69 Millennium - A Marquis Who’s Who Magazine EDUCATION For over 50 years, George Suarez has excelled in educational administration. He worked in the Miami-Dade County Public Schools in Miami for over 30 years as teacher, principal and region director. Prior to embarking on a career in education, he entered the Jesuit seminary, where he completed a BA in humanities. He began his career as a teacher at his high school alma mater, Belen Jesuit Prep School in Havana, Cuba. During those early years at Belen, he was present during the Bay of Pigs Invasion in 1961 and was forcibly emigrated during the subsequent Castro regime occupation. He traveled to the Dominican Republic to establish a Jesuit school, Colegio Loyola in Santo Domingo. Next, Mr. Suarez arrived in the U.S. and completed a master’s degree in school administration at the University of Virginia. During this time, he lived in Washington, D.C., teaching at Elizabeth Seton High School and The Foxcroft School. There, he met with Secretary of State Cyrus Vance to discuss Cuba. Following Foxcroft, Mr. Suarez was director of operations at Airlie House Foundation. In 1974, he moved to Miami and began his tenure as principal with Miami Dade County Public Schools. His program, Reading First, increased the reading test scores of minority children by 20% and earned him a commendation by Florida Commissioner of Education, Frank Brogan. As region director, he proudly led an initiative that upgraded eight F-grade schools to C-grade schools. Mr. Suarez is one of 14 siblings who immigrated to the United States in 1961. His father, Manolo Suarez-Carreño, served as dean of the School of Engineering at Villanova University in Havana. In the 1980s, Mr. Suarez’s brother, Xavier, became the first Cuban American mayor of the City of Miami. Currently, Xavier’s son, Francis Xavier Suarez, is mayor of the City of Miami. His sister, Lala Suarez Mooney, is the mother of U.S. Representative Alex Mooney from West Virginia, and she is the author of “Leaving Cuba: One Family’s Journey to Freedom.” Mr. Suarez is married to Dr. Gina Cortes-Suarez, past president of the Miami-Dade College Inter-American Campus, and he is the parent of three sons: Jorge, Carlos and Andrew. GEORGE SUAREZ REGION DIRECTOR, ADMINISTRATOR Miami-Dade Public Schools Miami, FL
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