Date: Saturday, February 2, 2013
Time: 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Location: Patti and Allan Herbert Wellness Center

Registration for the 2013 Leadership is now closed. Walk-ins will be accepted into the event based on space availability.

Leadership Summit, an annual tradition at the University of Miami, is a one-day conference for UM students which increases awareness of real-world leadership concepts and emphasizes the development of one’s leadership potential.

Attendees will also have the opportunity to partake in breakout sessions that will encourage interaction, discussion, curiosity and questions relating to life issues, educational initiatives, and issues relevant to the unique world in which we live. Through these sessions, current and emerging UM leaders will cultivate leadership skills that can benefit them in all aspects of life. This invigorating summit will provide an invaluable platform from which community leaders, professors, and professionals will disseminate ideas and expertise that will enable UM students to develop new skills and grow as a leader.

Leonard Abess
Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the University of Miami

Leonard Abess is Chairman and CEO of thinkLAB Ventures.

Mr. Abess is Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the University of Miami, Chairman of the Executive Board, and Chairman, with his wife Jayne, of the Momentum2 Campaign.

Mr. Abess was recognized by President Barack Obama during the President’s address to the Joint Session of Congress in February 2009. He was later named ‘Person of the Week’ by the ABC television network and was named to the Time Magazine list of ‘100 Most Influential People in the World’. In June 2009, the Florida Bankers Association named Mr. Abess as the ‘Banker of the Year’. He was also named ‘Boss of the Year’ in Reader’s Digest’s Best of America issue.

He is the former Chairman of the Board of Mount Sinai Medical Center, where he and his wife Jayne established The Abess Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

Mr. Abess is a former Miami Branch Director of the Federal Reserve.

He is a member of the Orange Bowl Committee; the World Presidents’ Organization; the Chief Executives Organization; the Cabinet and National Commission of the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith.

Mr. Abess is a devoted environmentalist and to foster interdisciplinary approaches to environmental management and decision-making on a global level, his family endowed the Leonard and Jayne Abess Center for Ecosystem Science and Policy (CESP) at the University of Miami and founded the Abess Center for Environmental Studies at Miami Country Day School.  Mr. Abess is a member of the World Wildlife Fund’s National Advisory Council.  He is a Trustee of Fairchild Tropical Garden and Trustee Emeritus of The Nature Conservancy/Florida Chapter.

Mr. Abess and his wife Jayne received the Alexis de Tocqueville Award for Community Service from United Way of Miami-Dade and the Health Foundation of South Florida’s “Concern” Award for their commitment to issues concerning health and human services.  They were honored as Outstanding Philanthropists of the Year by the National Association of Fundraising Professionals.

Mr. Abess is the recipient of the Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce 2006 Doc Baker Lifetime Achievement Award and co-recipient with his wife, Jayne, of the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce 2007 “Sand in My Shoes” award. He received the Florida Anti-Defamation League’s 2002 Distinguished Public and Community Service Award and the 2002 Silver Medallion for Service to Humanity from the National Conference for Community and Justice. A graduate of Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, Mr. Abess was awarded the Joseph P. Wharton Business Statesman in 2010.

Saif Ishoof
Vice President and Executive Director of City Year Miami

Saif Y. Ishoof is the Executive Director of City Year Miami where he leads the organization’s staff, oversees the operations and provides support to the Board of Advisors.

Mr. Ishoof earned his Bachelors of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University and his Juris Doctorate from the University of Miami School of Law. His professional career includes having been a startup technology entrepreneur and as an executive in the agricultural and engineering space. Prior to City Year, Mr. Ishoof served as the CEO of FCT Technologies Corp, a firm heavily engaged in international projects in renewable energy, crop science and water resource management.

Mr. Ishoof serves as co-founder and trustee of EmergeUSA, and an Advisory Board member of the Good Government Initiative. He is also a graduate of America’s Leaders of Change, a program of the National Urban Fellows. In the international realm, Mr. Ishoof participated in a US State Department exchange to Turkey of Young American/Young Turkey leaders as part of a public diplomacy initiative.

Mr. Ishoof was named a “20 Under 40” Leader by the Miami Herald in 2010, a 2010 Diversity Leader by the American Jewish Committee (Miami). He and his wife Amira are the proud parents of two children, Rania and Nabeel.  Mr. Ishoof’s personal and professional career has been defined by a commitment to developing young people, building civic institutions, international dialogue, and social entrepreneurship.

Leadership Summit is coordinated by a small committee of University of Miami students.  They assist with all levels of coordination for the conference including publicity, registration, guest speakers, logistics, hospitability, special events, sponsorship, volunteers, keynote speakers, and the assessment.

Leadership Summit Committee Advisor:
Sarah Ho
Assistant Director of the Butler Center for Service and Leadership
s.ho@miami.edu

Steve Priepke
Assistant Dean of Students, Coordinator for Fraternity and Sorority Life
spriepke@miami.edu

Student Planning Committee:
Connor Adams
c.adams6@umiami.edu

Adam Bofill
a.bofill@umiami.edu

Rachel Salinger
r.salinger@umiami.edu

Mitzy Phicien
m.phicien@umiami.edu