- Mid 1980s to Early 1990s
An accomplished scientist with a Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering and post doctorate in Applied Marine Physics, Dr. Shomar developed projects for the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, National Science Foundation and the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science.
As an engineer at IBM, he created scientific concepts still relevant in modern society. Dr. Shomar holds several U.S. and European patents in telecommunication.
- Mid 1990s
Dr. Shomar began a distinguished career in higher education as an associate professor of engineering at Miami-Dade College.
Director of the School of Design Technology
In 1998, he was named college-wide director of the School of Design Technology, overseeing architecture, construction, computer science, fashion, graphics and interior design programs on five campuses.
- Early 2000s
At 34, Dr. Shomar was named interim president of Miami-Dade College’s Wolfson campus, the youngest president of a nationally-accredited college in the U.S.
In 2003, he was named president of the college’s Kendall campus, which served 70,000 students and 8,000 employees.
- 2006
Dr. Shomar founded The Lynx Companies, currently a portfolio of 25 companies in the technology, real estate, financial services, and higher education fields with collective annual revenues of hundreds of millions of dollars.
Technology, Communication, and Education
Real Estate and Construction
Financial Services
“At the Lynx Companies, we focus on a world that is a composite of the best practices I had observed throughout my career. We are creating a model that would be replicated by others and have a significant positive impact on our world.”
- Present
Dr. Shomar has a private equity firm, is a community leader and philanthropist. His current philanthropic work includes establishing an oncology center, helping children with life threatening diseases, making music education more accessible and fighting for historic preservation, among many other efforts.
A Better Alarm System
The year was 1986 and Shomar was a senior in college, working on a degree in electrical and computer engineering. When he was looking for a senior project, he noticed the simplicity of car alarms. They made noise, but did nothing else, and Shomar recognized an opportunity. He created an alarm with two sensors - one to a compass, and one to the speedometer. If a car was stolen, the location and speed of the car was transmitted to a central monitoring station. Shomar sold the concept to a friend for a few hundred dollars, and the idea eventually became the base for the LoJack Car Recovery system.
An Accomplished Engineer
Dr. Shomar went on to become an accomplished engineer. He holds a bachelor’s, master’s and Ph.D. in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida, where he specialized in neural networks, Digital Image Processing, Pattern Recognition, and computational and robotic vision using Artificial Intelligence Systems. He also holds a post-doctorate in physics specializing in underwater acoustical imaging from the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science where he conducted research and designed underwater mine detection systems for the Office of Naval Research to be placed on U.S. warships.
A better way to talk
In 1993, Dr. Shomar began working as an engineer at IBM. The Berlin Wall had fallen, but East Germans and West Germans still couldn’t pick up a phone and talk to each other. East Germany had an aging copper wire system, West Germany had advanced digital equipment, and the two didn’t work together. IBM landed a contract to fix that. Dr. Shomar helped create a system that could convert the data from the old and new systems to a common platform, then convert it back to analog or digital, so a person on either type of system could speak. Finally, the East Germans and West Germans could communicate by phone. Because the system could also read phone numbers, users with an additional inexpensive box had Caller I.D., could tie in another call to get Call Conferencing or use Call Waiting. He and his team hold four U.S. patents and two European patents for the scientific theory.
Educator
When Dr. Wasim Shomar left the engineering field to teach at Miami-Dade College in Miami, Florida in 1995, he wanted to make an impact beyond the classroom.
He knew the education system could be better: Students needed more training. Employers wanted a better-prepared workforce.
He set out to do both.
Classroom lessons
Dr. Shomar taught engineering classes, but he learned something, too. “The college really opened my eyes to the rest of the world,” he said. “I saw firsthand the reality of people, where they come from and the struggles they faced to make a living and get a higher education.”
Making things better
In 1998, Dr. Shomar took on the job of Dean of Design Technology for all Miami-Dade College campuses. He brought in tens of millions of dollars and dozens of new grants to improve the institution.
Achieving milestones
In 2001, at age 34, Dr. Wasim Shomar became the youngest president of a nationally accredited college in the United States. He served first at Miami-Dade College’s Wolfson campus in downtown Miami. In 2003, he was named president of the college’s Kendall campus, overseeing 70,000 students and 8,000 employees.
Major accomplishments
Secured $7.92 million in state funding and helped create ETCOTA, the Emerging Technologies Center of the Americas, a 40,000 square-foot facility. At it’s opening, then U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao called it the most advanced technology and workforce development center of its kind.
Brought in $15 million in grants to build state-of-the-art digital technology labs.
Created more than 20 new associate degree programs.
Lead efforts to get state approval for Miami-Dade Community College’s transition to Miami-Dade College, a four-year degree institution. The precedent snowballed into a statewide reform of the community college system.
Oversaw the REVEST program to teach immigrants English and basic technical skills to make them more employable.
“Bringing new degree programs to the college really sparked my desire to focus on the human condition,” Dr. Shomar said. “After that, my entire life experience started to fit into this context, about why we should exert our best efforts to create a better world.”
The concept was to create companies that set the standards of excellence in each industry,” Dr. Shomar said “I always look for ways to improve the quality of our environment, including the workplace”
Philanthropist
Growing up in Israel brought the vulnerabilities of society to Dr. Shomar’s doorstep. It became a life lesson, as he saw firsthand how his own parents worked to improve society. Dr. Shomar’s father, Joseph Shomar, as Rotary Club president in Nazareth, helped create a state-of-the-art hospital dialysis center that not only saved lives, but turned the facility around financially.
The lessons continued, in the classrooms where Dr. Shomar taught and in the workplace, where he learned about the inequities, the vulnerabilities and the despair of being told “No” at every turn.
And it shaped Dr. Wasim Shomar’s philosophy of giving back.
“My focus is the weaker parts of society and vulnerable populations, whether it’s children, the ill, oppressed women and minorities, the abused or the elderly,” he said. “We need to create a society that lifts all of us up, and integrates every individual to be part of a prosperous future.”
Dr. Shomar’s philanthropic work includes:
Chairman and President, Board of Trustees
Miami Music Project
This program offers free and low-cost music conservatories and youth orchestras to reach children with no access to musical instruments or lessons.
Dr. Shomar serves as the organization’s chairman and president of its Board of Trustees. Since 2014, under Dr. Shomar’s guidance, the organization has grown from serving 220 to more than 500 children, with an operating budget that has expanded from $680,000 to $1.6 million and growing.
Chairman’s Executive Committee Member
Make-A-Wish Foundation of South Florida
Make-A-Wish helps lift the spirits of seriously ill children by granting them a special wish.
In South Florida, Dr. Shomar serves as chairman of the CEO’s executive committee and is on the capital campaign committee to build a Wish House. He personally donated $1 million to the project, and negotiated with the city of Miami to secure a free 99-year lease on a four-acre site on the bay in Coconut Grove.
Wasim Shomar was featured as the donor of the year by Make-A-Wish in its 2016 Annual Report.
Co-Founder
Joseph and Suad Shomar Oncology Center at Holy Family Hospital
In 2009, brothers Wasim and Shadi Shomar learned that the wait times for mammograms in their hometown of Nazareth, Israel was many months, sometimes over a year. Though the Shomars had no family history of breast cancer, they saw a community need.
The brothers decided to establish an oncology center at Holy Family Hospital in Nazareth in honor of their parents with an initial cash donation of $275,000 and have continued to make significant monetary contributions since then. The Joseph and Suad Shomar Oncology Center has an 80-patient capacity and has continued to be expanded.
Member
Mayor of Miami’s International Council
Sister Cities project – Miami, Florida and Nazareth, Israel
As a member of the Mayor of Miami’s International Council, Dr. Shomar spearheaded the formation of a Sister Cities agreement between Miami and Nazareth, Israel in May 2017.
In honor of the agreement, Nazareth’s mayor, a Muslim, donated a four-acre parcel of land to Nazareth Baptist School, an American high school in Israel. In return, Dr. Shomar helped secure a $3 million donation from an American donor — $2 million for the school, and $1 million in support of an orphanage in Nazareth.
Shomar is working on creating an investment fund for the revitalization of Nazareth, mostly with Jewish American philanthropists and businessmen as well as investors from Israel who live in the United States. Founders of Versace, Jordache and others have met with the Mayor of Nazareth with the goal of developing affordable housing, five-star hotels and community centers while creating investment opportunities.
Dr. Shomar also is laying the groundwork to open an Israeli-Arab university in Nazareth with articulation agreements with American universities.
Board member, Treasurer and Chair of the Finance Committee
HistoryMiami Museum
A Miami resident since 1983, Dr. Shomar felt that Miami’s rich cultural makeup was not complete without a great history museum. In 2015, he began serving as board member, finance committee chairman and treasurer of HistoryMiami Museum.
Board member
Florida International University Foundation
Dr. Shomar continues his mission to improve higher education through his work as a board member of the Florida International University Foundation, where he has secured several significant donations to the university.
Other philanthropic efforts
- Worked to preserve St. Jude Melkite Catholic Church in downtown Miami as an historic site
- Helped preserve the historic city hall in the City of South Miami
- Aided efforts to help veterans and the homeless
- Works with MESTO, professional musicians who are re-recording and preserving classical music of the Middle East
- Girl Scouts of Tropical Florida
- Boy Scouts of America South Florida Council
- Nazareth Academic Institution, Israel