When the 2008 financial crisis led firms to defer job offers to graduating law students, Alexandra Plasencia saw the opportunity where others saw uncertainty. After earning her undergraduate degree from Miami Herbert Business School, she began her law degree at the University of Miami, took the GMAT, and joined the J.D./M.B.A. dual-degree program.
In 2011, she graduated with three degrees to her name–a rare achievement that earned her the distinction of Triple Cane, a testament to both her ambition and her belief that the most effective leaders understand more than one domain.
But the degrees were only part of it. Being fully embedded in the M.B.A. cohort left a lasting imprint, and she built friendships along the way that she carries with her to this day.
What started as a response to economic uncertainty became a professional identity. Plasencia, now general counsel at Bomnin Automotive, has spent more than a decade in senior-executive roles. Instead of acting as the traditional attorney who tells teams what they cannot do, she approaches her work as a strategic partner–one who understands the business well enough to find a path forward that works for everyone.
“The M.B.A. taught me to think about problems differently,” she said. “As a lawyer, you’re trained to identify the risk. As a businessperson, you’re trained to find the opportunity. I learned to do both at once.”
That approach defined her trajectory from her first general counsel role at MCCI Medical Group, a primary senior care medical group with centers across Florida and Texas that was later acquired by Humana (a transaction that marked an early milestone in her career). She then took on a broader role at Conviva Care Solutions, a management services organization overseeing more than 300,000 patients across Florida and Texas, before joining MSP Recovery, where she guided the company through a de-SPAC transaction and its listing on Nasdaq, which marked one of the most complex deals of her career.
“I was at the tail end of my pregnancy while navigating that transaction,” said Plasencia. “I think that’s a testament to what women can do–we just don’t always get to say it out loud.”
Last fall, Plasencia made her most personal pivot yet, joining Bomnin Automotive as general counsel. The company, led by her cousin Arnaldo Bomnin, had grown into one of South Florida’s most prominent family-owned automotive groups, and for Plasencia, it represented the full convergence of her professional expertise and personal roots. The opportunity had been years in the making, and when it came, she was ready for it.
“We’re a very tight-knit family,” she said. “When you get the opportunity to work alongside family, you take a leap of faith.”
For Plasencia, joining the company meant coming home in more ways than one. The Bomnin family had already established an endowed scholarship at Miami Herbert, supporting students from Miami-Dade, Broward, and Monroe County who are descendants of police officers, firefighters, active-duty military personnel, or veterans. Through the Herbert Challenge Match, the gift totals $1.2 million and funds up to four students annually. For anyone, it would be meaningful work. For Plasencia, a Triple Cane who was born and raised in Miami to parents who immigrated from Cuba, it landed differently.
“To those to whom much has been given, much is expected. This city has given me a lot, this university, this community–giving back isn’t optional for me, it’s an obligation I embrace.”
Having successfully navigated her own path to the C-suite, she hopes her involvement in the scholarship will help the next generation find theirs.