Awards & Events

Linda Olson is the chief executive officer and founder of the Tampa Bay Wave. Today, the Wave has a national, and international, reputation and recruits technology companies from across the United States and beyond, several of whom have relocated to the region. Since its launch, in 2013, the Wave has supported 450 startups and, collectively,

Carrie Charles is the chief executive officer for Broadstaff, a staffing firm in Tampa, which specializes in communications in the technology space. She hosts a podcast 5G Talent Talk, in partnership with RCR Wireless News. She’s a former life coach and a dedicated Christian.  In 2022, Broadstaff reached $33 million in revenue. The company has

Elizabeth Dvorak is the chief executive officer for Workscapes. She began her career in commercial furniture in 1991, with a top furniture dealership in Atlanta, Georgia. Nearly six years later, she decided to go out on her own and founded Workscapes. She and her husband, Richard, purchased a dealership in Orlando and relocated there with

Joanne LeBlanc began her career at Colliers in 2008, at the start of the Great Recession. At the time, Colliers was only hiring for a marketing position. LeBlanc accepted the position and used it as a steppingstone to learn the trade. In 2012, she moved into the brokerage side of the business and, in 2015,

In 1986, as one of few female students in her high school drafting class, Melissa Seixas joined Florida Power (later to become Progress Energy and then Duke Energy) in distribution engineering.  After nearly four decades with the company, she has served in numerous roles with increasing leadership responsibilities. In February 2021, Seixas was selected to

Bemetra Simmons is the president and chief executive officer of the Tampa Bay Partnership.  Simmons previously served as the chief strategy and operations officer for United Way Suncoast, where she led core operations functions, including finance and information technology and community investment for a five-county region.  In this role, she facilitated a COVID-19 emergency response

Andrea Gonzmart Williams began her career at the Columbia Restaurant at the age of ten, by filing in the corporate office. By the time she was twelve, she was working as a hostess at the Ybor City Restaurant and continued working there through high school.  She joined the family business full-time, after graduating from the

Jane Floyd is a branch manager at NFM Lending. With more than 30 years of experience in the mortgage industry, she has been recognized for her production earning the top 1% of mortgage originators in the United States, as well as seven national rankings on the Scotsman Guide’s Top Originators lists including 2021 and 2022. 

Kelly Flannery is the president and chief executive officer of the South Tampa Chamber of Commerce. She graduated from Florida State University with a B.S. in Political Science. Prior to her work at the Chamber, her background includes sales, marketing and management for ClubCorp, Marriott, Front Burner Brands and Millennium Copthorne Hotels.  She received her

The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Indian Advisory Council Awards Banquet had its annual event.  Kuleen Shah was the event chair and raised more than $30,000 in sponsorships and advertisements. Shah was recognized and was awarded the Community Service Award at the event.  [image_slider_no_space on_click=”prettyphoto” height=”300″ images=”23396,23395,23394,23393″]

Tampa Bay Business and Wealth held its January CEO Connect with Moises Agami, chief executive officer of Valor Capital, in Clearwater. Presenting sponsors included Southstate. Bridgette Bello, CEO and publisher of TBBW, interviewed Agami in front of a live audience. You can read Agami’s story here. Photos by Tacy Briggs-Troncoso. Video by Empowering Creative. 

The TBBW Awards is a unique awards program, created by TBBW Magazine, to recognize distinguished women leaders whose dedication to their industries and communities deserves particular recognition. Judges looked at business and professional success, community involvement and mentorship as pillars in their judging. For this inaugural awards program, there was 291 unique nominations and 159