Speaker Bio

Adis Vila (Rollins Class of 1974) has broad management experience in telecommunications, agriculture, government, international business, and private law. She is a senior academic administrator and a professor of international business and international law.  Born in Cuba, she speaks English, Spanish, French, and Portuguese.

Vila lectures on leadership, corporate governance, ethics in management, US-Latin American relations, regulatory policy, infrastructure development, and foreign direct investment before industry and professional groups.  She is published in the field of legal aspects of foreign direct investments.

Adis Vila returned to her alma mater as a Winter Park Institute Visiting Scholar in Residence. Born in Cuba, the multilingual and multicultural executive spent the academic year offering her insights to Rollins students, teaching  Ethics in Organizations and International Business Law in the international business department and speaking on topics such as corporate social responsibility and leadership. Her public lecture on “The Role of State Governments in Attracting Foreign Investments” will be published as an article in the next issue of Law and Business Review of the Americas.

Vila was appointed Assistant Secretary for Administration at the U.S. Department of Agriculture by President George H. W. Bush; Secretary of Florida’s Department of Administration by Governor Bob Martinez; and to positions in the U.S. Departments of State and Commerce and The White House by President Ronald Reagan. A lawyer and former senior academic administrator and business executive, she embarked on a new career five years ago as a professor of international business and international law. Vila was awarded the 1974 Algernon Sydney Sullivan Medallion.