Lee Mirman
Chief Visionary and President of Global Social Housing Inc.
- Licensed Real Estate Broker with 30 years of market knowledge,
- Duke MBA in Finance,
- Wall Street experience at Chase Manhattan Bank
- Founded and Operated multinational business throughout Europe
- CEO/CFO of e-software venture
- Certified International Property Specialist (CIPS)
- Transnational Referral Certified
- Certified GREEN Real Estate Professional
Lee Mirman has an exceptional commitment to Costa Rica having an extensive network of family there and a deep love for the country. Lee has thirty years experience in business and in recent years has turned his considerable skills towards achieving his philanthropic vision: to address the global housing shortage.
Lee’s experience, both on the ground in Costa Rica and in the financial sector, sets him apart from other philanthropists and make him uniquely qualified to implement the visionary project in Costa Rica. He was previously an award-winning relationship manager at Chase Manhattan Bank in NYC where he worked on the sell side of Latin American debt, trading and annuities. By night he moonlighted at his own antique and art gallery in Greenwich Village. The business turned an immediate profit and he successfully sold it off.
Lee emerged from these experiences on Wall Street with a new thirst for understanding how the world’s leading CFO’s and CEO’s made their decisions, and embarked on a round-the-world tour where he interviewed with leaders in 12 countries. He then returned to the US as a full-time MBA student at Duke University. He founded his third venture, this time a multi-national clothing business, while completing his degree.
While in Research Triangle Park, Lee served as CEO and CFO of an e-software company. After having created the financial and marketing plans and raising money for multiple ventures, Lee moved back to NYC to focus on coaching emerging entrepreneurs on how to formulate their financials and position their companies to angel investors and venture capital firms. Lee began setting up a venture capital business in the World Trade Center. When he lost his office there in 2001, he and his fiancée, Lisa, decided to marry and move to Sarasota to start anew and raise a family.
Lee’s passion is using his knowledge and experience to empower others. His dream is to be able to create social housing communities which are truly self-progressing and life-enhancing for their members. For him, the ground-breaking project in Costa Rica is part of a larger vision to create real and lasting change by engaging and empowering individuals in cohesive communities.
Lee received his MBA from Duke University and B.A. in Economics from the University of Miami.
Lisa Mirman
Vice President of Global Social Housing Inc.
- Duke MBA in Marketing
- national awardwinning entrepreneur
- professional speaker and trainer.
Lisa was born in the US but with a father in international business and a Costa Rican mother, she considers Costa Rica her second home and speaks Spanish fluently. As she works on social housing projects in Costa Rica, she is committed to fostering the environmentally conscious development of the country.
Lisa received a BA in Humanities with a focus on Spanish and Linguistics at the University of Chicago and went on to gain aDuke MBA in Marketing. During her entrepreneurial graduate work, Lisa’s projects gave her to opportunity to work across all functional areas of business garnering experience in marketing, operations, strategic planning, and finance.
Lisa has managed teams within companies spanning from the Fortune 500 to entrepreneurial start-ups and has received national and regional awards for her accomplishments. When she relocated to Sarasota, Lisa led the Marketing and Public Relations Division of a fixed enterprise wireless company until she started a family with husband Lee.
Nowadays, Lisa is a passionate student and advocate of the principles of holistic health and wellness, mindful parenting, and environmental consciousness. She leads the Sarasota chapter of the Holistic Moms Network, organizing and hosting monthly educational forums with presenters of local and national acclaim. She has also worked with the Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential (IAHP) and was featured in a documentary detailing the work she was doing with her own family that aired on ABC’s Nightline in May of 2007.
Lisa and Lee Mirman established InvestmentsInFlorida.com to teach international buyers how to intelligently own and invest in Florida. Their must-read book- Your Guide to Florida Property Investment for Global Buyers- is the most honest and comprehensive resource on the Florida real estate market.
Investments in Florida embraces the global social housing mission. When clients purchase or sell a home in Florida through Investments in Florida, they are also investing in a family in Costa Rica – helping those who live in slums to move into a new home of their own. #sharethesun
Members of the Board of Directors
Cindy Ann Hersom – Secretary
CA is a marketing luminary with more than twenty years experience integrating sustainability across business and communication to help people in need. She is owner and CMO of Ignition, a pioneering marketing activation agency, where she leads cause and creative services for blue chip corporate and global NGO clients. She also oversees the agency’s marketing and business development.
CA has worked at the head of the corporate field with multi-national corporations worldwide, helping to engage and formulate the process increasing sustainability. As Company Global Brand Director at Coca Cola she was integral in creating the company’s first sustainable marketing platform. As the first external affairs lead for Coca-Cola’s Southern Africa division, she championed multi-communication strategies across 10 culturally diverse Southern African countries and led key brand campaigns in West and East Africa markets.
Barry Jordan – Treasurer
Barry comes from an eminent background in the engineering and construction industries. He graduated from MIT and has a MBA from Duke University. He has spent 10 years in construction project management for several of the country’s largest construction design/build firms including; Gilbane Building Company and Morse Diesel International (AMEC, PLC). His experience makes him uniquely qualified to advise on the tender process and logistics of Global Social Housing’s projects.
Barry has also worked for industry-leaders such as Booz Allen’s Engineering and Manufacturing Group with clients in the automotive, power generation, and defense industries, as well as boutique consulting firms such as Prism Strategic Services Group, LLC. Based on his extensive construction management background, Prism was able to provide Owner’s Representative services to the City of Mount Vernon’s Board of Education on a 5 years $100 million Capital Improvement Program. Since 2009 Barry has consolidated his business interests, joining TAC Transport in that year.
Gabriel Saragovia
Originally from Cali, Columbia and an alumni of Duke University, Gabriel is part of a family that had been developing real estate in South Florida, Central and South America for multiple generations.As a multi-lingual citizen of the world Gabriel, through his business ventures and personal interests, combines sustainable design with enthusiastic pragmatism to create profitability on the bottom line as well as a positive return to his customers and employees.
He is part of the ownership team that operates two world class Resorts www.tabacon.com and soon to open www.RioPerdito.com. He brings this experience to bear on the board of Global Social Housing, helping ensure the transparency of all construction tenders, the arms length selection process and advising on best building practice.
Drayton Saunders
Currently President of Michael Saunders & Company, and a graduate of Colgate University, Drayton Saunders is an entrepreneur and business luminary with decades of experience. His strong commitment to social improvement, mentorship and community involvement combined with his non-profit experience, youth leadership programs and previous work in Latin America mean he brings great skills to the table for Global Social Housing.
While at Colgate, Drayton worked with Amigos de las Americas—a non-denominational, non-profit group that focuses on basic problems in rural communities throughout Latin America. Projects he helped facilitate included building homes for teachers in Costa Rica; and—working in conjunction with CARE International—helping to improve basic sanitation, health and hygiene practices in the highlands of Ecuador.
Drayton is a founding member of the Young Professionals Group of Sarasota, serves on the Boards of Directors for the Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce and Goodwill Industries and is a member of Leadership Florida, having graduated from its class of XXVI.
Robin S. Levi
Robin was until recently the founding Human Rights Director at Justice Now, which partners with people inside women’s prisons to build a safe, compassionate world without prisons. Robin is also the co-editor of the recently released, “Inside the Place, Not of It: Narratives from Women’s Prisons.” A 1993 graduate of Stanford Law School, Robin has written and spoken extensively on women’s human rights here and abroad including the Women’s Institute for Leadership for Human Rights, the Drug Policy Alliance and the Women’s Rights Division of Human Rights Watch.
Robin was one of the founders and organizers of the Women’s Caucus at the First Preparatory Committee of the World Conference Against Racism where she led the efforts to draft a statement and lobby points to ensure the integration of gender into the preparation and work of the Conference. Robin also works as an advisor at Students Rising Above, which invests in low-income, first generation college students who have demonstrated a deep commitment to education and strength of character in overcoming tremendous odds of poverty, homelessness, and neglect. She works with them to help students realize their potential by guiding and supporting them through college graduation, and into the workforce.
