Nelson Hincapie: Miami Dade College Foundation’s new chief executive

After overcoming a difficult childhood and early years of adulthood, Nelson Hincapie, now 49, is truly a success story. Born in Colombia and later moved to Miami, Mr. Hincapie grew up in a difficult upbringing even though his parents did the best they could, but as he recognizes decades later, that was not enough for a child. 

Mr. Hincapie calls himself a “satisfied customer of life, second chances, opportunities, and ultimately, there is a God that’s out there that’s looking out for every one of us.” 

For many years he blamed his parents for the things happening to him in his early life, and it wasn’t until he understood that it was his life, and he had to own his story, that he finally was able to make a positive shift to his life. 

It all started for Mr. Hincapie at Miami Dade College. After getting out of drug treatment in 1997, he signed up to take classes, and eventually the hard work paid off. A professor suggested he joined the Honors College, and he did. He joined Phi Theta Kappa and became the president of the honor society. 

“So, at 25 I was doing everything that I should have done or could have done but just didn’t have the tools to do at 18,” he said. “So, Miami Dade College opened the doors of opportunity for me, and that’s where it all began.” 

Mr. Hincapie eventually got a scholarship for an internship at a psychiatric hospital in Boston “and looking back, it’s where I learned of the importance of just wanting to hear the stories of other people.”

After the internship, Mr. Hincapie returned to Miami, and while working in a hotel on the beach as a bellman, he opened the door for the right person and was asked to work in politics with David Lawrence and Alex Penelas on the universal Pre-K amendment. He successfully worked on the campaign and traveled throughout Florida, until the amendment was adopted. 

After Mr. Penelas ended his term as mayor he ran for the Senate, a campaign in which Mr. Hincapie was part. Mr. Hincapie then joined the campaign with the winner of the Democratic primary, Betty Castor, and when she lost the election to Mel Martinez, he again came to Miami and had the opportunity to work with county Commissioner Carlos Gimenez. 

After a couple of years, Mr. Hincapie married, had his first daughter, and started working for an agency that was upstairs from a shelter where they used to bring children as soon as they were removed from their homes. “I would go down to the shelter and see the kids, sometimes I played basketball with them or helped feed babies, and it was eye-opening,” he said. 

Although the shelter was in perfect condition, he noticed children really needed love. “It’s a very complex situation because ultimately those children should be in the home with the parents who the children were removed from in the first place, so in an ideal world there would be no need for foster care or for child welfare systems,” he said. 

After two years, Mr. Hincapie left the agency to become CEO of Voices for Children,  a nonprofit that provides financial assistance and resources to abused, abandoned, and neglected children, where he spent 12 years. “It’s a great organization, and I got to know some of the most committed board members that I’ve ever met, human beings just really incredible, people that silently do so much for the children who end up in foster care,” he said. 

But after more than a decade in service, he had the opportunity to return to Miami Dade College, where it all started for him. Since January, Mr. Hincapie has been the Chief Executive Officer of the Miami Dade College Foundation, where he has had the opportunity to help kids in a different capacity, raising private funds to support scholarships, academic programs, and services to change the lives of students.

“Through the foundation, we get an opportunity to contribute through scholarship and I get an opportunity to be that mentor that Dr. Michael Hettich was for me, or Professor Hernandez or Ms. Suco,” he said. “They all had a profound influence on me and now I get to come back and do that same thing for other students, so it’s paying it forward.” 

Nelson Hincapie spoke with Miami Today reporter Gabriela Henriquez Stoikow. 

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