Tour Park West
Albert Molina
President, Park West Florida
As President of Park West® Florida, Albert Molina oversees the largest custom frame shop in the country – if not the world. Park West®, located in Miami Lakes, Fla., comprises 181,000 square feet, with 250 multi-national employees. Molina is responsible for many aspects of the company's activities, from the supervision of its day-to-day operations to negotiating contracts with major companies. Molina takes pride in seeing the company continue to grow and thrive, and being one of the reasons behind it.
Molina first encountered Park West® as a rival – his framing company and gallery competed heavily with Park West® for years, and in 1999 Park West®'s founder Albert Scaglione approached Molina to see if the two separate companies could be combined to form a single powerful one. After many months of negotiation the buyout was complete, and Molina took on the role of consultant. Within months, however, after developing a strong business relationship, Scaglione asked Molina to return as President of the Miami Lakes facility.
Born in Santa Monica, Calif., Molina and his family moved to South Florida when he was five years old. Molina became a member of the art and framing industries at 14 when his mother visited a local frame shop. After inquiring of the shop owner whether he had any need for an extra hand around the shop, Molina began working there, mostly performing cleaning and custodial tasks. From his first day there, however, he watched the framers work, and began to learn the business. Within six months, the eager and ambitious Molina was running the back framing department of the store. Six months after that, he was running both the front and back framing departments, as well as the store's gallery. Molina was so adept at the framing business that he began being approached by outside parties wishing to gain from his expertise, and after helping to found two businesses for others, Molina opened a frame shop and gallery of his own, at age 18. The company was highly successful, and Molina was purchasing a great deal of materials in volume. He soon opened a wholesale company, and began supplying his competitors with supplies such as glass, molding and matting.
Molina credits his seemingly tireless ambition to his upbringing. His mother was steadfastly supportive of him throughout his life, no matter how outrageous his boyhood schemes, and his father always encouraged him to strive to be the best at every task he undertook. His father was also the first Latino police officer in Florida , which further inspired him. In addition to his parents' constant reinforcement, growing up, Molina was moved by their struggle to support their family, as they were fairly poor. This deeply-rooted determination proved vital when, in 1992, Hurricane Andrew destroyed everything he had worked so hard to build, from his business to his personal home, and the homes of his mother and sisters. Molina did not allow the experience to discourage him for long, and soon after the storm he began to rebuild. Molina describes his life as being in a constant state of rebuilding, and attributes the potentially devastating event with causing him to fully appreciate each day of his life.
Outside of his career, Molina is a dedicated family man who loves to go camping, boating, golfing and traveling. Molina serves on the executive board of the New World Symphony, and on the board of Camilla's House, an organization founded in 1960 that shelters, feeds and supports the homeless in his community. Molina describes himself as “one of the happiest married men you'll ever meet;” he and his wife reside with their four children in Plantation, Fla.
