Mike Fernandez
Mike Fernandez
Chairman, MBF Healthcare Partners
Mike Fernandez
Latest Endeavor: Created the IMPAC Fund last year to bring together area leaders to support sensible immigration policies. This year he is creating a $50 million PAC to support politicians in favor of immigration reform.
Backstory: Mike Fernandez is one of the most successful self-made entrepreneurs in the history of Florida, let alone his home base of Coral Gables, where he lives and has been involved with 27 startups. The billionaire businessman turned philanthropist made his fortune creating healthcare companies. Now he mostly tries to make the world a better place.
What He Says: "We should be the country of inclusion, not exclusion," says Fernandez. "When I left Cuba, I was undocumented, and came through Mexico. But I am as guilty as anyone else when it comes to the issue of immigration. Once we get here we forget where we came from." Fernandez will be putting in between $5 and $10 million into his PAC, which he says is "to support politicians who are for humanizing deportation and immigration." Fernandez believes that the anti-immigration advocates are fear mongers. "We don't have criminals coming here. People are coming here because they want to do a job, they want to work. And they sustain their communities back home, which that is good for us, because it stabilizes their governments too... immigration is the single issue that most represents America’s future and past, and where we are today."''
