Board of Directors | U.S. Century Bank

Luis de la Aguilera

Chairman, President, and CEO

Luis de la Aguilera is Chairman, President, and CEO of USCB Financial Holdings, Inc. and its banking subsidiary, U.S. Century Bank. Previously, he served as President and Chief Executive Officer since 2015. During his tenure, he has worked to accelerate growth, drive profitability, and deliver shareholder value. Under his visionary leadership, the Bank launched a successful IPO in July 2021, diversifying the investor base and generating new capital to support growth plans. The Bank has grown into one of the largest community banks headquartered in Miami and one of the leading community banks in the state, with assets exceeding $2.2 billion and a network of 10 banking centers. U.S. Century Bank earned its 5-star rating from BauerFinancial, the nation's leading independent bank rating firm.

An experienced banking professional of forty years, Mr. de la Aguilera’s prior roles included serving as President and Chief Executive Officer of TotalBank, overseeing branch-based commercial lending and business development at Ocean Bank, and leading business banking and lending activities at Republic National Bank.

In addition to Mr. de la Aguilera's extensive banking background, he is prominent within the Florida Bankers Association, where he served on the board from 2017-2020. Further, he also served from 2012-2015 as a Director of the Florida School of Banking at the University of Florida, Gainesville and continues his association as an associate instructor. Additionally, he was appointed to represent Florida on the American Bankers Association (ABA) Government Relations Council for 2014-2015. In 2017, Mr. de la Aguilera was named to the Board of Directors of his alma mater Christopher Columbus High School. He has served on the boards of The Education Fund, the Spain-U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and Our Lady of Lourdes Academy.

A committed advocate for pediatric cancer research and awareness, Mr. de la Aguilera served as a founding board member of the SebastianStrong Foundation (2019-2021) and also served on the Miami-Dade Advisory Board of the American Cancer Society. Mr. de la Aguilera graduated from the University of Miami in 1981 with a B.A. in English Literature and a minor in business administration.

Aida Levitan, Ph.D., APR

Director and Immediate Past Chairperson

Aida Levitan, Ph.D., APR, has served as a director since August 2013 and is the Immediate Past Chairperson of the Board. Since July 2006, Dr. Levitan has been the President of The Levitan Group, Inc., a firm that provides strategic branding and marketing services. She has also served as President of ArtesMiami, Inc., a nonprofit organization, since it was founded in 1995. As member of the Council on Foreign Relations since 2017, she serves on the boards of FACE (Facts About Cuban Exiles), including as its Chair from January 2019 to December 2019 and the Cultural Center of Spain in Miami, and has served since 2017 as a Trustee Emerita of the Perez Art Museum Miami. Dr. Levitan was Vice Chair of the National Smithsonian Latino Center Board from 2014 to April 2017 and Chair of the UM Cuban Heritage Collection Amigos from 2016 to 2019. She also served from 2010 to 2011 on the National Museum of the American Latino Commission, named by President Obama and the U.S. Congress. From 2006 to 2009, Dr. Levitan was a member of the Miami board of The Art Institutes, and from 2004 to 2005 she was the President of the national Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies (Ahaa). Until January 2005, Dr. Levitan was the Vice Chairperson/President of Bromley Communications, which she helped transform into the number one Hispanic advertising agency in the U.S. (Advertising Age, 2004). In 1986 she co-founded Sanchez & Levitan and sold the agency to Publicis Groupe. Under her leadership as Co-Chairman/CEO between 2001 and 2003, Publicis Sanchez & Levitan became one of the top ten U.S. Hispanic advertising agencies (Advertising Age). Dr. Levitan has directed strategic marketing communications campaigns for major national and global brands. A nationally recognized marketing communications and civic leader, she has been quoted in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Miami Herald, Forbes.com, CNN, Telemundo, Univision, and CNBC business news, and other major media. Dr. Levitan received her Ph.D. degree from Emory University in 1977 and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Miami in 1969.

W. Kirk Wycoff

Director

W. Kirk Wycoff has served as a director of our Bank since 2015. Mr. Wycoff is the Managing Partner of Patriot Financial Partners, a private equity fund headquartered in Radnor, PA, which has deployed over $978 million in capital, maintaining a long only, value-oriented buy and hold strategy designed to provide growth capital to financial services companies that require additional equity to grow. Prior to joining Patriot Financial Partners, Mr. Wycoff served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Continental Bank Holdings, Inc., a de novo community bank serving the Philadelphia metro market, from 2005 to 2007, and from 1991 to 2004 he served as Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President of Progress Financial Corp. and Progress Bank. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Banc of California (NYSE: BANC), Grasshopper Bancorp, Inc., Auxilior Capital Partners, Inc., Numerated Growth Technologies and Miria Holdings, Inc., and recently served as a director of Radius Bancorp, Porter Bancorp (NASDAQ: PBIB), Guaranty Bancorp (NASDAQ: GBNK) and its subsidiary, Guaranty Bank and Trust Company, and Heritage Commerce Corp. (NASDAQ: HTBK) and its subsidiary, Heritage Bank of Commerce. Previous board positions held by Mr. Wycoff include Square 1 Financial, Inc., NewSpring Ventures-Fund I, NewSpring Mezzanine Fund as well as service on the board of The Lincoln Center during which he served as Chair of its Finance Committee. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration and Finance from Franklin & Marshall College. Mr. Wycoff’s 40 years in the banking industry, which includes over 18 years of experience as an executive officer and more than 10 years in various director positions, brings extensive leadership and community banking experience to our Board, including executive management, risk, credit and resolution experience, risk assessment skills and public company expertise.

Howard P. Feinglass

Director

Howard P. Feinglass has served as a director of our Bank since 2015. Mr. Feinglass is the founder and Senior Partner of Priam Capital, which was established in 2003. He is responsible for Priam’s strategic planning, investment sourcing and decision-making. Mr. Feinglass also serves as a director for Centrix Aerospace in Seattle, Washington, where he has served since 2019. Prior to founding Priam, Mr. Feinglass spent from 1998 to 2003 running a family office with over $1 billion in assets under management, where he implemented a mandate to diversify the family’s portfolio from its real estate core into alternative investments and holdings of public companies. From 1993 to 1998, Mr. Feinglass worked as a principal at Odyssey Partners in their private equity group. Mr. Feinglass received an M.B.A. from the University of California Los Angeles in 1987 and an A.B. from Brown University in 1982.

Ramón Abadin

Director

Ramón Abadin has served as a director of our Bank since 2017. Mr. Abadin is an active trial lawyer in Miami, Florida and has been practicing with the law firm of Ramon A. Abadin, P.A. since 2018. In his practice, he has represented some of the world’s largest multinational corporations and insurance companies in complex commercial and tort matters. Mr. Abadin is a prominent member of the Florida legal community having served as a Past President of the Florida Bar and the Cuban American Bar Association. He is among the less than one percent of Florida attorneys invited to be a member of the selective American College of Trial Lawyers. He is also a member of the Florida Chapters of the American Board of Trial Advocates, the Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel and the International Association of Defense Counsel. Mr. Abadin is a native of Cuba and fluent in Spanish and conversational in Portuguese. Mr. Abadin has helped shape the legal landscape in Florida as a prior member of several distinguished committees. Additionally, Mr. Abadin has been actively involved in the selection of trial and appellate attorneys in state and federal courts, having served as one of only 15 committee members appointed to evaluate all prospective nominees to the federal bench in the 11th Circuit (Florida, Georgia, and Alabama) and nationally. Mr. Abadin served on and was chairman of the Third District Court of Appeal Judicial Nominating Commission, and he has served on the City of Miami’s City Attorney Selection Committee. He served as a member of the Florida Supreme Court’s Long-Range Strategic Planning Workgroup and is a member of the Court’s Commission on Access to Civil Justice. Mr. Abadin earned his J.D. from Loyola University of New Orleans School of Law in 1985 and his B.A. in History from Tulane University in 1981. He has received numerous awards, including the prestigious G. Kirk Haas Award from the Florida Bar, which is awarded annually to just one attorney in Florida.

Bernardo “Bernie” Fernandez, M.D.

Director

Bernardo “Bernie” Fernandez, M.D. has served as a director of our Bank since 2017. Dr. Fernandez is the Corporate Physician Executive of Broward Health, a nationally recognized health system in South Florida and one of the 10 largest public healthcare systems in the U.S. Prior to joining Broward Health, Dr. Fernandez served as the Chief Executive Officer of Baptist Health Medical Group, a network of more than 500 physicians in multiple specialties spanning Broward, Miami-Dade, and Monroe counties, from 2014 to 2023. Previously, Dr. Fernandez, an internist who specializes in vascular medicine, served as Chief Executive Officer and President of Cleveland Clinic Florida, a renowned academic medical center with locations in Weston and West Palm Beach, Florida from 2006 to 2014. In 2013, Dr. Fernandez was honored by The Association of Hispanic Healthcare Executives with the prestigious award of National Hospital CEO of the Year. Also, in June 2013, he was appointed to the Florida Board of Medicine by Governor Rick Scott until 2017. During his tenure, he was elected vice chairman in 2014 and Chairman of the Board in 2015. Dr. Fernandez is a native of Cuba and received his medical degree from the Ponce School of Medicine in Ponce, Puerto Rico, and completed his internal medicine residency and vascular medicine fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. He is Board-certified by the American Board of Vascular Medicine and a Fellow of the Society of Vascular Medicine and the American College of Physicians. Dr. Fernandez is an active member of the South Florida community, which includes, among his various activities, being a member of the Orange Bowl Committee and a member of the Board of trustees for St. Thomas University. He also served on the selection panel for the White House Fellows Program, one of America’s most prestigious programs for leadership and public service, in 2011 and 2017. In January of 2022, Dr. Fernandez was appointed to the board of directors of International Money Express, Inc., a leading money remittance services company. Dr. Fernandez received his M.B.A. from the University of Miami, School of Business in 2011 and is also a graduate of the Wharton School of Business’s Executive Development Program.

Ramon A. Rodriguez, CPA

Director

Ramon A. Rodriguez has served as a director of the Company since February 2022. Mr. Rodriguez has served as the Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Cable Insurance Company, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, a property, and casualty insurer focused on the commercial automotive market, since April 2021. From January 1999 until April 2020, he served on the board of directors of Republic Services, Inc., Phoenix, Arizona, a solid waste company listed on NYSE, including serving as the Chairman of the Board. From 2009 to 2015, he served as a director of Alico, Inc., Fort Myers, Florida, a holding company with assets and related operations in agricultural and environmental resources, including citrus, sugar cane, cattle, land, and wildlife management listed on NASDAQ. In addition, Mr. Rodriguez was the President and Chief Executive Officer of Madsen, Sapp, Mena, Rodriguez & Co. (an accounting firm acquired by Crowe Horwath in 2006) from 1971 to his retirement from public accounting in 2009. He is also a former Chairman of the Florida Board of Accountancy as well as a former President of the Florida Institute of Certified Public Accountants. He was a founder, Treasurer, and a director of DME Corporation, a manufacturing company in the defense and aerospace sector, from 1975 to 2009. Mr. Rodriguez also served as a director of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) from 2015 to 2021. Mr. Rodriguez earned a B.S. in Accounting from Florida Atlantic University. He has also completed the Owner/President Management Program at Harvard Business School. We believe Mr. Rodriguez’s extensive accounting, business and director experience qualifies him to be a member of our board.

Robert E. Kafafian

Director

Mr. Kafafian is the Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”) of The Kafafian Group, Inc. and a recognized banking industry leader in performance measurement. He has a distinguished 40-year career consulting and advising more than 500 financial institutions across the United States and has been instrumental in the design and development of a nationally recognized bank profitability software product. Mr. Kafafian is a frequent speaker and writer on a variety of banking subjects and is often quoted in banking periodicals. He teaches at numerous state, regional, and national banking schools.

Mr. Kafafian’s previous professional experience includes: President-Consulting Services and Managing Director, Tucker Anthony Capital Markets (now RBC Capital Markets); President and CEO, The Q Group, Inc. (merged with Hopper Soliday & Co./Tucker Anthony Capital Markets); Vice President, Bradford Trust Company (merged into The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation); Director of Budgeting and Profit Planning, United Jersey Bank (merged into Bank of America Corporation); Controller, First National State Bank Corporation (merged into Wells Fargo & Company).

Mr. Kafafian has served as President of the Board of Directors of the Association for Management Information in Financial Services (“AMIfs”), is a member of the Financial Managers Society Strategic Issues Council, and is a board member of other companies as well as professional, community, and academic organizations. He has also written a book, published by AMIfs, entitled KEYS TO COMMUNITY BANK SUCCESS – Utilizing Management Information to Make Informed Decisions.

Mr. Kafafian received a B.A. degree in Business/Economics from Moravian University and an M.B.A. in Finance from Fairleigh Dickinson University. He was awarded AMIfs’ Lifetime Achievement award and is a Certified Profitability Professional.

Maria C. Alonso

Director

Ms. Alonso, a highly respected business executive with a proven track record spanning more than 25 years across banking, marketing, social responsibility, and community engagement, most recently served as the President and CEO of United Way Miami, one of the region’s largest philanthropies, from 2017 through 2021.

Under her strategic direction at United Way Miami, Ms. Alonso managed the community’s largest funder of health and human services while overseeing a $40 million dollar budget and more than 250 staff members across multiple locations, as well as a diverse Board of Directors comprised of private and public sector leaders.

Ms. Alonso earned a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from Florida International University and is a Cum Laude graduate from the University of Miami with a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering.

Her involvement in community organizations has included: New World School of the Arts (past Executive Committee Chair), Leadership Florida, International Women’s Forum, Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce (past Board Chair), Miami-Dade Beacon Council (past One Community, One Goal Co-Chair), Camillus House, Miami Dade College Foundation, The Miami Foundation, and Teach for America. Ms. Alonso is a recognized community leader having received numerous awards celebrating her civic, business, and philanthropic contributions to the South Florida community.