April 24, 2024
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South Florida Extra - Pacesetter
'Eternal Optimist'
Martha Brannigan | 6/1/2006
All the foot-dragging has made Florida FTAA's goal of making Miami the Permanent Secretariat for the moribund pact seem rather elusive. But the 40-year-old Dean is used to dealing with elusive goals. Dean, who won support from Gov. Jeb Bush after Jorge Arrizurieta stepped down in April to join Akerman Senterfitt, worked most recently as director for Latin America and the Caribbean for the International Republican Institute, a conservative non-profit organization whose goals are to promote democracy, free markets and the rule of law. At Washington, D.C.-based IRI, he helped start programs in Brazil, Argentina, Mexico and Colombia.
"I'm the eternal optimist, and not for an absence of information," says Dean. "I think it (passage of FTAA) is an attainable objective. It's no longer a short-term, but a mid- to long-term objective."
Florida FTAA, a public-private entity funded by state and private monies, is expanding its goals to include not only snaring the permanent headquarters for Miami, but also helping foster free trade. Dean's focus, he says, will include keeping the free trade issue prominent in the minds of Floridians. "It starts here at home,'' he says. "One of the principal mandates is to engage the Florida business community so every stakeholder is well-versed."
Brian Dean , 40 Credentials: Latin America specialist. Most recently was director for Latin America and the Caribbean for the International Republican Institute, a conservative non-profit group.
Early taste for Latin America: Lived in S?o Paulo, Brazil, for a year as a teenager on a student exchange program.
Reforms: "Many citizens in Latin America feel the reforms have failed to result in improvement in their economic well-being. We have a big challenge engaging in the discussion of why reforms don't work if we're ever going to make sure Florida and especially Miami are the beneficiaries of the Permanent Secretariat."
