Frank Rainieri

Frank Rainieri
Rainieri in 2016
Sovereign Military Order of Malta Ambassador to the Dominican Republic
In office
July 17, 2014 – November 19, 2025
Preceded byFrancisco Rainieri
Succeeded byEnrique Antonio Valdez Aguilar
Personal details
BornFrancisco Rafael Rainieri Marranzini
(1945-10-24) 24 October 1945 (age 80)
Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic
SpouseHaydée Kuret Pacheco
Children
  • Frank Elías
  • Paola
  • Francesca
Parents
  • Francisco Rainieri (father)
  • Venecia Marranzini (mother)
RelativesFernando Rainieri (brother)
Celso Marranzini (second-cousin)
EducationSaint Joseph's College
Universidad APEC (Lic.)
Occupation
ProfessionBusiness administrator
Known for
Founder and developer of Punta Cana
Awards
See list

Francisco Rafael "Frank" Rainieri Marranzini (born 24 October 1945), is a Dominican businessman in tourism industry in the Dominican Republic. He is the chairman and founder of Grupo Puntacana [pt]. According to Forbes, Rainieri has one of the ten largest fortunes in the Dominican Republic, with a net worth near the billion-dollar mark as of 2014. In 2015, he was designated ambassador of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta to the Dominican Republic, a position that his father also held four decades earlier.

Early life

Rainieri was born in Puerto Plata into a family with tradition in hospitality. His paternal grandparents, Isidoro Rainieri and Bianca Franceschini, migrated from Bologna, northern Italy, to northern Dominican Republic, and established two hotels, one in Puerto Plata and the other in Santiago; they had more than 10 children. His parents were Francisco Rainieri (who was born in Bologna, Italy and migrated when he was a child) and Venecia Marranzini Lepore (born in San Juan de la Maguana to Italian immigrants Orazio Michelo Marranzini and Inmaccolatta Lepore, who migrated as children with their respective families, all of them natives of Santa Lucia di Serino, in southern Italy).

Personal life

He went to college in Philadelphia at Saint Joseph's College, now Saint Joseph's University, finalizing them at Universidad APEC, in Santo Domingo.

He married Haydée Modesta Kuret Pacheco, whose father was a Lebanese migrant and her mother is Dominican. She was Miss Dominican Republic contestant for Miss World 1971. They are the parents of 3 children.[citation needed]

Punta Cana

In 1969, Rainieri and Theodore Kheel acquired a 58-million square meter land on the eastern end of the Dominican Republic, which was covered with jungle and six miles of beach. Their first project was a 40 guest hotel called the Punta Cana Club, inaugurated two years later. In 1979, they constructed the Puntacana Hotel. The Punta Cana International Airport followed in 1984. In 1997, Rainieri and Kheel partnered with Oscar de la Renta and Julio Iglesias to start work on the Punta Cana Marina and the real estate development of the area.

Grupo Puntacana History

Ranieri with his family

Honours

References

  1. ↑ López, Myriam (21 December 2003). "Grupo Punta Cana: La historia de un soñador" (in Spanish). Hoy. Archived from the original on 9 April 2015. Retrieved 9 April 2015. Todavía no había cumplido 24 años cuando Frank Rainieri decidió convertir a Punta Cana en un gran destino turístico. Hoy, 35 años después, (...)
  2. ↑ Figueroa, Rossana. "PROTAGONISTA - Haydee Kuret de Rainieri" (in Spanish). Bavaro News. Archived from the original on 14 November 2013. Retrieved 24 November 2014.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Barletta, María Filomena (21 August 2008). "El centenario de la familia Rainieri" [The centenary of the Ranieri family] (in Spanish). Hoy. Retrieved 24 November 2014.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Guerra, Edwin (August 2008). "Frank el Conquistador" (in Spanish). Revista Mercado. Retrieved 24 November 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  5. ↑ "Frank Rainieri". regentes.intec.edu.do (in Spanish).
  6. ↑ "Los próximos millonarios de República Dominicana" [The upcoming Dominican Republic billionaires]. Forbes (in Spanish). Mexico City. 26 June 2014. Retrieved 24 November 2014.
  7. ↑ Rivera, Rosanna (18 April 2015). "Frank Rainieri: Embajador de la Soberana y Militar Orden Hospitalaria de San Juan de Jerusalén de Rodas y de Malta en República Dominicana". Ritmo Social: Personas & Personalidades (in Spanish) (570). Santo Domingo: Editora Listín Diario: 20. Retrieved 18 April 2015.
  8. ↑ González Hernández, Julio Amable (21 July 2012). "Apellidos Únicos (7 de 8)" (in Spanish). Instituto Dominicano de Genealogía. Archived from the original on 8 March 2013. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
  9. ↑ Entrée Magazine. "Tortuga Bay", Holiday, 2009. "The resort was the vision of American labor lawyer Ted Kheel and a spirited, young Dominican named Frank Rainieri."
  10. 1 2 "Dominican Republic's Most Luxurious Resort" Archived 1 August 2014 at the Wayback Machine,Departures Magazine, Apr 2011. Retrieved on 8 July 2012.
  11. ↑ Airways Magazine. "Punta Cana Airport: From Jungle to Caribbean Showpiece", May 2009. "Late in the Sixties, Frank Rainieri and Ted Kheel, along with other investors, bought a large parcel of land, for what was then the bargain price of $200,000 at the eastern end of the Dominican Republic, which occupies the eastern part of the Caribbean Island of Hispaniola, itself part of the Greater Antilles archipelago."