Mike Fernandez

He is the founder of MBF Healthcare Partners, a private equity firm founded in 2005 in Coral Gables, Florida.

On Christmas Day, 1964, Fernandez and his family were escorted by the Cuban military out of their own house and told to leave Cuba.

On weeknights, Fernandez worked at the New York State Psychiatric Institute, part of Presbyterian Hospital, cleaning cages of animals that were used in experiments.

On weekends, Fernandez worked at the American Museum of Natural History at the kiosk stand selling souvenirs.

He completed a 508-mile walk from France and Spain multiple times, in order to raise funds for a variety of children's causes.

[citation needed] Mike Fernandez was also the Founder and Chairman of the Immigration Partnership and Coalition Fund (IMPAC).

The IMPAC Fund fundraises to expand currently existing legal services and programs to help undocumented immigrants fight unjust deportation procedures and grant them a path to citizenship.

In 2016, the New York Times wrote that Fernandez was "one of the most prolific donors in a key swing state" (Florida), contributing more than $4 million to Republicans in recent elections.

[14] During the 2016 election cycle, Fernandez was a major supporter of Jeb Bush, who unsuccessfully sought the Republican presidential nomination.

[12] During the Republican primaries, Fernandez funded newspaper ads comparing Trump to Hitler, Mussolini, and other dictators.

The autobiography takes readers on parallel journeys: his 508-mile pilgrimage along El Camino de Santiago- and from a dirt-road Cuban town to the pinnacles of U.S. business success.

[24] Fernandez also owns a 4,000-acre ranch in Gadsden County part of which is in Havana, Florida where he breeds Friesian horses and cattle stock.