What’s the Future of Business Innovation in Miami?
President Joseph E. Aoun kicked off an afternoon that explored the opportunities and challenges for the city — and Northeastern’s role in it. The conversations were part of the university’s 2025 Global Leadership Summit.
MIAMI — Northeastern President Joseph E. Aoun emphasized the mutual benefits of the university’s expansion into Miami as he welcomed community leaders, Northeastern students, graduates and parents, and business executives to the university’s 2025 Global Leadership Summit.
Miami is an ideal partner as Northeastern expands its global university system, Aoun said. The university and the city can draw from each other — from talent to industry knowledge, partnerships and research.
“We are building a network of campuses in major cities in order to serve society and our students,” Aoun said in remarks to open the summit, which featured several panel discussions, networking opportunities and entrepreneurial showcases.
“We believe the world is too interesting to ignore. Universities cannot be confined to a campus, and research will not be confined to one campus or geography.”
The global network, he added, would allow Northeastern to directly respond to the needs of its home cities.
“We are building this to serve our graduate students,” Aoun said. “At the same time, we can build a social contract to understand what a city needs, and to be an agent and a partner. That’s why we are here in Miami. Not just for what we want to do, but what the city wants us to work on.”
“Every campus has a set of industry partners to work with us to determine their needs and aspirations,” he continued. This has taken us into new territories that we did not foresee and helped us launch programs that have been very impactful, like pipelines for computer science and AI.”
Conversations with industry leaders
The program featured conversations with leaders in major Miami industries including tourism, real estate and finance. Josh Weinstein, the president, CEO and chief climate officer for the Carnival Corporation (and a Northeastern parent) spoke with Northeastern graduate and Young Global Leader Daisy Kendrick about lessons he learned steering the cruise ship giant through the unprecedented challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The role of CEO is not to command and control. It’s too complicated a world and business,” said Weinstein, who started at Carnival as in-house counsel and moved through a range of roles before becoming chief executive. “There’s no such thing as too much communication. People can’t act in silos in a crisis; it needs to be the opposite.”
Weinstein also touched on sustainability, a complex challenge for an industry in operation all over the world. Carnival’s approach strives to balance pragmatism with results: Despite substantial growth, the company’s ships emit less gas overall than in 2011, and produce 40% less food waste per passenger.
“It’s not just altruistic,” he said. “We save money. Sustainability is good for business.”
Sustainability and climate resilience
Sustainability and climate resilience are also top concerns for the future of real estate development, the subject of the afternoon’s next panel. That’s true everywhere, but especially in Miami, where every year “from July to October, we worry about what’s coming from over the ocean,” said Adolfo Henriques, vice chairman of the Related Group in a conversation with Suffolk CEO John Fish and Ben Brown, a graduate of Northeastern University’s D’Amore McKim School of Business and management partner of Brookfield Asset Management.
But despite those worries, he and fellow panelists said, Miami’s real estate market has blossomed in recent years. That’s created demand for qualified, educated workers in the industry who can move it forward technologically.
Fish predicted that AI will be a major part of that, cutting costs by optimizing things like scheduling and supply chain management.
“It’s going to be transformative,” Fish said. He added that Northeastern’s Miami campus could play a big part in that next phase for the city.
The intellectual power that has been created here in the last 15 to 20 years is why Northeastern is located down here,” he said. [The university] sees how businesses are changing and what the jobs of the future are, and very few schools understand that.”
On the resilience front, possible solutions in the city are emerging from everywhere — including the art world. The summit included a panel on the ReefLine project, an underwater artificial reef system off the coast of Miami Beach led by Ximena Caminos, an Argentine artist, curator and environmental activist. The ReefLine, made of concrete structures under the ocean surface, will combat coastal erosion and serve as a breeding ground for marine biodiversity — while showcasing the sculpture and installation of high-profile artists.
In a conversation with Women Who Empower Innovator and former Boston Ballet dancer Rachel Cossar, Caminos emphasized the power of unexpected and diverse areas of expertise working toward a shared purpose.
“Art that really brings about awareness,” she said. “And the beauty of this is also impact. It’s actually doing the work. I also see it as a poster
child of a possible solution — ReefLine does not solve the world’s problems, but but it shows how art can lead by example really be a catalyst for social innovation.
Developments in AI, quantum computing
Jim Pallotta, an investor, Northeastern trustee and 1981 MBA graduate, discussed technological developments like AI and quantum computing from a financial perspective shedding light on how he evaluates the ocean of startups now purporting to be AI-driven.
“Everyone has become an AI company,” he said. “The opportunity is really going to come on the application side.”
He noted that when he looks to invest in an AI startup, the team of engineers and institutional knowledge is “so important.”
Pallotta also discussed the need for higher education programs in other tech areas including semiconductor engineering — an increasingly important area of expertise as electrification demands increase on the nation’s aging grid. Northeastern can play a major part in filling those sorts of gaps, he said.
“We lost an entire generation of [hardware] engineers who went to Snapchat, Facebook,” he said. “There aren’t many great semiconductor engineering programs in the country, and we have a great opportunity to build the best.”
The full list of GLS speakers and panels is below:
The Magic of Miami: A Gateway for Innovation
- Juan Carlos Liscano, Vice President, Miami, the Caribbean, and Latin America, American Airlines
- Jose Tomás, Chief Administrative Officer, TelevisaUnivision
- Luiz R. Vasconcelos, MBA’02, PNT’26, President of Latin America and Caribbean Division, FedEx
- Maria Alonso, Regional Dean and CEO, Northeastern University Miami
Navigating an Ocean of Opportunities from the Port of Miami
- Josh Weinstein, PNT’27, President, Chief Executive Officer, and Chief Climate Officer, Carnival Corporation & plc
- Moderator: Daisy Kendrick, SSH’16, Founder, DaisyK.Madrid; Young Global Leader
Building the Future: Real Estate in the Next Era of Growth
- John Fish, CEO, Suffolk
- Adolfo Henriques, Vice Chairman, The Related Group
- Ben Brown, DMSB’08, Managing Partner, Brookfield Asset Management; Member, D’Amore-McKim School of Business Executive Leadership Council, NYC/Tri-State Region
- Moderator: Kaitlin McCarthy, E’09, Women Who Empower Innovator, Founder and CEO, Ionic Development Co.
Investing in Innovation
- Jim Pallotta, MBA’81, Managing Partner and Founder, The Raptor Group; Trustee
- Moderator: Lamar Cardinez, DMSB’14, Principal, Blue Owl; Young Global Leader
The Miami Boom: Investing in the Future of a Thriving City
- Raul Moas, President, The Partnership for Miami
- Adele Valencia, Partner, LSN Law, P.A.
- An Aerial View of U.S. and Latin American Relations
- Michael T. Plehn, Retired U.S. Air Force Lieutenant General, Former Military Deputy Commander of U.S. Southern Command
- Moderator: Rhondella Richardson, AS’90, Anchor and Reporter, WCVB, Boston; Corporator Emerita
Miami Beach’s Underwater Public Sculpture Park and Hybrid Reef
- Ximena Caminos, Founder and Artistic Director, The Reefline
- Moderator: Rachel Cossar, Co-Founder and CEO, Virtual Sapiens, Former Boston Ballet Dancer; Women Who Empower Innovator
Advancing Science Globally to Benefit Patients and Public Health
- Chris Viehbacher, PNT’18, President, CEO, Board Member, Biogen; Trustee
Catalysts of Change: Entrepreneurship for Global Economic Impact
- Laura González-Estéfani, Founder & CEO, TheVentureCity
- Laura I. Maydón, Founder and Partner, Ascendo Venture Capital
- Vicente Zavarce, DMSB’16, Founder and CEO, Yummy; Young Global Leader
- Moderator: Ahmad Zameli, E’14, Founder and CEO, Untill; Young Global Leader
Lessons in Latin American and Global Leadership
H.E. Juan Manuel Santos, Former President of Colombia and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate
