Rafael J. de la Sierra was born and raised in Havana, Cuba, where he attended De La Salle School. He graduated from the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, with a degree of Bachelor of Architecture, and completed his studies at the Wharton School with a course in Fundamentals of Finance and Accounting for the Non-Financial Executive. After practicing architecture for several years in New York he joined Warner Communications Inc. (now Time Warner) where he became Corporate Vice President.

Within Warner he assumed the following responsibilities:

Vice President International Coordination.

Chairman, President and Chief Executive of the Cosmos Soccer Club.

President of Soccer Camps of America.

Vice President Warner Brothers Jungle Habitat.

Vice President of Company Facilities.

He moved to Miami and became Principal of Swanke Hayden Connell.

He is married; two children, three step children and twelve grandchildren.