp. in Palmetto Bay; Jorge Piedra of Piedra & Associates in Coral Gables; Michael Pineiro of Marcus Neiman & Rashbaum in Miami; Miriam Soler Ramos of the Coral Gables city attorney’s office; and Olivia Rodriguez of Bupa Worldwide.
Bello, Beovides, Maranges, Pineiro, Ramos and Rodriguez were re-elected.
The officers and board will be installed at CABA’s annual gala Feb. 6 at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach.
