By Matt Wiley
The Wesley Chapel area is a hotbed for growth these days, and few know it better than the Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce (WCCC)’s executive director Hope Allen, who recently was selected to be a participant in a regional program to help business leaders learn about economic growth around Tampa Bay, including here in the New Tampa area.
The group’s first meeting was May 20, which was just after we went to press with our previous New Tampa issue.
CEO Direct, a program created by the Tampa Bay Partnership (the regional organization that markets the Bay area nationally and internationally), is a 10-month program in which participants (including Allen) travel around and tour the area’s assets (the Port of Tampa, Tampa International Airport, regional hospitals, etc.) and learn about growing business opportunities around Tampa Bay.
According to the Tampa Bay Partnership’s website, the purpose of the program is to provide those selected with an opportunity to interact with leaders from around the eight-county Tampa Bay region, as well as to network with fellow leaders from throughout the area on issues that impact Tampa Bay’s economic prosperity.
The program features one meeting every other month and recently selected its 18 leaders for this year’s group. Allen’s name made the list, along with 17 other business leaders in the region, including TECO Energy regional manager Jimmy Adcock, Leadership Tampa Bay (a group of business leaders from across Tampa Bay) executive director Alice Bessette and Tampa Bay Lightning corporate sales manager Adam Lawson.
“It’s an honor to be selected (for the program),” Allen (photo above) says. “It’s a very impressive group of regional business leaders. I’m honored to represent Wesley Chapel.”
Allen says that she thinks the Wesley Chapel area already has several regional assets (such as Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel, the future Florida Hospital Center Ice skating complex and the Tampa Premium Outlets mall) and hopes to bring regional attention to the area during the group’s meetings. The first meeting was held at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg and was facilitated by the private college’s Leadership Development Institute.
“It was awesome,” Allen says of the chance to get a continuing education in executive leadership. She says that the meetings offer an opportunity to build relationships with other regional CEOs.
“I plan on putting Wesley Chapel in the middle of the conversation because that’s where it appears on a regional map,” Allen says. She says that the group’s next meeting will be June 24 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg.
For more info, please visit TampaBay.org or WesleyChapelChamber.com.
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