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Meidar-Alfi is joined by new slate of officers and two newly appointed Board Members
The Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County (@arshtcenter) announces the election of Hillit Meidar-Alfi, Ph.D. as Chair of the Adrienne Arsht Center Trust (AACT) Board of Directors. The new slate of officers also includes Gerald Grant, Jr., Chair-Elect; Rick Rodriguez Piña, Treasurer; Pierre Apollon, Assistant Treasurer; Y. David Scharf, Secretary; and Sean Gazitua, Assistant Secretary. In addition, Peter Thomson and Gary Reshefsky joined the Board of Directors.
“Hillit’s many years of service and thoughtful leadership – from participating in the 2018 search for our current present President & CEO to serving as chair-elect and presiding as chair of the Nominating Committee – have strengthened the Arsht in lasting ways. I am honored to welcome her as our next board chair and I am confident that her vision will guide the Arsht in advancing its mission and deepening its service to the community,” said outgoing AACT Board Chairman Richard Milstein.
Hillit Meidar-Alfi, Ph.D. has been a member of the AACT Board of Directors since 2014 and currently serves as Chair. She previously served on the Executive Committee and as Chair of the Nominating and Governance Committee. Dr. Meidar-Alfi is focused on ensuring the Arsht continues to serve as the heart of Miami-Dade County’s cultural community. Her priorities include strengthening the Arsht as a unified campus and furthering its working relationships with Miami-Dade County, the City of Miami and the Miami-Dade County School Board to support the organization’s cultural, educational and economic impact. Dr. Meidar-Alfi is the founder and CEO of Spatially Health, a healthcare technology company enabling value-based care organizations to identify factors that drive patient outcomes and healthcare costs. She has built and led technology platforms, developing scalable products and advanced analytics used across healthcare, housing and real estate. Trained as an architect and urban planner, her work integrates data, design and systems thinking to solve complex, real-world problems. She relocated to Miami with her husband and four children from the New York–Philadelphia corridor in 2010 and has since served on boards and committees across the arts and health sectors. She grew up in a household where music was always present, shaping a lifelong connection to the arts. She holds a bachelor’s degree in architecture from Carnegie Mellon University and master’s and doctoral degrees in city and regional planning from the University of Pennsylvania.
Gerald Grant, Jr. is president of the G Financial Group and has over 25 years of experience as a financial planner. He is the author of the book Bold Moves to Creating Financial Wealth and co-author of The Power of Generational Wealth, written along with his son. Gerald is involved with several organizations in the South Florida area. He currently serves as the Vice Chair of the Foundation Board of Directors for Florida International University and is a member of the Orange Bowl Committee and Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc Theta Rho Sigma Chapter. Grant holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business from Florida International University.
Rick Rodriguez Piña is the managing partner of RPAK12, with offices in Miami, Orlando, Georgia and California. Over his 30-year career, Rick’s primary focus has been to serve as the chief architect, strategist and thought partner for national corporations seeking to leverage his longstanding relationships and knowledge within school districts around the country. Rick manages RPA’s corporate and community engagements with national education leaders and the firm’s relationships with state, local and municipal governments, as well as the firm’s involvement in national and state education associations, professional trade organizations and labor unions. Rick is an active participant on the boards of Breakthrough Miami and the Florida Small Business Development Council Advisory Board. He also previously served as treasurer of the Miami-Dade Expressway Authority, co-founder and chairman of the Latin American Business Association (LABA) and chairman of Florida International University’s Metropolitan Center, among leadership roles at many other organizations. Rick holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Florida State University. He is a proud father of his daughter Sofia.
Pierre Apollon is a licensed civil engineer and real estate executive with over 35 years of experience leading real estate development projects, alternative asset management and start-up ventures within the public and private sectors. He is the principal at APCON, Inc., a real estate acquisition and construction company with holdings in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Florida. Apollon has been involved with Big Brothers/Big Sisters, the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless and various other civic engagements. He holds an engineering degree from the University of Miami, an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Business and a master’s degree in International Real Estate from FIU.
Y. David Scharf is one of the country’s leading trial and appellate lawyers and serves as a senior counselor to CEOs and multi-national companies. As chair of the executive committee of Morrison Cohen LLP, Scharf oversees the strategic planning and day-to-day operations of the firm encompassing 220 attorneys and staff located in New York, Florida and other strategic locations. He has more than 30 years of experience representing and advising clients in securities, M&A, complex commercial and real estate transactions and other high-stakes business matters. Scharf leads a vibrant litigation and government strategies practice that services some of the country’s foremost companies, financial institutions and entrepreneurs and family offices. Among his philanthropic activities, he serves on the Chairman’s Council of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as an officer and member of the board of directors of the U.S. Tennis Association Foundation and as a trustee and board member of the Lifetime Care Foundation for the Disabled, Inc. He earned a bachelor’s degree from the School of Business and Public Administration at New York University and a juris doctorate cum laude from Brooklyn Law School.
Sean Gazitua, President and CEO of WTDC, represents the third generation of the Gazitua family to lead the company founded 49 years ago. WTDC is a worldwide logistics provider specializing in duty-free and travel retail products, providing door-to-door service across international markets. Under Gazitua’s leadership, WTDC has solidified a reputation as a trusted partner in the travel retail industry. His impact and leadership were recently recognized with the prestigious Travel Retail Superstar Award from duty-free and travel retail publisher The Moodie Davitt Report in the Humanity, Leadership and Inspiration category. A graduate of Florida International University’s School of International Business, Gazitua remains closely connected to FIU and currently serves as President of the FIU Alumni Association Board of Directors, supporting alumni engagement and institutional advancement, and Vice President of FIU’s Sigma Phi Epsilon Alumni. Gazitua is married to Emely and is the proud father of two sons, Gavin and Logan.
Gary Reshefsky is the founder and president of Century Risk Advisors, a full-service independent insurance brokerage headquartered in South Florida. Since launching the firm in 2013, Gary has built Century into a nationally recognized leader in delivering tailored insurance and risk management solutions for middle-market companies and successful families across the United States. In 2022, he was named Insurance Agent of the Year by Insurance Journal and, in 2023 and 2024, Century was ranked the #1 and #2 Best Place to Work by the South Florida Business Journal. Gary’s civic leadership includes work with the City of Coral Gables Insurance Advisory Board, as Past President of the Miami Children’s Museum and on the City of Miami Bond Oversight Board. He earned his juris doctorate and MBA from the University of Miami and a bachelor’s degree from The George Washington University.
Peter Thomson is a seasoned entrepreneur and technology executive with more than 35 years of experience building, scaling and successfully exiting innovative companies. In 2023, he founded Karyoo.ai, the first AI-driven process automation platform designed specifically to help small business owners create a valuation edge as they prepare for an exit. Previously, Peter was CEO of Nedge Computing, a cloud infrastructure software company focused on optimizing enterprise digital workspaces. He was also a co-founder of the ContractRoom, a SaaS-based contract lifecycle management platform later acquired by Mitratech, a $3B enterprise software company. Beyond his work in technology, Peter is deeply committed to service. He has been a financial literacy advocate with the Jumpstart Coalition and served as a court-appointed child advocate with the state-run Guardian Ad Litem program in California and Florida. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Denison University and a master’s degree from Carnegie Mellon University.
About the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County
Since opening in 2006 in the heart of downtown, the Arsht proudly serves as the cultural pulse of Miami – the heart of magical live arts experiences that spark the imagination and connect people to one another. Whether on our stages or in your neighborhood, the Arsht is alive year-round with international artists, innovative programming from resident companies and local arts partners, free community events that reflect Miami’s unique identity and more than 100 culturally diverse and impactful learning experiences for 80,000 children every year.
The Arsht, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, has been recognized as a leader in the Miami’s cultural transformation, producing more than 400 annual events that generate 11,500 local jobs and $125 million in economic impact. The Arsht is home to a robust series of touring Broadway musicals, star-studded jazz and classical music concerts curated for South Florida, an award-winning Miami-based theater program and numerous historic and televised events. Free annual Arsht events, such as Gospel Fest Miami, Art + Mind Day, Heritage Fest and our LGBTQ+ Pride celebration bring together people from all corners of our community. For more information, visit ArshtCenter.org.
