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Trigaux: As the Tampa Chamber gathers once again, its first next-gen chairman urges a 'be bolder' agenda

 
Mike Griffin is a senior managing director in Tampa for Savills Studley Occupier Services, which provides integrated real estate services. He is the incoming chairman for 2017 of the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce.
Mike Griffin is a senior managing director in Tampa for Savills Studley Occupier Services, which provides integrated real estate services. He is the incoming chairman for 2017 of the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce.
Published Dec. 14, 2016

Today, the youngest-ever chairman of the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce will be handed the baton of leadership for 2017 before more than 1,050 attendees, the largest audience ever gathered for the chamber's annual meeting, its 131st.

The outgoing chair, Tampa native and insurance executive Guy King III, will welcome incoming chair Mike Griffin. Griffin will speak about the chamber's need to display bolder offense and less defense on key issues like transportation and to embrace longer-term priorities — from being even more effective in retaining and helping area businesses to embracing diversity and inclusiveness.

Chamber CEO Bob Rohrlack says his group will soon hire a new staffer dedicated to diversity issues, which includes some troubling gaps in workforce wages and employment in this market.

Not that Griffin, at 36, is some newbie to the leadership halls of Tampa. I first interviewed Griffin when he was a mere 23, fresh out of USF and the first co-chair of the newly formed Emerge Tampa. That's the affiliated group formed by the Tampa chamber, then chaired by innovative thinker Deanne Roberts, to recruit young, aspiring businessmen and businesswomen — not just to schmooze, but to offer a voice to traditionally wait-your-turn youngsters who want a say in the direction of Tampa's business community.

Now 550 members strong, what is now called Emerge Tampa Bay remains one of the more dynamic acts of inclusion and sustainability by the Tampa Chamber in my 25-plus years covering the Tampa Bay economy.

"This is a chamber that continues to embrace young professionals," says Griffin, who works at the commercial real estate firm Savills Studley as a senior managing director. "There is no JV team at the chamber. If you raise your hand and follow through, nothing stops you."

Griffin is clearly a role model for a new generation of business leadership to help shape the direction of this fast changing but still malleable regional economy.

So here are the key challenges for Griffin and, for the next year, his greater chamber.

Can a business group culturally reserved (if not timid, as most chambers are) really become more muscular and influential on important and occasionally controversial issues?

Can the chamber carve out enough of an economic and political space to make its voice heard amid other groups — including the Tampa Bay Partnership, the Tampa Hillsborough Economic Development Corp. and even the recently emboldened St. Petersburg Area Chamber of Commerce — clamoring for influence?

Judging from his rapid rise, Griffin seems to be a doer. The chamber is healthy and very good at retaining its members. The regional and national economy seem to be on the upswing. It all suggests good timing for a next-gen chamber chairman preparing to raise the bar.

Good luck, Mr. Griffin.

Contact Robert Trigaux at rtrigaux@tampabay.com. Follow @venturetampabay.