Speakers

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J. Cooper Abbott

Carillon Tower Advisers

Bio coming soon.

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Pilar Carvajal

Innovation Senior Management

Mrs. Carvajal has spent her career managing the strategic development and day-to-day operations in the senior living
space. Her expertise focuses on assisted living, adult day care and memory care. Most of Mrs. Carvajal’s experience over
the past two decades has involved turning around challenged or sub-performing facilities and making them highly
profitable. Mrs. Carvajal demonstrates excellence in operations, staffing, billing (both public and private pay). Mrs.
Carvajal entered the senior living space with a mission of providing excellent care and has proven her thesis that better
care and better resident outcomes also enhance profitability for property owners.

Mrs. Carvajal often says she is a woman entrepreneur working in a woman’s world. She hires mostly women and cares,
in large part, for women. She began her senior living career catering to an often neglected individual in our industry, the
middle- and low-income senior. She has continued to care for this population in large part and is looking to innovative
ways to continue to service them and baby boomers in the future. Mrs. Carvajal entered the senior living space with a
mission of providing excellent care and she has proven her thesis that better care results in better resident outcomes
and profitability. Profits with a conscience is Innovation Senior Management’s core tenant and that tenant continues to
drive the growth of her company.

Prior to creating Innovative Senior Management, Mrs. Carvajal was the Chief Operating Officer of Mia Senior Living
Solutions. For fifteen years she oversaw the strategic development and day-to-day operations for the assisted living and
adult day care communities across twenty-three states.

Prior to joining Mia Senior Living Solutions Mrs. Carvajal worked as a management consultant for the leading
management consulting firms of Accenture and IBM Global Business Services in New York City. As such she helped
national and international organizations manage change while developing new processes and strategies to create
competitive advantages and achieve high performance.

Mrs. Carvajal has a Master of Science degree from the London School of Economics and Bachelor of Arts from Smith
College. She is a Goldman Sachs 10000 Small Business Program Alumni and Miami Chamber of Commerce Leadership
Graduate. She sits on the Florida Assisted Living Association (FALA) Board, The Miami Chamber of Commerce Healthcare
Committee, The Beacon Council Small Business Committee and City of Miami Beach Affordable Housing Committee. In
March 2017, she received a “Key to the County” from the Miami-Dade Beacon Council. In March 2019, Mrs. Carvajal
was inducted into the inaugural McKnight’s Women of Distinction Hall of Honor.

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Eugene Faiso

DGridEnergy, LLC

More than 35 years in C-Suite. Leader of international communications company and firm that integrates and assembles solar with refrigeration ….The Solar Cool Cube

We are a social benefits company based in Maryland that is the manufacturer of the Off-Grid Solar Powered Energy Station and Cool Cube (Walk-in Refrigerator). We have a marketing center displaying our product at the University of the District of Columbia Muirkirk Experimental Farm in Beltsville, Maryland. Our units are being sold to Zambia, The Democratic Republic of Congo, in addition to negotiations with Angola and 13 other countries in Africa, Asia and South America

We manufacture a modular highly efficient solar powered walk in refrigerator which has a 20 and/or 40 cubic meter capacity and is expandable in 20 cubic meter modules. Our manufacturing standards and optional features exceed any other commercial products in this sector. . The Cool Cube is all-weather, industrial-quality appliance for off-grid locations. It is manufactured in the United States and shipped in all-you-need kits to be assembled, serviced and maintained locally. It can be easily disassembled and moved to new locations, if necessary. Our warranties and guarantees are first-tier. The system is able to cool dairy, seeds, beverages, fruit, vegetables, meat, produce, vaccines, medicines and remains of love ones. It has temperature ranges that can keep items at 3 degree C and relative humidity of 80%. The Cool Cube uses various energy options: 100% solar (with ten 260W solar panels), 60% solar (with fewer solar panels and a mini-generator) and other green energy efficient options. Optional features include a video display screen for training , public interest /or advertising signage, it’s smart – enabled applications allow it to be operated by cell phone for remote operation and mobile payment. It is an energy station that has LED lighting, cell phone and computer charging capability for rural and urban areas.

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Michael Gongora

City of Miami Beach

Commissioner Michael Góngora cares passionately about making a difference in our community and ensuring it remains resilient for future generations. He has been elected to his third non-consecutive term as Miami Beach Commissioner, having previously served in 2006 – 2007 and 2009 – 2013. Shortly after being elected in 2007, Commissioner Góngora pushed for the first citywide recycling program, founded the City’s Sustainability Committee and helped create a long-term plan designed to encourage developers to build greener buildings. To alleviate flooding, Góngora was instrumental in enacting the stormwater master plan which first included the pump stations to keep Miami Beach dry.

In 2000, Commissioner Góngora began his public service as President of the Miami Beach Latin Chamber of Commerce, where he served three terms. Góngora also chaired various boards and committees including serving as President of the Environmental Coalition of Miami and the Beaches (ECOMB). Recently, Commissioner Góngora sponsored a resolution opposing Florida Senate Bill 588 and Florida House Bill 603 that would preempt the regulation of single-use straws in the State of Florida. This bill would authorize food service establishments to be able to distribute a single-use plastic straw to a customer upon request, including making single-use plastic straws available to customers through a self-serve straw dispenser.

During his tenure as Commissioner, Góngora served on all sub-committees including Finance, Neighborhoods, Land Use and Sustainability and was Miami Beach’s liaison to the Miami-Dade County League of Cities as well as the Miami-Dade County Film & Entertainment Advisory Board. Before being elected Commissioner, he served on several Miami Beach Boards including the Zoning Board of Adjustment, Design Review Board and as Special Master over Code Compliance.

As a citizen activist and elected official, Góngora knows that meeting with residents, business people and neighborhood organizations to listen and understand their needs is the most valuable skill a Commissioner can have. He knows that everyone’s input is integral to our shared future. Recently as a newly-again elected commissioner, Gongora established the first City of Miami Beach’s Anti-Bullying Taskforce in order to ensure that all youth—including at-risk LGBTQ youth—are protected from bullying in all City services, City-supported services, and City facilities. Also, Gongora established the first City of Miami Beach Senior Affairs Committee. The purpose of the Senior Affairs Committee is to provide senior citizen residents of the City with the opportunity to represent and articulate the needs of persons 55 years of age and older, to foster increased involvement in the affairs of City government by senior citizen residents, and to provide recommendations to the Mayor and City Commissioners on issues and programs affecting the City’s senior citizen population. He currently serves as Vice Chair of both the Finance & Citywide Projects Committee and Neighborhoods & Community Affairs Committee for the City of Miami Beach Commission.

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Amy Kedron

Dr. Amy Kedron was born in Buffalo, NY and grew up on a street that had about as many factories on it, as homes. When American jobs were sent overseas, Amy saw how it destroyed not only wages, but communities. As a Catholic School student, there were only nine kids in her fourth grade class because parents could no longer afford tuition. Soon after, the school closed as well as the church, local businesses and grocery stores. What was once a tight-knit, community began to feel hopeless.

So Amy did something about it. She was determined to understand the root causes of her hometown’s challenges, so she became the first person in her family to go to college. She earned two Ivy League degrees, a doctoral degree and a law degree researching and then implementing the best ways to put economies, communities and families back together.

Amy came up with solutions that directly helped people. She became the founding CEO of a social enterprise that encouraged people to support local businesses and an economy that works for everyone. She educated business owners about cost-saving things they could do to help the environment and create more wealth for the local community. She also helped launch a think tank with Cornell University that worked to research and implement local policies that made the community a stronger, healthier, more livable place for all.

It also worked to ensure that major economic development projects are sustainable and impactful. Small businesses are booming again in Buffalo, the city now has some of the fastest-growing property values in the nation and people have hope.
Amy left frosty Buffalo for sunny Florida in 2010 and began working as a professor at USF St. Petersburg and Ringling College, teaching students how to build stronger businesses, organizations and communities. Through the classroom her students have impacted dozens of community organizations and hundreds of lives. Amy understands that when people work together they can accomplish great things and it is important for us to come together right now.

She understands how much local politics can change lives as well. You can trust politicians most by what they have done. Amy has a twenty-year record of dedicating herself to building healthier, stronger communities and she will continue doing these things for you as your next District 6, Pinellas County Commissioner. Come Together, Right Now! Elect Dr. Amy Kedron as your next County Commissioner.

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Von Nkosi

M. von Nkosi directs operations and project implementation specializing in strategies to renew and revive communities. He provides oversight and leadership in collaboration with diverse stakeholder groups and consultants to achieve common goals.

His leadership has allowed him to support the completion of real estate development projects, task management, financial tracking, public policy, public health, equity, entrepreneurship business development, technology transfer and disaster recovery efforts. His community revitalization work has included urban design and safety (CPTED) projects, including schools, multi-family mixed-income housing, mixed-use developments, and municipal buildings.

Through his extensive work with diverse teams and communities on issues of redevelopment, diversity, and equity, he came to design and bring the smartphone platform, Mi Rialiti [my reality] to market with private investment (mirialiti.com).

von led the initiative and business case for mixed-income and affordable housing in metro Atlanta through ANDP, Inc. He established a diverse group of 70+ representatives from public and private sector developers, lenders, land/transportation planners, architects and public officials, private companies and philanthropy to help shape public policy and address regional issues of housing affordability making it easier for developers and municipalities to build mixed-income and sustainable developments.

He founded the Institute for Local Innovations, Inc. (ILI) to help build organizational stability and capacity building for CBOs, knowledge capture and transfer of leadership experiences across generations (i.e., Next Gen, Mid-Career, Bridge, Encore and Emeritus) and the uplift of innovative projects/programs for funding/financing. His extensive leadership and contracting background allowed him to successfully negotiate and enter ILI into a five year agreement with the NASA GSFC to help move patented NASA technology into the marketplace.