Jorge A. Plasencia

Jorge A. Plasencia is co-founder, chairman & CEO of Republica Havas Group, a global communications company providing culture-forward marketing solutions to Fortune 500 and blue-chip brands through its award-winning Creative, Media, Health & Wellness, and Experiences divisions. Founded in 2006 in Miami, Florida, the minority-certified Group is the lead global multicultural partner of Havas, one of the world’s largest communications groups with over 700 agencies in 100 countries.

Previously, Plasencia was corporate vice president and operating manager of Univision Radio. Earlier, he was vice president of marketing, corporate communications, and public affairs. Prior to Univision, he was vice president at Estefan Enterprises, leading marketing, business strategy, and communications, and serving on the management team of major recording artists, including Gloria Estefan and Shakira. Before Estefan Enterprises, he was the first director of Hispanic marketing for the Florida Marlins. The team won its first World Series championship and was selected Hispanic Marketer of the Year during his tenure.

Named one of the most influential U.S. Hispanics by Poder magazine and one of the most influential Floridians by Florida Trend magazine, Plasencia served as board chair of UnidosUS, the nation’s largest, non-partisan Latino organization.

A member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Florida Council of 100, he was nominated by President George W. Bush — and confirmed by the U.S. Senate — to serve on the advisory board of the Broadcasting Board of Governors’ OCB. He is currently vice chair of the Miami Dade College Foundation, and serves on the boards of PBS, the Friends of the National Museum of the American Latino, and the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts.

At age 17, he co-founded Amigos For Kids, a Miami-based nonprofit organization serving under-resourced children and families and an institution he has helped nurture to national prominence over three decades. This lifelong volunteer work earned him the March of Dimes Humanitarian of the Year Award, among others.

Plasencia has received numerous accolades, including the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award, CEO of the Year Award from the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce, the Silicon Valley Latino Visionary Leadership Award, the Hispanic Public Relations Association (HPRA) Pioneer of the Year Award, and he was named Ultimate CEO by the South Florida Business Journal. A Miami Dade College Hall of Fame inductee, he earned a bachelor’s degree with honors from Barry University and completed the Advanced Management Executive Program at the Kellogg School of Management.