“Why Florida?” Series – European Innovation Council Delegation to FIME2022

EACC Florida continues its “Why Florida” series with a presentation to a business delegation of 20 European SMEs, start-ups and scale-ups from the MedTech industry who will be attending the Florida International Medical Expo (07/27-29) in Miami Beach, as part of the Overseas Trade Fair Program 2.0. of the European Innovation Council. The presentation will be followed by a reception and represents an excellent opportunity for EACC Florida Members to engage in some B2B networking with the visiting companies.

TOPICS

• Overview of the health care industry / MedTech environment in Florida
• Forms of US legal entity through which foreign businesses may transact business
• Other compliance concerns, such as licensure by the Florida’s Department of Business and Professional Regulation, and local municipalities
• Taxation and financial issues, such as opening bank accounts, obtaining an Employer Identification Number, and filing tax returns, and securities
• Cultural differences of doing business in Europe and the United States

SPEAKERS

• Grzegorz Ambroziewicz – Deputy Head of Unit, European Innovation Council
• Carol Barnhart – Shareholder, Greenberg Traurig
• Jaret Davis – Co-Managing Shareholder, Greenberg Traurig
• Karen Fonseca – Vice-President Business Development – HRP Americas Business Sales Lead – TMF Group
• Christina Sleszynska – Executive Director, EACC Florida [Moderator]
• Peter Stratos – Principal, International Tax – Kaufman Rossin

PROGRAM

4.15PM – 4.30PM           Welcome and Registration

4.30PM – 6.00PM           Program

6.00PM – 8.00PM           Reception

For details on how to attend, please send an email to Christina Sleszynska, [email protected]

SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES

Grzegorz Ambroziewicz (PhD)

Grzegorz Ambroziewicz studied Management, Economics and Transport at Warsaw School of Economics in Poland, Vienna School of Economics in Austria, Université d’Orléans in France and University of Oxford in the UK.. He has a PhD in Political Science with a focus on security and sovereignty.

He started his career in British telecoms (Cable & Wireless) in Brussels and London. In 2003, he joined the European Commission and worked on creating policies in Directorate General (DG) Joint Research Centre, DG Justice Freedom and Security, DG Enterprise and Research Executive Agency. Then, he took up a new responsibility in DG Research and Innovation as a Team Leader to implement the Research Potential and Regions of Knowledge programmes inter alia to make a difference in Central and Eastern European Member States of the EU. In 2018, he became the deputy Head of Unit and then an acting Head of Unit in EASME (European Agency for Small and Medium-Sized Companies) and then EISMEA implementing the European Innovation Council (EIC).

He is definitely fond of global economic trends, role of innovation in economy and is a passionate traveller.

Carol Barnhart

Carol Barnhart is a corporate attorney who focuses her practice on mergers, acquisitions, and other complex, strategic negotiated deals, advising clients on a wide range of regulatory compliance, financing, and general commercial issues. She provides pragmatic legal advice for markets lacking predictability and susceptible to fraudulent activity. She also counsels clients on corporate governance matters.

Carol Barnhart joined Greenberg Traurig from packaging manufacturer Grupo Phoenix, where she served for several years as general counsel, chief compliance officer, and chief human resources officer. Prior to her position with Grupo Phoenix, she was general counsel & chief compliance officer for BTG Pactual-owned, GlobeNet Cabos Submarinos, where she was responsible for leading the legal, regulatory and compliance agenda for the international subsea telecom cable owner and operator. Prior to that, she held various positions at Diageo, the global drinks company, where she was vice president and assistant regional counsel for the Latin American region and subsequently was in charge of M&A for Diageo’s Latin American region. Carol also worked with several local law firms before her position with Diageo. She has a J.D. from the University of Miami School of Law and a B.B.A. also from the University of Miami.

Jaret L. Davis

Jaret L. Davis is Co-Managing Shareholder of the Miami office of Greenberg Traurig, P.A., a member of the firm’s global Executive Committee and oversees approximately 180 attorneys and 200 business staff based in the firm’s founding office in Miami. He focuses his corporate and securities practice on domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions, capital markets transactions, and complex secured financings. The vast majority of Jaret’s clients are technology players, ranging from information technology, to life sciences/biotech, to renewable energy sources. For over a decade, Jaret has played a key role in the firm’s global efforts to be a dominant player in the technology industry. Under his leadership, the Miami office has been a thought leader in representing angel investors, venture capital firms, growth equity funds, as well as various technology companies along all intervals of the life cycle, from startup to multi-billion dollar publicly-traded companies. He routinely provides representation to publicly traded clients having an aggregate market capitalization of over $20 billion.

In addition to his practice, Jaret serves as a co-founder and General Counsel of the eMerge Americas global technology conference.  He previously served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Nicklaus Children’s Hospital and as Chair of the Miami-Dade Beacon Council, the Official Economic Development Partnership for Miami-Dade County. In that capacity, he led Miami’s bid to obtain Amazon’s HQ2 headquarters in which Miami was among the short-listed cities.

Jaret also serves on the Board of Directors of the Adrienne Arsht Performing Arts Center, the National Board of Directors of Venture for America and on the Board of City National Bank of Florida.

Jaret has been recognized in a number of publications, including Chambers and Partners, the Daily Business Review, as the 2018 recipient of its “Attorney of the Year” Award; Super Lawyers, Best Lawyers in America, which selected him for its 2022 “Lawyer of the Year” recognition in the area of Venture Capital Law; the M&A Advisor, which selected him for its 2010 “40 Under 40” list; the National Law Journal, which selected him for its 2011 “Minority 40 Under 40” list; and the Daily Business Review, which designated him “Top Dealmaker of the Year” in both 2010 and 2012.

Karen Fonseca

Attorney by trade, with a Major in International Law, with over 17 years successfully assisting clients as a trusted adviser first as a corporate attorney and later from a commercial perspective as it relates to inbound and outbound international expansion for companies of all sizes.

Currently working in Business Development for TMF Group, acting as Commercial Director for new clients globally, Commercial Market Lead for HRP in the Americas, as well as North America Market Liaison for clients entering or expanding into the North America region.Specialized in international expansion and foreign clients entering for the first time into new markets – from exploring a new jurisdiction to creating solutions to manage medium to large expansion and consolidation projects.

Christina M. Sleszynska

Christina Sleszynska is an International Association Executive formerly based in Brussels (Belgium). She has served as EACC Florida’s Executive Director since the organization was established in January 2020. Before moving back to Miami in 2017, she worked in Paris, Amsterdam and Brussels, managing European trade associations and their EU government relations. In her previous role, she established the Representative Office for Europe of the International Trademark Association (INTA), the world’s largest trade organization of IP professionals. She ran INTA’s Office in Brussels from 2006 until 2017 as INTA’s Chief Representative Officer Europe.

Ms. Sleszynska holds an MA in European Integration from the American University (Washington DC), a BA in Politics and Public Affairs from the University of Miami and an Executive MA in Management of International Associations from the Solvay Business School in Brussels. Christina speaks English, French, Spanish, German as well as some Dutch and Italian.

Peter Stratos

Peter Stratos is a principal in Kaufman Rossin’s International Tax department where he provides extensive knowledge to his clients on international tax planning for both individual and corporate taxes.  Peter’s primary expertise in international tax is in the areas of foreign tax credit planning, residency issues, state and local issues for international and multinational businesses, expats and inpats, pre-immigration planning, transfer pricing, compensation planning, treaty positions, entity selection, organizational structuring and withholding issues.  Peter has taught for the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, state CPA societies, and other organizations on various international tax topics and has also written several articles and issue papers covering these subjects. He was recognized on multiple occasions by the Virginia Society of Certified Public Accountants and Virginia Business Magazine as a Super CPA in corporate taxation. Peter is a Certified Public Accountant in Florida and Virginia. He is also a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the Florida Institute of Public Accountants and the Virginia Society of Public Accountants.

Organized with the support of