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Chamber chairman envisions new goals
By BRYAN GILMER, Times Staff Writer
ST. PETERSBURG -- Traditionally, the St. Petersburg Area Chamber of Commerce has focused on helping local businesses and left recruitment of new ones to local governments. Leroy Sullivan, the chamber's new chairman, wants that to change. "I think CEOs are much more comfortable talking to other CEOs who understand the nuances of running a business," he said. "I'm not sure government employees have the necessary experience, skill or knowledge base or credibility." That isn't all Sullivan would like to change. Sullivan disagrees with St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker's decision to label poor, predominantly black inner-city neighborhoods "Midtown," though he generally praises Baker's tenure as mayor. "If I could be king for a day, I would much rather have our community referred to as St. Pete or Pinellas County as opposed to referring to X or Y. It's divisive," Sullivan said. He doesn't stick to the boosterish, 100-percent-safe statements that characterize chambers of commerce. But Sullivan, 59, isn't a typical chamber chairman, either. He lives in Hillsborough County's Westchase community, not St. Petersburg. He's no lifelong Tampa Bay area resident, and he's only the second African-American to serve as chamber chairman. His challenge: Use a role whose main power is prestige to change the posture of the long-established organization. Sullivan began as chairman Oct. 1 after serving for one year as chairman-elect. So far, being direct doesn't seem to have hurt. Baker, a former chamber chairman, likes many of Sullivan's ideas. "Picking up the effort on business recruitment would be very valuable for us," Baker said. Sullivan has been best known as the chairman of the board of WorkNet Pinellas, the county's welfare and job placement agency. The county executive in charge of supervising the program was fired, and the day-to-day manager has faced repeated criticism. Sullivan says he is working to help end the problems, and a board member who has been a critic of WorkNet's problems agrees. "Between that and the chamber, he probably holds two of the highest profile volunteer roles in Pinellas County," said Russ Sloan, the chamber's executive director. Sullivan works as operations manager for the TECO People's Gas St. Petersburg division, which serves Pinellas, Pasco and Hernando counties. He is a director of the Florida International Museum in St. Petersburg and the Pinellas County Urban League. Even though the St. Petersburg establishment has often favored city residents more than outsiders, living in Hillsborough didn't hold back Sullivan when a small chamber nominating committee considered him for chairman. "No, not from my perspective," said Terry Brett, the immediate past chairman of the St. Petersburg Area Chamber, who was on the nominating committee. "It wasn't discussed." Sullivan said he volunteers so heavily in Pinellas "out of (TECO's) sense of corporate citizenship and my personal sense of being a good citizen." The Louisiana native and former resident of Fort Worth, Texas, moved to Tampa in 1994. He commuted to a special assignment in Miami for two of those years. Pinellas County Commissioner Ken Welch, who serves on the WorkNet board with Sullivan, has been vocal about problems he has observed within the agency. But Welch praised Sullivan's leadership and called him "contemplative, very thoughtful, very even-keeled, very thorough." Gena Cox, the managing consultant of Human Capital Resource Center, a business and industrial psychology firm, said she identified Sullivan as a potential mentor as soon as she met him through the chamber 21/2 years ago. "I realized he was a listener, someone with a steady reasonableness about him," she said. "I wouldn't describe him as bubbly, but I would describe him as warm." The chamber has been reaching out during the past several years to minority business people, especially since a competing Black Chamber of Commerce was formed. The chamber named its first black chairman, Rick Davis of Danka Office Imaging, to serve during 1995 and 1996. "If they felt that need, obviously our chamber was not doing our job and serving those needs," Brett said. "So I tried, and Leroy and I have worked very hard over the last year. There's nothing we would like more than to have one chamber in St. Pete." Sullivan said his appointment illustrates how black members of the chamber have the same opportunities as any member. But Black Chamber of Commerce leaders have insisted that their organization fills a different need and should remain. "What we do will speak louder than what we say," Sullivan said. "Having a person of color at the head of the organization does send the right message about diversity." All of Sullivan's community involvement leads some to speculate about whether he will run for public office some day. "I would love to see him serve," Welch said. "We need to get him over here in Pinellas." But Sullivan said he's not thinking of running. "You should never say never," he said. "But that's not on my radar screen."
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