Investor Spotlight: Gray | Robinson
December 12, 2019
GrayRobinson is a full-service law and lobbying firm with attorneys and government relations professionals throughout offices spanning the State of Florida and Washington, DC. Our attorneys, consultants and regulatory professionals provide legal and government relations services to our clients throughout Florida, our nation’s capital, across the country and all over the world. GrayRobinson provides services to Fortune 500 companies, emerging businesses, lending institutions, local and state governments, developers, entrepreneurs and individuals. We offer not only an extensive range of services but also depth and proficiency in each one.
Sharon Carlstedt Britton, Shareholder
Sharon is a shareholder in the Firm’s Tampa office focusing her practice on commercial litigation. Since 1992, Sharon has been representing clients on a variety of complex litigation matters, including in the areas of contract, health care, ADA, insurance, white collar and intellectual property. She has significant successful trial experience and, notably, has litigated high profile copyright infringement actions on behalf of record labels, music publishers and artists against Internet companies. Sharon’s experience also includes representing well-known, national companies in various litigation matters related to ADA accessibility.
You’ve recently joined the EDC as an Investor. What are you looking forward to most in supporting local economic development efforts?
The growth in the Tampa Bay Area has been so stark and so exciting over the last several years. For years we have been talking about making changes that are actually happening now. We at Gray Robinson want to be at the forefront of facilitating that growth and making our City the most attractive and groundbreaking place for new talent and businesses to come and thrive. I plan to work with the EDC’s business development committee to further those goals.
Placemaking, or the process of creating quality places, is one of the main goals of the EDC’s new strategic plan. In your opinion, what are some elements that make Tampa a quality place and enhances our competitiveness?
In addition to practicing law, I am also a painter, and so, the arts and culture are near and dear to my heart. The deeper the ties between the artistic, creative community and the creative business community, the better the place to live in my opinion. I was one of the founding artists at the former Bloom Cultural Center in St. Pete a few years back, and that artistic community is growing and thriving with new innovative, multi-use collaborative art spaces being developed throughout the area. I have been working with the TBBCA as a Board Member and now as the Executive Vice Chair for 5 years on exactly that mission, which should dovetail with working with the EDC.
As someone who grew up in Tampa and has seen some of the big changes over the past decade, what do you think has been the biggest win for our community in recent years?
For years, I said that Tampa was the best kept secret because we have such a strong community, beautiful weather, beaches, etc. But the biggest win is that the secret is out, and companies and talented people have and are moving here in droves and, together our City is growing and changing. The biggest win over the next ten years will be to create a City space that people want to come to as a life experience. We want people’s bucket list to include a trip to Tampa because it is so special. That is our biggest challenge as we grow—to do so mindfully so that we become a must go-to destination, the way people around the globe think of New York or LA, but with our own unique personality.
