The Miami Herald | By MIKE SEEMUTH | September 22, 2003
Not-for-profit Florida FTAA is raising private donations and public funds to extend its reach, thanks in part to a couple of local business executives who volunteered as lead arm twisters.
Juan Cento, president of the Miami-based FedEx Express division that serves Latin America and the Caribbean, and Joe Lacher, president of BellSouth operations in Florida, are leading a fundraising effort on behalf of Florida FTAA.
''We have gotten exceptional feedback from the business community in Miami,'' Cento said.
Florida FTAA is aiming to raise $2 million in private donations to further its goal of having Miami selected as the site of the permanent secretariat of the Free Trade Area of the Americas.
''We're not going to have a problem hitting that number,'' Cento said.
Altogether, Florida FTAA is trying to raise about $12 million, mostly to pay for extra security and other costs related to the FTAA ministerial meeting scheduled Nov. 20-21 in downtown Miami.
Florida FTAA is asking the federal government to help Miami-Dade County and local municipalities pay most of the security bill for the ministerial meeting, which local leaders hope will showcase Miami's potential as a location for the FTAA secretariat.
''We're on target with our fundraising and we're going to be successful,'' said Jorge Arrizurieta, executive director of Florida FTAA.
Lacher grew up in Bradenton and joined Southern Bell as a management assistant in North Carolina in 1967. He went on to positions of increasing responsibility with the local phone service provider in Jacksonville, Atlanta and Miami, where he has run BellSouth operations in Florida since 1991.
Cento is a native of Cuba. Raised in Miami, he attended Miami Dade College and Florida International University. At FedEx, he oversees more than 3,000 employees and operations in more than 50 countries and territories.The Miami Herald:
