About Us
Leadership Coalition
Leadership Coalition is comprised of business, faith, and philanthropic regional leaders. This coalition is committed to reducing the number of opioid overdoses and deaths by encourage collaboration; stir up public interest, and visibly supporting the solutions available and working in our communities.
David Pizzo
Chair, Leadership Coalition
Market President
Florida Blue
Bemetra Simmons
President & CEO
Tampa Bay Partnership
Lainie Fox Ackerman
Assistant Vice President, External Affairs & Community Benefit
Orlando Health
Brian Auld
President
Tampa Bay Rays and Tampa Bay Rowdies
Bridgette Bello
CEO & Publisher
Tampa Bay Business & Wealth
Jennifer Bouzid
MFNI/NICU Nursing Director
Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital
Brian Butler
President & CEO
Vistra
Ladonna Butler
Founder & CEO
The Well for Life, LLC and New Visions of The Well, Inc.
Chris Cavello
Founder
The Robin Foundation
Lisa Kirkland
Assistant Vice President Community Engagement
HCA West Florida Division
Robin DeLaVergne
Senior Vice President External Affairs
Tampa General Hospital
Alan Hill
Director of Corporate Security and Emergency Management
Tampa Electric Company
Chris Cavello
Founder
The Robin Foundation
Amy Maguire
Executive Vice President of State and Local Affairs
Shumaker Advisors
Patrick Manteiga
Owner & Publisher
La Gaceta
Russell Meyer
Executive Director
Florida Council of Churches
J.C. Pritchett
President/Executive Director
Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance of Saint Petersburg Inc.
Jenine Rabin
Executive Vice President
Johns Hopkins All Children’s Foundation
Amy Ronshausen
Executive Director
Drug Free America Foundation, Inc.
Gail Ryder
Vice President, Behavioral Health
BayCare Health System
Rania Shehata
Vice President, Americas General Counsel
Tech Data Corporation
Marlene Spalten
President & CEO
Community Foundation of Tampa Bay
Stephanie Stanfield
SVP, Wealth Executive Regions Private Wealth Management
Regions
John Strong
Chairman/CEO
Bankers Financial Corporation
Staff
Jennifer Webb
Executive Director
Sean Daniels
Anti-Stigma Project Director
Yvette Kojic
Communications and Community Outreach Director
Kai Jenkins
Community Liaison
Hillsborough and Polk Counties
Darryl Henderson
Community Liaison
Pinellas and Pasco Counties
Stakeholder Coalition
The Stakeholder Coalition is consists of the county-wide leaders of our efforts to reduce opioid-related fatalities and to create healthier and safer communities. Opioid Taskforces, large nonprofits, law enforcement agencies, county health departments, and research institutions all make up this coalition. The members of this coalition are building a more integrated regional response to the opioid epidemic by:
Responding to the opioid epidemic by:
- 5Sharing successes and rolling out best practices that are working in our region
- 5Discussing what is not working and brainstorm solutions that will help our communities
- 5Sharing much-needed information
- 5Requesting targeted support from the Leadership Coalition
Citrus
Hillsborough
Hernando
Pinellas
Pasco
Polk
Manatee
Sarasota
Sponsors
Live Tampa Bay is part of a statewide initiative funded by Florida Blue Foundation and brought to the Tampa Bay Region by the Tampa Bay Partnership. Project Opioid initiatives bring together business, faith, and philanthropic leaders with the singular goal of drastically reducing the number of opioid-related fatalities. In addition to Tampa Bay, Project Opioid initiatives are being launched in key markets throughout Florida — Central Florida, Jacksonville, Miami-Dade County, Broward County, and Palm Beach County.
Florida Blue Foundation
Florida Blue Foundation enables healthy communities by making grants, building coalitions, and embracing solutions that create a meaningful impact in our communities. More than 6.5 million Floridians have received services as a result of our community investments since its founding in 2001. The Florida Blue Foundation is focused on engagement with our communities around mental well-being, health equity, food security and generational poverty. It is a trade name of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida Foundation, Inc., an Independent Licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.
Tampa Bay Partnership
The Tampa Bay Partnership is a coalition of regional business leaders, joined by a shared commitment to improving the personal and economic well-being of Tampa Bay residents. Formally incorporated in 1994, and re-established in 2016 as a regional research and public policy organization, the Partnership works with Tampa Bay’s top employers, and a diverse group of government and nonprofit partners, to identify and address our region’s greatest challenges and create new opportunities for the future.
Project Opioid
Project Opioid was founded in 2018 in response to the raging opioid epidemic that claimed the lives of nearly 450,000 people across America in one decade. Since then, the COVID-19 pandemic has driven the opioid crisis to unprecedented heights, creating the greatest mental health, substance abuse, and overdose crisis in U.S. history. The startling new data on opioid overdose and death calls for leaders to embrace a different approach to solving the opioid epidemic.
Get Informed
Live Tampa Bay is committed to performing in-depth research about the opioid epidemic and the availability of evidence-based treatments and best practices in our region.
