Before she was hired to lead the FIFA World Cup 26 Miami Host Committee, Alina Hudak didn’t know much about soccer.
“Two years ago, I’m embarrassed to admit that I didn’t even know who Ronaldo was,” said Hudak, B.B.A. ’82, M.P.A. ’84.
But what Hudak did know a lot about—and what the job as president and CEO of the Miami Host Committee required—was public administration.
Hudak has spent more than four decades in public service, rising through the ranks at Miami-Dade County to become the first woman to serve as county manager. More recently, she also became the first woman to serve as city manager of Miami Beach.
Now, after helping ensure the success of the seven World Cup matches held in Miami, Hudak has become a soccer fan.
“I’ve developed an incredible love and passion for the sport,” she said. “The story of soccer is a really unique story because anybody can play soccer on any street corner in any country. If you have a ball, there’s no equipment required really. I think that’s why it’s so global and so universal.”
As the head of the Miami Host Committee, Hudak ensured that Miami fulfilled its commitments as one of the 16 World Cup host cities. That included providing public safety at Hard Rock Stadium, where the games were held, and hosting the FIFA Fan Festival, a 24-day World Cup celebration that attracted 600,000 people to Bayfront Park.
A big part of the job was fundraising. FIFA requires host cities to secure donations from public and private entities to cover the costs associated with hosting the games.
Hudak said she is grateful to the University of Miami for being one of the first entities to sign on as an Official Miami World Cup 2026 Host City Supporter. The University has supported the Host Committee in several ways, including by contributing to a community initiative that will refurbish an existing soccer field.
Hudak is proud of how the Host Committee’s work helped showcase Miami on the world stage during the largest international sporting event. The matches in Miami attracted an estimated one million World Cup visitors.
“I think that Miami showed we were a bright star in all of this. We were clearly a leader in terms of our Fan Fest and our level of attendance,” she said. “I’m really proud of how the community came together to support us and to support Miami shining.”
Highlighting Miami is important to Hudak, who grew up in Miami-Dade County’s Westchester neighborhood and earned both her undergraduate and graduate degrees at the University of Miami.
Although she initially planned to attend law school after completing her undergraduate degree at Miami Herbert Business School, her mentor, a political science professor named Jonathan West, offered her a graduate assistantship that enabled her to attend the Master of Public Administration program instead.
“I don’t know that as an undergraduate student I knew exactly what my path was going to be, which is a really good indication of how important the right mentor is for all of us and for students especially,” she said. “The M.P.A. put me on a path in public service.”
Hudak credits the M.P.A. program, which is now housed in the Department of Political Science at the College of Arts and Sciences, for helping her find her calling. After graduation, she secured a position in a one-year management trainee program at Miami-Dade County that led to a successful career in local government.
During her tenure at the county, Hudak led the county’s response to Hurricane Irma and the 2016 Zika outbreak. She also oversaw the logistics of the county’s support for six Super Bowls and the construction of major projects like the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts. As the first and only female county manager in the history of Miami-Dade, she provided leadership during the governance transition to a strong mayor form of government.
As the city manager in Miami Beach, Hudak was instrumental in the “Breaking Up with Spring Break” campaign, which discouraged the type of rowdy tourism that had often caused mayhem in the city. She also worked to strengthen the city’s coastal resilience infrastructure and implement a $159 million bond initiative that improved public safety and expanded cultural venues.
Even with her decades of public administration experience, Hudak said that leading the Host Committee was still a learning experience.
“When you’ve been in this business for 42-plus years and you’re still learning, it’s a great thing personally and professionally,” she said. “The World Cup taught us that ultimately, we are all on the same team. I am grateful for this legacy moment in the city that I love.”
