Residence Miami, Florida Nationality Cuban-American | Name Al Garcia-Serra Organizations founded MGSCOMM | |
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Born November 9, 1946 (age 78) ( 1946-11-09 ) Havana, Cuba Occupation Principal of Commonground/MGS | ||
Al Garcia-Serra (born November 9, 1946) is Founder, Managing Partner of Commonground/MGS, marketing communications' first minority-owned holding company with eight multicultural companies: MGSCOMM, Commonground, The Vidal Partnership, The Cunningham Group, Sway Public Relations, CG Works, Post Master and Run Wild Productions. The holding group has headquarters in New York and offices in Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles and Miami with an approximate 300 employees offering clients services including: advertising, public relations, event marketing, social media, content development, production and animation.
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Early life
Born in Havana, Cuba, Garcia-Serra immigrated to the United States, and settled in Miami, FL, in 1960. He graduated from Coral Gables High School in 1964, and then attended the University of Florida, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Advertising, while working at Compton Advertising as an Assistant Media Buyer on Tide detergent and Ivory Bar Soap. Garcia-Serra returned to Miami after graduating from UF to work at Hume Smith Mickelberry as Print Media Buyer and Account Executive.
Career
Prior to becoming a Principal for Commonground/MGS, Garcia-Serra Co-founded MGSCOMM with his friend and business partner Manuel E. Machado in 2003, a Minority Business Enterprise with headquarters in Miami, Florida, and offices in New York City and Mexico City. The independently owned integrated marketing communications agency, which was the holding company for MGS, SWAY, PostMaster, and RunWild, ranked among the top 20 in the "2013 Advertising Age 50 Largest U.S. Hispanic Agencies", and was named among the top 100 in the "2012 Hispanic Business 500 Largest US Hispanic-Owned Companies".
Garcia-Serra founded his first advertising agency in 1982, Garcia-Serra Blanco (GSB:LINTAS), which was recognized by Hispanic Business as the fastest-growing company in 1987. Garcia-Serra also held senior level positions on the corporate side, including at Flagler Federal where he led the financial center’s first Hispanic marketing effort; and, directed advertising accounts for various well-known national brand names, including Burger King, McDonald’s, Lipton Foods, Eastern Airlines, Procter & Gamble, DeBartolo Properties, TracFone Wireless, Net10, DHL, and Anheuser Busch.
Honors
In 2008, Garcia-Serra was awarded "Entrepreneur of the Year" from Hispanic Business. He is a founding member of the Kiwanis Club of Little Havana in Miami, FL and has served on the boards of Chamber South, the American Red Cross, Liga Contra el Cáncer, the National Diabetes Foundation and M.A.D.D.