Brian Glazer, owner of the Vinoy and co-chairman of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, said St. Petersburg continues attracting \u201centrepreneurs, families, creators and builders\u201d because it is \u201cgrowing thoughtfully, not randomly.\u201d The challenge is maintaining and building upon that success.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe believe the future of St. Pete is incredibly bright, not because of any single project, but because of the collective vision, leadership and pride that define the city,\u201d Glazer said. \u201cThe Vinoy is just one piece of a bigger story \u2013 a story of growth, culture, business and community coming together, in a powerful way.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/127th-annual-meeting-Chamber-crowd-1024x576.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
A sold-out crowd filled the Grand Ballroom at the Vinoy Resort & Golf Club.<\/p>\n
Mayor Ken Welch continued the theme. He said there are \u201cfew other rooms where you can feel the energy and momentum of our city as clearly as you can in this one.\u201d<\/p>\n
Welch noted that Christ Steionocher, CEO of the chamber, exudes that energy and passion<\/a> for St. Petersburg\u2019s community, regardless of recent challenges. The city has a rich history of collaboration between the public and private sectors, he said.<\/p>\n Dr. Robin Roark, senior partner at McKinsey & Company<\/a> and the event\u2019s keynote speaker, then drove the point home. He provided a data-driven look at the momentum building across St. Petersburg and highlighted hurdles that could prevent it from becoming a movement.<\/p>\n McKinsey & Company, the world\u2019s largest and oldest of the \u201cBig Three\u201d management consulting firms, embodies the city\u2019s trajectory. Roark said the St. Petersburg office opened 15 years ago with 20 people; it now has over 1,400.<\/p>\n He used Nashville and Phoenix as case studies. The former city grew exponentially over the past 20 years due to anchor institutions and a favorable business environment, Roark said.<\/p>\n Job creation rates surpass population gains, helping Nashville sustain its upward trajectory. Roark credited Phoenix\u2019s growth spurt over the same period to real estate speculation rather than anchor institutions.<\/p>\n He said population increases outpaced the number of new jobs in the latter city, and momentum stalled. \u201cMore importantly \u2026 you saw that Phoenix was less resilient, in terms of its growth, during periods of stress.\u201d<\/p>\n Roark added that \u201cthe question then becomes, what is a strong economy, and what defines a city?\u201d After analyzing roughly 600 metropolitan areas, he found that \u201cseven things matter.\u201d<\/p>\n Those include a \u201cdynamic industry mix,\u201d innovation engines, a \u201cbroad, deep and self-sustaining talent base,\u201d significant density, well-delivered public services, a top-ranked quality of life and a global impact, Roark said.<\/p>\n Dr. Robin Roark, senior partner at McKinsey & Company, was the event\u2019s keynote speaker.<\/p>\n He believes St. Petersburg checks most of those boxes. Roark credited the area\u2019s economic and population growth, density, an \u201copportunity\u201d for job and talent growth, a \u201crapidly maturing\u201d academic system and a focus on innovation.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, the point here is St. Petersburg, today, is starting from an immense place of strength,\u201d he said. \u201cThat plays out in the numbers.\u201d<\/p>\n However, hurdles to sustaining a movement remain. Many local incomes do not align with soaring housing costs.<\/p>\n Roark provided three ideas for creating \u201can even stronger future.\u201d The first was to foster a homegrown talent pipeline that aligns with target industries rather than relying on transplants.<\/p>\n \u201cThe second is we have a very dynamic sector mix, but I would argue that we have a lot of fragmentation,\u201d Roark continued. \u201cWe don\u2019t have the scale of industry and businesses that you see in other cities.\u201d<\/p>\n He advocated for \u201cdisruptive collaboration,\u201d where organizations partner \u201cin a way that is non-competitive, but that builds strength.\u201d That includes sharing capabilities, insight and talent pools.<\/p>\n Roark concluded by stressing the importance of leveraging artificial intelligence (AI). He said St. Petersburg is well-positioned to capitalize on \u201croughly $1 trillion of value that is on the table for AI innovation across the U.S. economy.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe question for history then becomes, do you want to be a taker of technology and change, or do you want to be either a maker or a shaper of technology and change?\u201d<\/p>\n Roark also advocated for a local version<\/a> of North Carolina\u2019s Research Triangle<\/a>, additional startup support and a business ecosystem that fosters sustainability, innovation and talent. \u201cSt. Petersburg is prime,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the end of the day, it\u2019s the leaders in this room that will define what the growth looks like and what the economy is in the future,\u201d Roark concluded. \u201cI\u2019m incredibly excited by this moment. I think we will turn this moment into a movement.\u201d<\/p>\n Other chamber news:<\/p>\n Patrick Causey, an attorney with Trenam Law, was named the 2025 Member of the Year for his leadership, advocacy, engagement and commitment to the community. \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A sold-out crowd of approximately 400 people heard how St. Petersburg can turn its momentum into a sustainable…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":136591,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":{"0":"post-136590","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-st-petersburg","8":"tag-st-pete","9":"tag-st-pete-headlines","10":"tag-st-pete-news","11":"tag-st-petersburg","12":"tag-st-petersburg-headlines","13":"tag-st-petersburg-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136590","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136590"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136590\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/136591"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Dr.-Robin-Roark-2-1024x728.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\nMatt Lettelleir, local government and public policy manager, will oversee the annual Thinking Outside the \u2018Burg benchmarking trip to New Orleans.
\nOutgoing board chair Owen LaFave, Pinellas County market president for The Bank of Tampa, passed the gavel to Roy Binger, founder of Binger Financial Services.<\/p>\n