For immediate release: Dec. 7, 2009
Eduardo J. Padrón, president of Miami Dade College, and Leonard L. Abess, chief executive officer of City National Bank of Florida, have been reappointed to the board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta's Miami Branch. Their terms begin Jan. 1, 2010, and run through Dec. 31, 2012.
After joining Miami Dade College's faculty in 1970, Padrón served in various roles, including assistant professor, director and academic dean, before being appointed president in 1995. He was recently appointed chairman of the Association of American Colleges and Universities and was included in Time magazine's list of the Ten Best College Presidents.
Padrón is a member of the board of directors of the Carnegie Foundation, the American Council on Education, the Business Higher Education Forum, and the League for Innovation in the Community College. Padrón is also on the editorial boards of University Business, Campus Technology and The Presidency. He received his bachelor's degree in economics summa cum laude from Florida Atlantic University, where he was valedictorian. He earned his master's degree and doctorate in economics from the University of Florida.
Abess is chief executive officer of City National Bank of Florida, now a subsidiary of Caja Madrid. The bank was founded in 1946 in Miami Beach and currently has 22 offices in Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and central Florida.
Abess is vice chairman of the University of Miami board of trustees; chairman of the Executive Committee; former chairman and a member of the university's Finance, Academic Affairs and Investments committees; and a member of the Trustee Service Committee and the Visiting Committee of the university's Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science.
Abess was recognized by President Barack Obama during the president's address to the Joint Session of Congress in February 2009. He was named "Person of the Week" on Feb. 27, 2009, by the ABC television network and was named to the Time magazine 2009 list of "100 Most Influential People in the World." In June 2009, the Florida Bankers Association named Abess "Banker of the Year."
Abess is founder, trustee, and former chairman of the board of Mount Sinai Medical Center. He is a board member of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation and a member of the Orange Bowl Committee, the World Presidents' Organization, the Chief Executives Organization and the Cabinet and National Commission of the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith. Abess is a graduate of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta branch directors provide economic information from the branch territory to the district bank's president and head office directors, who use the information in formulating monetary policy and making discount rate recommendations. Padrón was reappointed to the board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta's Miami Branch by the Federal Reserve Board of Governors in Washington, D.C. Abess was reappointed by the Atlanta Fed's board of directors. The Board of Governors appoints three Miami Branch directors and the Atlanta head office directors appoint four.