Board of Directors

Osvaldo Garcia, Board President

Email: ogarcia@urbandebate.org

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Osvaldo Garcia is an Executive Director at J.P. Morgan Private Bank, working as a wealth advisor for the bank’s clients in Latin America. Prior to joining J.P. Morgan, Osvaldo practiced as a Private Client attorney at Bilzin Sumberg Baena Price and Axelrod LLP, as well as Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP. Osvaldo has been committed throughout his career to pro bono work and was previously recognized by the Hispanic National Bar Association as Pro Bono Attorney of the Year for his work in founding and running a clinic dedicated to providing legal services to the undocumented immigrant community. Osvaldo received his J.D. from Cornell Law School, with a concentration on Litigation and Advocacy, a specialization in International Legal Affairs and with Dean’s List distinctions. He received an LLM in Tax Law from New York University. He received his B.A. from Florida International University, magna cum laude, where he concentrated on International Relations and Criminal Justice.

Brianna Sainte, Board Vice President

Email: briannasainte@urbandebate.org

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As an associate in Bilzin Sumberg’s Litigation Department, Brianna focuses her practice on complex civil litigation matters. In particular she provides targeted insights through in-depth research into clients' businesses that help guide the team's approach to each matter. She has been involved in a wide variety of cases from breach of contract, landlord-tenant disputes, antitrust and financial litigation cases. Brianna has federal trial experience at both the district and appellate court level.  Prior to practicing, she attended the University of Miami School of Law where she served as the Eleventh Circuit Editor of the University of Miami Law Review. Additionally, Brianna served as both a Student Clinician in the Innocence Clinic and a Dean’s Fellow for Civil Procedure, Criminal Procedure, and Legal Communications and Writing I. She graduated in the top 5% of her class with magna cum laude honors and Order of the Coif membership.

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Dale Reed, Board Treasurer

Email: dale@merrimacventures.com

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Dale has overseen high-profile, luxury hotel and condominium projects across the U.S. He has worked on thirty-eight projects spanning most of the major metropolitan markets. Dale joined Merrimac Ventures as Senior Vice President in 2014, working on both their real estate development projects as well as a five hundred home single-family rental portfolio in Atlanta, GA and was subsequently promoted to Chief Operating Officer. Dale has an extensive background in construction, sales, marketing, information technology, acquisitions, operations and litigation management. He is also an accomplished executive coach and trainer, having facilitated hundreds of seminars on sales, hospitality service and management for Weichert Realty, Coldwell Banker, Omni Hotels, Brighthouse Communications and other major corporations. In addition to his professional accomplishments, Dale serves as the Treasurer of the Board of Directors for the Miami-Dade Urban Debate League.

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Trudy Smith, Board Treasurer

Email: trudysmith@urbandebate.org

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Trudy is an associate in White & Case’s Financial Restructuring and Insolvency Practice, based out of the Miami office.  She has substantial experience representing all aspects of complex restructuring matters for multinational companies and stakeholders with an interest in every part of the capital structure.  Her matters have involved both in-court and out-of-court restructurings in industries such as fintech, energy, telecommunication, and retail.  She received her Juris Doctor and Bachelor of Science in Communication from the University of Miami.  Trudy was active on the mock trial, international moot court, and the main moot court teams and now volunteers as a coach for students participating in moot court.  Although Trudy was born in Jamaica, she grew up in south Florida and has a vested interest in ensuring that our youth receives a quality education and has opportunities to develop skill sets that they can use in their future endeavors. 

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David L. Steinberg, Board Member

Email: dave@miami.edu

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David Steinberg is Assistant Professor of Professional Practice in Communication Studies and Director of Debate at The University of Miami. He has directed UM’s Debate Program since 1990 and has hosted and served the Miami Dade Urban Debate League throughout its existence. Steinberg is co-author of the leading collegiate textbook on Debate and Argumentation and has served as the President of the Cross Examination Debate Association, the primary organization representing intercollegiate policy debate. His teams are internationally respected and competitively successful.

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Clifford A. Schulman, Board Member

Email: Dadlightaventura@gmail.com

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Cliff Schulman is a renowned Environmental Lawyer with over 50 years of experience in the field. He has consulted on and participated in numerous major development projects across South Florida, from Coral Gables to West Palm Beach. His work includes representing high-rise developers in Sunny Isles Beach for condominium approvals, helping with environmental clean-ups of clients located in Miami-Dade and Broward Counties.

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Niyala A. Harrison, Board Member

Email: harrisonn@gtlaw.com

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Niyala Harrison is an attorney in the Miami office of Greenberg Traurig. She represents cities, counties, school districts and governmental entities in financing essential public infrastructure projects such as schools, libraries, hospitals, roadways, air and sea ports. Niyala is a proud alumnus of Miami-Dade County Public Schools, having graduated from MAST Academy. She earned a B.A. and M.S. from Florida State University and a J.D. from University of Miami School of Law. Niyala is committed to a number of community and civic causes in South Florida. She has served as a volunteer and author host for Miami Book Fair for more than 20 years and is a fierce proponent of education and literacy. She regularly mentors high school and law school students. An ardent believer that “Service to others is the rent we pay for our room here on earth,” Niyala maintains an active pro bono practice. Niyala is a graduate of Leadership Miami Class 41.

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Coral del Mar Lopez, Board Member

Email: coralpur@gmail.com

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Coral del Mar López is an attorney at Stearns Weaver Miller in the Miami Office and she focuses her practice on commercial business litigation, representing clients in class actions, arbitrations, and single-plaintiff actions in multiple jurisdictions. She has litigated a wide variety of disputes in state and federal courts, including matters involving general business concerns, financial services, commercial and residential foreclosures, and leasing disputes, unfair competition and false advertising, corporate control and partnership disputes, state attorney general actions and government investigations, and construction defects.

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Ian M. Ross, Board Member

Email: iross@sidley.com

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Ian Ross represents clients in business disputes, commercial and securities litigation, government investigations, and class actions. He is ranked in Band 1 by Chambers USA in Securities Litigation (2022) and is also ranked in Commercial Litigation (2022), where he was described by clients as “a great communicator” who provides “excellent assessments of our positions.”

Ben Mitchel, Board Member

Email: bmitchel@bilzin.com

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Ben Mitchel is an attorney in Bilzin Sumberg’s litigation practice group. Ben has a broad complex commercial litigation practice, regularly handling antitrust, financial services, and other complex civil litigation matters for his clients. Ben is a Double Gator, having graduated cum laude from both the University of Florida (B.A.) and the University of Florida’s Levin College of Law (J.D.) While in law school, Ben served as a Managing Editor of the Florida Law Review. In addition to keeping up with his practice, Ben also serves as the Chair of Bilzin Sumberg’s Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Recruiting and Diversity Pipeline Subcommittee, as well as serving as the Chair of the Foundation for New Education Initiative’s Young Professional’s Committee.

LTC Corey Gray, Board Member

Email: corey.p.gray@gmail.com

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Corey is a civil litigator who’s practice areas include high-stakes commercial and antitrust disputes in state and federal courts. He is also an officer in the U.S. Army Reserve.  Corey has a deep passion for empowering diverse young leaders throughout Miami-Dade County with the tools they need to be thought leaders who can effectively contribute ideas and solutions through civic discourse.