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Professionals Network Expands To Clearwater

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By DAVE SIMANOFF, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 26, 2007

CLEARWATER - A networking and leadership group for young professionals in Tampa is heading across the Courtney Campbell causeway.

Emerge Tampa, the initiative launched three years ago by the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce to engage and nurture a new generation of local leaders, is expanding into Pinellas County.

The group said Thursday that it's changing its name to Emerge Tampa Bay to reflect its growing geographic reach. It will be overseen by both the Tampa chamber, which founded it, and the Clearwater Regional Chamber of Commerce, which proposed the Emerge expansion this year after studying alternatives for its own leadership development group for young professionals.

'There is no reason for us to reinvent the wheel,' said Bud Elias, chairman of the Clearwater chamber, announcing the interbay Emerge partnership Thursday afternoon. Elias praised Emerge as the premiere program for young professionals in the state.

For one thing, the cost of joining Emerge will become less expensive for a lot of people. Emerge's dues are $50 for members whose employers belong to the Tampa chamber, and $75 for everyone else. Now that Emerge is backed by both the Tampa and Clearwater chambers, people whose employers belong to either chamber will be eligible for the lower dues.

For another, the Emerge partnership is a reminder that chambers on both sides of the Bay can work together to reach common goals.

'For too long, we've been separated by a body of water,' said Fred McClure, chairman of the Tampa chamber.

'This can't but help everybody,' he said.

Candace Cusseaux, one of Emerge's incoming co-chairs, said she's excited that the organization is taking a regional approach. Cusseaux is an office brokerage assistant at Cushman & Wakefield in Tampa.

'If you think about it, there are many individuals that live on one side of the Bay and work on the other,' she said.

The Tampa chamber founded Emerge in 2004 after a study found that many young professionals were dissatisfied with the creative, working and urban environment in the Tampa Bay area. The study said young professionals might be tempted to leave the Tampa Bay area for more exciting metropolitan areas, such as Atlanta or Miami. Emerge Tampa was designed to help young professionals network with each other and become involved in civic leadership.

Reporter Dave Simanoff can be reached at (813) 259-7762 or dsimanoff@tampatrib.com.

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