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Immigrant success stories

Amid all the debate about immigration into the United States, two of the subjects of articles in this issue remind us how immigrants can turn into powerful leaders and grow incredible businesses.

Our cover story is about Salo Sredni, whose grandparents on his father’s side originally were from Poland. They fled to the Soviet Union, but found life wasn’t so great there. The family was deported to Uzbekistan, which is where Sredni’s father was born.

After the war, Sredni’s family moved to Colombia but, in the 1980s, ended up in the middle of the narcotrafficking wars. Sredni and his parents went on a vacation in Miami, but his grandfather told them not to come back because of the danger.

Sredni ended up at age 14 attending Hebrew Academy. “It was fun but I did not speak English well, so I had to adjust real quickly,” he says.

Sredni later went into accounting and then ultimately become CEO of TradeStation, the leading platform for professional traders. He also became chief operating officer of the Japanese brokerage company that brought TradeStation. Now, he’s trying to transform the workers’ compensation experience.

This month’s “CEO Connect” profiles Tony Argiz, who, since 1997, has been chairman and CEO of MBAF, the largest local accounting firm in South Florida. Argiz was part of the “Pedro Pan” exodus of 14,000 unaccompanied Cuban children who were sent to safety in the United States after the Castro regime took over.

Argiz was a ward of the Catholic Church and stayed at a boarding school in Tampa for five years until his parents came to the United States.

“Then, it was a horrible experience. But when I look back, it was important to have gone through that period in my life and it really matured me rapidly,” he says.

While political discourse sometimes paints immigrants as a detriment to our economy, Sredni and Argiz are examples of how some of them also contribute mightily to our prosperity.


Correction

The Christine E. Lynn Women’s Health & Wellness Institute, which has added the Senographe Pristina mammography device, is at Boca Raton Regional Hospital. The health care article in the March issue named an incorrect hospital.

The March Doral City Report incorrectly stated that Lennar was a partner in Codina Partner’s Downtown Doral project.

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Drew Limsky

Drew Limsky

Editor-in-Chief

BIOGRAPHY

Drew Limsky joined Lifestyle Media Group in August 2020 as Editor-in-Chief of South Florida Business & Wealth. His first issue of SFBW, October 2020, heralded a reimagined structure, with new content categories and a slew of fresh visual themes. “As sort of a cross between Forbes and Robb Report, with a dash of GQ and Vogue,” Limsky says, “SFBW reflects South Florida’s increasingly sophisticated and dynamic business and cultural landscape.”

Limsky, an avid traveler, swimmer and film buff who holds a law degree and Ph.D. from New York University, likes to say, “I’m a doctor, but I can’t operate—except on your brand.” He wrote his dissertation on the nonfiction work of Joan Didion. Prior to that, Limsky received his B.A. in English, summa cum laude, from Emory University and earned his M.A. in literature at American University in connection with a Masters Scholar Award fellowship.

Limsky came to SFBW at the apex of a storied career in journalism and publishing that includes six previous lead editorial roles, including for some of the world’s best-known brands. He served as global editor-in-chief of Lexus magazine, founding editor-in-chief of custom lifestyle magazines for Cadillac and Holland America Line, and was the founding editor-in-chief of Modern Luxury Interiors South Florida. He also was the executive editor for B2B magazines for Acura and Honda Financial Services, and he served as travel editor for Conde Nast. Magazines under Limsky’s editorship have garnered more than 75 industry awards.

He has also written for many of the country’s top newspapers and magazines, including The New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Miami Herald, Boston Globe, USA Today, Worth, Robb Report, Afar, Time Out New York, National Geographic Traveler, Men’s Journal, Ritz-Carlton, Elite Traveler, Florida Design, Metropolis and Architectural Digest Mexico. His other clients have included Four Seasons, Acqualina Resort & Residences, Yahoo!, American Airlines, Wynn, Douglas Elliman and Corcoran. As an adjunct assistant professor, Limsky has taught journalism, film and creative writing at the City University of New York, Pace University, American University and other colleges.