Honorable Katherine Fernandez-Rundle

Personal Information

Professional Title

State Attorney of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit

Company Name

Miami-Dade County Office of the State Attorney

Women of Tomorrow Title

Co-Vice President & Founding Mentor

Biography

The Honorable Katherine Fernandez Rundle became a prosecutor after receiving her law degree from the University of Cambridge, England. After several years rising through the different prosecution divisions within the office, she became legal counsel to the Miami-Dade County Grand Jury.  In 1993 she was appointed, and then re-elected five times, to serve as Miami’s State Attorney.  Presiding over the fourth largest prosecutor’s office in the United States, Ms. Rundle arrived in office during a turbulent time in Miami when drug kingpins and violent street crime was at its worst.  After several high profile tourist robberies and murders, Time magazine had labeled Miami as “Paradise Lost;” a moniker that Ms. Rundle took as a personal challenge to confront.

Therefore, upon becoming State Attorney one of her first official actions was to prioritize the prosecution of career criminals and corrupt public officials. At the same time, recognizing that crime prevention is an integral part of modern-day prosecution she also prioritized meaningful diversion and anti-truancy programs to stop juvenile offenders from becoming adult criminals.  The results of her combined programs and initiatives were instrumental in helping reduce adult and youth crime to the lowest level in 30 years in Miami.  Today, Miami is a far safer place in which to live and raise a family due in no small part to her efforts and policies.

In recognition of her many professional endeavors, Ms. Rundle has been the recipient of many awards including the Governor’s “Peace at Home” Award for her unique fight against domestic violence; a recipient of the “Office of Victim Services Award for Advocacy” and was a member of the last Florida Constitutional Revision Commission.

Ms. Rundle has a long history of involvement in the Miami-Dade County community. She completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Miami and her father, Dr. Carlos Benito Fernandez, was Miami’s first Hispanic Judge as well as a founder of the Cuban American Bar Association; an association that Ms. Rundle was elected president of in 1993.  Ms. Rundle is the first female Hispanic State Attorney in the history of Miami and the State of Florida and the proud mother of twins.

History

Member for

39 years 2 weeks