Board Of Directors Executive Bios
Rodney Barreto, Chairman
The Barreto Group
The Barreto Group is a real estate investment and development firm. The Barreto Group handles land acquisition, zoning and development in Miami-Dade County. The Barreto Group brings to these arrangements deep roots in the community and a history of proven performance on behalf of clients and business partners.
The Barreto Group offers a success-driven mix of historical perspective and contemporary savvy. The firm has a reputation for effective results, and is uniquely qualified to buy, hold or sell property in agreements, and on schedules, that benefit the community and maximize returns to the partners.
Mr. Barreto is also the founding partner of Barreto, Cunningham, May, Dudley Maloy Reyes and Guzzo, LLC a strategy management firm that develops and manages effective corporate and public affairs strategies to achieve specific business results, with offices in Miami and Tallahassee. Recognized by policy makers and their peers as one of the top public affairs firms in Florida, the principals have achieved measurable results for dozens of companies based in Florida and other parts of the United States. From Fortune 500 companies to small businesses, and professional sports franchises, the firm has developed winning strategies.
Rodney Barreto is widely known for his involvement in the community in which he grew up. He is chairman of the 2007 Super Bowl Host Committee, charged with raising nearly $10-million to support the February 4, 2007 game in Dolphin Stadium and the dignitaries and media it attracts. Mr. Barreto chaired the 62nd annual U.S. Conference of Mayors, held in Miami. He also chaired the 1999 Miami Dade County Super Bowl Host Committee, the 1999 Breeder's Cup and the 1999 Sister Cities International Convention. And he Co-chaired the City of Miami Centennial celebration. Mr. Barreto was founder and creator of the Big Orange New Year's celebration that takes place in downtown Miami every December 31st.
The Miami native also finds time to protect wildlife in The Sunshine State. As a youngster in the 1960s, Mr. Barreto fished Biscayne Bay and hunted The Everglades, activities he now enjoys with his wife and children. Following an appointment by Governor Jeb Bush, Mr. Barreto chaired and is a commissioner on the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
He is a board member for US Century Bank, Baptist Health Foundation and Goodwill Industries of South Florida. He is state finance co-chair for the gubernatorial campaign of Charlie Crist.
Prior to his career in public affairs and real estate, Mr. Barreto was a City of Miami police officer. Mr. Barreto earned his Associate of Arts degree from Miami Dade Community College and his Bachelor of Arts degree in Professional Studies from Barry University. Mr. Barreto is married and lives with his wife Shelia and two children, Brittney and Bradley, in Miami.
Bruce Jay Colan
Holland & Knight
Bruce Jay Colan practices in the areas of mergers and acquisitions, corporate law and sports. His work involves the professional sports (including team acquisitions and sports facility development, management, operation and finance), tour operator, hotel, real estate development, entertainment and other industries. Among other things, Colan led a team of Holland & Knight attorneys in drafting and negotiating development, management, operating and financing agreements for The Miami Heat with Miami-Dade County for the American Airlines Arena. He annually lectures to the students in the University of Miami Law School's graduate real estate program on public/private sports facility partnerships.
Colan is a member of the Executive Committee and Board of Directors of the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce, as well as counsel to its Board of Directors. At the Chamber, Colan chairs the Chamber's New World Center (Downtown) Committee, founded and co-chaired the Chamber's Cuba Committee and is co-author of The Trade Impact of A Free Cuba, a publication of the Chamber.
Colan is general counsel to the South Florida Super Bowl XLI Host Committee, a member of the Orange Bowl Committee and Counsel to the Board of Directors of the New World Symphony where he is a member of its Board of Directors and Executive Committee. Colan was also Vice Chair of the Florida Governor's Cuba Commission.
A member of the Business Law and Entertainment, Arts and Sports Law Sections of The Florida Bar, Colan served as Chairman of the Corporation Committee. He is also a member of the American Bar Association and the New York Bar. Colan earned his B.S. in finance from Pennsylvania State University, where he was a member of Beta Gamma Sigma, and his J.D. from Harvard University.
Nicki E. Grossman
Greater Ft. Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau
Nicki E. Grossman was named president of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau in June, 1995. Grossman's responsibilities include the administration of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau, the sales, marketing, promotion, advertising, and publicity arm of Broward County's convention and tourism efforts. She oversees a budget of $28 million including the operation of the recently expanded 600,000-square-foot Greater Fort Lauderdale/Broward County Convention Center.
The hospitality industry is Broward County's largest, employing more that 107,000 and generating more than $8.59 billion in annual revenues by 10.14 million annual visitors. The Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau is financed by a dedicated "tourist development tax" collected by all hotels, motels and inns in Broward County.
Grossman was elected to the Hollywood, Florida City Commission in 1978. She was elected to the Broward County Commission in 1982, serving twice as that body's chair. She has served at Chair of the Broward Tourist Development Council and is Vice Chair of the South Florida Super Bowl Host Committee. She is an appointee of Governor Jeb Bush to the Florida Commission on Tourism, where she was elected Vice Chair, and serves on the American Coastal Coalition Board of Directors. Grossman was named by Travel Agent, one of the 100 Most Powerful Women in Tourism - as a result of her leadership in the post September 11th, 2001, recovery. In 2005, she was named one of the Top 25 Marketing Minds by the Hospitality Sales and Management Association International.
Robert J. Henninger
Huizenga Holdings, Inc.
Robert J. Henninger, Jr. is the Executive Vice President at Huizenga Holdings, Inc. He has served on the Super Bowl Host Committee since 1989, and served on the Super Bowl Executive Committee in 1995, 1999 and 2007. Mr. Henninger was previously Senior Vice President of Blockbuster Entertainment Corporation and of Republic Industries, Inc., and for many years was the Managing Partner of the Fort Lauderdale office of Arthur Andersen & Co. He has been on the board of many business and charitable organizations, and has dedicated his time to numerous community causes.
William D. Talbert, III
Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau
As President & CEO of the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau (GMCVB) for the past six years, and as Chief Operating Officer for the prior eight years, William D. Talbert has distinguished himself as a highly respected visitor industry and community leader.
Talbert's fourteen years of experience at the GMCVB include major accomplishments such as assisting with the passage of the Food and Beverage tax to fund the GMCVB's advertising budget, negotiating inter-local government funding agreements and preparing three successful Super Bowl and POW WOW bids. He played an integral role in the re-engineering of the GMCVB, decreasing overhead to put more money into much needed advertising for the destination. He led the GMCVB as the first Bureau in the country after 9/11 in the market with a fully funded post 9/11 message and the first to adjust its administrative budget after 9/11 while increasing promotional efforts.
Talbert's professional affiliations include Chair Elect of the International Association of Convention & Visitors Bureaus' Board of Directors, past chairman of the Florida Association of Convention & Visitors Bureaus, past Chair of the IACVB Foundation Board of Trustees, Professional Convention Management Association (Chair, 2001 Annual Meeting Host Committee), American Society of Association Executive, Meeting Planners International, Orange Bowl Committee, Mayor's Marketing Council, Visitor Industry Council, Community Improvement Authority, Board of Directors of Florida National Parks and Monuments Association and SKAL (an organization of industry professionals promoting tourism and friendship worldwide). He is also a board member of the World Trade Center Miami, Greater Miami & the Beaches Hotel Association (GMBHA), the South Florida Workforce and the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce.
Talbert holds a master's degree in Public Administration from Florida Atlantic University and bachelor's degree in Business Administration from the University of Florida.
