Gabriele Fiorentino
President
www.dranoff2piano.org

Gabriele Fiorentino was born and raised in Duesseldorf, Germany. After completing high school, she chose Miami as her home. She is a University of Miami Alumna with an MBA in Marketing. After working at Burger King Corporation, and the advertising agency Beber Silverstein and Partners, she has been focusing on business and investment opportunities together with her husband, Patrick Fiorentino. Currently, their efforts are centered on developing a truffle orchard in North Carolina.

Fiorentino has a long-standing interest in the Arts. For almost a decade she was involved in many educational projects presenting arts in the public school. This interest has evolved into supporting and building Dranoff’s Piano Slam program, whose mission it is to use music in order to enhance learning.

Maxine Long
Vice President

Trans-national disputes have unique legal challenges that Maxine Long has tackled for 30 years. She often uses her own creative strategies to handle issues ranging from international negotiations to dispute resolution and post-judgment remedies. An experienced partner in the Miami Litigation Department, she focuses on resolving disputes for companies and financial institutions in the U.S. and abroad. Clients include individuals, corporations, foreign and national banks, and government entities. Her work with a local church has also led to a side niche--counseling churches of various denominations.

The international aspect of Long's practice is extensive, with cases often involving foreign banking transactions and contract disputes. She has experience with cases under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, as well as various treaties and conventions, and is particularly skilled at handling cases that span multiple jurisdictions.

She joined Shutts & Bowen in 1980, following a clerkship with U.S. District Judge C. Clyde Atkins. Long is listed in Who's Who in American Law, Who's Who of American Women, Who's Who in America, and Who’s Who in the World.

Susanna Tarjan
Second Vice President
www.moross.com

Susanna Moross Tarjan was born in Los Angeles and raised in New York. She moved to Miami in 1968 when her husband, Peter Tarjan, was hired by Cordis Corporation. Her sons, Joshua and Aaron, were born in Miami. She spent several years in the real estate business. However, when her father, the composer Jerome Moross, died in 1983, she began managing and promoting his music. Among other projects, she has produced five recordings, a short documentary about her father's life and is working on a full-length documentary for his 100th birthday in 2013.

Brenda Alford

Brenda Alford is a highly respected, award-winning vocalist, recording artist, songwriter, educator, writer, as well as the owner/C.E.O. of Brenda Alford, L.L.C., an arts and entertainment company.

She has performed jazz, gospel, pop and r&b music in concerts in a wide range of settings and  with many jazz legends  including Ella Fitzgerald’s bassist, Keter Betts, Tommy Flannigan, Ron Carter, Al Foster, Flip Phillips, Ira Sullivan, and many more.

Brenda has spent many years creating and performing programs for children to expose them to Jazz, and with the music, uplifting and inspiring them through motivational messages. 

Christina Bracken

Christina Bracken, born and raised in Germany, fell in love with Miami after an Atlantic crossing on a sailboat. She moved to Key Biscayne within weeks. She and her family then spent  6 years in Indonesia, Thailand and India where she also started a business  designing and manufacturing children’s clothing for customers in Europe.

Back from Asia, she was hired as product developer by a Miami footwear company in 1993 and 10 years later, launched her own design and manufacturing business.

She founded GoVoteMiami in 2015 to impact civic engagement in her home community and beyond.

Christina also serves on the Executive Council of Inspired Women Lead, an organization mentoring women around the world to discover and develop their authentic selves to lead.

Juan Carlos Espinosa
Dean -- The Honors College
Florida International University

Juan Carlos Espinosa is a political scientist with degrees from the University of Miami and Florida State University. He joined FIU in 2006 as Associate Dean and Faculty Fellow at the Honors College. In that position, he focused on curriculum, research, and community engagement. He became interim Dean in July 2017 and was appointed Dean in May 2018. Espinosa has taught Honors College courses at every level from the Freshman Seminar to Upper Division seminars on public policy and climate change. As Associate Dean, he led an effort to restructure the Honors curriculum to put a greater focus on critical thinking, written and oral communication, research, and other skills needed for academic success for the high-achieving students of the Honors College.

As Dean, Espinosa is leading the effort to rethink undergraduate Honors education understanding an academic major does not give students sufficient preparation for life after college. The Honors College prepares students to be agile, flexible, and resourceful by offering them the intellectual and vocational tools they will need to master the literacies they will need to navigate in a rapidly changing world. A critical part of the reform is the tearing down of the wall between the curricular and the co-curricular and providing students with opportunities for experiential learning through internships, jobs, competitions, and projects.

Espinosa has served on numerous university-wide committees including the Strategic Planning Committee, the Ashoka Changemaker Campus Committee, and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemorative Committee. He has also served on several local, state, and regional boards including Seraphic Fire and the Florida Undergraduate Research Council. Espinosa has been inducted into the Iron Arrow Honor Society of the University of Miami, the Florida International University Order of the Torch, and as an honorary member of Phi Beta Kappa.

Heidy M. Frank
Morgan Stanley

Heidy Frank is a Family Financial Advisor with Morgan Stanley, Coral Gables FL office. Heidy has 20+ Years in client relationship roles of increasing responsibility, including regional head for Nokia ( former Alcatel-Lucent ). Her affiliations include the CFA and ADL Chapters of South Florida.

Originally from Brazil, Ms. Frank as been in Miami for over 30 years. Heidy is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese with a working knowledge of German. She holds a BBA from University of Miami, with majors in Finance and Marketing. Heidy achieved her Masters from Babson College with a specialization in Entrepreneurship.

In addition to Heidy‘s professional interests, she has a firm belief in being involved in the community. Ms Frank is a member of or has actively supported the Key Biscayne Yacht Club, Act4Me Foundation. She is the VP for Babson College‘ Florida Alumni Group and is on Dranoff‘s board.

Glenda Hayley worked in international education and corporate relations at the University of Miami for more than 30 years, bringing with her intensive knowledge of language programs. She worked and lived abroad and still travels extensively.

Glenda is an active participant in the community and in addition to the Dranoff International 2 Piano Foundation, she supports the Lowe Art Museum, CARE Elementary School (Christian Academy for Reaching Excellence), the Coral Gables Garden Club, and other local organizations as well as the Kauai Museum in Hawaii.

Ayeisha Kirkland

Ayeisha Kirkland is an alumna of PIANO SLAM 9 in 2017, when she was middle school student. Since that time, she has had multiple performances as a spoken word artist and rapper with a social message. Now in her last year at MAST Academy Magnet Program, she also is active as a volunteer and member in several organizations, and founded YouthForChrist305, a Miami based network of Christian teenagers. She has worked in various aspects for the Dranoff over the years, and has joined our board as a Student Advisor.

Patricia Neal
President and CEO Acies Strategy Group

Patricia M. (Pat) Neal is President and CEO of Acies Strategy Group, an international strategic communications agency. Previously, for 13 years, she was Vice President and head of global corporate communications for Bacardi Limited, the largest privately held spirits company in the world with more than 200 brands and labels and operating in more than 150 countries. She oversaw all crisis and issues communications, external, executive and internal communications, social responsibility communications and brand communications globally. Ms. Neal has an extensive journalism background, serving 17 years at CNN in a variety of roles—producer of the network’s primetime newscast, supervising producer overseeing the entire network’s coverage, foreign correspondent and bureau chief in Jerusalem during a spike in the intifada and correspondent and bureau chief in Cairo during the first Gulf War. She also was political producer and correspondent during multiple senate, congressional and presidential campaigns and was lead for CNN’s US-Cuba coverage for ten years. She has been multi-awarded in both corporate communications and journalism.

Lasana Smith

Lasana Smith is the Principal of GAROI Media, a full-service advertising agency with  local, regional and national clients. She brings more than 15 years of marketing, sales and digital media experience from companies including Columbia Records, MTV Networks, Ogilvy and Mather, Groupon and YP.  Lasan holds degrees in Marketing and International Business and in  Communication Management. 

Touri J. White Sr.

Touri J. White Sr. serves as the Program Manager for the Office of Diversity, Inclusion, and Community Engagement at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. Prior to his current position, White served as the Community Relations & Outreach Manager at UM’s Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science. He also served as the Upward Bound Math & Science Director at the Phillip & Patricia Frost Museum of Science; and as an Earth-Space Science Teacher for Miami-Dade County Public Schools.

White actively served as a member of the Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Committee, Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science MPS Internship Committee Chair and served on the MPS Non-Academic Career Panel. He currently serves as member of the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA).

White earned his Master of Science degree in Coastal Zone Management and Bachelor of Arts degree in Social Psychology from the University of Miami. He also earned his Professional Educator’s Certificate in Earth-Space Science grades (6-12) with a gifted endorsement from the Florida Department of Education.