DEAN COLSON

MANAGING PARTNER, COLSON HICKS EIDSON, MIAMI

Colson has scored some big wins for his clients during 40 years at the boutique Coral Gables-based firm. And he’s made significant contributions to higher education in Miami and across the state. His firm describes Colson as “the only person to have chaired the State University System in Florida, the Board of Trustees of Florida International University and the Board of Trustees of the University of Miami.” He spent 18 years as a UM trustee, chairing a $1.4-billion capital campaign. Gov. Jeb Bush appointed Colson to the state’s ethics commission and Supreme Court Judicial Nominating Commission. Colson also chaired committees that successfully bid on the 1999 and 2007 South Florida Super Bowls. Colson clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice William H. Rehnquist and Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Peter T. Fay. He remains a trustee for FIU and Miami’s Institute of Contemporary Art.