The Tampa Bay Chamber presented Sandra Murman, the first Republican woman to serve as Speaker Pro-Tempore of the Florida House Chamber, the Dottie Berger MacKinnon Women of Influence Award March 30.<\/p>\n
The award is bestowed annually to an exemplary woman who demonstrates \u201coutstanding professional value\u201d and the ability to go above and beyond the normal expectations of a leader, according to the Tampa Bay Chamber.<\/p>\n
While Murman was recognized for her public service to Hillsborough County, her legacy extends throughout Florida politics. Even the award\u2019s namesake was part of that legacy, long before Murman received the award.<\/p>\n
\u201cDottie Berger MacKinnon and I started the journey to take care of foster kids many, many years ago,\u201d Murman said.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe went on her track. I went on the political track, because the legislature really makes a difference. And honestly, to get this award with her name on it means so much to me and it\u2019s so heartfelt.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the late \u201990s, shortly after Jeb Bush took office as Florida\u2019s governor, Murman championed shifting the child welfare system away from Tallahassee\u2019s grasp, specifically the Department of Children and Families, toward nonprofit organizations embedded in neighborhoods and communities.<\/p>\n
\u201cToo many kids were being removed from their homes,\u201d Murman said. \u201cHillsborough County was one of highest in the state for child removal.\u201d<\/p>\n
While that legislation passed, she noted it was not without pushback. \u201cFamilies didn\u2019t want their kids being the test case. It was a three-year pilot project,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
That work was part of a broader legislative career that spanned eight years in the Florida House, where Murman helped pass dozens of bills and secured funding for regional priorities, while working across policy areas that ranged from child welfare to healthcare and education.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn politics it\u2019s very difficult \u2026 there\u2019s always a food fight,\u201d she said, pointing to child welfare and transportation funding as some of the most contentious issues she worked through.<\/p>\n
Her approach was identifying the key drivers on both sides of an issue and working from their priorities to build consensus and move legislation forward.<\/p>\n
While she says nothing is a perfect system, that did not thwart her efforts. She continued to advocate for children, helping build the Children\u2019s Network, while her longtime friend MacKinnon built A Kid\u2019s Place of Tampa Bay.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou cannot deliver a perfect solution to an imperfect situation,\u201d Murman said, quoting Jeb Bush.<\/p>\n
That same approach carried into another focus of her career: advancing women in leadership.<\/p>\n
Murman said she worked intentionally to build pathways for women in government, particularly during her time in Tallahassee, where she navigated what she described as a male-dominated environment.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I first got elected, I didn\u2019t know anything about politics,\u201d she said. \u201cI needed more women around me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rather than forcing change from the top down, Murman focused on building networks in politics and mentoring women into positions difficult for women to traditionally enter.<\/p>\n
\u201cI worked hard to advise and mentor, worked hard to get women on committees, so they could rise up,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
That work continues today through mentorship and initiatives like Women\u2019s Exchange, a group aimed at helping women secure appointments to boards and leadership roles, which Murman manages through her firm, Shumaker, Loop and Kendrick, LLP.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we have the opportunity to tell our success stories, others will follow,\u201d Murman closed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Tampa Bay Chamber presented Sandra Murman, the first Republican woman to serve as Speaker Pro-Tempore of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":214875,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-214874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214874","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=214874"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214874\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/214875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}