A Trip to Cuba
Apr 21, 2017
Morning Meeting- Charles A. Serrano
A Trip to Cuba

Charles Serrano is the Managing Director of the The Antilles Strategy Group, Cuba Trade & Public Affairs Consultants.

No other American has traveled to Cuba more in the past 20 years than Charles Serrano.  Since 1994, Mr. Serrano has planned, coordinated and executed more than 130 missions to Cuba for American business leaders, academics and researchers, scientists, lawyers and other professionals.
 
Mr. Serrano’s understanding of the socio-historical environment of the island has allowed him to fit into Cuban society, nurturing relationships with its musicians and other artists, its budding entrepreneurial class, and its governmental leaders.  His internal knowledge, awareness and understanding of the Cuban government, the sentiment of the Cuban people and ability to forecast and anticipate Cuban social and policy shifts is truly unique and will be a valuable asset to any strategy development team in which he participates.
 
For the past two decades, Mr. Serrano has established key relationships in all sectors of the Cuban economy, including government and non-governmental organizations.  He has bridged the gap between the professionals from the U.S. and Cuba, linking counterparts from the two nations in academics and in permitted commercial projects in the areas of agriculture, medicine and telecommunications.  For example, Mr. Serrano has relationships with more than a dozen Cuban ambassadors around the world, including Mr. José Ramón Cabañas Rodríguez, the present Ambassador of the Cuban Embassy in Washington, D.C.
 
In 2002, Mr. Serrano organized and executed the first and only Biotech Conference and Academic Exchange, engaging American business CEOs, executives and leaders and Cuban professional counterparts in the biotech and related fields.
 
In 1999, Mr. Serrano planned and executed Illinois Governor George Ryan’s historic trip to the Cuba, the first sitting governor to visit the island.  The trip included a delegation of 91 Illinois business, civic and political leaders.  In 1998, Mr. Serrano drafted, lobbied and secured passage of the first state legislative resolution in the United States calling for the normalization of relations between Cuba and the United States.
 
Mr. Serrano is an international policy consultant on Caribbean Basin and Latin American affairs, providing clients with strategic real-time analysis of socio-political activity and changes occurring throughout Latin America, including Cuba.  For over 30 years, he has served as a planning, policy and economic development adviser to non-profits, corporations, institutions and private individuals.
 
Mr. Serrano is a veteran of the U.S. Army having received an Honorable Discharge.  In 1981, Mr. Serrano earned a Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in Theology and Biblical Languages from Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan.  In 1998, Mr. Serrano earned a Master in Urban Planning and Policy degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago.  Mr. Serrano was awarded a HUD Fellowship in 1997-1998.  He is an EDI/MacArthur Fellow.  He is an American Assembly Fellow at Columbia University in New York.  Mr. Serrano is 1999 Fellow of Leadership Greater Chicago.
 
Born and raised in Chicago to Puerto Rican parents, Mr. Serrano speaks fluent English and Spanish.  He has lived in various Latin American countries and has extensive relationships in Venezuela, Colombia, Mexico and the Dominican Republic.  He maintains homes in Chicago and Puerto Rico.