LEADERSHIP
TCBusiness.com 17
in the workplace. Panelists shared
expertise on how to create a welcoming
environment for employees from varying
demographics and took questions from
the audience on how to establish business
practices that promote inclusion and
marketplace diversity.
The panelists included Ralph Campbell,
CEO of Learning Optimized; Cynthia Johnson,
director of the Florida Small Business
Development Center of Pinellas County;
Robert Kaiser, director of people and culture
at KnowBe4; and Margaret Delmont
Sanchez, CEO of MagnifyFund.
CONFERENCE SPONSORS
The conference’s premium sponsor was
Florida Small Business Development Network.
Its sponsorship helped to fund the
business resiliency workshop track that
was created to address the needs of small
business owners that arose during the
pandemic. These sessions included presentations
covering growth and sustainability,
risk mitigation, strategic planning,
cybersecurity and more.
The Florida SBDC at Indian River State
College also attended and participated
by taping and producing segments of
the center’s statewide podcast, Small Biz
Florida, during the conference. Featuring
entrepreneurs and Florida business
leaders, Small Biz Florida is designed and
produced to highlight and promote business
assistance resources. These Small
Biz Florida conference episodes can be
accessed through Spotify, podbean.com or
Apple podcasts.
Additional sponsors included the Better
Business Bureau serving Southeast Florida
and the Caribbean, the Better Business
Bureau serving West Florida, Florida
Power & Light, the National Development
Council, Coach My Strengths, Florida
Capital Bank, Regions Bank, Veterans
Florida and Florida Trend.
Visit sblconference.com for more information
about the Small Business Leadership
Conference.
Jim Moran Institute for Global
Entrepreneurship
The institute cultivates, trains and inspires
entrepreneurial leaders through world-class
executive education, applied training, public
recognition and leading-edge research.
Jim Moran was an automotive pioneer
and an entrepreneur at heart who, at the
age of 7, sold soda pop at sandlot baseball
games in Chicago. With a career that
spanned more than six decades, he built an
amazing chronicle of achievements in the
automobile industry.
His vision for the Jim Moran Institute was
to provide opportunities that would help
others become more successful business
owners. A 1995 contribution from Jim and
Jan Moran and JM Family Enterprises established
the Jim Moran Institute for Global
Entrepreneurship at the Florida State University
College of Business. Since 2011, further
enhancements to the Jim Moran Institute
and its outreach have been made possible by
Jan Moran and The Jim Moran Foundation.
Visit jimmoraninstitute.fsu.edu for more
information. v
Amanda Brinkman, creator, producer and host of
Small Business Revolution, stressed how important
it is to communicate with customers.
The conference’s closing presentation on diversity and inclusion was presented by, left to right, Ralph
Campbell, Cynthia Johnson, Robert Kaiser and Margaret Delmont Sanchez.
Team members, left to right, Herbert Ricardo, Linda Gonzalez, Tom Kindred and Katie Muldoon from
Indian River State College produced the statewide podcast Small Biz Florida during the conference.
/TCBusiness.com
/podbean.com
/sblconference.com