Felice Gorordo, CEO Of eMerge Americas
Miami continues to reinvent itself. Now, the “Gateway to Latin America” is transforming into the country’s newest tech hub, as a Wall Street Journal op-ed recently reported. The city is leading the country in exponential tech job migration and tech job growth, creating new entrepreneurial ventures and opportunity.
A key in leading this effort is eMerge Americas, a venture-backed platform focused on turning Miami into the technology center of the Americas. The organization’s signature event, a global tech conference held annually at the Miami Beach Convention Center, brings in more than 20,000 attendees from 40 countries each year.
As CEO of eMerge Americas, Felice Gorordo has connected Florida’s major tech hubs of Miami, Tampa, and Orlando to work together. In April of this year, he also helped organize a conference for mayors and private sector leaders to discuss the intersection of blockchain, crypto, and NFT ventures.
I recently had the pleasure of attending eMerge Americas and speaking with Felice about his work. Felice has worked at the intersection of business, entrepreneurship, tech, policy, and politics. Previously having worked in the White House, Felice was also recently appointed as Alternate Executive Director of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Below is our discussion about the small business, entrepreneurship, and the interesting work he is leading.
Rhett Buttle: Tell us more about you, your work with small business, entrepreneurs and business leaders? How did this work lead you to eMerge?
Felice Gorordo: I am the son of Cuban exiles who fled a communist revolution – risking it all and leaving everything behind – in search of freedom, opportunity, and the American Dream. In Miami, they were received with open arms and given a fighting chance to make a better life for themselves and their family. For these reasons, my family and I have always felt grateful and sought to pay it forward.
In 2011, I was appointed by President Barack Obama to serve as the White House Fellow in the White House Office of Public Engagement & Intergovernmental Affairs, working with small businesses, entrepreneurs, and industry leaders on economic competitiveness programs.
In 2013, I got involved with my first startup – Clearpath, a venture-backed tech company focused on revolutionizing the immigration filing process. At the time, I had several advisors and investors telling me to go out west to San Francisco or up north to New York. But Miami was — and is — my home, and I was determined to come back.
One outlier amongst all whom I met was serial entrepreneur and founder of eMerge Americas, Manny Medina, who had just exited his tech company Terremark Worldwide to Verizon. Manny was proof that you could launch, build, scale, and successfully exit a global tech company in South Florida. Moreover, he sold me on the vision that South Florida had all the elements of being a center for innovation and entrepreneurship, and he founded eMerge with the mission to transform Miami into the tech hub of the Americas.
When I moved back to South Florida, I joined eMerge’s inaugural steering committee, and later the advisory board. Following the successful exit of my company, I was honored to join full-time as CEO of eMerge Americas in 2018 and have worked to foster our homegrown innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystem in Miami. For me, it’s been life coming full circle and an opportunity to pay it forward to a community that has given us so much.
Rhett Buttle: What is eMerge Americas and how does it support entrepreneurs?
Felice Gorordo: eMerge Americas is a venture-backed platform dedicated to transforming Miami into a global tech hub. We do this by convening all the stakeholders that make up any thriving innovation ecosystem – from government to higher ed, investors to accelerators, and large corporate partners to early-stage startups. We connect the dots – between entrepreneurs, capital, and talent pipelines. And we tell and evangelize the stories of how South Florida is transforming.
At eMerge, we organize year-round startup pitch competitions, innovation challenges, investor summits, executive roundtables, hiring fairs, masterclasses, and many more programs in support of entrepreneurs and innovators. Moreover, we publish insights reports to track and analyze the data on venture activity and investment trends, as well as shine a light on our own entrepreneurial talent. Every year, we host a global technology conference at the Miami Beach Convention Center, which draws more than 20,000 attendees from over 4,000 unique companies. The eMerge Americas conference convenes leading entrepreneurs, world-class innovators, and value-creators with the purpose of inviting them to invest their time, talent, and treasure into making our ecosystem their own.
Rhett Buttle: Why is Miami uniquely positioned to be the tech hub of the Americas?
Felice Gorordo: Miami is going through a renaissance and has greatly benefited from exponential growth in terms of record-breaking venture capital invested (#1 in the Southeast U.S. and #9 overall in the Nation), exponential tech job migration (#1 in the Nation), and tech job growth (#1 in the Nation).
As a city founded by a woman and largely built by immigrants, Miami’s secret sauce is that we embrace diversity. Miamians are welcoming and inclusive because most of us came from somewhere else: 60% percent of the population are immigrants – and many like myself are the children of immigrants. We are a melting pot, and we have a little bit of everything for everyone.
For all these reasons, Miami has become a soft-landing for entrepreneurs from around the world looking to access North American markets, as well as those a launchpad and springboard into Latin America. This Gateway to the Americas, combined with a very pro-business and favorable tax and regulatory structure, has led some of the world’s leading venture capitalists and tech leaders to relocate to Miami in record numbers during the last two years. Many of them have realized that sometimes you can “have your cake and eat it too”: live in the paradise that is Miami while working like you’re still on Wall Street or Sand Hill Road.
But this didn’t happen overnight, and it would not have been possible if it were not for the blood, sweat, and tears of the last two decades by leaders in both the private and public sectors that have intentionally invested in building a strong foundation for our knowledge-based economy.
Rhett Buttle: You are working with a number of sectors, including higher education, government, and media. Can you describe how this cross-collaboration lifts up the community?
Felice Gorordo: The building of our innovation ecosystem has been a true community-organizing endeavor involving leaders from all sectors and at all levels. Cross-sector collaboration has been critical in helping address funding gaps, access to training, and other important resources. Florida International University, University of Miami, and Miami Dade College leadership proactively collaborate with business leaders on workforce training and development, stackable credentials, and other relevant curriculum to ensure our students and workers are able to compete for high-paying jobs. The elected officials of Miami-Dade County and the City of Miami – across party lines – work hand-in-hand, shoulder-to-shoulder to help recruit and retain job creators. And local media like the Miami Herald and South Florida Business Journal have been integral in helping us amplify the Miami success stories that are redefining the way we do business.
Rhett Buttle: Beyond Florida, what should small business and entrepreneurs know about eMerge or how should they consider being engaged??
Felice Gorordo: Beyond Florida, small businesses and entrepreneurs who are thinking of relocating to Miami should know that eMerge and our entire entrepreneurial ecosystem are here to serve them and help them make the connections and garner the resources they need to be successful and thrive.
There are many ways to engage – starting with attending our annual global tech conference and resources.
Rhett Buttle: Congratulations on being appointed Alternate Executive Director of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Can you describe how this lending arm of the World Bank works with American businesses?
Felice Gorordo: I am profoundly humbled and honored to have been nominated by President Biden to serve on the board of the World Bank and further the Bank’s mission to end poverty and promote shared prosperity – especially at such a critical time for our country and the world.
The Biden-Harris Administration has put a strong emphasis on increasing private sector participation in multilateral development bank operations, including the World Bank.
If confirmed, I will seek to help advance U.S. development, foreign policy, and national security priorities in a way that opens up new opportunities for U.S. businesses around the globe. Moreover, I look forward to working with the Administration and American businesses to promote enhanced focus by the World Bank Group in mobilizing private investment to create quality jobs.
Rhett Buttle: Is there anything else that you would like to add?
Felice Gorordo: We are just getting started. I invite you to visit Miami and attend eMerge Americas to experience it for yourself.
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