{"id":1806,"date":"2025-10-14T08:16:26","date_gmt":"2025-10-14T08:16:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/1806\/"},"modified":"2025-10-14T08:16:26","modified_gmt":"2025-10-14T08:16:26","slug":"tampa-leadership-gary-hartfield-on-service-and-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/1806\/","title":{"rendered":"Tampa leadership: Gary Hartfield on service and community"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gary Hartfield is no stranger to leadership. As a father, entrepreneur, landlord and longtime community advocate, he has built a reputation for pairing business acumen with a heart for service.<\/p>\n

As Tampa Bay Business & Wealth\u2019s September cover star<\/a>, he sat down with Bridgette Bello, CEO and publisher of TBBW<\/a>, at CEO Connect<\/a> to reflect on leadership, community impact and the challenges facing Tampa Bay. What follows is a slightly edited version of the conversation.<\/p>\n

READ GARY\u2019S STORY: Tampa business leader Gary Hartfield considering run for mayor<\/a><\/p>\n

Bello: Mr. September, what\u2019s it been like being our cover star this month?<\/p>\n

Hartfield: It\u2019s been phenomenal \u2014 truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Bridgette and the team<\/a>, along with Jason and Jolynn, captured an intimate, personal story and shared it with a trusted partner. The sponsors and the crowd here tonight reflect your ability to tell a powerful story. My kids even read it and asked, \u201cWho were you talking about?\u201d<\/p>\n

Thank you for the opportunity. And yes \u2014 you\u2019ve now ensured I\u2019m the only guy who\u2019s ever handed you roses on the CEO Connect stage.<\/p>\n

Bello: This room is full of leaders. You wanted to talk about leadership. How do you define it, and what shaped the way you lead?<\/p>\n

Hartfield: I think about leadership across my roles as a father, community advocate and entrepreneur. I align with three characteristics often attributed to Bishop Desmond Tutu:<\/p>\n

\u25cf\u00a0 Service: A leader serves selflessly on behalf of the people.
\u25cf\u00a0 Sacrifice: If a leader isn\u2019t giving more of themselves to the cause and those they lead, they may be in the wrong role.
\u25cf\u00a0 Inspiration with direction: Not generic inspiration \u2014 capturing people\u2019s aspirations and inspiring them to reach them.<\/p>\n

Those three threads run through our businesses, families and communities. I ask myself every morning: How am I living those three?<\/p>\n

Bello: What\u2019s the most urgent issue facing Tampa, and what leadership is needed to tackle it?<\/p>\n

Hartfield: Housing affordability. Before COVID, our wages were relatively low, but housing was relatively affordable. Now you must factor four variables \u2014 principal, interest, insurance and taxes \u2014 and insurance and tax costs have jumped.<\/p>\n

Stable, attainable housing underpins student performance, workforce stability, tax base growth and social capital. Get housing right and you strengthen everything else.<\/p>\n

On transportation, we\u2019re not yet ready for full light rail. First, maximize PSTA and HART bus ridership and performance. Then, as Brightline expands, go to Tallahassee and D.C. with the results and make the rail case.<\/p>\n

Bello: I\u2019ve lived the affordability squeeze personally \u2014 my college-educated daughter left because she couldn\u2019t afford to live here. If talent leaves, it weakens our business base and recruiting power. Now is the time to act.<\/p>\n

Bello: What solutions do you bring from your own experience?<\/p>\n

Hartfield: I\u2019m a father, an entrepreneur who built from the ground up, a commercial property owner and an insurance agency owner. That gives me:<\/p>\n

\u25cf\u00a0 Empathy and a practical P&L lens.<\/p>\n

\u25cf\u00a0 A view of how Triple Net Lease passthroughs hit small tenants. If a Thai restaurant pays $12,000 a month and my building\u2019s insurance rises 50 to 75 percent, their share can jump from about $2,500 to about $7,500 a year. Add rising property taxes and their margin disappears.
\u25cf\u00a0 A balanced approach to wages and viability. Raising the minimum is good, but businesses also shoulder payroll taxes, benefits and soaring health care costs. Policy can\u2019t be unilateral; it must be integrated so employers remain viable.<\/p>\n

And yes \u2014 I\u2019m the guy who signs the front of the paycheck.<\/p>\n

Bello: Name one bold priority you\u2019d pursue as mayor.<\/p>\n

Hartfield: Public safety, defined broadly. It\u2019s not just policing; it\u2019s economic inclusion. Bring CareerSource Tampa Bay, HART, banks and civic partners into underserved neighborhoods so people have real pathways \u2014 training, transit, capital \u2014 so that \u201coperating illegally\u201d isn\u2019t the only perceived option. Safer, opportunity-rich neighborhoods attract and retain employers.<\/p>\n

Bello: When people think of your impact, what do you hope they associate with your name?<\/p>\n

Hartfield: A heart for service. I\u2019ve tried to pour into others \u2014 through formal and informal learning, building businesses and then returning that value via board service with groups like CareerSource Tampa Bay, HART, United Way Suncoast and BayCare.<\/p>\n

An old Rotary line sums it up: \u201cHe who profits most must serve best.\u201d As I\u2019ve earned and profited, I\u2019ve tried to serve best.\u201d<\/p>\n

A look inside TBBW\u2019s CEO Connect<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"Gary<\/p>\n

\"Gary<\/p>\n

\"Gary<\/p>\n

\"Gary<\/p>\n

\"Bridgette<\/p>\n

\"Gary<\/p>\n

\"Bridgette<\/p>\n

\"Panelists<\/p>\n

\"Audience<\/p>\n

\"Jason<\/p>\n

\"Gary<\/p>\n

\"Jason<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

\"TBBW<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Stay Connected:<\/p>\n

Sign up for TBBW\u2019s newsletter<\/a><\/p>\n

Follow TBBW on social media<\/a><\/p>\n

Read more TBBW stories<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gary Hartfield is no stranger to leadership. As a father, entrepreneur, landlord and longtime community advocate, he has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1807,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[2430,385,135,137,136],"class_list":["post-1806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-ceo-connect","tag-featured-business-news","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1806","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=1806"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1806\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}