Miami, FL
‘Be like Mike’: Tribute paid to the late Miami-Dade Beacon Council CEO Michael A. Finney
Daniella Levine Cava, mayor of Miami-Dade County, speaks to the viewers throughout a memorial service for Michael A. Finney, president and CEO of the Miami-Dade Beacon Council, at Miami Dade School’s Wolfson Campus in downtown Miami, Florida, on Monday, April 25, 2022.
dvarela@miamiherald.com
Family and friends members of Michael A. Finney, former CEO of the Miami-Dade Beacon Council, gathered Monday to pay him tribute at Miami Dade School’s downtown campus.
Finney, 65, died of a coronary heart assault on April 3 in Miami.
He was an vital behind-the-scenes participant as head of Miami-Dade County’s financial improvement company. Since he was recruited in 2017, Finney was credited with re-energizing the council and bolstering efforts to enhance financial fairness and inclusivity throughout Miami-Dade, significantly throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
Finney additionally helped join staff in low-income, excessive unemployment neighborhoods with employers paying a dwelling wage. The initiative, Miami Group Ventures, was modeled on a profitable program of his native state of Michigan.
He was appointed chief of a tri-county proposal in response to an growth bid from Amazon, which promised to draw 50,000 jobs to South Florida. The bid was engaging sufficient to land the area on Amazon’s shortlist of 20 finalist candidates, although it in the end fell brief.
READ MORE: ‘An mental large’: Michael A. Finney, CEO of Miami-Dade Beacon Council, dies at 65
Days earlier than Finney’s passing, he had flown again to Miami from Israel, the place he joined Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava and others to advertise the county as a world financial hub.
At his memorial service, Levine Cava mentioned Finney was a pacesetter like no different.
“He had a decades-long profession advising elected officers, enterprise and civic leaders about financial improvement and methods to strengthen native and state economies to assist industries and create job alternatives for all residents,” she mentioned. “He understood individuals and he acknowledged competing priorities, and was by some means in a position to at all times discover widespread floor.”
U.S. Rep. Carlos Gimenez, who was mayor of Miami-Dade throughout the starting of Finney’s tenure, mentioned he was skeptical when he was first advised that the Beacon Council would rent somebody from out of state to guide the group.
“I received to let you know, from the primary minute that I met Mike I knew he was the suitable man,” he mentioned. “His legacy will proceed to develop as Miami turns into what … is its future.”
READ MORE: After main Amazon bid, Beacon Council President Finney will keep on by means of 2023
Eric Knowles, CEO of the Miami-Dade Chamber of Commerce, mentioned Finney understood that the Miami-Dade group couldn’t be higher with out all of its residents working collectively to enhance the lives of the much less lucky.
“It’s as much as each considered one of you in right here to carry each other accountable, that our group turns into the group that Mike envisioned,” he mentioned.
Mike Finney Jr., considered one of Finney’s son, credited his mother, Gina, for his father’s success.
“Our dad by no means would have ever gotten anyplace near the place he could possibly be if our mom wasn’t so nurturing and loving,” he mentioned, standing subsequent to his brothers Marcus and Austin.
He affirmed that their dad was the very best position mannequin they may ask for, at all times main by instance.
“We’re at all times going to know what to do as a result of our dad, he advised us, we watched him do it for thus lengthy,” he mentioned.
George Bermudez, chair of the council’s board of administrators, mentioned he was “joined by the hip” with Finney throughout the Israel journey, witnessing how he labored with firms desirous to open places of work within the county. As a father of an 18-year-old highschool scholar, he mentioned he has at all times advised his son to be a great human being and to at all times do the suitable factor, however that he didn’t know who might embody these qualities and be a job mannequin for his son.
“I at all times questioned how would that individual appear like or be like,” he mentioned. “And now I can inform my son, ‘Be like Mike.’ “
To look at Finney’s memorial service, go to mdc.edu/livestream.
Reporter Andres Viglucci contributed to this story.
This story was initially revealed April 25, 2022 9:53 PM.