Leo Perez Minaya

Minaya was born on September 28, 1939. He received his BS in Civil Engineering from University of Puerto Rico in 1963 and MS in Civil Engineering from Stanford University in 1965.

During the 1980s, Minaya served as a contractor to USAID Mission in the Dominican Republic and directed the Energy Conservation and Resource Development Project. The project involved effective planning and guidance to the government regarding energy problems. During the same time, he served as the Director of PIDE project, a project under the Supervision of the Education Minister with the objective to improve the elementary school system in rural areas of the southern part of the Dominican Republic.

In the 80s, Minaya was the Infratur Director for the Central Bank of the Dominican Republic, which had the responsibility to develop the Dominican Republic's tourism infrastructure. Years later, Minaya conceived and implemented the conceptual ideas and design of the Cap Cana tourist resort project. He has also been involved in large tourism projects in Eastern Dominican Republic. Minaya is active in the development of luxury tourist condominiums in Cap Cana Resort.

He was a full-time professor at the school of Engineering at the University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez for more than a decade. He also helped to develop over one hundred low income housing projects in Puerto Rico.

In 2015, the government of the Dominican Republic, through the Secretary of Foreign Affairs, appointed Pérez Minaya as one of the honorary members of the National Border Council, an organisation that has the responsibility of monitoring issues such as security control, infrastructure development, alternative energy sources, immigration and construction of schools and hospitals. Pérez Minaya also regularly attends informal meeting of scientific-discussion groups such as astronomy, evolution theory; human rights and the environment.

Minaya is the founder and former Chair of Democrats Abroad in the Dominican Republic as well as the former Regional vice-chair for the Americas of the Democratic Party Committee Abroad (DPCA). From 2006 to 2012, he was a Member of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and was an active member of the DNC Hispanic Caucus. During the 2008 presidential election, he was a superdelegate. In 2008, the presidential nominee Barack Obama appointed Minaya as a member of his National Finance Committee as well as the representative of the Democratic Party in Latin America.

In 2010, Minaya was appointed Trustee for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. During the 2016 general elections, Minaya was a member of the Latino Finance Council for the Hillary For America Campaign and appeared on television programs as a Latino surrogate for the campaign.

Pérez Minaya is married to Altagracia Saba and has five and one son.