SPONSOR SPOTLIGHTS

Al Dotson is the CEO and managing partner of law firm Bilzin Sumberg, and a longtime supporter of Miami Book Fair. Born in Detroit, he lived in Chicago and Atlanta before settling in Miami in 1976. He and his wife are the proud parents of two children, a son and a daughter.

What compelled Bilzin Sumberg to partner with Miami Book Fair? …

Matt Love, president and CEO of Nicklaus Children’s Health System, relocated to Miami with his family six years ago when he joined the organization as its CFO. He and his wife – who have been married nearly 31 years – have two children and two grandchildren, with a third on the way.

What drew Nicklaus to Miami Book Fair – how does our work support your community-building goals? …

Florencia Tabeni is the COO of MDM Hotel Group, home to the JW Marriott Marquis and JW Marriott Miami, which hosted our authors and inaugural Next Page Celebration Dinner in 2023. The Argentine-born mom of one has been living in the Magic City for 23 years.

What compelled Marriott to partner with Miami Book Fair – in other words, how does our work support your community-building and charitable goals? …

We sat down with the folks at Jolly Time Pop Corn – one of the most popular stops at Street Fair, yum! – to talk about the company’s presence at and support of Miami Book Fair.

What compelled Jolly Time to partner with Miami Book Fair – in other words, how does our work support your community-building and charitable goals?
We were thrilled to partner with Miami Book Fair! …

Originally from Cleveland, David Jobin, CEO and president of The Our Fund Foundation, was living in Washington, D.C., when he and his husband, Angel Burgos, decided to pull up stakes and settle in South Florida 10 years ago. In 2022 the foundation sponsored An Evening With Harvey Fierstein; last year it supported a session featuring John Freeman speaking with Andrew Holleran and Kyle Dillon Hertz, …

Lifelong Miamian Maria Alonso is the CEO and regional dean of Northeastern University Miami. Natalie Grillo, born and raised in the Magic City, is a graduate student at the school’s Khoury College of Computer Science, where she’s pursuing a master’s degree in the Align program.

What compelled Northeastern to support Miami Book Fair?
MA: I think first and foremost we saw Book Fair as a way to support Miami Dade College, …

Neil Goldberg, founder and artistic director of Dream Studios, is a prolific, award-winning theatrical content creator and producer who founded Cirque Productions and Cirque Dreams – both now live under the Cirque du Soleil umbrella – and he also currently serves as president and CEO of Variety Arts Management and Dream Studios. We recently sat down with him to talk about his charming children’s book, …

Francinelee Hand was raised in Miami Beach and as an adult relocated to New York City, where she met and married her husband, David. Thirty years later they came to Miami and today they split their time between South Florida and Colorado, where their daughter and grandchildren live. A longtime patron of the arts – she’s a committed supporter of not just Miami Book Fair, …

Debby Bussel is the president of the Shepard Broad Foundation and the principal of Bussel Philanthropy Associates. She grew up in Miami and has deep ties to the community, where she lives with her husband, Steve Goldin, and their 16-year-old daughter, Lily.
Your foundation supports a lot of critical causes, but budgets are finite and no single organization can fund all of the work that it would like to – why have you chosen to support Miami Book Fair? …

April Myerscough is a grants coordinator at Florida Humanities, which most recently supported both Miami Book Fair’s NEA Big Read programming and the November festival. The native Floridian – who is an avid reader, natch – recently spoke with us about sharing Florida’s stories, a Great British Bake Off-style mystery, and an aardvark named Arthur.

Like any funder, you’re tasked with making strategic decisions about where your support will go. …

William Johnson is the director of PEN Across America, an initiative that provides resources to PEN America communities nationwide so they can carry forward the organization’s mission of defending and celebrating free expression. PEN Across America is a sponsor of the Miami Book Fair-produced Little Haiti Book Festival, which takes place annually in May.

Tell me a little about PEN America. …

Jonathan Chariff is the CEO of South Motors, which has been supporting Miami Book Fair since 2011! He recently sat down with us to share his thoughts on the country’s largest and most beloved celebration of books and literature.

Why does South Motors support Miami Book Fair?
Reading opens our minds and hearts to new possibilities, and Miami Book Fair does a fantastic job engaging our community – especially our children. …

Hannah Matheson is the senior editor at Four Way Books, an indie, New York-based publishing house celebrating its 30th year that’s focused on releasing 18-20 poetry, short story collection and novella titles each year. (Poet and longtime Friend of the Fair Michael Anna De Armas is on its board.) Originally from Texas, Matheson – who started out at Four Way as an intern – recently sat down with us to talk about, …

Dionne Polite is director of state operations for AARP’s Florida team, which she joined after spending six years in the organization’s New York office. A Broward County resident, she recently welcomed grandchild Josea – her first! – in December.

AARP first became involved with Miami Book Fair in 2020 – what compelled you to come back as an even bigger supporter in 2022? …

Rudy Fernandez is the executive vice president for external affairs and strategic initiatives and chief of staff at the University of Miami. He and his wife, Jennifer – they met when both were working at UM; she’s since moved on to Nicklaus Children’s Hospital – have four children, twin teenage daughters and two young sons.

Are you a Miami native?
No, …

Madeline Barrios has been with Jackson Health System for 15 years, where she currently serves in the communications and outreach department as the associate director for community outreach and special events. She was raised and educated in Miami – as was her husband – and is a proud mom to two teenage boys.

Jackson supports a lot of organizations in Miami – how did Book Fair get on that list? …

Sandy Nusbaum and his wife, Ellen, have made Miami their home for 50 years and are longtime supporters of Miami Book Fair and other stakeholder institutions, including HistoryMiami Museum, Actors’ Playhouse, and the University of Miami athletics department.

How did you come to be involved with Miami Book Fair?
Initially through a neighbor, who worked at Miami Dade College. …

David Whitaker was named president & CEO of the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau last July, a full circle moment for the GMCVB lead, who left the agency in 2007 after 17 years to boost tourism in Toronto and then Chicago before making his way back to the Magic City.

When did you first learn about Miami Book Fair?
I started at GMCVB in 1990, …

Julie Katz is a lifelong Miami resident who came back home after college and founded Everybody Wins! South Florida – now known as Read to a Child – a children’s literacy and mentoring organization. She currently works in community relations and corporate responsibility at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital.

How does the hospital’s commitment to literacy mirror our own?
Nicklaus has long recognized that literacy is really important to a child’s growth and development, …

A Georgia native, Dale Webb relocated to Miami as a teenager. Through the Chapman Foundation, she and her family – who can claim several generations of newspaper owners and publishers – are longtime MBF supporters with a focus on children’s and youth programs.

How did the Chapman Foundation come to be a Miami Book Fair supporter – what about our work at the time most resonated with you and the foundation? …

T-Mobile has a stated commitment to building stronger, more equitable communities, and to supporting youth – how does your support of Miami Book Fair align with those goals?
At T-Mobile, we believe that access to education is access to opportunity. In addition to providing free (Wi-Fi) hot spots to eligible K-12 students through our Project 10Million, we want to be a part of initiatives that align with these beliefs. …

Marya Meyer grew up in Wisconsin, spent 10 years in Spain after college, and now calls Miami home. The interim director of The Women’s Fund Miami-Dade – whose mission is to address the most pressing issues affecting women and girls in our community – sat down with us to talk about serendipity, women writers, and the critical importance of visionary conversations. …

Kimberly Green was born and raised in Miami, and through the Green Family Foundation has been a longtime and significant supporter of Miami Book Fair, as well as other vital cultural institutions in the Magic City.

How did the Green Family Foundation come to be a Miami Book Fair supporter?
How my family originally got involved came from the fact that we attended Book Fair; …

Native Virginian Brian C. Perlin came to Miami to earn his undergraduate and law degrees at UM, and decided to stay put. He established his namesake firm 36 years ago in Coral Gables, where he lives with his wife, Wendy.

How did you initially come to be a Miami Book Fair supporter?
I was hanging around Books & Books, met Mitchell Kaplan, …

Belissa Alvarez, director of The Jorge M. Pérez Family Foundation, was born in Puerto Rico to Dominican parents and grew up in New York. She’s lived in Miami for 16 years, where she’s dedicated to uplifting the collective community through strategic philanthropic efforts.

The Foundation supports Miami Book Fair’s Emerging Writer Fellowships through its CreARTE initiative, which launched in 2019 – tell me about that decision. …