Senior-level hires and promotions in Miami-Dade, Broward for the week of Nov. 25, 2019
ATTRACTIONS
Natalia Plasencia has been named catering director of Jungle Island, the eco-adventure attraction on Watson Island in Miami. She was director of catering at Hilton at Resorts World in Bimini, Bahamas.
LAW
At the Miami office of Fowler White Burnett, two have joined the firm as shareholders in the maritime practice group. Both were with Mase Mebane & Briggs.
Cameron W. Eubanks focuses on significant appellate and trial-level maritime and admiralty matters and has years of experience representing all the major cruise lines in South Florida. He led the appellate group at Mase Mebane. He has a bachelor’s from the University of Central Florida and a J.D. from the University of Miami.
Victor J. Pelaez focuses his practice in maritime and admiralty, complex business disputes, and international litigation. He has a bachelor’s in philosophy, and a J.D., from Florida International University.
MEDIA
Jorge Carballo has been named president/general manager of NBC 6/WTVJ in Miami, effective Jan. 1. He is the current president/GM of Telemundo 51/WSCV. WSCV and WTVJ are NBCUniversal’s local television stations that serve English and Spanish-speaking audiences in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale market.
Pierluigi Gazzolo has been appointed president of OT International and Viacom International Studios. He is president of VIMN Americas and executive vice president of Nickelodeon. Juan “J.C.” Acosta will be promoted to president of VIMN Americas as of Jan. 3. He is current executive vice president and chief operating officer of VIMN Americas. Both men, who are based in Miami-Dade, are graduates of Florida International University.
REAL ESTATE
Martin Elortegui was recently named director of the new real commercial real estate division of The Elmir Group under Cervera Real Estate. He will continue his role as the director of business development.
RENTALS
Matt Sweetwood has been named CEO of LUXnow luxury auto, home and yacht rentals. He will be based in the company’s headquarters in Miami Beach. Sweetwood was previously president of Unique Photo in Fairfield, N.J. He has a bachelor’s in mathematics from Rutgers University and a master’s in theoretical mathematics from the University of Pennsylvania.
Technology
At Cyxtera Technologies, which owns and operates data centers, and which is based in Coral Gables:
▪ Founder and and CEO Manuel D. Medina has been elevated to executive chairman for both Cyxtera and its recently announced AppGate spinout.
▪ Current Cyxtera president and CEO Nelson Fonseca has been promoted to CEO for Cyxtera.
Tom Williamson has been named chief commercial officer at TissueTech, a biotech company based in Miami. His duties will include overseeing commercial scaling efforts for the Bio-Tissue and Amniox umbilical cord and amniotic-membrane-based products. He was chief commercial officer at BioStable Science & Engineering. Williamson has a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Louisiana State University.
YACHT SALES
Kris Endreson has been named vice president of sales of Americas at SeaDream Yacht Club. She was director of global sales at The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection. Endreson will be based in SeaDream’s Miami office on Brickell Key.
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See past senior-level hires and promotions in South Florida for 2017-2018:▪ Jan. 2, 2017 ▪ Jan. 9, 2017 ▪ Jan. 16, 2017 ▪ Jan. 23, 2017 ▪ Jan. 30, 2017 ▪ Feb. 6, 2017 ▪ Feb. 13, 2017 ▪ Feb. 20, 2017 ▪ Feb. 27, 2017 ▪ March 6, 2017 ▪ March 13, 2017 ▪ March 20, 2017 ▪ March 27, 2017 ▪ April 3, 2017 ▪ April 10, 2017 ▪ April 17, 2017 ▪ April 24, 2017 ▪ May 1, 2017 ▪ May 8, 2017 ▪ May 15, 2017 ▪ May 22, 2017 ▪ May 29, 2017 ▪ June 5, 2017 ▪ June 12, 2017 ▪ June 19, 2017 ▪ June 26, 2017 ▪ July 3, 2017 ▪ July 10, 2017 ▪ July 17, 2017 ▪ July 24, 2017 ▪ July 31, 2017 ▪ Aug. 7, 2017 ▪ Aug. 14, 2017 ▪ Aug. 21, 2017 ▪ Aug. 28, 2017 ▪ Sept. 4, 2017 ▪ Sept. 11, 2017 (No Movers ran on Sept. 18, 2017) ▪ Sept. 25, 2017 ▪ Oct. 3, 2017 ▪ Oct. 9, 2017 ▪ Oct. 16, 2017 ▪ Oct. 23, 2017 ▪ Oct. 31, 2017 ▪ Nov. 5, 2017 ▪ Nov. 13, 2017 ▪ Nov. 20, 2017 (No Movers ran on Nov. 27, 2017) ▪ Dec. 4, 2017 ▪ Dec. 11, 2017 ▪ Dec. 18, 2017(No Movers ran on Jan. 1, 2018) ▪ Jan. 8, 2018 ▪ Jan. 15, 2018 ▪ Jan. 22, 2018 ▪ Jan. 29, 2018 ▪ Feb. 5, 2018 ▪ Feb. 12, 2018 ▪ Feb. 19, 2018 ▪ Feb. 26, 2018 ▪ March 5, 2018 ▪ March 12, 2018 ▪ March 19, 2018 ▪ March 26 ) (No Movers ran on April 2, 2018) ▪ April 9, 2018 ▪ April 16, 2018 ▪ April 23, 2018 ▪ April 30, 2018 ▪ May 7, 2018 May 14, 2018 May 21, 2018 May 28, 2018 June 4, 2018 June 11, 2018 June 18, 2018 June 25, 2018 (No Movers ran on July 9, 2018) July 16, 2018 July 23, 2018 July 30, 2018 Aug. 6, 2018 Aug. 13, 2018 Aug. 20, 2018 Aug. 27, 2018 Sept. 3, 2018 Sept. 10, 2018 Sept. 17, 2018 Sept. 24, 2018 Oct. 1, 2018 Oct. 8, 2018 Oct. 15, 2018 (No Movers ran on Oct. 22, 2018) Oct. 29, 2018 Nov. 5, 2018 Nov. 12, 2018 Nov. 19, 2018 Nov. 26, 2018 Dec. 3, 2018 Dec. 10, 2018 Dec. 17, 2018 Dec. 24, 2018 (No Movers on Dec. 31, 2018) Jan. 7, 2019 Jan. 14, 2019 Jan. 21, 2019 Jan. 28, 2019 Feb. 4, 2019 Feb. 11, 2019 Feb. 18, 2019 Feb. 25, 2019 March 4, 2019 March 11, 2019 March 18, 2019 March 25, 2019 April 1, 2019 April 8, 2019 April 15, 2019 April 22, 2019 April 29, 2019 May 6, 2019 May 13, 2019 May 20, 2019 May 27, 2019 June 3, 2019 (No Movers ran on June 17, 2019) June 24, 2019 July 1, 2019 July 8, 2019 July 15, 2019 July 22, 2019 July 29, 2019 (No Movers ran on Aug. 5, 2019) Aug. 12, 2019 Aug. 19, 2019 Aug. 26, 2019 (No Movers ran on on Sept. 2, 2019) Sept. 9, 2019 Sept. 16, 2019 Sept. 23, 2019 Sept. 30, 2019 Oct. 7, 2019 Oct. 14, 2019 Oct. 21, 2019 Oct. 28, 2019 Nov. 4, 2019 Nov. 11, 2019 Nov. 18, 2019
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This space lists promotions of executives at the director level and above who are based in Broward, Miami-Dade or Monroe counties. Announcements, also at miamiherald.com, are for full-time, paid positions — not for board or volunteer positions. Send items, with a high-resolution jpeg of a head shot, (lower resolutions reproduce poorly online), to movers@miamiherald.com. Include the position (company, title) most recently held prior to the new job. Educational background is also desirable, but optional.
Mover’s spotlight
Name: Brian Van Hook
New position: Director of the Florida Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at FIU. The organization works as a partner to small businesses providing no-cost, one-on-one consulting to owners and entrepreneurs.
From: Associate director. He held the position for five years.
About: Van Hook has overseen the center’s efforts to assist local businesses recovering from Hurricane Irma, Zika and Red Tide.
Also: He has been policy director on the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business & Entrepreneurship. Van Hook is a graduate of the Greater Miami Chamber’s Leadership Miami program and represents FSBDC at FIU on Miami Dade County Office of Emergency Management’s ESF-18 (Business & Industry) Desk for disasters.
Education: Van Hook received his bachelor’s from Louisiana State University and a master’s in international affairs from Florida State University.
Best advice: The best advice I have received was from our founding regional director Jacqueline Sousa and focused on managing time and resources. Her advice was to always remember when setting priorities “If you are doing something, you aren’t doing something else.”
