At Bank of Coral Gables, we have pride in the talent, experience, and visionary prowess of our Board. Each Director has been selected for his/her expertise in the banking profession and/or complimenting business industries. They provide great leadership and value in shaping the future of Bank of Coral Gables.
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William H. Kerdyk, Jr. is President and CEO of Kerdyk Real Estate, a full service real estate company founded in 1926, with its headquarters in Coral Gables, FL. Mr. Kerdyk serves as Vice Mayor on the Coral Gables City Commission, where he was recently re-elected to his fourth term. In addition to his local public service career, he also has served in several capacities on state boards. He is the current appointee of Governor Jeb Bush to the MPO (Metropolitan Planning Organization). In addition, he is the co-founder and Chairman of the Toyota World Junior Golf Team Championships. This annual international World Junior Golf Team tournament is held in Japan. Over 60 countries from five continents participate in this event. Mr. Kerdyk is also actively involved in many community service organizations. He is on the Board of Trustees for Gulliver School, a Board Member for Big Brothers/ Big Sisters, a member of the Orange Bowl Committee, Chamber of Commerce, and Rotary Club. He has received many honors including being designated among the Outstanding Young Men in America and was selected into the Who's Who book of United States citizens. Recently, he received the South Florida Ronald McDonald Twelve Good Men Award. Mr. Kerdyk earned his Bachelor of Business Administration, with a major in Real Estate, from Florida International University. He and his wife Lynn, a clinical child psychologist at the University of Miami, have three children, and reside in Coral Gables. |
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Terry Eden Best has resided in South Florida and been a banker since 1974. During his career, Mr. Best has held several executive positions, including President & CEO as well as Chief Financial Officer of banks and bank holding companies. In addition to a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting from Long Island University , Mr. Best graduated from the Graduate School of Banking at the University of Colorado . Mr. Best brings 30 years of banking experience to the Bank of Coral Gables. Mr. Best and his wife live in Coral Springs and their children and grandchildren live in nearby Pinecrest and in Colorado Springs. He and his family are avid Golden Retriever owners, and are particularly involved in Golden Retriever rescue organizations in South Florida and in other parts of the United States. |
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Jerrold Blair is the retired Chairman of the Board and Chief Operating Officer of World Fuel Services Corporation, a public company listed on the New York Stock Exchange. World Fuel Services is an independent marketer of aviation and marine fuel products and related risk management. World Fuel Services provides services through 42 offices in 24 countries at over 2,500 airports and seaports worldwide. Mr. Blair's roots in the Miami area date back to the early 1950's. He is a graduate of Miami Beach Senior High School and attended the University of Florida . He and his wife reside in Miami Beach and have four children who reside in the Miami area. |
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Charles M. Dusseau has been involved in business ventures ranging from technology to real estate financing capitalizing during his nearly 25 years of experience in business, finance, public affairs and international trade. He is a Partner with Core Commercial, Inc., a real estate investment company specializing in multi-family residential properties and also has served as Vice-Chairman of Eastern National Bank in Miami . Previously, he served as President of the Americas Group, a Miami based, Latin American focused merchant banking and business consulting firm. In the public sector, Mr. Dusseau served as Secretary of Commerce for the State of Florida from 1993 to 1996. From 1988 to 1993, he served as Commissioner to Miami-Dade County . Previously, he served in many capacities with Chase Manhattan Bank. Mr. Dusseau holds a Bachelor's degree in International Finance from the University of Colorado School of Business and a Master's degree in International Political Economy from Georgetown University. |
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Michael F. Kashtan is an attorney in Coral Gables with more than twenty years experience in construction litigation, commercial litigation, insurance coverage litigation and general insurance defense. Mr. Kashtan is a 1979 graduate of The State University of New York at Buffalo and a 1983 graduate of The University of Miami - School of Law . Mr. Kashtan has achieved the “AV” highest rating in Martindale Hubbell Law Directory, and his law firm is listed in Martindale Hubbell's Bar Register of Pre-Eminent Lawyers. Mr. Kashtan was admitted to the Florida Bar and the United States District Court, Southern District of Florida in 1983. Mr. Kashtan is married with three children and resides in Coral Gables. |
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Paul A. Lester is a commercial transactions attorney and real estate entrepreneur. He obtained his B.A. degree in history (with highest honors) and earned admission to Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Rochester in 1971 and obtained a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1974. Mr. Lester was admitted to the Pennsylvania Bar in 1974, to the District of Columbia Bar and the Florida Bar in 1975, and the Massachusetts Bar in 2003. He is also admitted to practice before the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida and the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Mr. Lester is a founding partner of Fieldstone Lester Shear & Denberg, LLP, a Coral Gables based law firm that concentrates in the areas of real estate, banking, corporate law, income tax (federal and state), commercial trade regulation, and public finance. He and the Firm are rated “AV” by the Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory. Mr. Lester is also a principal in Landmark Residential, a South Florida based real estate operations and management company that owns approximately 7,000 apartments in Florida and five other southern states. Landmark Residential is joint-venturing in over 5,000 condominium conversion units in Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina. Mr. Lester is a Trustee of the Florida Supreme Court Historical Society, a Board Member of the Melissa Institute for the Prevention and Treatment of Violence, and Chairman (since 1981) of the Board of Directors of the Miami Northwest Express Track Club. Mr. Lester and his wife reside in Coral Gables and have two adult daughters who also reside in Florida. |
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Carlos Lopez-Cantera is the President of Pan American Companies, a real estate developer which specializes in real estate investments and land economics. Mr. Lopez-Cantera's business career has included all aspects of real estate development and financing. He is a registered architect, a real estate and mortgage broker, a licensed engineer and a contractor. He has been involved with the development of various types of real estate projects including office/industrial parks, hotels, office buildings, and mixed used projects. Mr. Cantera received a Bachelor of Architecture degree from the University of Miami ; a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Engineering from Florida International University ; and a Masters degree in Business Administration from St. Thomas University in Miami , Florida . Mr. Cantera was a past Chairman of the Construction Industry Licensing Board for the State of Florida . He was appointed by the Governor to serve as a member of the Licensing Board of the Department of Professional Regulation, Construction Industry. He served on this Board from 1988 until 1994, and was Chairman for two years. Mr. Lopez-Cantera and his family reside in Coral Gables. |
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Carlos Rodriguez , as Principal and Executive Vice President of Driftwood Hospitality Management, LLC, oversees acquisitions, new development, and vacation club programs. Mr. Rodriguez was formerly Chairman and CEO of Cardel Hotels, a group of affiliated hotel management, ownership and development companies based in Miami , Florida . Mr. Rodriguez founded Cardel with one hotel in 1997; by 2001 he had expanded his company to five award-winning full- and limited-service properties in Florida plus a full-service beach resort in Costa Rica , a condominium hotel operation in Miami Beach , and other ventures. Prior to founding Cardel Hotels, Rodriguez lived in Costa Rica for 10 years where he owned a stock brokerage investment house that had a seat in the Costa Rican Stock Exchange. He also served as Director of the Central American Bank of Economic Integration and was elected to the post of Vice Chairman of the “Caja Costarricense del Seguro Social (CCSS)”. Mr. Rodriguez holds an MBA from Duke University 's Fuqua School of Business, a BS in Economics from Vanderbilt University , and a Certificate in Hotel Management from Cornell University. Mr. Rodriguez and his family reside in Pinecrest. |
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Audrey H. Ross, Ph.D. , is a Senior Vice President/Shareholder of Esslinger Wooten Maxwell, Inc. Realtors. Ms. Ross founded Miami 's pre-eminent luxury real estate “boutique.” Ms. Ross has worked on the national level lobbying congress to change educational legislation in addition to selling luxury real estate to buyers from all over the world. Ms. Ross is the #12 sales volume agent in the US , the #1 agent in Miami/Dade County and the Southeastern United States and was voted by Mercedes Benz (UK) and London's International Homes magazine as the “Best American Estate Agent” for four years running, 1999-2002. In 2003, Ms. Ross sold $63 million of real estate in a single week. In 2004, she represented both the buyer and seller to close a $26 million+ estate sale, the largest in the real estate history of Miami . In addition to being the Sr. V.P./Shareholder of her company, Esslinger Wooten Maxwell, Inc., she has been the top agent in the 800 agent company every year since she merged her company, Ross and Associates, Inc. into that firm. In 2003, Esslinger Wooten Maxwell, Inc. sold in its entirety to Warren Buffet's Homeservices.com and is now a Berkshire Hathaway holding. Ms. Ross is a graduate of the University of South Carolina (B.S.), Florida Atlantic University (M.Ed) and The University of Miami (Ph.D). She and her husband reside in Coral Gables. |
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George M. Suarez, M.D. , is a board certified urologist. He is a practicing physician and surgeon who is also highly active in clinical research and development, lecturing, consulting and volunteering. Dr. Suarez has authored numerous chapters, articles and textbooks on prostate disease, incontinence and impotence. He has been involved in the development of several procedures including high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU), which allows urologists to treat prostate cancer and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) with pinpoint accuracy and no incisions. Aside from those participating in clinical trials for HIFU, he is the only urologist currently performing the procedure in the western hemisphere. To help in the curing of prostate disease and eliminating its effects, Dr. Suarez founded Prostate Health Care, a non-profit organization that seeks to promote public awareness of the latest scientific research and available treatment options. Dr. Suarez is a former faculty member of the University of Miami School of Medicine. He completed his urology residency and fellowship at Tulane University Medical School in New Orleans , and his general surgery training at Northwestern University in Chicago. Dr. Suarez has received numerous awards for his work, including the American Urologic Association's prestigious Motegue Boyd Award for excellence in research and the T. Leon Howard Award. He is an active member of many medical and urologic societies including the Societe D'Urologie, the European Urologic Society, the Incontinence Society, and the New York Academy of Sciences. He is a diplomat of the American College of Surgeons and of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Dr. Suarez lives in Coconut Grove , Florida. |
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Wayne E. (“Chip”) Withers, Jr. , is a fourth generation Miamian and has been a resident of Coral Gables since 1951. He received a BSBA degree from the University of Florida in 1973. Mr. Withers is the President of Withers Transfer & Storage of Coral Gables, Inc., Withers Worldwide Forwarders, Inc., and Withers Transportation Systems. Withers Transfer & Storage specializes in the transportation and storage of household goods and commercial goods. Withers Worldwide is a licensed FMC freight forwarder and handles the movement of goods and products worldwide. Withers Transportation Systems is a freight management company specializing in third party logistics and project management. Mr. Withers is serving his fourth term as a Coral Gables Commissioner. In addition, he is a board member and officer (Secretary) of the Alpha One Foundation, a board member of the University of Florida Foundation , a board member of the Coral Gables Foundation, a Past-President of the Pan American International Mover's Association and is a member of the University of Florida Alumni Association. Mr. Withers served as the Governor's appointee to the small Business Council of the State of Florida and was recently honored as one of Ronald McDonald House's Twelve Good Men. Mr. Withers and family reside in Coral Gables. |
