Ron Christaldi, a business lawyer for Shumaker and a Tampa Bay community leader, has been named board chair for Leadership Florida for the 2024-25 year.
As chair, Christaldi will lead the statewide organization through ongoing efforts to drive progress and innovation throughout Florida.
Created in 1982 by the Florida Chamber of Commerce, Leadership Florida provides various education programs to develop not just leadership skills, but a sense of statewide community through education, community service, speaker engagement and other statewide activities, including visits to the state capitol during Legislative Session.
Christaldi views the chairmanship as an opportunity to build on his already robust community involvement.
"Leadership Florida provides an opportunity to infuse ethics, character and collaboration back into leadership across the state," Christaldi told Florida Politics.
He's careful not to overextend his own leadership — Christaldi already serves on numerous boards, including as incoming chair for the Tampa Bay Economic Development Corporation, membership on the Florida Council of 100, as Vice Chair of the New College Board of Trustees and as Vice Chair of the Tampa Museum of Art Board of Trustees.
"The combination of these opportunities puts me and Shumaker in a position to really have the network statewide to foster leadership and drive economic development," Christaldi said, adding that his goal is to leave the state better than he found it.
Though make no mistake, Christaldi has plenty of service left to offer the Tampa Bay region and Florida as a whole.
"Ron is a community builder to his core. Whether it is at the local level or now, at the helm of Leadership Florida, he embodies the core tenets of the mission to leave a state to our children that is better than what was given to us," said Bob Buckhorn, Shumaker Advisors Executive Vice President and Principal U.S. Cities Practice, former Mayor of Tampa, and member of Leadership Florida Cornerstone Class Seven.
As an attorney with Shumaker, Christaldi practices in both transactions and complex litigation, work that has earned him national recognition. Christaldi was selected as one of the Nation's 100 Most Influential Attorneys. He was also named to the Tampa Bay Business Journal's Power 100 list four consecutive years.
He said he's excited, not to mention honored and humbled, for the opportunity to drive progress for Leadership Florida in the coming year. It's an especially opportune time to take the helm, too, in the midst of a presidential year that, by most standards, is shaping up to be the most contentious in modern history.
Leadership Florida is not a political organization. It's classes are staffed by a diverse group of professionals from both public and private sectors, and non- and for-profit organizations. It's students come from various races and ethnicities, genders, socio-economic backgrounds and, overall, all walks of life. So that means a lot of different ideologies together in the room at any given time.
But at a point when division is at an all time high, Christaldi welcomes the opportunity to bridge those differences.
"It's all about building relationships," Christaldi said. "If what we do in the world is all transactional we're not enriched in the same way and we're not impactful in the same way. If we're able to build relationships and trust, then we have the opportunity to make significant impact. That's what Leadership Florida is all about."
Christaldi also considers himself fortunate to work for a firm that values opportunities such as Leadership Florida. One of his colleagues, St. Petersburg Managing Partner Mindi Richter, has been selected for Leadership Florida's Cornerstone Class 42.
"As we opened our new Shumaker office in St. Petersburg this year, we are proud to continue our legacy and commitment to Leadership Florida," she said. "Our dedication to shaping the future of St. Pete and Florida motivates us every day."
Shumaker has had numerous employees participate in one of Leadership Florida's four programs. It offers the most well-known, the Cornerstone program, which is available to established professionals, usually in the 40s or older, who have already navigated the various complexities of the industries they serve. There is also the Connect program, available to younger professionals still growing in their sectors. The Executive Class is a truncated program available for high level executives, affording them similar benefits as the Cornerstone program, but with a less intense time and travel commitment. And there's an Educator program for, as the name suggests, teachers and other educational staff.
"What I've come to realize is that there are a lot of people who I stand on the shoulders of, a lot of people who helped me and mentored me along the way," Christaldi said. It's easy to continue to stand on the shoulders of others and not hoist anyone up on your shoulders; it's difficult to mentor other people and bring other people in and spread that wealth of wisdom, but I'm making a very conscious effort to be that mentor for others.
Leadership Florida, he said, is a great place to start.
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