MIAMI LEADER:
Ruth Shack is a Miami girl and a Miami leader. As a three-term Miami-Dade County commissioner from 1976 to 1984, Shack became known as an independent thinker who made decisions based on what she thought was right, not according to popular opinion.

WHY MIAMI?
Direct from the wedding ceremony we headed south to Miami Beach for our two week stay in a Miami Beach hotel for our honeymoon. I was instantly smitten with this place and after one week we started looking for jobs. More than 60 years ago, as is true today, Miami was the place to start fresh, to be invited in, to affect change and to build the kind of life I wanted for myself. Clearly, those attributes are still valid today and I revel in fostering the new talent refashioning Miami to their new skills.

WHAT IS THE MOST PRESSING ISSUE TO SOLVE ON YOUR LIST? WHY?
Years ago when my three splendid daughters, “Miami Girls” each, discovered they had to leave their home base to achieve their career goals it became apparent to me Miami had to mature to keep “Miami Women” in town. The effort to help create that kind of community has been a motivating force for my life’s work. With each new change in Miami (and the changes come fast) we have opened more opportunity for women of talent to contribute to our prosperity.

HOW CAN WE SOLVE IT?
Miami is recognized as the safe place to invest the huge amounts of money being moved from out of state and international sources. This community has become the contemporary Swiss Bank Account. The challenge facing Miami is how to involve those who invest in real estate, business and condominiums to invest in the civic and philanthropic future of our community. Clearly they have bought into our wealth, we need them to invest in building our future.