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Mr. Jackson’s professional career began at General Motors Corporation in 1968 as assistant to the plant chemist for two years. Between 1971 and 1974, he served with the Metro Dade Police department. He earned a degree in criminal justice administration at Florida International University. After the police department, he worked in the county manager’s office. Mr. Jackson left Miami-Dade County in 1976 to join a private Washington D.C. consulting firm, providing technical support to Florida, Mississippi and Alabama, under a contract with the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Thereafter, Mr. Jackson founded a consulting firm that ultimately had offices in London, Kinshasa, Zaire, Washington D.C., New Haven (Connecticut), and Miami, FL. The firm procured national and international contracts with various U.S. government agencies, including the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the Department of Defense. He managed the development of more than 10 training courses and course revisions published by the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO). From 1985 to 1989, Mr. Jackson served on the Miami-Dade County Housing Finance Authority, with an emphasis on financing affordable housing. He left the authority and ultimately built housing for agencies as well as his own account. Mr. Jackson has developed sub-divisions in Atlanta, Georgia, and Miami, FL. Mr. Jackson’s International exposure led him to conduct housing development and business development workshops, to assist black businesses in South Africa in planning for collaboration to expand their capacity. He was engaged by the archbishop of Cape Town to bring blacks in America to sub-Saharan Africa, to join forces and mutually benefit from the combined intellectual property and natural resource assets possessed by the two groups. This led to the establishment of the “Winds of Change” initiative, launched in 2012 in Addis Ababa at the World Economic Forum. He created a solar water heater project to reduce the consumption of electricity in South Africa, a country currently experiencing a shortage of electricity. Today, Mr. Jackson is focused on providing leadership for the establishment of a faith-based economic initiative, Interfaith Americans for a Better America, and Social Investment Holdings, Inc., to support the creation and establishment of businesses majority owned by previously disadvantaged groups and individuals in America, sub-Saharan Africa, and Brazil.
Mr. Oxendine has been an entrepreneur, operator, investor, and lender in the communications industry for over 30 years. In these positions, he has been responsible for selecting, investigating, performing due diligence, analyzing, structuring, negotiating, and closing on potential investments for the companies he has owned, operated, and served. Mr. Oxendine has provided portfolio management and administrative services to these companies, including monitoring the performance of their portfolio companies, developing exit strategies, and advising them regarding the disposition of investments. He is currently the chairman, president, and CEO of Blackstar, LLC and Blackstar LP, both management companies which provide consulting and management services to the communications industry. Mr. Oxendine served as interim CEO and a member of the Board of Directors of Equity Media Holdings Corporation (“EM”) from June 2008 through January 2009. EM was a publicly held media company that divested its assets in April 2009. Mr. Oxendine served as chairman, president, and CEO of Blackstar Communications, Inc. (“BCI”), a company he formed in 1987 that acquired, owned, and successfully operated commercial television stations in the U.S. He formed BCI with an original investment of $100,000 in common equity and $5 million in preferred equity, and eventually bought 5 television stations at a cost of nearly $30 million. When the sale of all the stations was completed to USA Broadcasting, Inc., in 1998, the total sale value was $96 million, yielding a significant return on investment of over $35 million to Mr. Oxendine and his investors, which included Fox Television Stations Inc. (“FOX”), and Home Shopping Network, Inc. (“HSN”). From 1981-1995, Mr. Oxendine served as President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Broadcap Capital, Inc. (“Broadcap”) and it’s then parent company, Broadcast Capital Fund, Inc. (“BCFI”). Broadcap and BCFI were companies that were mandated by their investors, large publicly held broadcast companies, to invest in minority controlled communications businesses. Broadcap was essentially a lender of last resort to new minority entrepreneurs in the media industry. Additionally, as part of the mandate, Broadcap and BCFI provided managerial and financial training to over 3,000 radio and television industry professionals. As chairman and president of Broadcap and BCFI, Mr. Oxendine oversaw the companies’ strategic development, management, capital raising efforts, portfolio-company monitoring, and all investment decisions. Under Mr. Oxendine’s leadership, Broadcap and BCFI committed approximately $17 million to over 47 companies to acquire or construct broadcast properties, leveraging total capitalization in these companies to an amount of nearly $80 million. Included in the companies receiving funding and other support from Broadcap were eight Hispanic-owned and -operated entities, several of which were seeded by Broadcap’s investments and subsequently became significant companies in the Hispanic media industry. Mr. Oxendine served on the boards of directors of Paxson Communications Corporation, a large publicly held media company, and Lockhart Companies Incorporated, primarily a real estate company. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps on active duty from July 1967 to December 1968 and in the active reserve from December 1968 to July 1973. Mr. Oxendine earned an M.B.A. from Harvard University, Graduate School of Business in 1971. He received a B.A. in Political Science and Sociology from Hunter College in 1965. He has a working knowledge of Spanish and French, and some familiarity with Russian. Mr. Oxendine has written several articles on venture capital and media investing that have been published in the Bar Association Law Journal, Duke University Law Review, Journal of Minority Business Finance, and Sound Management.
Mrs. Braynon was the executive director of the Miami-Dade Housing Finance Authority. She was responsible for the overall administration of the authority’s bond issuance activities and management of a $1.5 billion loan portfolio, and was responsible for staff supervision, budget preparation, fiscal management, and implementing policy directives. Under Ms. Braynon’s guidance, the authority created a Deep Subsidy Program that pools sources of financing and blends interest rates to reduce overall costs for borrowers. Until the recent hire of its own chief executive, Ms. Braynon acted as CEO of the Miami-Dade Affordable Housing Foundation, Inc., where she continues to serve on the Board of Directors. For two years, in 1996 to 1997, Mrs. Braynon served as one of five assistant county managers with the Miami-Dade County Municipal Government, which employs over 36,000 people. Her areas of responsibility included the management and oversight of 11 departments of approximately 3,300 employees with combined budgets in excess of $200 million. In addition, she has over 30 years’ experience in private and public sector housing finance and mortgage lending. In retirement, Ms. Braynon maintains her commitment to the community as she serves as the chairperson of the Black Archives and Historic Lyric Theater in Miami, FL. Ms. Braynon earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Tuskegee University, Tuskegee, AL.
Mr. Curbelo holds a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Civil Engineering, a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Architectural Engineering from the University of Miami, and a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Florida. He is a State of Florida certified general contractor from 1986 and a Florida Real Estate Broker from 1987.
Presently, Mr. Curbelo is working as Senior Project Manager of Design/Construction for Flagler Real Estate Development Inc., a subsidiary of Florida East Coast Industries, wholly owned by Fortress Investment Group, developing Class A warehouse facilities in a corporate park setting.