Francesca de Quesada Covey
Chief of Economic Innovation and Economic Development
Miami Dade County
Francesca de Quesada Covey is the Chief Innovation and Economic Development Officer for Miami-Dade County. Reporting to Mayor Levine Cava, de Quesada Covey leads efforts to accelerate the development and deployment of modernized technology within the $11B county government and to increase economic activity in a county with $155B+ GDP.
de Quesada Covey is a seasoned technology executive and investor with over 15 years of experience. Prior to joining Miami-Dade County, de Quesada Covey was a partner at TheVentureCity, a global early-stage investment firm. In this role, she oversaw the strategy for pre-seed and seed investments and supported the growth of 108 portfolio companies. In parallel, she served the Mayor of Miami Dade County as Tech and Innovation Advisor, and in 2023 she founded the Miami-Dade Innovation Authority, a not-for-profit investment vehicle supporting early-stage companies with $9M in seed funding from Ken Griffin, founder and CEO of Citadel Investments, the Knight Foundation, and Miami-Dade County.
From 2013-2021, de Quesada Covey worked at Facebook (now Meta) where she led business development and partnerships teams focused on internationalization and growth. During her time at Facebook, she worked on connectivity, payments, and small business efforts, culminating in a cross-company strategy role in the CEO’s and COO’s office. Before joining Meta, she served as Deputy Counselor of Strategic Engagement in the Office of Public Engagement under President Obama.
de Quesada Covey holds degrees from Columbia University (B.A., political science and French) and Institut d’Etudes Politiques in Paris, France (M.A., finance). She is the daughter of Cuban immigrants, and along with her husband and two daughters she proudly calls Miami-Dade home.