Chilean Bank Leader Grisel Vega Takes Presidency To Help Florida International Bankers Association Gear For Future

If international bankers ever needed a spokesperson in Miami, Grisel Vega would fit the bill well — and that’s exactly what she does. As president of the Florida International Bankers Association and general manager of Chile-based BCI’s corporate and investment banking office in Miami, Ms. Vega rubs elbows in lofty business circles.

Yet she hasn’t lost her mom-next-door appeal. "I love my children," she says about her two children, 25 and 21. "They say, "Mom, don’t introduce me as your kid.’ And I say, "You know, you’ll always be my kids.’" She met her husband early in her career, when they were working together at a local accounting firm. Today, he’s chief financial officer for a company in Doral.

Ms. Vega came from humble beginnings. She and her parents left Cuba when she was a little girl. She recalls how Fidel Castro’s regime took state control of private property and businesses, including her father’s store, as the government formed along communist lines. She said it created an atmosphere of fear and intimidation.

Her family came to the US without much. They lived in an efficiency apartment in Miami, worked hard and lived on a tight budget, so she considered going to a fast-food restaurant a big treat. She studied hard and got a scholarship to the University of Miami. In the following years, her career and her life began taking shape.

In an interview at her Brickell Avenue office with Miami Today reporter Scott Blake, Ms. Vega discussed her life, international banking, and some of the issues it faces.To read the entire issue of Miami Today online, subscribe to e -Miami Today, an exact digital replica of the printed edition. To read this profile article in its entirety, subscribe to e-MiamiToday. With the e-MiamiToday you will be able to read the entire contents of Miami Today online exactly as it appears in print. Or order this issue, to receive a regular printed copy of this week’s Miami Today. You may also subscribe to the printed edition of Miami Today to receive the newspaper every week by mail. If you are reading this in Miami Today’s “Online Archive” as an archived web page and would like to see the entire article that was published, call Miami Today, 305-358-2663 and ask for the Circulation Department.   Top Front Page About Miami Today Put Your Message in Miami Today Contact Miami Today © Copyright 2012 Miami Today designed and produced by Green Dot Advertising and Marketingvar gaJsHost = ((“https:” == document.location.protocol) ? “https://ssl.” : “http://www.”);document.write(unescape(“%3Cscript src='” + gaJsHost + “google-analytics.com/ga.js’ type=’text/javascript’%3E%3C/script%3E”));var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker(“UA-4990655-1”);pageTracker._initData();pageTracker._trackPageview();