University of Miami alumnus embarks on ‘the honor of a lifetime’

By Michael R. Malone [email protected] 01-21-2026

As a young boy growing up in Miami, Bernardo "Bernie" Navarro dreamed that he might one day attend the University of Miami. Yet, though his Cuban parents were hard-working and industrious, family resources were limited and his "North Star" seemed a fading nova as he reached his teenage years.

Until a stranger, an employee at the University, interceded.

At the end of January, Navarro will embark on the next step in an already highly successful career. As the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Republic of Peru, he's excited for the opportunity to serve his country and to advance the administration's goals and interests in the hemisphere.

"This appointment is truly the honor of a lifetime," Navarro said. "I've done trade missions to Peru and have a long history of working there. The Peruvian embassy is a large and important one and, despite the difficulties the country has faced, Peru's economy is strong. There's a lot going on there, so we want to make sure we're at the forefront and that our bilateral relations remain strong."

Born and raised in Miami, Navarro graduated from the University's Miami Herbert Business School in 1994 with an undergraduate degree in international finance and marketing. He later earned a Master of Liberal Arts degree in government from Harvard University.

A seasoned entrepreneur, civic leader-he's a former chairman of the board of trustees at Miami Dade College-and nationally recognized expert in the fields of real estate finance, development, and economic recovery, Navarro is the founder of a private equity firm.

Navarro is quick to assert that the education he received at the University "transformed my life" and paved the way for his professional success. Yet that education would never have been possible without the intervention of Jim Balter, a longtime University employee who retired as a senior business systems analyst.

"I'm from a very humble upbringing. My Cuban parents-you know the story-had lost everything when they came here. They were hard-working and had stopped living their dream so their children could live theirs," he said.

Both parents were entrepreneurial, a trait Navarro clearly inherited. His father had his highs and lows.

"It was in that interim of highs and lows that my mom knew she had to work to make ends meet. From an early age, I saw her eagerness to do whatever she needed to do to make sure there was food on the table," he remembered.

She would go house to house selling dresses for a manufacturer, and Navarro sometimes accompanied her after school. Deeply religious, his mother attended mass daily and among those she met and impressed were the nuns at St. Agatha Catholic Church. They approached her when the church sought to launch a school and needed someone to provide after-school care.

She agreed, and the family bought a used station wagon to ferry the children to and from the church to their home, where she helped with their homework, served a meal, and provided other care. Among those in her care was a boy whose father was Balter, at the time the University's director of purchasing.

"One day when I was a junior in high school, he comes to the house, looks at me and says, 'Do you want a job at the U?'"

"Well, I don't know, driving all the way over there, this and that," Navarro stammered. "My mom was listening. Then, he says, 'It pays for your school.' 'We'll be there tomorrow,' my mother said."

For the next few years while in high school, Navarro worked after school and weekends-Balter helping to accommodate his schedule-to fulfill the requirements so he would be eligible for tuition remission.

"There was no way that our family could have afforded the U, and when I talk to my children, one of the things I tell them is that the biggest thing I ever did, that I achieved, was that someway, somehow, I got to go to the University," Navarro said. "It was always my dream, and to this day that act of kindness that my mom did and that Jim saw was what changed my life."

Buoyed by his debt of gratitude, Navarro focused and did well in school while working full-time. When Hurricane Andrew hit, purchasing operations became especially critical at the University. Among his tasks, Navarro was assigned to work directly with then-President Edward "Tad" Foote to ensure that his personal situation was managed.

"I've always been in finance, and I've been in the lending business for close to 30 years. My business and civic career have always intertwined, and that's what's helped me get to where I am: to be selected by the president for this ambassadorship," Navarro said.

Navarro was sworn in to his new position on Jan. 13 and travels to Peru at the end of the month with his wife, a Peruvian American, and his two younger children. His oldest daughter attends college in Boston.

Navarro highlighted his long history working in the country through trade missions and commercial dealings, and said he plans to focus initially on commercial diplomacy-ensuring that U.S. companies are bidding on tenders or request for proposals that happen in Peru and that the United States continue to have a strong presence there.