In his current role as the global head of HR Transformation and Communications for Royal Caribbean Group, Josue makes a deep impact across the corporation leading executive communications, change management, transformation, and business strategy. Furthermore, his impact throughout South Florida is what truly sets Josue apart. Josue currently serves as the chair of the LGBTQ+ Community Fund at The Miami Foundation, where he and fellow committee members have distributed over $250,000 to organizations serving vulnerable LGBTQ populations in South Florida; emergency funding has helped to offset the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, Josue served as the chair of the Task Force Gala – Miami hosted by the National LGBTQ Task Force, where he led a committee that raised $2.4 million for the Task Force and local Miami-Dade LGBTQ organizations. His commitment to our community is awe-inspiring.
Josue’s community, activism, and engagement throughout Southern Florida have spanned over two decades. He initially joined Pridelines Youth Services as a youth member in 2000. Soon after, he was selected to be the organization’s first “Youth Liaison” to the board of directors. He was instrumental in developing the GLBTQ prom, serving as its youth chair. Under his leadership, he engaged other youth to get involved, establishing committees, and empowered his peers to take active roles in decision-making processes. In his time as chair, prom attendance grew over 40%; to date, it remains the largest attended youth prom. Josue was instrumental in helping build awareness of the organization, encourage large numbers of youth to engage with the agency, and receive much-needed support.
Early in his career, Josue worked with several organizations across South Florida, including Safe Schools South Florida, Equality Florida, and SAVE. In 2002, when the Miami-Dade County Human Rights Ordinance was threatened, Josue was again selected to participate in a special leadership program hosted by the National LGBTQ Task Force to rally young people to SAVE’s efforts.
As a result, Josue was honored as an Outstanding Young Leader by the Greater Miami chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, the Dade Community Foundation, Donors Forum of South Florida, the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce, and United Way of Miami-Dade.
Josue’s time with Pridelines came full circle when he served as Chair of the Board from 2003 -2005. This time was critical as he helped lead the organization through challenging times, ultimately preventing the organization’s doors from closing. During this time, Josue, alongside a consortium of youth organizations, helped to found the “Alliance for GLBTQ Youth” to provide comprehensive services to the GLBTQ youth of South Florida with the support from The Children’s Trust.
Josue has also held positions as the Editor of Genre Latino Magazine, where he published quality content to perpetuate a positive perception of the gay Latino community, and he has worked with community volunteers to found Celebrate Orgullo, South Florida’s first pride event for LGBTQ+ Latinos.
Josue holds three technical degrees, is a Six Sigma Black Belt, and is certified as a change management practitioner and trainer. He graduated with a Masters of Science in Positive Organizational Development and Change from the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University.
The 9th annual SAGE & Friends Miami event will be held on Saturday, March 19, 2022, from 7 pm to 9 pm at The Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science, 1101 Biscayne Blvd, Miami, FL 33132. For more information or to sponsor this event in honor of Josue Santiago, please click here or contact Joey Wasserman at jwasserman@sageusa.org.
