After 8-month search, Miami Foundation names new CEO. It’s a familiar face
Rebecca Fishman Lipsey has been named the new president and CEO of the prestigious Miami Foundation, a nonprofit that manages $350 million to improve South Florida’s quality of life.
The announcement comes after an eight-month search to replace Javier Soto, who led the foundation for a decade before leaving to lead The Denver Foundation. Joseph A. Fernandez, chair of the Miami Foundation’s programs committee and president of the Florida Region of BNY Mellon Wealth Management, served as interim president and CEO since October.
“Rebecca brings ingenuity, expertise and tenacity, qualities trustees wanted in the Foundation’s next leader,” said Richard Berkowitz, board chair at The Miami Foundation and executive chairman of Berkowitz Pollack Brant, in a statement. “Especially in this extraordinary and challenging time for Greater Miami, she has the proven ability to unite and inspire residents, institutions and civic leaders to improve life in our community. She will be a transformational leader to help our community foundation support Miami-Dade’s resilience through this pandemic.”
Fishman Lipsey, 39, joins the foundation from Radical Partners, a group she founded with a similar mission to the foundation’s: delivering more equitable outcomes to all South Florida residents.
In an interview, Fishman Lipsey said she will first seek input from key stakeholders to determine how to best direct the foundation’s resources.
“A big part of my first 100 days will be mobilizing, listening, and co-creating,” she said. “Especially as we work on rebuilding and recovery, we’re going to need [other] grassroots leaders and nonprofit leaders to help solve what is the greatest crisis any of us have lived through. The question is, what role can every single one of us play. It’s going to be urgent for me to hear from those different parts of Miami so we can have a coherent recovery plan. It’s not about me having an opinion, but me bringing [groups] together.”
Fishman Lipsey has lived in Miami for 12 years. In 2014, she became the youngest person in history selected to serve on the Florida Board of Education, a role she earned after serving as executive director of Teach For America Miami-Dade. In that role, she more than tripled the organization’s size and multiplied its fundraising by 16 times over.
Fishman Lipsey was valedictorian of her undergraduate class at the University of Pennsylvania and holds a master’s degree in education from Bank Street College of Education in New York City. She began her career as a teacher in Harlem.
“If I lead with anything in my soul, it’s a passion for equity and resilience in this community,” she said. “We are so rich with ideas and creativity from all over globe, that is our superpower. My responsibility is to leverage all that we have here.”
This story has been updated to clarify Fishman Lipsey’s title.
This story was originally published April 16, 2020 at 11:00 PM.
