The Florida Chamber Foundation Team is on the Road Uniting the Business Community Around Destination 2030 – April 2022

By: Susan Towler, Florida Blue Executive Director, CSR/Florida Blue Foundation; Chair of the Florida Chamber Foundation Board of Trustees

The Florida Chamber Foundation team is keeping the momentum going in propelling the Florida 2030 Blueprint’s mission and its 39 goals. This month, I’m proud to share with you the following recent highlight picks of our Foundation team blazing the path in making us a top 10 global economy on the road to 2030.

As reported in last month’s newsletter, Foundation EVP David Gillespie presented the latest economic trends for the state of Florida at the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council’s (RPC), Regional Economic Development Summit for the Treasure Coast Region, on March 25th. The Florida Chamber Foundation would like to thank the Treasure Coast RPC for the opportunity to share our vision for the future of Florida. The presentation led to a number of regional introductions, including the opportunity to meet with the President of Indian River State College (IRSC), Dr. Tim Moore, and IRSC Executive Vice President of Strategic Initiatives, Michael Hageloh. Follow-up discussions revealed significant alignment between IRSC’s innovative education and training approach to the goals of the Florida Chamber Foundation’s Florida 2030 Blueprint, the Future of Work Florida Initiative and meeting the workforce needs of the Florida business community. As a result, we are excited to announce that IRSC Foundation has chosen to invest in our collective pursuit of securing Florida’s future by partnering as a Community Development Partner, a Future of Work Florida Advisory Board member, and Presenting Sponsor of the Florida Chamber Annual Meeting & Future of Florida Forum in October! Please join me in welcoming Dr. Tim Moore, Michael Hageloh, and the entire Indian River State College Foundation team-of-teams in our pursuit to advance Florida to a top 10 global economy through the lens of the Florida 2030 Blueprint. With last month’s announcement of Boeing and Brown & Brown, Inc. joining the Foundation as Trustees, and the most recent addition of IRSC Foundation, momentum is building with more to come.

In other Foundation news, President Mark Wilson recently spoke to the West Volusia Regional Chamber of Commerce’s Economic Summit where he gave an economic overview of Florida and Volusia County. He also spoke at the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International’s XPONENTIAL Conference about why Florida is a great place to invest in the autonomous industry, making note of our autonomous-friendly regulatory climate and A-rated infrastructure among other qualities.

This talk was perfect timing as we geared up to welcome 200 of Florida’s leaders in transportation, trade, logistics, and more, at the Florida Transportation, Growth & Infrastructure Solution Summit yesterday. Attendees not only heard about the importance of autonomous innovation in Florida’s transportation industry, but they also witnessed the very exciting unveiling of the Florida Trade & Logistics 2030 Study – research effort informed by hundreds of Florida’s leaders in trade, logistics, manufacturing, and rural economic development. A special thank you to Trustee Doug Davidson, Chair of the TL2030 Investor Task Force, the 14 amazing companies that comprised the Task Force, and Cambridge Systematics’ John Kaliski and team who provided the research support for this very important effort. We are pleased to provide you access to the study by clicking the image on the right.

Stay tuned for more updates next month on the momentum-building efforts of the Foundation team to secure Florida’s future.