Our new year got off to a great start with the publication of Site Selection
Leaders of Tampa Bay EDC
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Tampa Bay EDC Leadership
The Tampa Bay EDC has attracted some of the brightest business leaders in the Tampa and Hillsborough County community. Each year, new executive officers are elected to help lead the organization on yet another successful year.
Archie Collins
Chair
President AND CEO, TAMPA ELECTRIC
Archie Collins is president and chief executive officer of Tampa Electric.
Collins has more than 30 years of experience in the energy industry. He began his career at Nova Scotia Power in 1990, and he has held increasingly senior roles since then. Prior to joining Tampa Electric, Collins served in leadership roles at Nova Scotia Power and Emera Energy, as president and chief executive officer of Grand Bahama Power Co., and as president and chief operating officer of Emera Caribbean. Most recently, he served as chief operating officer of Tampa Electric.
Collins is a professional chemical engineer, and he holds a Bachelor of Science in Engineering from St. Francis Xavier University and a Bachelor of Chemical Engineering from Dalhousie University.
He sits on the boards of the Florida Council of 100 and of Enterprise Florida. He also serves on the boards of Southeastern Electric Exchange, The Association of Edison Illuminating Companies, Florida Reliability Coordinating Council and Tampa Theatre.
Casey Ellison
Vice Chair
CEO, Ellison Companies
Casey Ellison has over 20 years of experience in the construction and development industries. He is the CEO of Ellison Companies, a family of firms in the construction and development industry. Casey has extensive experience building and developing across all sectors with an emphasis on place-making hospitality projects. Casey has been a part of many of Tampa’s most impactful projects, including Oxford Exchange, Stovall House, Armature Works, Hotel Haya, and is a preferred partner for the Hillsborough County School Board, University of Tampa, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Casey holds leadership roles in Ellison Construction, one of Tampa Bay area’s leading construction management firms, and Ellison Development, an innovative real estate development company. Casey is civic-minded, serving as incoming Chair on the University of Tampa’s Board of Fellows as well as a sitting member of the Glazer Children’s Museum’s facilities committee. Casey is passionate about the future of business in the Tampa/St. Petersburg region and is currently developing a mixed-use project in St. Petersburg’s EDGE District.
Gina Curry
Secretary/Treasurer
CEO, Nextpath CAREER PARTNERS
Gina is the Chief Executive Officer at NextPath Career Partners. She was born and raised in Tampa, FL, graduating from the University of Florida in 2006.
Gina is a veteran of the staffing industry, accruing more than 15 years of experience working in a wide variety of roles. She began her career with Veredus in Tampa and relocated in 2009 to open a new office location in Raleigh, NC. After accomplishing her goal of building a perennially profitable office in Raleigh, she returned to her hometown where she co-founded NextPath in 2018. Her passion is leading people and building great culture. Gina is an active member within the EDC serving on multiple committees. She sits on the board for the CEO Council and is involved with many non-profits including Redefining Refuge, Metropolitan Ministries, Think Big for Kids and Tampa Bay Technology Forum.
Gina is married with two kids and enjoys traveling and being outside in her spare time.
Gary Sasso
General Counsel
President and ceo, carlton fields
Gary Sasso is President & CEO of Carlton Fields, a national law firm headquartered in Tampa, Florida. Gary serves on the Board of the Florida Council of 100 and recently concluded a two-year term as Chair of the Council’s Economic Competitiveness Committee. He has also served as Chair of the Straz Center for the Performing Arts, United Way Suncoast, the United Way Tocqueville Society, and the Tampa Bay Partnership. He is currently General Counsel of the Tampa Bay EDC and serves as a member of the Advisory Board of the Tampa Medical and Research District.
Professionally, Gary is a member of the Council of the American Law Institute, and he is a Fellow of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers and the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers. He has held numerous leadership roles in the ABA and the Florida Bar Association, and he is regularly recognized as a leading attorney by Best Lawyers, Super Lawyers, and Florida Trend’s Legal Elite.
Gary holds a BS in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Law School first in his law school class, where he also served as Editor-in-Chief of the University of Pennsylvania Law Review. After law school, Gary clerked for the noted former civil rights lawyer, Judge Spottswood W. Robinson, III, on the United States Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, and then for Justice Byron R. White, on the United States Supreme Court.
Ron Christaldi
Immediate Past Chair
Managing Partner, Shumaker
Known for connecting and building relationships within the community, Ron Christaldi is a hard-working and intensely prepared lawyer with a broad practice, comprised of both transactions and complex litigation. He has also been recognized as one of the Top 50 Lawyers in Florida and one of the Best Lawyers in America by a variety of associations and magazines. As a Board Certified Health Lawyer, Ron is committed to his clients and attributes his success to the fact he identifies his clients’ goals at the outset of the engagement and works collaboratively with them on the best, most efficient strategy to achieve their goals. Ron is also a State of Florida Licensed Realtor.
Ron is proud and honored to give back to the community he loves and he has served a variety of organizations in a leadership capacity, including serving as the past chair of the Tampa Bay Chamber, past chair for the Tampa Bay Businesses for Culture and Arts, and past chair of the 2018 Leukemia Lymphoma Society Light the Night Walk. He has been front and center in the effort to keep Major League Baseball and the Tampa Bay Rays in Tampa. Ron also has been involved in connecting Tampa Bay with the world with his work in international relations, including the process of normalizing the relations in Cuba and maintaining sister city relationships in Ireland and Italy. In the rare times he is not working or serving the community, Ron enjoys spending time with his three children, who are his world.
Craig J. Richard, CEcD, FM
President and CEO
Tampa Bay Economic Development Council
Craig J. Richard is a certified economic developer with over two decades of economic development leadership experience in major markets such as Dallas, Houston and Atlanta. Career highlights include more than 308 successful projects representing more than 126,246 jobs and $9.3 billion in capital investment
Craig has served as Chairman of the Board of Directors for the International Economic Development Council (IEDC) and currently serves on the boards of the Tampa Bay Chamber of Commerce, Film Tampa Bay, Visit Tampa Bay and the Downtown Tampa Partnership. He was recognized as one of Florida’s 500 Most Influential Business Leaders by Florida Trend and one of North America’s Top 50 Economic Developers by Consultant Connect. Craig was also designated a “Fellow Member” by IEDC for his contributions to the economic development profession.
Craig earned his Master of Urban and Regional Planning degree, with a concentration in economic development, from Virginia Commonwealth University and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Houston. He is also a graduate of the Economic Development Institute at the University of Oklahoma.
Craig and his wife Verna have two boys. In his spare time, he enjoys golf, fishing and hunting.
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