Dan and Trish Bell Honored with “Sand in My Shoes Award”

Philanthropists Trish and Dan Bell were honored by the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce with the “Sand in My Shoes Award” at a sold-out event at Jungle Island attended by over 800 community leaders.

The Bells are notable Miami philanthropists, greatly contributing to and promoting the work of organizations including Branches, Baptist Health South Florida Foundation, the Foundation for New Education Initiatives, the American Red Cross, the Coral Gables Community Foundation, Young Patronesses of the Opera, Chapman Partnership and more.  The Bells have recently donated $14 million to a multi-faith, 17,000-square-foot “Trish and Dan Bell Chapel” at Florida International University.

The event was a sea of Miami influence, attended by Phillip and Patricia Frost, Ron and Rita McGill, Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, Ana VeigaMilton and Cecil Milton, David Lawrence, Mike Allen, Madeline Pumariega, Judge Bronwyn Miller, Judge Migna Sanchez-Llorens, Nancy and John Batchelor, Raquel Regalado, Amanda Altman and David Lynn, Katherine Fernandez Rundle, Richard Milstein, Jane Wooldridge, Alex Mena.

Trish and Dan Bell took the stage together with each addressing the crowd, each crediting the other with the work for which they were recognized.

“It is indeed an honor,” Dan Bell told the Miami Herald. “It’s something we’re proud of. It’s also something we never thought of because I left the business community. We’ve been involved with the Chamber practically ever since we’ve been in Miami, but I left the business community about 20 something years ago. So I didn’t really expect this would come our way. But it’s it’s certainly a nice recognition.”

“Like Dan said, we were just very, very surprised, over the moon, happy about this,” Trish Bell told the paper. “I’d never expected it. But the first thing I asked myself…‘How can we use this to highlight some of the things we do in Miami and some of the people that we reach out to in Miami?’

The Sand in My Shoes Award, named – according to Chamber CEO Alfred Sanchez, for the idea that people have trouble leaving Miami because they get “sand in their shoes” has been presented to leaders including Albert Ibarguen, Donna E. Shalala, Gloria & Emilio Estefan, Adolfo Enriques, Sue and Leonard Miller and Congressman William Lehman.

New World Symphony Establishes “Outstanding Woman Musician”

The New World Symphony has received a gift of $1 million from Dr. Judith Rodin, establishing The Judith Rodin Fellowship for an Outstanding Woman Musician, the orchestra reported. The first recipient of The Judith Rodin Fellowship is NWS conducting fellow Molly Turner. This season  marks Turner’s second season at NWS and her first as a Dudamel Fellow with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

“I know first-hand how barriers are often erected for women,” said Rodin. “Even today, role and pay parity have not been achieved in many fields. I am making this gift because I believe that, in the field of classical music, New World Symphony is well prepared to help shift gender stereotypes by instrument family and position, as a premier educational institution whose musicians go on to populate and lead the most renowned orchestras and ensembles in the world.”

Dr. Rodin, meanwhile, led two global institutions: She was the first woman named to lead an Ivy League Institution and was the first woman to serve as The Rockefeller Foundation’s president. A research psychologist by training, she was one of the early contributors to the fields of behavioral medicine and health psychology. At Penn, Dr. Rodin presided over a decade of growth and progress, including a comprehensive, internationally acclaimed neighborhood revitalization program in West Philadelphia. Dr. Rodin has served as a member of the board for leading corporations including Aetna, AMR, EDS, Citigroup, Laureate Education, Inc. and Comcast NBCUniversal, as well as younger companies such as Everly Health, Resilient Cities Catalyst, One Concern, Athena Technology and Prodigy Finance. She has also served on many non-profit boards including Carnegie Hall, the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation, Global Impact Investing Network and New World Symphony.

Dr. Rodin has been named to Forbes’ 100 Most Powerful Women list, Crain’s Most Powerful Women in New York list, and US News and World Report’s list of America’s Best Leaders, as well as the National Association of Corporate Directors’ (NACD’s) Directorship 100, in recognition of her work promoting the highest standards of corporate governance.

In recognition of her scientific achievements, Dr. Rodin served on President Clinton’s Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology and is a member of several leading academic societies, including the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. Currently, she is serving as co-chair of the The National Academy of Medicine’s Grand Challenge on Climate Change, Human Health and Equity.

Peter Thiel Addresses Economic Club of Miami

Peter Thiel – Paypal co-founder and the first outside investor of Facebook – addressed nearly 300 people at an Economic Club of Miami event. Bambi Francisco Rozien of VatorTV moderated the fireside chat focusing on culture, religion, and technology. The Economic Club says he offered commentary on debt, taxes, Christianity and religion, higher education, Javier Milei and the Argentine economy, artificial intelligence, the communist Chinese threat, the post-COVID political shift of Silicon Valley tech entrepreneurs (including Elon Musk.) But says that Thiel and his team did not permit a recording of this public conversation.