Andy Mayts is in the process of officially starting his tenure as chair of the Tampa Bay Chamber.
“As we start off the new chamber year, we’re going to be committed to several different initiatives that are in works,” Mayts says.
Leadership development, supporting active military, spouses of military and veterans, were a few of the Chamber’s initiatives he spoke about.
“I think there is a real niche for the chamber to not only support transitioning military members, but to support military spouses that come to town and help connect them to good jobs and employment opportunities,” Mayts said. “Often military spouses can get overlooked because employers know they’re going to be here for a brief period. But we need to encourage our community to embrace and support them because they’re dedicated professionals with a spouse serving.”
Another place where Mayts wants to home in on is collaborating with other local entities.
“We’re going to be all in on regional collaboration. I think when you look from the outside at our area, we’re defined as Tampa Bay, and the Bay defines us as a region yet, I think at times locally, that Bay can separate and divide us,” Mayts says. “We want to work with other chambers. We don’t want to do their job for them. We’re not trying to be the one and only chamber but we want to work regionally and collaborate on issues that have to be looked at and tackled through the lens of regionalism, like transportation.”
His message to the Tampa Bay community is to spend some time with the Chamber and learn about how to get involved.
“Come check us out. If you want to be part of our team, we’ll find a spot for you,” he says. “Feel free to reach out to me because we’re a membership-based organization and we’re only as good as, and as strong as, the collective power of all of our members. Get involved.”
Mayts is a partner at Tampa law firm Shumaker, where he focuses on banking and finance, construction-related litigation, as well as cybersecurity prevention and response.
