“One of my first efforts will be to work to evolve the forum into a networking group of up to 30 members comprising owners of the leading family-owned enterprises in the Miami area,” she said. “We want to promote a feeling of kinship among them and to provide a setting for them to learn from each other.”

Mercedes LaRue

Gatherings will include a guest speaker or a professor from Florida International University (FIU) who will start the conversation on topics relevant to these important contributors to the South Florida economy.

“The discussions will span issues such as governance, succession planning, conflict resolution and other areas that may directly affect the competitiveness of the family enterprise system,” she said.

She also will engage with the larger business community through collaborative and jointly organized events at different Chambers of Commerce in Miami to present discussions on subjects the members of the organizations request.

LaRue holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in finance from Texas Christian University and is currently enrolled in the Master of International Business program in the Chapman Graduate School at FIU.

These are just some of the words that Joel Barber, associate professor in the College of Business Administration’s Department of Finance and Real Estate, used to describe his recent trip to Africa.

He joined 16 other professors on the Fifth Annual Faculty Development in International Business (FDIB) Africa Program for a two-week-tour of Kenya and Tanzania.

Members of the Fifth Annual Faculty Development in International Business Africa Program overlooking Lake Manyara in Tanzania.

Organized by the University of South Carolina, the program provides participating faculty from colleges and universities around the United States with a greater understanding of the business challenges of Sub-Saharan Africa. The Florida International University (FIU) Center for International Business Education and Research (FIU-CIBER) sponsored Barber’s participation in the program.

Trip connects with both business and cultural aspects of the region.

In Nairobi, Kenya, the itinerary included tours of Delmonte Fresh Produce, the Coca-Cola distributor, several non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the Kenya Wildlife Service, the American Embassy and a clothing and dartboard manufacturer in an export-processing zone. In Tanzania, the group toured the Burka Coffee Estate, the town of Mto wa Mbu and a Masaai village. They also met with University of Nairobi professors, who briefed them on business challenges and opportunities in Kenya.

Joel Barber on the tour of the Coca-Cola distribution site in Nairobi, Kenya.

Barber noted that safaris ranked as trip highlights.

“I was struck by the scenery and the abundance of wildlife,” he said. “The experience was much more amazing than I expected.”

A tour of the Kibera Slums in Nairobi made an equally strong impression.

“Seeing the conditions that these people were living in made me appreciate our own comfortable conditions,” Barber said. “The tour also made me wonder about economy of a slum. In particular, it caused me to consider the flow of money in and out of the slum and the circulation of money within.”

He definitely recommends that colleagues consider the FDIB to Africa.

“It was an outstanding trip,” he said. ”From the food to the business tours to the safaris, it was exceptionally well organized, providing an excellent range of activities and a good opportunity to learn about Sub-Saharan Africa.”

View Chris’s story. View other portraits of Uncommon Thinkers.

Alwyn Malachi Berkeley Jr. (BS ’11) is an assistant programmer in the college’s Tech Center. He assists in the college-wide implementation and rollout of the business school’s CRM application Intelliworks. Also, he provides support for the college’s faculty and staff with technological developments and helps design, implement and maintain source code related to the college’s systems, reporting and databases. His degree is in computer science.

Alwyn Malachi Berkeley Jr.

Staci Danielle Bernhard (BA ’08) has joined the Chapman Graduate School as an admissions evaluator. In this position, she advises students and program managers regarding admission requirements, processes admissions materials, and analyzes and determines applicant eligibility for admission into the person’s desired graduate program. Her undergraduate degree is in psychology and she is enrolled in FIU master’s program in clinical psychology.

Staci Danielle Bernhard

Lorena Calvo, a marketing major, is office assistant in the Chapman Graduate School as well as assistant to Stephen Barnett, executive faculty director for MBA programs and visiting professor in the Department of Marketing. Not only does she help out everyone in the office and all the programs for the graduate school, but also she assists Barnett with his class and his Master Project.

Lorena Calvo

Janet Chavez (MIB ’10, BBA ’08), is now program coordinator in the School of Accounting. She guides program planning and provides assistance to students on administrative issues pertaining to registration, grade submittal, negative indicators and graduation. She also evaluates course equivalency documents as needed for the Department of Professional Regulations and communicates the CPA licensing requirements to students.

Janet Chavez

As program coordinator in the Office of Executive and Professional Education (EPE), Robert Grimal is in charge of marketing for all of the college’s open enrollment programs in EPE. He graduated from the Belen Jesuit Preparatory School in 2009 and will be starting a psychology/criminal justice major this fall.

Robert Grimal

Claudia Jo (MS ’07, BS ’04) is office assistant at the Downtown Center, where she provides administrative support at the center, fields phone calls, and engages both current and prospective students. Her degrees are in hospitality management and she is currently a student in the Evening MBA program.

Claudia Jo

Salvador Pascual is an assistant programmer in the Tech Center, where he assists in implementing and rolling out the college’s document management system OnBase. Additionally, he provides support for the college’s faculty and staff with technological developments; designs, develops, modifies, tests and maintains the business school’s web solutions; and supports the business school’s in-house applications such as Directory System, Faculty Assessment System, Course Evaluation System and Advising System among other systems adopted by the College of Business Administration. He holds an A.S. degree in applied electronics and a B.S. in information and technology.

Salvador Pascual

Antony Valdes (BBA ’09), who majored in marketing, has joined the college as special events coordinator. In this position in the Office of Advancement, Alumni and Corporate Relations, he plans, organizes and executes all internal and alumni events.

Antony Valdes

Over 300 alumni and friends of the university gathered for “The Magic of Entrepreneurship.” The event also recognized winners of The Miami Herald Business Plan Challenge, sponsored by the College of Business Administration.

Executive Dean Joyce J. Elam; Monique Hamaty-Simmonds, winner of the Builder Award; and Tony Argiz (BBA ’74), representing presenting sponsor MBAF

Executive Dean Joyce J. Elam presided at the induction of Monique Hamaty-Simmonds (BBA ’96), CEO of Tortuga Rum Cake Company, who received the Builder Award; Algerto Aghion (BBA ’99), COO and co-founder of Zumba Fitness, LLC, the Founder Award honoree. Benjamin Leon Jr., chairman and founder of Leon Medical Centers Inc., was honored as South Florida Entrepreneur of the Year.

Groundbreaking medical business recognized

FIU President Mark Rosenberg cited Leon Medical Center’s focus on quality medical care under one roof for South Florida seniors as “a national model of how to take care of people”; praised Hamaty-Simmonds’ stewardship of her family’s company and her creation of a product that stands as the top take-home gift on cruise ships and in many Caribbean ports; and called attention to Algion’s success in taking Zumba “from a single class to a global phenomenon,” now available at more than 90,000 locations worldwide.

Alberto Alghion, winner of the Founder Award

Accepting the award for South Florida Entrepreneur of the Year, Leon said, “I tell entrepreneurs, always do the right thing when no one is looking.”

Tony Argiz; Benjamin Leon, South Florida Entrepreneur of the Year; and Joyce J. Elam

Michelle Joubert (MBA ’10), the college’s assistant director of alumni relations, noted that the venue had brought alumni together in a collegial, intimate setting, and made for excellent networking opportunities.

“It is rewarding to see so many accomplished FIU Business alumni gathering to celebrate our accomplishments and look toward the future,” she said.

The surge in the urge to merge continues in Latin America. On June 14, 2011, Banco do Brasil, Latin America’s biggest bank by assets, announced that it is considering purchasing lenders in Chile, Colombia and Peru to attract corporate clients and expand its business with Brazilian firms operating in the region. In April 2010, the bank made its first international acquisition, paying $480 million for a controlling stake in Banco Patagonia, Argentina’s third-largest bank by market value.

Brazil is the prime player in Latin American M&A. In the first quarter of this year, Brazilian companies were responsible for seven out of the 10 largest deals, including the $5.5 billion purchase of Vivo by Telesp. In general, Latin American M&A activity this year has been overwhelmingly concentrated in telecom, power, metal and mining, and materials. The five biggest dealmakers this year have been Goldman Sachs, Santander, Itaú Unibanco, Lazard Frères and Citi.

While much of the global economy was emerging from a declining or flat 2009, such was not the case with Latin America. The total value of announced M&As in Latin America doubled last year to $215.1 billion, according to Thomson Reuters. Brazil alone accounted for $104.2 billion, an increase of 60 percent, Mexico from $5.1 billion to $47.8 billion. The significant increase in deal-making activity is being driven by a number of factors including high currency values of acquirers (e.g., Brazil), lower costs of capital, investment and financial reforms, improved bankruptcy laws (leveling the field for creditors), the sale of distressed assets and the need not just for companies but entire industries to consolidate due to increased competition (e.g., airlines).

There is no reason to believe that the trend will not continue over the next several years, providing that emerging markets improve at a faster pace than the sluggish economies of the United States and Europe and that inflation levels, capital access and the rule of law create an environment hospitable to M&A. Increased M&As will provide for greater efficiency and productivity within companies, with cost savings (hopefully) being passed on to consumers and competitive pricing another benefit for the public, providing anti-trust laws are followed and enforced. As for attractive sectors, of the top 10 acquisitions in Latin America last year, half were in energy and natural resources, three in telecom, and one each in transport and beverages. These sectors along with consumer goods and financial services will most likely dominate M&A activity.

Among the most interesting M&A deals during the past 12 months have been the Chinese oil giant Sinopec’s acquisition of Brazil assets of Spain’s Repsol for $7.1 billion and US-based Occidental’s Argentina E&P assets for $2.5 billion. Elsewhere, Heineken purchased Mexico-based Femsa Cerveza for $7.3 billion; three Indian companies bought a $2.2 billion stake in Venezuela’s Carobobo oil; and in a South-North purchase, 3G Capital, a Brazilian private equity firm, purchased ailing Burger King for $4 billion.

For an increasing number of major companies, M&A activities are more than a financial play for the medium term to pump up shareholder value. The drivers focus on the longer term, and the decisions are strategic in nature. Take GE, for example. The company is creating a team to study acquisition opportunities in Latin America as orders grow 30 percent in the region. GE will spend $500 million to expand energy, transportation and healthcare manufacturing in Brazil. In 2009, the company acquired Wellstream Holdings, Plc, an oil services provider that has focused on Brazil; and since October 2010, GE has spent more than $4.1 billion to build its oil and gas unit.

The LAN acquisition of TAM provides another illustration. This purchase will provide more competition and lead to further consolidation in an industry under intense pressure—airlines. Besides strengthening the financials of both companies, the firms will achieve synergies of $400 million, such as alignment of passenger networks, growth in cargo, code sharing and reduced costs.

The importance of cost savings to achieve economies of scale and scope, consolidation and the quest to increase market share will intensify. For large firms where access to capital and interest rates are attractive and coffers laden with cash accumulated but not allocated during the 2008-2010 global recession, the time to merge or acquire in The Americas is ripe, indeed. Expect a lot more activity for the remainder of the year.

Jerry Haar is a professor, associate dean at FIU’s College of Business Administration, and director of FIU’s Pino Global Entrepreneurship Center. The opinions expressed in this column are the writer’s and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of either FIU or the College of Business Administration.

View all articles by Jerry Haar.

This column originally appeared in Latin Business Chronicle on July 5, 2011.

Friday’s gains were triggered by less worrying over the state of the sluggish U.S. economy and the euro zone’s debt crisis. The positive reaction to Friday’s manufacturing report reflects market sentiment that the manufacturing sector’s growth will be an integral part in the strengthening of the U.S. economy. However many investors maintain that the gloomy prospects for the U.S. economy are still in place as the past few months investors have witnessed a less than stellar performance of the U.S. stock market. Leading up to this week the DJIA suffered a seven week loss in an eight week period. Nevertheless economic uncertainty remains due in part to several factors: Greece’s economic long-term outlook; the White House and Congressional dispute over the raising of the government’s debt ceiling leading up to a decision deadline, August 2nd (a deadline set by the U.S. Treasury department); the ending of the Federal Reserve’s QE2 bond buying program which injected $600 billion into financial markets.

– Shaun Hoyes

Article submitted by: Shaun Hoyes of the State Farm Financial Literacy Lab. To learn more about the State Farm Financial Literacy Lab please visit their web site http://business.fiu.edu/sffll/. View all articles by State Farm Financial Literacy Lab.

Jorge Gonzalez

It’s the culmination of the Miami native’s banking career, which has spanned more than two decades, beginning at Southeast Bank.

Founded by the Abess family, City National Bank of Florida ranks as the fourth-largest bank based in Florida, with $3.9 billion in assets and 450 employees.

Since November 2008, the bank has been owned by Caja Madrid, the third-largest bank in Spain with more than $400 billion in assets and 4,000 branches.

City National focuses on real estate lending, private banking, corporate banking, and personal/small business banking. It has 26 branches from Miami-Dade County to the Greater Orlando area.

During the past two years, City National has added more than 60 employees and opened nine branches, The bank plans to open another branch, in South Miami, in early 2012.

. . .

Read: “Focus on customer keeps City National Bank CEO busy,“ an article by MiamiHerald.com.

Bank United has named Mary Harris (BBA ’84) senior vice president, director of marketing.

Martin Cerda (BBA ’86), who founded and led the award-winning Hispanic research firm Encuesta Inc., has become strategic director in the quantitative/business consulting hub at Cheskin Added Value, part of the Kantar (WPP) group of companies. In an interview in Portada, he talks about the research industry, the company he founded and his new role at Cheskin Added Value.

Voices for Children Foundation has named Vivian C. Lara (BBA ’94) to its board of directors.

Frank Gonzalez (BBA ’90) principal in the audit department of Morrison, Brown, Argiz & Farra, LLC, recently was appointed president of the South Florida Banking Institute for the 2011-2012 fiscal year.

Jorge Flores (MACC ’98) recently was hired by Ocean Bank as a vice president and audit manager in the internal audit division. He had been working as an independent banking advisor as a consultant.

Monique Renee Catoggio (EMBA ’03), director of advancement and alumni relations in FIU’s business school, presented “Create Your Life, Instead of Having Your Life Create You” at an event sponsored by the Women’s Healthcare Executive Network on May 4, 2011. As an adjunct guest lecturer, Catoggio delivers the presentation to students in both the Executive MBA and Healthcare MBA programs in FIU’s Chapman Graduate School.

Olga Rojas (BBA ’05) was promoted in February 2011 to assistant vice president and SBA operations officer at TotalBank.

C. Delano Gray, instructor, was the first College of Business Administration professor to be the grand marshal for the College of Law commencement. The event took place on May 27, 2011 in the U.S. Century Bank Arena.

C. Delano Gray

Department of Finance and Real Estate

Ken H. Johnson, associate professor and Knight Ridder Center Research Fellow, was quoted in an article titled “Home clearance sale coming from ‘desperate’ sellers,” which appeared on CNN Money on June 1, 2011. The story was picked up and reposted on about 450 websites. An earlier CNN Money article, titled Buy vs. rent: These days, buying wins, that quoted Johnson, had an extensive reach: the piece subsequently appeared on more than 5,000 Realtor websites and Facebook pages reaching millions of readers. Johnson also was quoted in a Sun Sentinel article titled “Decline in South Florida homes for sale giving sellers an edge,” which appeared on June 17, 2011.

Department of Management and International Business

Jerry Haar, associate dean for international affairs and projects, professor and research fellow, has been named a visiting fellow for summer 2011 in the Programme for Technology and Management for Development at Oxford University. He will collaborate on research focusing regional competitiveness and innovation in the software and biotech industries.

Modesto A. Maidique, FIU president emeritus, professor and Alvah H. Chapman Jr. Eminent Scholar Chair in Leadership, and executive director, FIU Center for Leadership, participated in a seminar that brought together Harvard University professors and South Florida leaders to discuss innovative thinking for local organizations. The event, organized by Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative took place at the University of Miami on June 15, 16 and 17, 2011.