⊲ Valley Bank associates, including Senior Executive Vice President of Commercial Banking Joe Chillura, Chief People Officer Yvonne Surowiec and Chief Executive Officer Ira Robbins, volunteered with Metropolitan Ministries and Feeding Tampa Bay to support hurricane recovery efforts in the Tampa Bay area, donating $80,000 to local nonprofits and providing essential resources to affected communities. (Photo above)
⊲ Maersk has announced plans to add a weekly container service connecting Port Tampa Bay with Cartagena, Colombia beginning in the first quarter of 2025.
⊲BRANDT, a global manufacturer of specialty agricultural input products and US retailer of professional agronomic services, has formed a joint venture with K&N Efthymiadis to distribute BRANDT’s proprietary crop nutritional products in Greece. The JV will be called KNE BRANDT.
⊲CBRE announced that Ryan McCurdy and Kyle Chaikin have joined Tampa’s office team as senior vice president and first vice president, respectively.
⊲ Tampa General Hospital opened an outpatient Cellular-Immunotherapy Transplant Unit at the TGH Cancer Institute, providing adult patients with aggressive blood cancers, such as leukemias and lymphomas, access to CAR T-cell therapy and Bone Marrow Transplant treatments on an outpatient basis, provided they meet specific criteria, live within 60 minutes of the hospital and have a trained 24/7 caregiver.
⊲Friends of the Tampa Riverwalk announced its Board of Directors and Officers for fiscal year 2025, including new members such as Carly Ciccati, of Strategic Property Partners, Cameron Diehl, of Raymond James & Associates, and John Gerding, of Quintairos, Prieto, Wood & Boyer PA, along with a new slate of officers led by Anthony Derby as chairman.
⊲SRS Real Estate Partners appointed Chris Stewart as senior vice president, in Tampa.
⊲American Banker named Darlene Johnson, executive vice president and chief strategy and transformation officer at Suncoast Credit Union, as one of 2024’s Most Powerful Women in Credit Unions.
⊲ Akima, a federal government contractor, expanded its Tampa Bay operations with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at The Pointe in Rocky Point, as part of a strategic initiative to support MacDill Air Force Base.
⊲The Community Foundation of Tampa Bay added Joshua Bomstein and Gregory C. Yadley to its Board of Trustees.
⊲ Epicurean Hotel named Whitnee Wilson as spa director at Spa Evangeline, located in the 188-room boutique hotel, in the Hyde Park historic district of South Tampa.
⊲The USF Health Ybor Youth Clinic earned Gold Certification as an adolescent-centered health clinic from the Adolescent Health Initiative—becoming the first in Florida to achieve this distinction.
⊲Moffitt Cancer Center was named one of Foundry’s Computerworld’s 2025 Best Places to Work in IT, an annual ranking recognizing organizations that excel in fostering outstanding work environments for technology professionals.
⊲ Landmark Properties, in partnership with Stockbridge, acquired The Retreat at Tampa, a 107-unit, 416-bed cottage-style student housing community built by Landmark, in 2017, at 11326 N. 46th Street, near the University of South Florida.
⊲Port Tampa Bay promoted Greg Lovelace to the role of senior vice president of marketing and business development and Jorge Torres to the role of senior director of security and safety compliance.
⊲Streetleaf, a provider of solar-powered streetlight services in the United States, announced that John Hantzis has joined the company as director of operations.
⊲ Russ Riley was appointed director of sales at M.E. Wilson, in Tampa.