During the recent Miami Dade College (MDC) Board of Trustees meeting, the board unanimously elected Armando J. Bucelo Jr., a prominent Coral Gables attorney and MDC alumnus, as new board chair. Trustee Armando J. Olivera was named new vice chair.
Bucelo has been a member of the MDC Board of Trustees since 2002, previously serving as vice chair. For more than 20 years, he served as Special Counsel to the Code Enforcement Board of Coral Gables. In 2002, he was appointed by President George W. Bush to chair the Securities Investor Protection Corporation, one of the highest appointments ever made to a Hispanic by any administration.
In 2000, he was appointed as a member of the board of directors of the National CORE, one of the most prestigious affordable housing institutions in the nation. In 1995, he was named Cuban-American chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. In 1991, he was appointed by former President George H. W. Bush as the first Hispanic as well as first Floridian ever selected to the board of directors of the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation.
In addition, he has been involved in a myriad of community activities, including former president of the Downtown Miami Business Association, former president of the Cuban-American Bar Association and member of the board of directors of the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts.
Bucelo became the first Cuban-American to ring the closing bell of the New York Stock Exchange. He has been named among the 100 Most Influential Hispanics in the country on numerous occasions over the past 30 years, including Hispanic Business magazine.
Born in Havana, Cuba, Bucelo received his bachelor’s degree and law degree from the University of Miami. He received his associate degree from MDC.
Olivera was first appointed to the MDC Board of Trustees in 2012. He is the retired president and CEO of Florida Power & Light Company, a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Inc. and one of the largest investor-owned electric utilities in the nation. He was appointed president in 2003, CEO in 2008 and retired in 2012 after observing his 40th anniversary with the company.
Under his leadership, FPL grew its assets 79 percent to $31.8 billion, its revenues by 28 percent to $10.6 billion and its net income by 50 percent to $1.1 billion. Olivera managed a multibillion dollar capital investment program that included expanded nuclear capacity, a new highly efficient, natural gas, combined-cycle power plant, and three new solar energy centers.
Olivera is a director of AGL Resources Inc. and Fluor Corp., and previously served as a member of the Nicor Inc. board. He is a member of the board and a past chair of the Florida Reliability Coordinating Council, as well as a member of the board of Enterprise Florida and the Florida Council of 100.
He is a member of the board of trustees for Cornell University, where he received a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, and he holds a Master of Business Administration from the University of Miami.
Bucelo succeeds former MDC Board of Trustees chair Helen Aguirre Ferré.
