Mr. Petrey is President of the Collins Center for Public Policy, Inc., a non-partisan, non-profit statewide policy center named after former Florida Governor LeRoy Collins. He has served in that role since 1992. The Center has a substantial portfolio of projects, ranging from regional growth strategies and revitalization of urban neighborhoods to election reform, healthcare, alternative dispute resolution, and hurricane catastrophe insurance.

 

Mr. Petrey recently retired as Senior Counsel to Holland & Knight, LLP, a large law firm with offices throughout the world. He continues to serve as counsel to the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, a private philanthropy with assets of $2 billion; the Amateur Athletic Union of the United States; the Flight Attendant Medical Research Institute; the North Dade Medical Foundation; and others.

 

Mr. Petrey is a member of the Board of Trustees of and legal counsel for the P.L. Dodge Foundation. He has been Vice President of the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation in New York; counsel for the Florida International University (FIU) Foundation; general counsel for FIU; Chairman of the We Will Rebuild Foundation, Inc., a private citizens’ organization formed after Hurricane Andrew in 1992 which raised over $27 million in private funds; a leader of “Miami Partners for Progress,” formed in 1993 to carry out a 20-point economic development plan; Chairman of the Greater Miami Advisory Committee for the non-profit Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC); President of the Florida Bar Foundation, which provides millions of dollars annually for legal services for the poor; President of Florida Legal Services; Founder and Chairman of the Florida Justice Institute; Chairman of the Associated Marine Institutes, Inc. (a national youth services organization); Chairman and President of the Miami Museum of Science and Space Transit Planetarium; Chairman of the Standing Committee on Specialization of the American Bar Association; and others.

 

Mr. Petrey is past President of the Donors Forum of South Florida and Senior Adviser for the Council for Educational Change, successor to the South Florida Annenberg Challenge, Inc., a $100 million private-public partnership for public education. He is a member of the Board of Directors of BAC Florida Bank, an international bank based in Coral Gables, and a legal counselor and advisor for other private business corporations.

He is a past recipient of the Tobias Simon Pro Bono Service Award, presented annually by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Florida to one lawyer in Florida who exemplifies the public service spirit of the legal profession. He received the State of Florida Juvenile Justice Award from the Florida Conference of Circuit Court Judges. He is a member of the American Law Institute and a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. Mr. Petrey has received the “Spirit of Excellence Award” presented by the Miami Herald for outstanding contributions to the South Florida community and the Cal Kovens Distinguished Community Service Award from Florida International University.

Born in 1941 in Lakeland, Florida, he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in history in 1963 from Yale University magna cum laude and a Juris Doctor degree in 1970 from Harvard University. From 1970 until 1972 he was a consultant in the Washington, D.C., office of McKinsey & Company, Inc., an international management consulting firm. He then served, from 1972 until 1977, as Vice President of the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation in New York, returning to Florida to practice law in 1977. Mr. Petrey lives in Coral Gables, Florida, with his wife, Lucy Woodward Petrey, an associate professor at Miami-Dade College, former president of several PTA’s and a former Dade County Public Schools Volunteer of the Year. She is a graduate of Randolph-Macon Woman’s College and has a master’s degree from Harvard University. They have two daughters. Sarah, a graduate of the American University in Washington, D.C., has a master's degree from the New School University in New York and now works for homeless assistance organizations in New York City. Susan, a graduate of Oberlin College, received her master’s degree from the New School University, and teaches in the small schools program of the New York City public school system. Mr. Petrey is a military combat veteran, serving as a Captain in the U.S. Army Special Forces (“Green Berets”) in Vietnam in 1966, as a paratrooper with the 101st Airborne Division in 1965, and with the First Cavalry Division in South Korea in 1964.

 

Mr. Petrey was a guest on Voice of the Voters on March 18, 2009.