SPEAKERS

February 8, 2021

Thomas Mantz joined Feeding Tampa Bay as President and CEO in October of 2012. During Thomas’ tenure with the foodbank the organization has seen significant development across all fronts. Most importantly, meals to the community have grown from 20 million to almost 80 million per year –reducing the meal gap across Tampa Bay. In 2018 the foodbank launched an ending hunger strategy that includes job training, benefits access and other education services that create capacity and move people towards self-sufficiency. During his tenure, fundraising has risen by almost 500% with broader diversification of revenue streams, increases in partnerships and the implementation of a multi-strategy brand-awareness, marketing and development program. Feeding Tampa Bay has launched several key initiatives including the founding of the Center for Food Security and Healthy Access with U.S.F., one of the first of its kind in the U.S., the launch of the Publix Community Market, a free grocery store for families, Groceries on the Go, a mobile grocery store and FreshForce, a prepared meal delivery service and a jobs training program that will graduate 100+ students a year into long term careers. Feeding Tampa Bay had been named ‘non-profit of the year’ two times in 7 years, has been recognized as a top charity by United Way’s One Tampa and has received several distinguished awards such as the prestigious “Neighborhood Builder’ award from Bank of America. Previously, Thomas served as the Executive Director of Second Harvest of Jacksonville from 2009 to 2011, after five years as the chief operating officer at Christ Episcopal Church in Ponte Vedra Beach. Prior to that, Mantz worked as executive director of the Episcopal Foundation of Florida (2002-04) and as president of the First Coast non-profit organization, Dignity U Wear Foundation, Inc. (2000-02). During a 17-year career in the finance industry in Jacksonville beginning in 1982, Mantz spent his years as an operations executive in the banking industry in Florida, New York and Moscow, Russia, before returning to Jacksonville and beginning his work in the non-profit community in 2000. He has also served on the boards of several non-profits including the Feeding Florida, the collection of food banks across the state where he is chair for 2017/2018 and THHI, (Hillsborough Homeless Initiative).
Thomas is a graduate of the University of North Florida with a B.A. in Political Science. He also
completed the Theological Education program at University of the South and attended Harvard’s Strategic Perspectives in Non-Profit Management course as well as Georgetown’s New Strategies Program held at McDonough School of Business.