About the Founder

Professional career and education

Architect Willy A. Bermello, of Cuban origin and raised in Miami, was the founder and Chairman of the Board of Bermello, Ajamil & Partners, Inc. (“B&A”), an award-winning international firm of architects and engineers. B&A’s corporate headquarters are in Coral Gables, Florida, with office branches in Ft. Lauderdale, Orlando, New York, and Copenhagen.

Educated in the United States with a Master of Architecture and Master of City Planning from the University of Pennsylvania, and a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Florida, where Mr. Bermello graduated magna cum laude in 1973. Mr. Bermello developed his professional career in South Florida. Specialties of B&A with regard to maritime, aviation, healthcare, and hospitality have led the company to an internationally renowned practice with award-winning projects around the globe. B&A is recognized internationally as a leader in planning, design, and engineering of cruise terminals.

B&A was catalogued by the South Florida Business Journal as the third largest A&E company in South Florida, with annual revenues of $46 million in 2023. In January 2024, B&A was acquired by Woolpert, a global architecture, engineering, and geospatial company with more than 60 offices on five continents and over 3,000 employees.

Community role and civic contributions

At a community and civic level, Mr. Bermello served for more than three decades as Chairman of the City of Miami’s Urban Development Review Board, which evaluates and approves all major projects built in Miami. In addition, former Florida Governors Graham, Martinez, and Bush appointed Mr. Bermello to serve on the State of Florida Commission on Human Relations, given his long career in the community and political life of Miami. Mr. Bermello was the first Hispanic elected Chairman of the State of Florida Human Relations Commission, and in 1997 received the State of Florida Civil Rights Advocacy Award for his work on behalf of minorities and the disadvantaged.

Willy A. Bermello is a prominent figure in Miami, having served as President of the influential Latin Builders Association (LBA) and as a founding member and President of the Kiwanis Club of Little Havana. He co-founded the famous “Calle Ocho” festival, part of Carnival Miami, which attracts over a million visitors and is the largest street festival in the USA. Bermello was the first Hispanic President of the Coral Gables Chamber of Commerce and founded the Coral Gables Community Foundation, which presents the annual “Willy A. Bermello Legacy Award” in his honor. He also leads the Cuban American Round Table Organization (C.U.A.R.T.O.) and chairs the AGAPE Foundation, which supports over 1,000 underprivileged women monthly in South Dade.

Family life and faith

Mr. Bermello is an avid art aficionado and collector. His Latin American art collection includes works by Mario Toral, Fernández de Szyszlo, David Manzur, Agustín Fernández, and other great Latin American artists. A lover of horseback riding and a car-racing enthusiast, in 2001–2002 Willy A. Bermello, along with partners Emerson Fittipaldi and Peter Yanowitch, co-promoted open-wheel auto racing in downtown Miami and brought back the Grand Prix of Miami to the streets of downtown.

Aside from traveling and sharing time with his family — today including five granddaughters and two grandsons (children of his son Willy Jr. and his daughter Alexia Isabel) — Bermello feels at home in the company of friends enjoying the fellowship and gastronomy of the culturally rich South Florida community.

Willy A. Bermello is an evangelical Christian and for 25 years has been part of the Alpha and Omega Church in Miami, where he leads the church’s Business Ministry. In 2019, Mr. Bermello published his first book, Saliendo de la Oscuridad. The English version, Coming out of The Dark, followed in the spring of 2020.