Frank Rainieri: the visionary of Punta Cana, will be a speaker at the sixty-fifth INTEC graduation
SANTO DOMINGO. - In 1969, Frank Rafael Rainieri Marranzini It flew over a 58 square kilometer parcel located in the province of La Altagracia, at the eastern end of the island, which had approximately ten kilometers of beach. It was a completely isolated area and to access it, you had to fly by helicopter or arrive by vehicle along the seashore from Higüey, a journey that took six hours.
Anyone would have left the place, but the prominent businessman envisioned a dream that today bears the name Punta Cana. Next to the New York lawyer Theodore Kheel, Rainier built his first project, a hotel for 40 guests called Punta Cana Club, which was inaugurated in 1971. Later, in 1979, they built the Hotel Puntacana, and the Punta Cana International Airport it was followed in 1984, the world's first commercial and private international airport.
In 1997, Rainieri and Kheel partnered with renowned Dominican designer Oscar de la Renta and Spanish singer Julio Iglesias and started the Punta Cana Marina and real estate development in the area, the rest is history.
Rainieri Marranzini will be the speaker at the sixty fifth graduation of the INTEC that will be held this November 5 Saturday of 2022 in the Sans Souci Convention Center, where they will receive their undergraduate and graduate degrees 854 graduates.
Biography of Rainieri Marranzini
Frank Rafael Rainieri Marranzini is chairman and founder of Grupo Puntacana, and president of Grupo Puntacana Foundation. He held the position of President & CEO of the company he founded, for 50 years. Currently, his son Frank Elías Rainieri Kuret presides over it.
The hotel entrepreneur is a pioneer in the development of tourism in the Eastern region; positioning the destination of Puntacana on the world map, one of the most visited internationally by tourists and investors of its real estate developments.
He began his Bachelor of Business Administration studies at Saint Joseph College in Philadelphia, and completed them at APEC University, Santo Domingo.
His career has earned him international distinctions; among them, Outstanding Young Jaycee's Chapter in 1978; Presidential Citation Award,” given in 1985 by President Reagan; selected as UN representative at the Young Entrepreneurs in Developing Countries seminar in Geneva; “Hotelier of the Year” award by the Caribbean Hotel Association; and the 5 Diamond Award by the American Academy of Hospitality Sciences (AAHS) as a pioneer in the development of sustainable tourism in the Dominican Republic.
Locally, he has served as president of the Eastern Hotel Association; member of the Board of Regents Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo (INTEC), in which he remained for nine years; member of the Monetary Board of the Dominican Republic; member of the Foreign Investment Promotion Commission and member of the Board of Directors of APEC University.
Likewise, he was the first vice president of the National Council of Business Men today CONEP; past president of the American Chamber of Commerce of the Dominican Republic, and currently a member of its Council; past president of the National Association of Hotels and Restaurants (ASONAHORES), and current member of its Council; president and founder of the Carso Los Haitises Foundation, Inc., and member of the Board of Regents of INTEC.
In 2014 he was appointed as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Sovereign Order of Malta in the Dominican Republic. And by Presidential Decree he was appointed in 2015 as a member of the Private Sector council of the National Competitiveness Council. In 2015 he was distinguished as an Honorable Citizen of the World by the Parliament of Italy, in Rome, for his important contribution to the Tourism Industry in the Dominican Republic, in 2015.
In 2018 he was distinguished with the title Honoris Causa by the prestigious entity Roger Williams University in Providence, Rhode Island. In this same year he was recognized with the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Caribbean Hotel & Resort Investment Summit (CHRIS) in Miami Florida, for his significant contributions to the hospitality industry, his actions and achievements during his career. the.
In 2020, he was distinguished as the Frank Rainieri Tourism Master Chair by the Universidad Central del Este, in coordination with the CHA. Internationally, he is a member of the Board of three important entities: World Travel and Tourism, WPO and the Clinton Foundation. More recently in 2021 he was appointed Ambassador of Sustainable Tourism by the World Tourism Organization, UNWTO.
He is married to Mrs. Haydée Kuret by Rainieri co-founder of Grupo Puntacana and current member of its board, with whom she has fathered her three children, Paola, Francesca, who is currently a member of the Board of Regents of INTEC, and Frank Elias Rainieri Kuret.