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Miami-Dade mayor appoints Francesca de Quesada Covey to lead economic development and innovation

Nancy Dahlberg
Nancy Dahlberg
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By Nancy Dahlberg

Francesca (Cesi) de Quesada Covey is Miami-Dade County’s new Chief Economic Development and Innovation Officer and will lead the county’s efforts to accelerate innovation, entrepreneurship and investment, Mayor Daniella Levine Cava announced.

A leader in the #MiamiTech ecosystem, de Quesada Covey has been the mayor’s Tech Innovation advisor since September 2021, a part-time position funded through the support of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. She has also been a partner in TheVentureCity, a Miami-based venture capital firm.

In her county advisory role, de Quesada Covey helped develop the Miami-Dade Innovation Authority, an independent public-private nonprofit created with seed funding from the Knight Foundation, Citadel CEO Ken Griffin, and Miami-Dade County to find innovative private-sector solutions to some of our community’s pressing challenges.  The Innovation Authority will provide grants to startups developing solutions to challenges with climate change, health, housing, transit and more, and they will be invited to pilot new technologies in collaboration with the county.

“I am really excited to capitalize on the mayor’s Future Ready economic development strategy, which is one that brings together the private sector and the public sector to think about how we best support our residents. Economic innovation is up front and center and what we mean by economic innovation is this idea that innovation and new technologies really help to power the economy,” said de Quesada Covey, in an interview with Refresh Miami.

 “We are thinking about traditional economic development, which focuses on targeted industries, but we’re also bringing in this updated lens to think about how we make Miami-Dade a sustainable resilient region where we are focused on growth,” she continued. “For the mayor, that focus on growth is her priority area and the ability to work with the private sector is so key there.”

In her new role, de Quesada Covey said she will be focused on three pillars: Unleashing innovation, advancing workforce talent, and supporting small business. In the innovation area, she said she is excited to help the new Miami-Dade Innovation Authority flourish.

The second area, advancing workforce talent, has been a huge priority area for the mayor for the last two years, and the county has recently helped fund Miami Dade College’s new AI Center and programming, among other projects. But that is just a start.

“We want to do more with Miami Dade College and more with FIU. We want to support reskilling and upskilling programs and we want to create a collaboration with Miami-Dade County Public Schools to build careers that meet the needs to needs of employers now. We’re really thinking about pipeline programs that start earlier, not just at the collegiate level,” de Quesada Covey said.

For small businesses, she said, the county wants to expand their BizUP grant program, where they have already distributed $1 million and StartUP FIU mentoring, as well as their RISE small business loan program. De Quesada Covey said value-based procurement is another area of interest, providing businesses with the know-how they need to scale and grow.

In taking on the new position, de Quesada Covey has left her role as Partner and Chief Investment Officer at TheVentureCity, which focuses on funding and accelerating early-stage startup ventures. For the past two years, de Quesada Covey oversaw the investment strategy for pre-seed and seed investments and supported the growth of TheVentureCity’s 108 portfolio companies. 

Earlier in her career, de Quesada Covey, the daughter of Cuban immigrants and a Miami native, worked at Meta for eight years, where she led and grew business development and partnerships teams focused on internationalization and growth. Before joining Meta, the Columbia University graduate served as Deputy Counselor of Strategic Engagement in the Office of Public Engagement under President Obama and was an analyst for UBS and Goldman Sachs. 

“With robust experience across the public and private sectors and driving innovation within government, Francesca is the perfect person to lead our FutureReady economic development strategy as we work to make Miami-Dade the best place in the country to live and work,” said Mayor Levine Cava, noting the recent tech momentum and the need for government to works hand-in-hand with the private sector “to ensure all our residents can succeed in the new economy,”

Francesca de Quesada Covey leads a panel discussion at All Raise’s recent inaugural event in Miami.

READ MORE IN REFRESH MIAMI:

Follow Nancy Dahlberg on Twitter @ndahlberg and email her at ndahlbergbiz@gmail.com

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