By FRED W. WRIGHT JR.
Published September 22, 2003
As the first full-time executive director of Florida Venture Forum, which is designed to give entrepreneurs in Florida an opportunity to gain access to the venture capital market, Robin A. Kovaleski is getting to know the state quite well.
As a one-person operation, she must coordinate all of the forum's activities, monthly meetings and annual conference, including the next one scheduled for January. Founded in 1984, the Florida Venture Forum has been run previously by a part-time executive director.
"It's a statewide position, so I've been doing a lot of traveling throughout the state," she said. "There's more travel now to meet all of the board members and to build relationships with other groups around the state."
The primary purpose of the forum, Kovaleski said, is to become "a conduit, a one-stop shop for that matchup to occur" between fledgling Florida businesses and venture capital.
"I'm a big proponent of entrepreneurship," she said, "both my own and other companies. It's a great love of mine. Being able to help companies to grow their business and have access to capital is very interesting."
Kovaleski previously served for 21/2 years as president of the HPC Group, a public relations, corporate and financial communications company in Tampa. Prior to that, she was with Tucker Hall, a public relations company in Tampa, and worked in corporate communications with Breed Technologies in Lakeland and Sykes Enterprises in Tampa.
She moved to Florida in 1996 to join Sykes from Charlotte, N.C., where she ran her own public relations and marketing company.
"One of my strengths is that I am a good communicator, and helping companies communicate their message I find very rewarding for me. I feel that translates well to the Florida Venture Forum."
Kovaleski earned a bachelor's degree in 1982 from Appalachian State University in Boone, N.C., with a double major in English and environmental politics. She later earned a master's degree in English from the University of North Carolina in Charlotte, in 1991.
"There's a natural outgrowth of my educational training in dealing with people and communicating different messages to different audiences," she said. "I'm a big proponent of a liberal arts education; the skills learned are transferable to many careers."
Kovaleski is active in the Tampa Bay area community. She is a member of the Appalachian State University Foundation Board, serving as chairwoman of the advancement committee. She is also secretary and a member of the executive committee of the board of directors of the Outback Bowl, and she serves on the executive committees of the board of directors of both Junior Achievement of West Central Florida and Leadership Tampa Alumni.
Florida Venture Forum is the state's leading statewide support group for venture capitalists and entrepreneurs. As an entrepreneurial networking group, the forum educates "angel" investors and entrepreneurs and assists entrepreneurs in identifying sources of venture capital. Each January, the forum presents the Florida Venture Capital Conference. Next year's will be at the Peabody Hotel in Orlando.
From 1984 to 1990, the Florida Venture Forum was administered by a part-time staff at the University of Miami. From 1990 until Kovaleski's appointment, an independent contractor, Becker Consulting Services, acted as the forum's part-time executive director. Becker Consulting will remain involved handling event planning and public relations for the 2004 Florida Venture Capital Conference in January.
Kovaleski, 41, admits to a full schedule. "You learn to leverage your time wisely," she said. "You make time to enjoy the things you enjoy doing."
