Six-year-old MANUEL DIAZ and his mother first arrived at Miami’s airport in 1961 from Cuba with little more than a dime for a phone call to their relatives in their newly adopted city’s Little Havana neighborhood. Forty years later, Diaz, by then an attorney, became mayor of the City of Miami, his first elected office. He was elected to a second term in 2005, and was chosen president of the United States Conference of Mayors in 2008. While in office Diaz developed a vision for Miami as an international city that embodies diversity, economic opportunity, effective customer service, and a great quality of life. Recognized for implementing innovative programs in the areas of urban design, sustainability and green initiatives, education, infrastructure investment, affordable housing, law enforcement, poverty and homelessness, and arts and culture, Diaz’s efforts resulted in nearly 100 awards and commendations. A senior partner at Lydecker Diaz, n/k/a as Lydecker Law, he served as a resident fellow at Harvard’s Institute of Politics and is the author of Miami Transformed: Rebuilding America One Neighborhood, One City at a Time (University of Pennsylvania Press).
