Celebrities in Punta Cana

PUNTACANA RESORT & CLUB is the brainchild of Dominican businessman and hotelier Frank R. Rainieri and Theodore W. Kheel the prominent New York attorney and labor mediator. Both pioneers of Punta Cana tourism, their vision was to create a resort community that respects the natural habitat of PUNTACANA while offering visitors a world-class vacation experience. Co-developers of PUNTACANA RESORT & CLUB are celebrities Julio Iglesias and Oscar de la Renta who have made PUNTACANA RESORT & CLUB their home.

Currently, Punta Cana is the most highly visited Caribbean destination and is easily accessible from all over the globe. PUNTACANA RESORT & CLUB developed the Punta Cana International Airport, a modern convenient and architecturally exciting facility.

Frank R. Rainieri

Frank Rainieri has received numerous awards. These include the Presidential Citation Award presented to him by Ronald Reagan in 1985 and the "Hotelier of the Year" award by the Caribbean Hotel Association in 1998. Mr. Rainieri served as First Vice President of the National Council on Private Enterprise of the Dominican Republicas, Chairman of the Caribbean Association for Sustainable Tourism and as a member of the Board of Directors of the Caribbean Hotel Association. He is also the President of the PUNTACANA Ecological Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of the environment in Punta Cana. He has dedicated his life to PUNTACANA and is committed to developing a community with outstanding standards towards nature and comfort.

Theodore W. Kheel

Mr. Kheel received his Bachelor's degree from Cornell University in 1935 and graduated from Cornell Law School in 1937; afterwards becoming a member of the New York Bar. In the early sixties Mr. Kheel ventured into a Caribbean resort investment as a co-founder of PUNTACANA RESORT & CLUB.

A master at conflict resolution, Mr. Kheel was appointed by President Johnson to serve on a mediation panel for racial disputes and later by President Kennedy to resolve labor controversies. He has also served under Governors Rockefeller, Carey and Cuomo in resolving transportation discrepancies and newspaper disputes, and served under New York Mayors O'Dwyer, Impellitieri, Wagner, Lindsey and Beame as a general mediator.

Mr. Kheel is also an accomplished author and has half a dozen publications under his belt. He is the founding father of the Institutes of Collective Bargaining and of Mediation and Conflict Resolution, which are now part of Cornell University and the Earth Pledge Foundation which promotes economic growth within environmental protection. He is a founding member and president of the Foundation on Prevention & Early Resolution of Conflict ,as well as the American Foundation on Automation & Employment which has since become the TASK Foundation.