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, … Read more

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 … Read more

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, … Read more

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 … Read more

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 … Read more

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 … Read more

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.  … Read more

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 … Read more