{"id":16698,"date":"2026-05-20T16:06:57","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T16:06:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/?p=16698"},"modified":"2026-05-20T16:06:57","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T16:06:57","slug":"fiu-alumni-board-of-directors-elects-manny-niebla-05-as-president-announces-new-officers-and-directors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/2026\/05\/20\/fiu-alumni-board-of-directors-elects-manny-niebla-05-as-president-announces-new-officers-and-directors\/","title":{"rendered":"FIU Alumni Board of Directors Elects Manny Niebla \u201905 as President, Announces New Officers and Directors"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The FIU Alumni Board of Directors has elected Manuel \u201cManny\u201d Niebla \u201905 to serve as president for a two-year term, along with newly elected officers and directors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Niebla succeeds Sean Gazit\u00faa \u201904, who now serves as immediate past president after leading the board with distinction over the past two years. A dedicated FIU alumnus and longtime volunteer leader, Niebla brings a strong vision for deepening alumni engagement and a commitment to advancing the university\u2019s mission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAs I begin this new role, I am honored to serve alongside such passionate and accomplished volunteers who care deeply about FIU and our alumni community,\u201d Niebla said. \u201cI look forward to building on the momentum of this board and continuing to strengthen connections among Panthers around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOur volunteers play a vital role as ambassadors for FIU and champions for our alumni community,\u201d said Associate Vice President for Alumni Relations Sara DuCuennois. \u201cWe are thrilled to welcome Manny as president and this outstanding slate of officers and directors as they help strengthen alumni engagement, propel FIU\u2019s mission forward, and serve our more than 350,000 alumni worldwide.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Joining the executive committee with Niebla are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Vice President Sylvia Fumero \u201991<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Membership Relations Malik Wilkes \u201908<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Secretary Tom Jelke, Ph.D. \u201990<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Fund Development Yvonne Debesa \u201982, M.Acc. \u201994<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Parliamentarian Brittany Juliachs \u201907, J.D. \u201911<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Immediate Past President Sean Gazit\u00faa \u201904<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Joining the FIU Alumni Board of Directors are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Dr. Seth Crapp \u201998, founder and medical director, Specialty Focused Radiology<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Mathew Ratner \u201913, head of sports and entertainment, Greater Miami Convention &amp; Visitors Bureau<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Renewing their service on the FIU Alumni Board as Directors are Guillermo A. Benites, Erbi Blanco-True, Donovan Campbell, Corey Cohen, Daniel Denis, Dr. Vignesh Doraiswamy, Diana Mart\u00ed, Alex Kuk, Nathaniel \u201cNate\u201d Ortiz, Griselle Pastor, Dimitry Prophete, Blanca Recio, Dustin Rivest, Nikki Spoelstra, Isaura Velez, and Lemar T. White.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The FIU Alumni Board of Directors serves as the advisory board to the Office of Alumni Relations, supporting the university through volunteer leadership, advocacy, philanthropy, and engagement that strengthens&nbsp;connections among Panthers worldwide. The mission of the FIU Alumni Board is to build more F.A.N.S. of FIU through fundraising, advocacy, networking, and student success initiatives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The FIU Alumni Board of Directors has elected Manuel \u201cManny\u201d Niebla \u201905 to serve as president for a two-year term, along with newly elected officers and directors. Niebla succeeds Sean Gazit\u00faa \u201904, who now serves as immediate past president after leading the board with distinction over the past two years. A dedicated FIU alumnus and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":16699,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16698"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16698"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16698\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16700,"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16698\/revisions\/16700"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}