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Joe Hamilton is connected to several organizations working to better St Petersburg. He is the co-founder of the St Petersburg Group, a civic-focused consulting group that founded The St Pete Catalyst and St Petersburg Press. He is also a partner in SeedFunders and Social Venture Partners. He hosts several programs including Startup Report, Impact Catalyst and the St Pete X podcast.
Irv Cohen spent over thirty years as an executive for the Wall Street banks and large private conglomerates, including a position as a senior executive with JP Morgan where he relocated 2500 high-paying jobs to the Tampa Bay area. Irv now lends his wealth of knowledge and expertise to multiple high-impact organizations including SeedFunders, Social Venture Partners and the St. Petersburg Group.
Helen Levine leads the St. Petersburg office of Corcoran Partners. A Florida native, Helen has thirty years’ experience in regional, state, and local governments serving in leadership roles at the City of St. Petersburg, the Hillsborough Board of County Commissioners and the University of South Florida St. Petersburg campus.
Dzuy Nguyen has been in the tech space for a long time (he wrote his first QBASIC program at age 7). A well-rounded technologist, he has been everything from a help desk technician, developer, project manager, to his current role as Managing Partner and C.O.O. of Big Sea, a marketing agency with offices in St Petersburg and Colorado Springs.
Amy is Engagement Director, lead Project Manager and capacity building consultant for the St. Petersburg Group. She serves the St. Petersburg Foundation as Project Manager for the Lealman
Exchange Managed Services Initiative. She also serves as the Digital Video Producer for the St. Pete Catalyst and runs the St. Petersburg Press, a publishing company for local authors. Amy has 15 years of experience in Human Capital Management, Organizational Behavior, Organizational Change and Development and is a subject matter expert on the human side of mergers, acquisitions and corporate restructuring.
Amy has almost three decades of project management, human resources and accounting experience in property management, community association management and building management. Amy is a Florida Native, an Eckerd College Alum and spent 25 years working and volunteering in the St. Petersburg nonprofit arts community. Amy is a SHRM certified HR Business Partner, holds an MBA in Management from USF and is certified in Post-Crisis Leadership.
Ashley Morales is a seasoned professional with a strong passion for making a positive impact on the community. As the Engagement Director at the St. Petersburg Foundation since June 2023, Ashley brings a wealth of expertise and a dynamic skill set to her role. With more than a decade of dedicated experience in Public Relations, Journalism, Marketing, and Nonprofit Management, she is a driving force behind the foundation’s outreach and engagement initiatives.
With a proven track record of success and a genuine passion for community development, Ashley continues to be a driving force behind the St. Petersburg Foundation’s mission. Her unique blend of skills, experience, and dedication sets her apart as a transformative leader in the nonprofit sector, making a lasting difference in the lives of those she serves.
Michael enjoyed a successful 27-year career as a International City-County Management Association Credentialed City Manager, having served multiple communities as CEO/COO during his career. As an experienced public administration and policy expert, he provided communities and public sector
organizations with leadership and guidance to achieve innovative outcome-based solutions to the fiscal, resiliency, and strategic planning challenges facing those communities.
Michael’s educational background includes a Master in Public Health degree, concentrating in Global
Disaster Management-Humanitarian Relief-and Homeland Security, from the University of South Florida; a Master in Business Administration from the Solvay Brussels School of Economics & Management, at the Université Libre de Bruxelles; and a Juris Doctor degree from the Cleveland Marshall College of Law, at Cleveland State University. Michael’s private sector experience includes CAO of a local pharma consultancy and the as the owner of community/organization resiliency consultancy. Michael’s educational experience, combined with his deep and broad public sector experience, provides clients with a strategic insights and holistic, comprehensive, and innovative strategies, solutions, andplans for integrated and adaptive community development, health, and resilience.
Keara McGraw is Communications Manager at the St. Petersburg Foundation, responsible for social media, graphics, digital communication, and grant writing. She also serves as the program manager for Social Venture Partners Tampa Bay, a nonprofit organization that fosters engaged philanthropy and strategies for sustainable nonprofit organizations. Keara manages SVP’s annual Fast Pitch competition and facilitates connections among SVP partners, donors, volunteers, and nonprofit leaders. Keara most recently completed the Leadership Development Certificate & Grant Writing Certificate from Nonprofit Leadership Center Tampa Bay.
Drawing on a decades-long career in philanthropy and nonprofits, Karen brings expertise in strategy and communications to her role as the Executive Director of the St. Petersburg Foundation. She excels at helping mission-driven organizations position, brand and deliver on their unique value propositions and engage authentically with donors, funders and communities.
Karen came to the Tampa Bay area serve in a leadership position with the Foundation for a Healthy St. Petersburg, helping to establish and manage the new private foundation. She was involved in the planning, execution, and programming of the Foundation’s Center for Health Equity, which opened in 2019. Her expertise in the use of video storytelling and strategic communications campaign techniques benefitted dozens of the foundation’s grantees and partners.
Karen previously served as Communications Director at the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan, one of the nation’s largest community foundations, based in Detroit. She made key contributions to initiatives focused on neighborhood development, greenways, LGBTQ issues and early childhood learning. Karen holds a BA from Miami University in Ohio and an MA from the University of Toronto, both in English.
The St. Petersburg Foundation builds capacity at the organizational and community level for social impact. We leverage public, private, and philanthropic resources to help solve our community’s most challenging
issues.
© 2020 St. Petersburg Foundation
