# Frank Rainieri

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**Frank Rafael Rainieri Marranzini** (born 1945) is a [Dominican](/source/People_of_the_Dominican_Republic) businessman in tourism industry in the [Dominican Republic](/source/Dominican_Republic). He is the chairman and founder of [Grupo Puntacana](/source/Grupo_Puntacana). According to *[Forbes](/source/Forbes)*, Rainieri has one of the ten largest fortunes in the Dominican Republic, with a net worth near the billion-dollar mark as of 2014.[5] In 2015, he was designated ambassador of the [Sovereign Military Order of Malta](/source/Sovereign_Military_Order_of_Malta) to the Dominican Republic, a position that his father also held four decades earlier.[6]

## Early life

Rainieri was born in [Santo Domingo](/source/Santo_Domingo) into a family with tradition in hospitality.[4] His paternal grandparents, Isidoro Rainieri and Bianca Franceschini,[4] migrated from [Bologna](/source/Bologna),[7] [northern Italy](/source/Northern_Italy), to [northern Dominican Republic](/source/Northern_Dominican_Republic), and established two hotels, one in [Puerto Plata](/source/Puerto_Plata_(city)) and the other in [Santiago](/source/Santiago_de_los_Caballeros); they had more than 10 children.[4] His parents were Francisco Rainieri (who was born in Bologna, Italy and migrated when he was a child) and Venecia Marranzini Lepore (born in [San Juan de la Maguana](/source/San_Juan_de_la_Maguana) to Italian immigrants Orazio Michelo Marranzini and Inmaccolatta Lepore, who migrated as children with their respective families, all of them natives of [Santa Lucia di Serino](/source/Santa_Lucia_di_Serino), in [southern Italy](/source/Southern_Italy)).

He went to college in [Philadelphia](/source/Philadelphia) at Saint Joseph's College, now [Saint Joseph's University](/source/Saint_Joseph's_University),[2] finalizing them at APEC University, in Santo Domingo.

He married Haydée Modesta Kuret Pacheco, whose father was a [Lebanese](/source/Lebanese_people) migrant and her mother is Dominican. She was Miss Dominican Republic contestant for [Miss World 1971](/source/Miss_World_1971). They are the parents of 3 children.

## Punta Cana

See also: [Puntacana Resort and Club](/source/Puntacana_Resort_and_Club) and [Punta Cana](/source/Punta_Cana)

In 1969, Rainieri and [Theodore Kheel](/source/Theodore_Kheel)[8] acquired a 58-million square meter land on the eastern end of the Dominican Republic, which was covered with jungle and six miles of beach.[2][9][10] Their first project was a 40 guest hotel called the Punta Cana Club, inaugurated two years later.[2] In 1979, they constructed the Puntacana Hotel. The [Punta Cana International Airport](/source/Punta_Cana_International_Airport) followed in 1984.[9] In 1997, Rainieri and Kheel partnered with [Oscar de la Renta](/source/Oscar_de_la_Renta) and [Julio Iglesias](/source/Julio_Iglesias) to start work on the Punta Cana Marina and the real estate development of the area.[2]

## Grupo Puntacana History

- **1969:** Ted Kheel and group of 40 partners purchase approximately 30 square miles of undeveloped land in the eastern Dominican Republic.
- **1970:** Frank Rainieri (Dominican entrepreneur), Ted Kheel and partners began the development of the tourism project.
- **1971:** Puntacana Resort & Club (PCRC) builds first "resort" of 10 beach cottages and clubhouse, dedication attended by President Balaguer.
- **1972:** PCRC builds first elementary school in Punta Cana.
- **1977:** Club Mediterranee purchases parcel of land from Puntacana Resort & Club.
- **1980:** Club Med opens hotel in Punta Cana.
- **1984:** Inauguration of the Punta Cana International Airport with first flight from San Juan, Puerto Rico.
- **1987:** PCRC builds new Puntacana Resort & Club using thatch-roof constructions and low-impact sustainable architecture.
- **1988:** Formation of the not-for-profit Puntacana Ecological Foundation (FEPC) with donation of 1,500 acres of land for ecological park and reserve (incorporation follows in 1994).
- **1992:** Puntacana Ecological Foundation launches first sustainable agriculture initiative in Punta Cana (Fruit Tree Garden).
- **1996:** Puntacana Foundation organized the first Concert at the Basilica Nuestra Senora de la Altagracia in the town of Higüey performed by the National Symphony Orchestra and Choir.
- **1997:** Julio Iglesias and Oscar de la Renta join Kheel and Rainieri as PCRC major partners and build first homes in Corales development.
- **1998:** PCRC founds a second not-for-profit organization, Puntacana Foundation (FPC) to develop social and community programs in the region.
- **2000:** FPC founds bilingual, private school Puntacana International School (PCIS).
- **2001:** FEPC and PCRC create Puntacana Center for Sustainability to develop research and education programs that create solutions to the environmental and social challenges facing tourism industry.
- **2004:** Puntacana Foundation founds the public Ann and Ted Kheel Polytechnic School.
- **2004:** Puntacana Ecological Foundation launches Puntacana Partnership for Ecological Sustainable Coastal Areas (PESCA).
- **2005:** Puntacana Foundation makes its first commitment to the Clinton Global Initiative
- **2005:** Puntacana Foundation Launch of co-management of Rural Clinic of Veron.
- **2005:** Puntacana Foundation inaugurates the Puntacana Art Gallery jointly to Fundacion Igneri.
- **2006:** Puntacana Resort & Club becomes founding member of RENAEPA, the National Network for Businesses that Protect the Environment in the Dominican Republic, now known as ECORED.
- **2006:** Grupo Puntacana Foundation held the first medical mission together with Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine (VCOM)
- **2007:** Grupo Puntacana becomes a member of the [United Nations Global Compact](/source/United_Nations_Global_Compact).
- **2007:** Puntacana Ecological Foundation launches Zero Waste, integrated solid waste management system for Puntacana Resort & Club.
- **2008:** Puntacana Foundation build and equip a police station to the community of Verón
- **2008:** Puntacana Foundation launches "Carnaval de Punta Cana".
- **2009:** Puntacana Ecological Foundation launches beekeeping and worm-composting projects.
- **2009:** FEPC signs collaborative agreement with The Peregrine Fund to conserve the endangered Ridgway's Hawk.
- **2009:** FEPC and FPC sign a collaborative agreement with Save the Children to develop community programs in the town of Veron.
- **2010:** Puntacana Foundation launches the Marine Archeological Project to locate and rescue archaeologically valuable pieces from the sea for exhibition.
- **2011:** Puntacana Foundation hold the first Visual Surgical Mission together with Instituto de Ciencias Visuales de España (Incivi) among other partners
- **2012:** PCRC and FEPC achieve Presidential Decree naming coastal area of Puntacana Resort & Club and Cap Cana as "Marine Protected Area."
- **2014:** Puntacana Foundation launches the social program Grupo Puntacana Works with the Community.
- **2014:** Puntacana Foundation launches the Our lady of Punta Cana Craft Workshop
- **2015:** Puntacana Foundation launches the housing project Ciudad Caracolí.
- **2016:** Puntacana Ecological Foundation and Puntacana Foundation merge.
- **2017:** Foundation inaugurated the Oscar de la Renta Pediatric Center facilities. The center will provide primary health care to more than 15,000 disadvantaged children from local communities.
- **2018:** Creation of the Center of Marine Innovation.
- **2019:** Launch of terrestrial coral nurseries.
- **2019:** Launch of the Ornamental Fish Nursery Project.
- **2019:** Inauguration of the Centro Educativo Caracolí.

## References

1. López, Myriam (21 December 2003). ["Grupo Punta Cana: La historia de un soñador"](http://hoy.com.do/grupo-punta-cana-la-historia-de-un-sonador/) (in Spanish). Hoy. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20150409030452/http://hoy.com.do/grupo-punta-cana-la-historia-de-un-sonador/) 9 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 9 April 2015. Todavía no había cumplido 24 años cuando Frank Rainieri decidió convertir a Punta Cana en un gran destino turístico. Hoy, 35 años después, (...)

1. Guerra, Edwin (August 2008). ["Frank el Conquistador"](https://archive.today/20141125003100/http://www.revistamercado.do/2008/08/frank-el-conquistador/) (in Spanish). Revista Mercado. Archived from [the original](http://www.revistamercado.do/2008/08/frank-el-conquistador/) on 2014-11-25. Retrieved 24 November 2014.

1. Figueroa, Rossana. ["PROTAGONISTA - Haydee Kuret de Rainieri"](https://web.archive.org/web/20131114045919/http://www.bavaronews.com/semanal/index.php/impactos/protagonista/914-protagonista-haydee-kuret-de-rainieri) (in Spanish). Bavaro News. Archived from [the original](http://www.bavaronews.com/semanal/index.php/impactos/protagonista/914-protagonista-haydee-kuret-de-rainieri) on 14 November 2013. Retrieved 24 November 2014.

1. Barletta, María Filomena (21 August 2008). ["El centenario de la familia Rainieri"](http://hoy.com.do/el-centenario-de-la-familia-rainieri/) [The centenary of the Ranieri family] (in Spanish). Hoy. Retrieved 24 November 2014.

1. ["Los próximos millonarios de República Dominicana"](https://www.forbes.com.mx/los-proximos-millonarios-de-republica-dominicana/) [The upcoming Dominican Republic billionaires] (in Spanish). *[Forbes](/source/Forbes)*. 26 June 2014. Retrieved 24 November 2014.

1. Rivera, Rosanna (18 April 2015). ["Frank Rainieri: Embajador de la Soberana y Militar Orden Hospitalaria de San Juan de Jerusalén de Rodas y de Malta en República Dominicana"](http://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/Launch.aspx?pbid=c339b865-2c5e-4e1e-b8d4-04eefcd3ef46) (in Spanish). *Ritmo Social: Personas & Personalidades*. '***(570): 20. Santo Domingo: [Editora Listín Diario](/source/List%C3%ADn_Diario). Retrieved 18 April 2015.***

1. González Hernández, Julio Amable (21 July 2012). ["Apellidos Únicos (7 de 8)"](https://web.archive.org/web/20130308165300/http://www.idg.org.do/capsulas/julio2012/julio201221.htm) (in Spanish). Instituto Dominicano de Genealogía. Archived from [the original](http://www.idg.org.do/capsulas/julio2012/julio201221.htm) on 8 March 2013. Retrieved 13 November 2015.

1. Entrée Magazine. "Tortuga Bay", Holiday, 2009. "The resort was the vision of American labor lawyer Ted Kheel and a spirited, young Dominican named Frank Rainieri."

1. ["Dominican Republic's Most Luxurious Resort"](http://www.departures.com/articles/the-dominican-republics-most-luxurious-resort) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20140801144314/http://www.departures.com/articles/the-dominican-republics-most-luxurious-resort) 1 August 2014 at the Wayback Machine,*[Departures Magazine](/source/Departures_Magazine)*, Apr 2011. Retrieved on 8 July 2012.

1. Airways Magazine. "Punta Cana Airport: From Jungle to Caribbean Showpiece", May 2009. "Late in the Sixties, Frank Rainieri and Ted Kheel, along with other investors, bought a large parcel of land, for what was then the bargain price of $200,000 at the eastern end of the Dominican Republic, which occupies the eastern part of the Caribbean Island of Hispaniola, itself part of the Greater Antilles archipelago."

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Frank Rainieri](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Rainieri) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Rainieri?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.