Marcell Felipe is a Cuban-American attorney and businessman. Felipe founded the Inspire America Foundation, an organization that promotes democracy in Cuba and the Americas. [1] He also founded the Initiative for Democratic and Economic Alternatives for Cuba, a project of Inspire America, and co-founded América CV (which owns América TeVé). [2] [3] [4]
In 2018, Felipe was elected board chair of the American Museum of the Cuban Diaspora in Miami, Florida, and re-elected in 2019. [5] [6] He also serves as a member of the board of trustees at Miami Dade College. [7] [8] [9]
Felipe graduated from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. [10] [11] Felipe is an international tax and corporate lawyer, and a member of the Florida Bar. [12] [13] He founded Marcell Felipe Attorneys in 2002, advising government and industry officials on legal issues. [14]
Felipe serves as chairman of the American Museum of the Cuban Diaspora (also known as “The Cuban”), having been elected as board chair in 2018 and re-elected in 2019. [15] [16] That same year, he announced the firing of the museum's director, Ileana Fuentes, and her daughter, Carisa Perez-Fuentes, who served as head of communications and design, after a split in leadership of the museum. [17] Felipe accused Fuentes and her daughter of “kidnapping” the museum from the board of directors and mismanaging the institution. [18]
A critic of communism in Cuba, Felipe claims the museum is “an icon of freedom." [19] [20] He designed The Cuban's permanent exhibit, "The Cuban Experience," based on his time as a student at Florida International University, where he worked with former Cuban political prisoners at La Casa del Preso in Miami. [21]