Miami Haute 100

Jim Ferraro
Category Entrepreneur/Philanthropists
Company The Ferraro Law Firm
Industry Law
What Makes Him Haute: Ferraro has focused his law practices in the areas of asbestos litigation, products liability, catastrophic personal injury and wrongful death, medical malpractice and family law, and has successfully tried many cases that resulted in multimillion dollar jury verdicts. His firms now handle nearly 50,000 asbestos cases, and are known nationwide for their environmental toxic tort practice. Jim has also earned recognition in Miami’s philanthropic circuit with his donations to charity, including the Makea- Wish Foundation, Children’s Home Society, United Way of Miami-Dade and The Buoniconti Fund to Cure Paralysis. He was inducted into the Hope Stout Society in 2008 and named one of the Twelve Good Men by the Ronald McDonald House Charities of South Florida in 2010, and is a member of the University of Miami’s Bowman Foster Ashe Society.

Flo Rida
Category: Performing
Artist, Songwriter
Company: Atlantic
Records
Industry: Entertainment
What Makes Him Haute: Grammy Award nominated Tramar Dillard, better known by his stage name Flo Rida, is a celebrated rapper, singer and songwriter. His debut single spent ten weeks as the #1 hit in the U.S. and found continued success most recently with his hit single “Good Feeling.”

Ella Fontanals-Cisneros
Category Thinkers
Company Cisneros Fontanals
Art Foundation
Industry Art
What Makes Her Haute: She began collecting Latin American art in the 1970s, and founded CFAF in 2002 with the goal of fostering understanding and appreciation for contemporary artists from Latin America through grants, commissions, exhibitions, and bilingual publications. She is a trustee of MAM, Patrons of the Tate, the Cintas Foundation, the United States Artist, and the International Women’s Forum, and is an active humanitarian and environmentalist.

Nelson Fox
Category Entrepreneur
Company Koviner Stern
Group
Industry Real Estate/Hospitality
What Makes Him Haute: As a commercial real estate broker, Nelson Fox has pioneered the ever-growing culinary reputation South of Fifth on Miami Beach. Fox has been working alongside Lyle Stern of Koviner Stern Group for some 15 years, developing some of the most successful properties in the city. Fox is currently anticipating the opening of Milos, a Mediterranean seafood restaurant that is set to open in Miami this summer.

Laurent Fraticelli
Category Thinkers
Company Soho House Group
Industry Hospitality
What Makes Him Haute: Laurent Fraticelli graduated from the prestigious Ecole Hoteliere de Lausanne in Switzerland. Currently, Laurent Fraticelli is the Soho Beach House General Manager. He replaced Mark Somen who returned to his native Kenya to run a new hotel there called Tribe. Fraticelli oversees design and operation of hospitality properties, and began his career in luxury hotels in France, Switzerland and Spain. He has also previously been recruited by Andre Balazs and was appointed Vice President of Palisades Homes. Laurent Fraticelli supports the Miami Beach Education Foundation and is part of the Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce.

Phillip & Patricia Frost
Category Power Couples
Company TEVA Pharmaceuticals
Industry Pharmaceuticals
What Makes Them Haute: He is the CEO of IVAX Corporation, which was acquired by TEVA Pharmaceuticals, and she served as chair of the Smithsonian National Board. The couple is a huge supporter of the arts, evidenced by their $33 million donation to the University of Miami that led to the Frost School of Music—the largest gift ever made to a university-based music school in the United States. The couple’s additional donation to Florida International University resulted in the school’s art museum being renamed The Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum. Adding to their list of eponymous museums is the new Miami Science Museum, which was dubbed the Patricia and Phillip Frost Museum of Science, thanks to a $35 million donation by the philanthropic couple.

Russell Galbut
Category Originators
Company Crescent Heights
Industry Real Estate
What Makes Him Haute: Acting as Managing Principal of Crescent Heights, a company heralded as the leader in high-rise residential construction and hotel development, Galbut has real estate in his blood. He comes from a Miami Beach family who at one point was the largest landowner on the beach. Today, Crescent Heights is amongst the nation’s largest residential condominium companies with properties across Miami, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and many other cities. Currently they have over a billion dollars in ground up construction projects, all in various stages of development.

The Goldman Family
Category Originators
Company Goldman Properties
Industry Real Estate
What Makes Them Haute: Goldman Properties, founded by Chairman Tony Goldman, is responsible for transforming the Art Deco District from its deteriorating state to the esteemed sanctuary that it is today. The Goldman family has advanced into a more superior status in the worlds of both real estate and historical reconstruction through the efforts of Tony’s daughter and son, Jessica and Joey, both Principals at the firm. The family business is one of impeccable taste, innovative developments and quality improvements in the community.

Tom Gonzales
Category Entrepreneurs
Company TG Investments, The World Port
Group, Commerce One, Inc.
Industry Real Estate/Investment Development
What Makes Him Haute: Prior to relocating to Florida, Tom Gonzales made significant contributions to businesses within key markets that include technology, agriculture, land development, yachting, and the hospitality industries. As Founder and CEO of Commerce One, Inc., Gonzales was responsible for the company’s exponential growth that would eventually lead to one of the most successful IPO’s in NASDAQ history with a market cap peak of $21 billion. Building upon his success at Commerce One, he formed The World Port Group, a real estate holding company that would go on to assemble one of the largest holdings of commercial real-estate on Las Vegas Blvd. Gonzales currently manages his current business & philanthropic pursuits through his holding company TG Investments.

Miky and Leticia
Grendene
Category Power Couples
Company Casa Tua
Industry Hospitality
What Makes Them Haute: This power couple owns the Mediterraneaninspired Casa Tua, an exclusive boutique hotel and restaurant in Miami that has seen names like Cher and Madonna. They met while cruising through South Beach, when Mickey Grendene mistook Leticia for an old friend. The Grendene’s have now expanded their boutique hotel to Aspen.