Rafael L. Robayna, P.E.

Director Emeritus, Cuban American Association of Civil Engineers

Mr. Robayna is the Chairman of the Board of Robayna and Associates, Inc. a multidisciplinary firm founded by him in 1981. During his professional engineering career which started as field engineer at the Deltona’s Marco Island Development Corp. from where he was transfer to the company’s Miami Office and promoted Project Engineer for several land development communities in Florida. In 1974 he joined Miami Dade County Public Works as a Project Engineer, where he designed several Highways; he quickly progressed to the position of Head of the Highway Planning Section and Member of the Developmental Impact Committee. He served in several committees and work groups, including the Urban Area Transportation Study of the Year 2000, the Road Planning Committee, and the Bikeway & Trails Planning Committee. He also acted as the coordination between surface improvements and the Metro Rail Project. Mr. Robayna obtained his Professional Engineer License in 1976. In 1979 he joined Biscayne Engineering Company, where he was in charged of the Engineering Department and progressed to the Board of Director and Senior Vice-president in charge of all their four offices. Among the projects he directed was the first two subdivision phases of Weston. In 1981 Robayna founded Robayna and Associates, Inc. which expanded to serve Broward and Palm Beach areas. He served as its President until 2018 when Oscar E. Robayna, PE replaced him. Rafael is presently semi-retired.

Mr. Robayna has served on various civic organizations: President of the Professional Club of Miami; Founding Director of the Little Havana Jaycees; participated in the 1998 Summit on Ethics on Miami Dade County; member of Miami Public Schools Efficiency and Competition Committee and worked on the after Hurricane and Andrew Task Force to review damages to Schools; was a member and participate on several committees on the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce; Board Director Member and later became Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Cuban Museum, Inc. now the “American Museum of the Cuban Diaspora” (during his tenure and under his direction the museum building was planned and constructed).

On the technical Side, Mr. Robayna is a member of American Society of Civil Engineers since the 1975 and served on the Miami Dade Branch as President during 1984-85, served and chaired numerous committees both at the local level and the Section level related to: the use of computer for planning and design, stormwater and drainage, subdivision planning, governmental and regulatory issues, etc. Served in the ASCE District 10 Council in 1985. He also Served in the National Committee of ASCE for Minority Issues between 1988-93 which included two years as Chairperson (was instrumental in chaining its name to “Equal Opportunities Committee”). He has also been a member of the Builder Association of South Florida since 1983 and Chaired several Technical Committees.

He Joined the Cuban American Association of Civil Engineers in 1984 and served for a term as treasurer and then as President During the 1998-2000. During his tenure, with the support of the board at the time, he was instrumental in changing the direction of the association, intensifying relations with other Professional Organizations, and lobbying the County to influence regulations which affected the industry at the time. The CAACE obtained appointments in County Committees related to technical issues like the Flood Management Task Force (P. Villanueva and R. Robayna), Unsafe Structures Committee (F. Leon) and influence the Special Inspector Ordinance requirements at the time; created the “Plinio Villanueva Award” for continuous service to the Association, which was awarded to Plinio, as its first recipient; and the Engineer of the Year Award was renamed the “Luis P. Saenz Award”.

Robayna has served continuously on the Board since 1994 and received the Francisco de Albear Award for Lifetime Engineering Achievements in 2003. He also received the Plinio Villanueva Award for Outstanding Contribution to Engineering in 2008. He was made an Emeritus Member of the Board of Directors in 2019.