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Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce

Two Hillsborough women to be honored

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A Valentine’s Day ceremony and luncheon is being organized by the League of Women Voters of Hillsborough County to celebrate two women of distinction.

The 15th annual Lifetime Achievement Award Luncheon will honor Liana Fernandez Fox, Ph.D., and the late Dena Gross Leavengood, according to a posting on the Hillsborough County website.

The event will take place on the day that coincides with the 100th anniversary of the founding of the League of Women Voters.

Fox and Leavengood are being honored for their contributions to the local community, and to the state of Florida.

The Feb. 14 event is set for 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., at the Bryan Glazer Family JCC, 522 N. Howard Avenue, in Tampa. Lorna Taylor, president & CEO of Premier Eye Care, will serve as emcee.

Fox represents the fourth generation of her Cuban and Sicilian ancestors in Tampa.

She began her career as a statistician for Florida’s State Road Department in 1969.

She retired as full professor of mathematics, after teaching for five years at Tampa Catholic High School and 33 years for Hillsborough Community College in Ybor City, and at the University of South Florida.

She pioneered the offering of online mathematics courses for HCC.

She currently is a trustee for the Tampa Bay History Center and president of the board of directors at Champions for Children.

Fox remains active at USF, serving on the Dean’s Advisory Council of Arts & Sciences, USF’s Women in Leadership and Philanthropy (WLP) and the USF Latin Community Advisory

Committee.

And, those are just a few of Fox’s accomplishments.

Leavengood, who passed away last year, was a Florida native and a marine biologist who was known for her community activism.

She graduated with a zoology degree from the University of Florida and received her Masters from USF. Her education and training launched a career that would span decades of activism and professional accomplishments. Dena was a tireless civic volunteer and was affiliated with countless organizations, including past president and board member of the League of Women Voters of Hillsborough County, the Athena Society, Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida and the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce to name but a few.

Registration for the event is available at HCLWV.org/laa.

Published January 08, 2020

Local man is named minority business person of the year

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Brian Butler was the only employee of his company — Vistra Communications — when he launched the business out of his home in Lutz in 2007.

It wasn’t exactly the best time to launch an ambitious plan.

The real estate market crashed and the nation’s economy cratered.

Brian Butler, president and CEO of Vistra Communications, pitches in during laundry day. Vistra provides ongoing support to the Laundry Project, which helps families in need through providing laundry services, converting coin laundries into community centers of hope. (Courtesy of Vistra Communications)

“I started my business in the toughest economy we’d seen in 30 years,” he recalled.

There were days when he considered giving up.

But then, as now, the business leader said anyone starting a new venture needs to stick with it.

“You can’t afford to give up,” said Butler, who is president and chief executive officer of his company. “There are opportunities out there. You’ve just got to have a plan.”

Vistra Communications now has about 70 employees with offices in Lutz, Tampa, Miami and Washington D.C.

And, on May 4, Butler will receive the 2018 U.S. Small Business Administration’s Minority Business Person of the Year — for the state of Florida and the South Florida District.

He is one of nine recipients who will be honored at a luncheon during the 31st annual Government Small Business Conference at the Holiday Inn Tampa Westshore.

Butler began thinking like a business owner early on.

During his formative years, while growing up in Palm Beach County, he had newspaper routes — flinging newspapers onto lawns.

Even then, he flexed his organizational skills.

“I was business-oriented as an elementary school kid,” Butler said. “I hired two friends to fold, so I could deliver more newspapers.”

Brian Butler reads to children at Mort Elementary School. Butler serves as CEO Mentor for the Mort Elementary School principal through The Council for Educational Change.

He followed a straight path into a business career in marketing and communications.

After he graduated from high school, he attended Hampton University, a historically black college in Virginia that was founded in 1868 to give education to freed men.

He decided to attend the college after visiting a friend who was going to school there.

He knew immediately it was the place for him.

“The campus is just beautiful,” Butler said.

The opportunity to earn a college degree there “just resonated with me,” said Butler, who received a Bachelor of Science in marketing.

Butler received a three-year scholarship from the university’s R.O.T.C. program, and upon graduation was a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army. He commanded combat troops in Kuwait during Desert Storm in 1990.

There were lessons learned from the military that translated to his values in running a company later.

“I’m focused on treating people right. And, I operate (my business) with values found in the community,” he said.

He earned a master’s degree in business administration from Central Michigan University and a master’s in national security strategy from the National War College.

He stepped back into civilian life in 1988 and spent a year at the Washington D.C., powerhouse public relations and communications firm Fleishman & Hillard International Communications.

He put his uniform back on after that, and served as spokesman and chief of communications for the U.S. Army secretary. He was on the staff and communications team for the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

After 22 years of military service, he retired as a colonel in 2006.

However, retirement was more like a transition to a new beginning.

The next year, he founded Vistra Communications.

In the early days, Butler frequently worked with nonprofits.

Brian Butler spends some time with students at Mort Elementary School.

One of his first accounts was the private charter school, Brooks-DeBartolo Collegiate High School. The school was founded by former Tampa Bay Buccaneer Derrick Brooks and former San Francisco 49ers owner Eddie DeBartolo, Jr.

Butler also won a contract with Central Command at MacDill Air Force Base, in Tampa, providing communications and consulting services.

Vistra’s clients today include businesses in health care, information technology, transportation, airports, entertainment, sports, and local and federal government.

Over the years, Butler and Vistra have received many honors and awards.

Tampa Bay Business Journal ranked Vistra as the No. 1 public relations firm in 2016 and 2017. It was the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce’s Small Business of the Year in 2016, for 21-50 employees. Vistra also was singled out in 2016 as the SBA South Florida District Veteran-Owned Small Business of the Year.

Last year, Vistra acquired Tampa-based Marketing Associates USA. The Tampa company is now a division of Vistra.

A shared interest in Trinity Café brought Butler together with Jeff Darrey, president of Marketing Associates.

Darrey founded Trinity Café, a nonprofit restaurant that feeds the homeless.

Butler believes that community service is a basic foundation of a successful business. To that end, he serves on several boards and committees, including Florida Hospital Tampa Foundation, Minority Enterprise Development Corporation, Mort Elementary School Cabinet and Conference of Minority Transportation Officials. He also is a founding member of USO (United Services Organization) Tampa Bay.

Butler is especially proud of the Laundry Project, an effort of the Florida nonprofit Current Initiatives.

Volunteers come to area coin laundries in Tampa Bay and pay for laundry fees, help with laundry services and create a community day.

“It’s part of my foundation and part of our company,” Butler said. “It’s exciting to make a difference right at home.”

Published May 2, 2018

Congresswoman plans forum to discuss new Cuba relations

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Of all the states directly affected by the change in diplomatic policy with Cuba, none are likely affected more than Florida.

U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Tampa, is planning a community forum in early 2015 that she hopes will help community leaders and residents learn more about what those changes mean as President Obama begins to “normalize” relations with Cuba.

“We will engage the entire community, and work toward positive change that America’s policy shift will provide,” Castor said, in a release, “Whether it is travel, trade, or cultural exchange opportunities.”

Castor is working with the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce and Tampa International Airport to put together there regional forum, although no formal date or time has been set as of yet.

“At the turn of the 20th century, Tampa was central to the Cuban independence movement,” Castor said. “Similarly, Tampa will lead the way in the coming years on the new opening for normalization of relations with Cuba. We have already made much progress, especially with establishing direct flights from Tampa to Cuba, and our numerous arts and cultural exchanges to build business and cooperative ties with Cuba.”

Obama has plans to lift restrictions on travel, commerce and financial activities. Over the next six months, the U.S. State Department will review Cuba’s place on the list of state sponsors of terrorism, and conduct discussions with Cuba relating to migration, according to a release.

On top of that, the U.S. Treasury Department will increase the amount of money that can be sent to Cubans each quarter from $500 to $2,000, and loosen bank restrictions as well.

The U.S. Commerce Department also will loosen an array of export limits, including the longstanding ban on popular items like Cuban cigars.

Some Republicans, including U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Miami, have opposed the new plan unveiled by the Obama administration last week. Rubio, whose family roots are in Cuba, claimed it’s not the decades-long embargo that is hurting the Cuban people in general, but a totalitarian regime.

His Kentucky colleague, however, Sen. Rand Paul, said the sanctions have not worked, and it’s time to change the American approach to Cuba. Some leaders in the Republican-controlled congress say they will try to block the administration’s plans for Cuba.