Mauricio Vivero

CEO, Coral Gables Community Foundation

With decades of service in the nonprofit world, Mauricio Vivero has helped channel more than $200 million in philanthropic grants worldwide. A Cuban native, Vivero fled the Castro regime with his family in 1970 and moved to New York. In 1981, his family moved to Miami, which Vivero has made his home, despite a career that has taken him across the United States. As a student, he attended Miami Dade College and Florida International University before earning a law degree from Creighton University in Omaha. When an opportunity to head the Seattle International Foundation appeared, he took a turn away from law into the nonprofit world, running the organization for nine years before going on to advise others like Segal Philanthropies, the National Council of Nonprofits, Guidestar, and the Center for Lobbying in the Public Interest. He most recently served as head of partnerships for a private family foundation in New York City and as corporate secretary of the Global Impact Social Welfare Fund.

Accomplishments

On June 2, Vivero was named the new CEO of the Coral Gables Community Foundation (CGCF), after Mary Snow, a longtime fixture of the GCF, stepped down. Vivero plans to continue to expand the Foundation’s scholarship program, which recently awarded a record-breaking $3.25 million to local high school students.

What He Says

“As a community foundation, by definition, we’re responsive to the needs of the community, and that means both needs that can be addressed through philanthropy as well as the needs and desires of the donors and residents,” says Vivero. “I really want to focus on [the scholarship program] because we have substantive leadership on education. The other focus of the work will be providing excellent service and being a great partner for families or companies that want to have an impact.” – Kylie Wang