Aida Levitan
President and Founder
A trailblazing business, community, cultural, and philanthropic leader
Aida Levitan, Ph.D. is the president and founder of The Levitan Group, Inc.
A trailblazing business, community, cultural and philanthropic leader, Dr. Levitan is also the immediate past chairperson of the board of U.S. Century Bank in Miami and the only female Cuban-American to hold such a position in Florida, and, possibly, USA from 2019 to 2022.
She continues to serve on the board of USCB Financial Holdings, whose subsidiary is U.S. Century Bank. In 2022 Forbes named Dr. Levitan to the FiftyOver50 group of prominent women in the category of Money.
Dr. Levitan is an inspiring Latina woman who defied cultural stereotypes during a career spanning more than 40 years. She established herself in a male-dominated business culture as the co-founder and president of what became the number one U.S. Hispanic advertising agency, according to Advertising Age (2004).
Aida Levitan, who holds a Ph.D. in Spanish literature and an accreditation in public relations from the Public Relations Society of America, helped grow Sanchez & Levitan, the agency she co-founded in 1986, selling it by 2003 to Publicis. As co-chairman and CEO of Publicis Sanchez & Levitan, she directed strategic marketing communications campaigns for iconic brands such as: Chivas Regal, Bellsouth, TJX Cos., Coca-Cola USA, the Florida Lottery, Capital One, and Absolut Vodka. Her direction of the event-marketing and PR campaign for the concerts of actor Andy Garcia and musician Israel “Cachao” López, the father of “Mambo," won the agency the PRSA Multicultural Excellence Award. In 1994-1995 she directed the Fair of Seville in Miami and in 1997, the Fair of Spain in Miami, attended by 40,000 people.
After merging Publicis Sanchez & Levitan with Bromley Communications in 2004, she was named vice chairman and President of the number one Hispanic advertising agency in the U.S. She directed campaigns for Nestle (15 brands), TXU Energy, L’Oreal and BMW, among others.
Dr. Levitan’s heritage and love for the arts led her to found ArtesMiami, dedicated to promoting and supporting LatinX artists and cultural groups. During the pandemic, the organization also donated funds through the ArtesMiami Relief Fund, to help artists and organizations produce virtual cultural events. Its 2022 ArtesMiami Documentary Film Fund funded six documentary films, two of which were accepted to the 2023 Miami Film Festival.
In 2010 President Obama and Congress named her to the National American Latino Commission, whose mission was to study the creation of a Smithsonian American Latino Museum. She served as its communications chairman and later as vice chairman of the national Smithsonian Latino Center Board. Congress approved legislation in December 2020 to create the museum.
Her involvement with immigration and international affairs led to being elected, in 2017, as a member of the prestigious Council on Foreign Relations. In 2019 she was elected to the board of directors of IMPAC FUND, advocating for immigrants. She is also trustee emerita of the Perez Art Museum Miami, Board Director of the the Spanish Cultural Center of Miami (CCEMiami), member of the Executive Committee and past chair of FACE (Facts About Cuban Exiles); the University of Miami Cuban Heritage Collection Amigos Board (past chairman) and the University of Miami Library Dean’s Advisory Board.
In the past she served on the board of The Art Institutes, a public company, and was chair of the Aetna National Latino Advisory Council. In 2004 she was the president of the national Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies (Ahaa). Her agency donated the Ahaa VOTO campaign print ads, which are now part of the Smithsonian American History Museum collection.
Recognitions and awards include: the Miami Today Gold Medal; Latina Pioneer of the Year (Latina Style Magazine); South Florida Hispanic Chamber Luminary Award; South Florida Business Journal Influential Businesswomen; Broward Hispanic Women’s Association Latina Pioneer, and Philanthropy Award of the Interamerican Institute for Democracy.
A boutique, strategic branding and marketing communications firm
We reach our clients’ customers where they can be most effectively influenced
Headquartered in Miami, The Levitan Group is a boutique, strategic branding and marketing communications firm that deeply connects clients’ brands with stakeholders. Through effective public relations, digital and experiential marketing and social media, we reach our clients’ customers where they can be most effectively influenced.
We have a positive relationship with local media, developed over decades, as well as a proprietary database of thousands of emails of Miami and national influencers. Our deep knowledge about the Hispanic market, whether local or national, also allows us to connect our clients’ brands to the growing LatinX market, whose purchasing power is estimated at $1.5 trillion by the Selig Center.
Footprints in local business
Aida Levitan is a savvy businesswoman whose entrepreneurial ability and vision transformed Sanchez & Levitan, the agency she founded in 1986, into one of the top eight Hispanic advertising agencies in the U.S. in 2001. After merging it with Bromley, she also realized her dream of becoming President of the number one U.S. Hispanic advertising agency. This accomplishment earned Levitan the respect of the Miami business community and civic leadership.
Because of her civic and cultural activities, which started decades ago and continue to this day, Levitan interacts with Miami’s corporate, government and civic leaders on a frequent basis. As Chairman of the Board of U.S. Century Bank, she has demonstrated her ability to provide strategic direction to a company that experienced difficulties during the 2008-2010 recession (before she became a director) and is now one of the most profitable and respected commercial community banks in Florida.
Levitan’s cultural philanthropy as President of ArtesMiami, Inc., has been recognized as a pioneering force for the inclusion of corporate social responsibility criteria in business decisions by Miami organizations such as the South Florida Business Journal and the Interamerican Center for Democracy. Through this organization, which she founded, she has helped develop Miami as an international cultural center.
Roots in the Hispanic and Multicultural Miami Community
Miami, where The Levitan Group is based, is a multicultural city, where New Yorkers, Cuban-Americans, Puerto Ricans, Venezuelans, Colombians, Haitians, African Americans and other groups work together to build one of the nation’s most fascinating urban centers. As a Cuban-American who arrived in Miami in her early teens, Aida Levitan, Ph.D., founder of The Levitan Group, embodies the essence of Miami’s Hispanic culture and of the best American immigrant stories.
As the former President of the number one Hispanic advertising agency in the U.S., Aida directed national Hispanic strategic marketing communication campaigns that won awards and produced measurable results for brands such as Nestlé, Coca-Cola, Chivas Regal, TJX Cos., BellSouth, and the Florida Lottery. Her work at the agency’s offices in most of the major U.S. Latino markets enabled her to learn much about diverse LatinX cultures. That is why The Levitan Group, as a boutique, strategic marketing communications agency that is deeply rooted in the Miami and the LatinX cultures of major U.S. markets.
Levitan’s agency experience made her a household name in the advertising business, and numerous national media outlets have quoted her.
Levitan is also rooted in American Latino culture because she has dedicated herself, throughout decades, to important cultural and civic initiatives that have improved the lives of Latinos in Miami and other markets. Among them is her work as Vice Chair of Communications for the National American Latino Museum Commission that produced the study for the creation of a Smithsonian American Latino Museum.
As a civic and cultural philanthropist, she has gained the respect of Hispanic leaders across the country. This leadership network has enabled clients of The Levitan Group to deeply connect their brands with Latino influencers in Miami and other U.S. Cities.
