Past Speakers
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September 11, 2023
The Honorable Thomas N. Palermo, Unified Family Court, Division I – Early American History: Understanding Ourselves by Looking at our Past.
Judge Thomas N. Palermo is a native of Tampa, Florida. He was born at Women’s Hospital, grew up in the greater Carrollwood area, and has extensive roots in his hometown. His mother, whose first language is Spanish, is from Ybor City. She served a full career as a professor and, before that, as an English teacher at Leto High School. His father is from Seminole Heights. He owns a marine-related business in Drew Park. His brother and sister-in-law are attorneys here in Tampa and his sister is a real estate agent here in Tampa. Growing up, Judge Palermo was a member of Saint Timothy’s Catholic Parish, Saint Mary’s, and Saint Paul’s. Judge Palermo attended Saint John’s Episcopal and then Jesuit High School.
JUDICIAL BIOGRAPHY
Appointed by Governor DeSantis to the Circuit Court (Group 41) on March 29, 2019.
Commission Date: May 13, 2019.
Elected without opposition, November 3, 2020.
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August 28, 2023
LIEUTENANT COLONEL BRIAN GRIEFER, Deputy Mission Support Group Commander, Senior Air Reserve Technician with the 927th Air Refueling Wing, US Air Force
Lt Col Griefer is the Deputy Mission Support Group Commander, Senior Air Reserve Technician with the 927th ARW. In this capacity, he provides Command and Leadership as the full-time Mission Support Group Commander equivalent for 3 Squadrons and 1 Flight in the 927th Mission Support Group consisting of over 300 personnel. This includes the Security Forces Squadron (SFS), Logistics Readiness Squadron (LRS), Force Support Squadron (FSS), and a Communications Flight.
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August 21, 2023
Michael J Palermo, President/Broker, Palermo Real Estate Professionals
Michael is a native of South Tampa, born and raised on Davis Islands. He is a graduate of H.B. Plant High ('89), the University of Florida (B.S. '93) and South Texas College of Law (J.D. '96). After three years of practicing real estate and corporate law with large law firms, Michael opened his real estate law practice in October 1999.
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August 14, 2023
Lindsay Huban, Executive Director, Henry B. Plant Museum
Lindsay Huban is the Executive Director of the Henry Plant Museum, a nationally accredited institution on the campus of The University of Tampa. She has over 15 years of experience in the museum field and has been with the Plant Museum since 2014.
Huban has created a variety of programs and exhibits at the Plant Museum, focusing on diverse storytelling and reaching new audiences to ensure economic stability and prosperity for the organization. Prior to her arrival in Tampa, she worked at the Golisano Children’s Museum of Naples (Naples, FL)
and led the history and education programs at the National Headquarters of the American Red Cross (Washington, DC). She earned a B.A. from Eckerd College and an M.A. from American University. -
August 7, 2023
Paul Porter, Arena Voice for Tampa Bay Lightning and Orlando Magic
Paul Porter has been the arena voice of the Orlando Magic for all 34 years of their history and the arena voice of the Tampa Bay Lightning of the National Hockey League for all of the 30 years they have played. He has also been the press box voice of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for six years. He has three times announced NBA all-star games in 1980, 1992 and 2012. He was the voice of the NBA Finals in 1995 and 2009 and the NHL Stanley Cup Finals in 2004, 2015, 2020, 2021, and 2022, as well as the NHL All Star game in Tampa. Porter has been the voice of the World Basketball Championships in 1994 and 2002.
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July 31, 2023
Steve Harris, Vice President, Payor & Governmental Affairs, Tampa General Hospital – Medical Arts District
Steve Harris is the Vice President of Payor & Governmental Affairs at Tampa General Hospital (TGH), a nationally renowned nonprofit academic health system.
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July 24, 2023
John Flanagan, CEO, Career Source of Florida – Job Market in Hillsborough County
John Flanagan is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of CareerSource Tampa Bay. Mr. Flanagan started his official duties on January 22, 2019. As CEO of the local workforce board he works closely with business, government, and educational entities to find workforce solutions for the more than 1.4 million Hillsborough County residents and businesses.
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July 24, 2023
Terri Balliet, CEO, Children’s Network of Hillsborough, LLC
Terri has tremendous talent and a distinguished history of service to children and families in the Suncoast Region and across Florida.
Her wealth of local experience includes nearly two decades of service at Gulf Coast Jewish, Family Community Services. She has worked her way up the ranks in child welfare from Case Management Supervisor in 2004, to Chief Operating Officer of Gulf Coast Jewish & Family Community Services from 2014 to the present. As COO at Gulf Coast JFCS, she oversaw a multimillion-dollar budget and over 20 child welfare, behavioral health, and elder and disabled services programs. She also served as Assistant Director of Operations at the Sarasota Family YMCA Safe Children Coalition.