Jesse Scheckner
The Miami Dade College District Board of Trustees just gained two notable new members.
One is José Félix Díaz, a lawyer and former state Representative who led a successful charge in 2016 to expand Florida’s KidCare enrollment to the children of legal immigrants.
The other is Juan Segovia, a decorated homicide detective in the Cold Case Unit of the Miami-Dade County Sheriff’s Office who also works as a hostage negotiator.
They join two reappointed Board members: Board Chair Michael Bileca, a state lawmaker-turned-executive of a charter school nonprofit whose Board includes Díaz, and city of Hialeah Chief Operating Officer Ismare Monreal.
Gov. Ron DeSantis announced the appointments and reappointments Thursday.
Díaz today works as executive vice president and managing partner at the lobbying firm of Ballard Partners and as a partner at Panza Maurer Law.
He’s also a co-founder of the Miami Tech Summit, among other community and business involvements.
Federal Election Commission records show Díaz made direct contributions between 2009 and 2021 totaling $3,100 to the Republican Party of Florida, U.S. Sen. Rick Scott and U.S. Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart.
He also made close to $11,000 in donations to numerous state-level politicians and political committees, including the PC of Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody and Miami state Sen. Alexis Calatayud.
Segovia has been with the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office, formerly the Miami-Dade Police Department, for 27 years. He’s been a crisis and hostage negotiator since January 2019, according to his LinkedIn page.
In 2014, he received the county’s Employee Excellence Award and Distinguished Officer of the Month Award.
State records show he made more than 200 small donations to the Dade County Police Benevolent Association since 1999 totaling $308.
He’s also contributed $150 to the Republican National Committee and hundreds more to President Donald Trump’s 2020 and 2024 campaigns.
The Miami-Dade College District Board of Trustees is the governing body responsible for setting policy, overseeing administration and guiding the strategic direction of Miami Dade College, which in the 2018-19 term had the largest undergraduate enrollment of any college or university in the nation.
Board members are appointed by the Governor, subject to Senate confirmation and include leaders from business, education and public service. Together, they oversee the hiring of the college President, budgeting and ensuring that Miami Dade College fulfills its mission of accessible, affordable, high-quality education across its many campuses.
Others on the panel include Vice Chair Robert Alonso and members Anay Abraham, Maria Blanco, Marcell Felipe and Nicole Washington.
