News

Join Leadership Hillsborough on Saturday, April 30, 2022 for a fun filled day of golf festivities at our 6th Annual Charity Golf Tournament at the River Hills Country Club, an exclusive and private country club in Valrico with an array of first-class amenities.

The centerpiece of the Club is the Joe Lee Signature Private Golf Course, considered one of the top golf courses in Tampa Bay, renowned for its outstanding course layout and new CHAMPION Dwarf Bermudagrass greens ~ the same putting surface found on 12 PGA Tour venues including Pinehurst No. 2.

Hole-in-one insurance has been purchased for all players which provides an opportunity to win $5,000 or prizes on three additional individual par-3 holes.

REGISTER HERE

Valor Service Dogs – has been selected to be this year’s partner for our charity tournament and will receive a portion of the proceeds. Valor Service Dogs focus on empowering America’s wounded veterans and first responders through the support of service dogs. This incredible nonprofit organization, headquartered in Wimauma, FL helps wounded post-9/11 veterans and first responders regain their independence, return to civilian life, and maintain successful partnerships through the training and placing of mobility assistance and PTSD service dogs.

To learn more about Valor Service Dogs Click Here

Environmental Day

Sea turtles, urchins, coral, manatees, and kayaks Oh My!

Thank you to the Suncoast Youth Conservation Center, TEKO, The Florida Aquarium, FWC, and the Manatee Viewing Center for a beautiful, creature-filled day!

A special thank you to Chief Jones and his entire crew at Hillsborough County Fire Rescue, Florida for an incredible seminar day and interactive fire training experience!

Thank you to Aeromed for the perfect landing and bringing us the best nurse flight crew and pilot! 

Thank you to Tampa Fire Rescue for lots of lights and sirens, museum tour, and invaluable information, especially CloseYourDoor.org 

We thank you all for your service to our community! 

Leadership Hillsborough spent the day with some of our amazing local non-profit organizations, hearing from their leadership, and putting in a little sweat equity to give back to the organizations that give so much to our community.

Many thanks go out to Feeding Tampa Bay and Valor Service Dogs for welcoming us to your facilities and spending some time educating us on the challenges and opportunities of our non-profit organizations.

We also delivered hundreds and hundreds of holiday gifts that were collected and carefully wrapped by the 2022 Class and Board of Directors to the students at Wimauma Elementary to ensure each child receives a gift this holiday season.

For more than 30 years, Leadership Hillsborough has been collecting, wrapping and delivering holiday gifts for the children at Wimauma Elementary. This year was no different. We were able to collect hundreds of gifts, and wrap them at our annual Holiday Gift Wrapping event. We would like to thank Ashley Canay, owner of Ashley Canay Videography/Photography for allowing us to hold our event at her beautiful studio, Noire 19, located in Valrico. The location was perfect and her hospitality unparalleled. If you are looking for a wonderful photographer, or an event space, or perhaps, both, please think about selecting Ashley and her services.

What an amazing day. Education Day was executed to perfection and was eye-opening for our 2022 Class. The educational systems here in Hillsborough County are amazing. Our day began with a visit HCC Ybor Campus, to speak with faculty and leadership. The classes and opportunities HCC offers truly make it a gem in our community. Our next stop was a visit to the University of Tampa, learning about the incredible programs they offer. Rampello Elementary was our next stop and we learned about the choice school and what makes them so special. Finally we were joined by the Hillsborough County Superintendent, Addison Davis, and School Board Member, Melissa Snively for a wonderful Q & A session and thoughtful conversation.

November 11, 2021
PHILANTHROPY & NONPROFITS

https://www.bizjournals.com/tampabay/news/2021/11/11/leadership-hillsborough-announces-class-of-2022.html

Leadership Hillsborough reveals class of 2022 members

Leadership Hillsborough has chosen 16 business and community leaders for its class of 2022.

The program provides development opportunities to Hillsborough County professionals who seek to grow as leaders and expand their knowledge of the diverse dynamics, issues, challenges and opportunities impacting their work and community. Class members can be nominated by local leaders, board members, or businesses and then applications are reviewed by a board before the final selections are made.

The main focus of any class is to be as diverse as possible, Paula Scott, director of operations at Children’s Board of Hillsborough County and Leadership Hillsborough chair, told the Tampa Bay Business Journal.

“We want people from the nonprofit sector, we want people from the government sector, we want people from the private sector so that they can have a really rich, diverse group of individuals who they can turn to after they go through the class,” said Scott.
Once selected, members of the class go through a 10-month process from September to June. They’ll come face to face with leaders of the Hillsborough community to learn more about what is going on in the area from the top down.
The organization was impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, much like other leadership programs in the Tampa Bay area.

“We paused our program for 12 months; it was a tough decision, knowing that we were going to have a class that was going to span a two-year time frame rather than a 10-month,” said Scott. “However, in our hearts, we wanted to give them the best possible program that we could, and if we had to wait a year to return to face to face with individuals, we were willing to do that.”

This class will be looking to impact local businesses and the community immediately.
Here are the class members for this year:
• Alan Davidson, chief clinical officer, Central Florida Behavioral Health Network
• Brenda Brackins, fiscal and asset manager, Hillsborough County
• Daria Dixon, procurement operations coordinator, Hillsborough County
• Javier Rivera, operations engineer, Children’s Board Hillsborough County
• Josie Rocco, chief operating officer, University Area CDC
• Juli Day, Plant City family resource center manager
• Laura Byrne, editor/ creative writer, Tampa Bay Parenting Magazine
• Layla Hartz, director, Tampa Housing Authority
• Melissa Asencio, lead woman and infant resource specialist, Healthy Start Coalition of Hillsborough County
• Michelle Sterling, senior wellness and safety specialist, St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital/ BayCare Kids
• Renee McCummings, human resources partner, Hillsborough County Human Resources
• Rosalie Smith, program administrator, Safe and Sound Hillsborough
• Tamika Powe, community health educator/ physician relations and community engagement, Tampa General Hospital
• Tavis Myrick, executive director, Gentleman’s Quest of Tampa Bay Inc.
• Tramaine Whittey, project manager, Hillsborough County Affordability Housing Services
• Victor Avila, VP community development manager, Regions Bank

Leadership Hillsborough is a nonprofit organization governed by a volunteer Board of Directors, founded in 1989. For over 30 years, the program has brought together diverse professionals to understand their roles as community leaders.
Sixteen business and community leaders were chosen for the class of 2022.

By Devonta Davis – Digital Producer, Tampa Bay Business Journal

Leadership Hillsborough’s Opening Seminar Day, Government Day, was an incredible experience. We were joined by all seven of our locally elected constitutional officers including: Sheriff Chad Chronister – Supervisor of Elections Craig Lattimer – Clerk of the Court Cindy Stuart – Property Appraiser Bob Henriquez – Tax Collector  Nancy Millan – District Attorney Andrew Warren –  Public Defender Julianne Holt. This star studded panel discussion was both enlightening and fascinating to see how all of these branches of local government work together to keep Hillsborough County running. We sincerely thank all of them for taking the time to spend time with our class.

Thank you to Sprouts Farmers Market for sponsoring class breakfast on October 6th, 2021 on Government Day!

This year’s Opening Retreat for the Class of 2022 was held at the incredible Safety Harbor Resort and Spa. The class spent the weekend getting to know each other, working on challenging projects, and learning about the 10-month program ahead. The program included a special address from the one and only Edwin Narain that concluded our program with an inspirational message and a challenge to our class to make a difference! We certainly hope they take away from this program the desire and ability to do just that. Welcome Class of 2022 we can’t wait for you to see what we have in store for you. We hope it’s lifechanging.