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By Paul Guzzo, University Communications and Marketing

When an aeronautical firm toured the ��ҹ��Ƭ while considering expanding to Tampa Bay, the lead engineer was impressed by a hallway photo of a high-tech sailboat.

Beatriz Bare, then with the Tampa Bay Economic Development Council, said a dean opened a nearby office and said, “Meet the man who developed that.”

The unscripted moment led the company to open an office in Tampa Bay to tap into that expertise.

It was the kind of exchange that economic recruiters say has become routine for USF.

“Businesses realize they can build a future in Tampa Bay because of USF,” said Bare, now a USF Research Foundation board member.

As USF marks its 70th anniversary, a new economic impact report estimates the university generates nearly $7 billion annually in Tampa Bay.

Meanwhile, Site Selection magazine ranked Tampa among the top five U.S. cities for corporate headquarters, citing its skilled workforce.

These accomplishments demonstrate how USF and the region are intertwined, with the university serving as a talent pipeline that draws companies — which in turn attract students.

For Phil Pace, who moved to Tampa to attend USF in the 1990s and has spent his career building one of the region’s largest public companies, that pipeline is personal.

“USF builds fundamentals — discipline, work ethic and the ability to collaborate,” said Pace, a USF graduate and chief accounting officer at Bloomin’ Brands. “Those habits carry into the boardroom, shaping how leaders build teams and make decisions.”

Transforming downtown Tampa

Downtown Tampa may be the strongest symbol of USF’s relationship with the region, said Pam Iorio, Tampa’s mayor from 2003–2011.

When USF opened in 1956, the skyline was modest.

Growth unfolded over decades, but downtown’s momentum accelerated in 2012 with the opening of USF’s $38 million Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation.

“It changed how people viewed downtown, and its innovation became a real selling point for us as we sought to bring new industry,” said Iorio, a USF graduate.. “It was also a precursor to the larger medical center there.”

A few years later, developer Jeff Vinik offered USF land in the Water Street district, catalyzing the move of the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine and Heart Institute downtown. The 13‑story facility opened in 2020 and now anchors Water Street.

“What’s good for Tampa is good for USF,” Iorio said, “and vice versa.”

This connection didn’t appear overnight but grew from a series of decisions.

The turning points that changed everything

Few have seen that evolution more closely than Marvin Karlins, who has been a professor in the ��ҹ��Ƭ School of Management since 1974.

“At that time, neither USF nor Tampa drew the business community,” Karlins said. “If we were lucky, we got outer offices — not corporate headquarters.”

That changed in the 1990s when USF fully embraced its transition from a teaching institution to a research university, Karlins said. “It was a 180‑degree turn. Research brought money, prestige and expertise — and caught companies’ attention.”

Another inflection point came in 1999, when then‑USF President Betty Castor and three deans joined the Tampa Bay Chamber of Commerce board, said former USF President Rhea Law, then the chamber’s president.

“That gave the business community a window into what partnership with USF could look like,” Law said. “��ҹ��Ƭ stepped into the region’s economic conversation.”

Momentum carried into Judy Genshaft’s presidency from 2000–2019 when she embraced the university’s role in corporate recruitment.

“I knew that if USF got stronger as a research university, it attracted talent, investment and opportunity,” Genshaft said, “and lifted Tampa Bay.”

Fueling the talent pipeline 

Corporate recruitment is led by the Tampa Bay Economic Development Council, which manages relocation inquiries and organizes site visits that include campus tours and meetings with university leaders.

“That’s when we shine,” said Craig Richard, the EDC’s president and CEO. “USF is at the table with us before the table is even set.”

In one case, Bare said a biopharmaceutical prospect was skeptical of the area’s talent pipeline — until a USF professor, from vague hints, correctly identified a confidential process the company was developing.

“It was clear that the exchange that followed helped convince company executives that USF could not only provide them with excellent job applicants, but that they could partner with a university that was eager to offer and provide interdisciplinary research resources,” Bare said.

Another time, a financial services firm questioned if the region’s talent could support their company if they had an office here. Prepared, Bare placed a box on the table and dumped out hundreds of ��ҹ��Ƭ student résumés she’d collected in advance.

“The pipeline wasn’t theoretical,” Bare said.

And, as USF has matured, graduates have returned as architects of that pipeline.

Alumni who built, then reinvested

Class of 1966 graduates Les and Pam Muma credit the faculty’s open‑door culture with shaping their success. Les Muma went on to cofound Fortune 500 financial‑technology firm Fiserv.

“We had plenty of mentors,” Pam Muma said.

Former athletic director Dick Bowers reconnected the Mumas to USF, drawing them into financially supporting programs. Years later, the Mumas deepened their engagement with the business college, culminating in 2014 with a $25 million gift to name the USF Muma College of Business.

“We weren’t interested in just having a building with our name,” Les Muma said. “We wanted a great business school that produced qualified graduates — it’s accomplishing that.”

“We are grateful for Pam and Les Muma, who saw the College of Business was like a rocket on the launch pad – engines built, countdown underway,” said USF President Moez Limayem, then-dean of the college. “They recognized a strategic inflection point, a very good business school poised to become an elite college of business. Their transformational investment accelerated the ascent.”

The Mumas’ investment did more than elevate a college. It signaled to other alumni that this was a moment to build alongside USF.

Alumna Lynn Pippenger named the School of Accountancy and other major gifts followed.

Alumna Elizabeth Krystyn’s gift fueled the development of a risk management program that is helping fill a talent gap in the insurance industry.

A 1987 graduate, she cofounded The Baldwin Group, a national insurance advisory firm.

In 2022, Krystyn and her partners made a $5.2 million gift to establish The Baldwin Group School of Risk Management and Insurance, designed to graduate students with practical experience.

“This was about investing in the future of our industry,” Krystyn said.

Today, the Baldwin Group employs nearly 100 USF graduates plus interns.

And Arnie Bellini, who earned his MBA in 1982, built ConnectWise into a billion‑dollar technology company, selling it for $1.5 billion and creating 74 millionaires — many who joined the company as USF interns.

Bellini’s USF gifts total more than $57 million and have been used to establish the Bellini Center for Talent Development, which provides students access to holistic career programming, and the Bellini College of Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity and Computing, which prepares students to become the workforce – positioning Tampa Bay to be recognized as the industry hub, “CyberBay.”

“Silicon Valley didn’t happen by accident,” Bellini said. “Universities pushed talent and innovation into the economy. That’s what USF can do.”

That idea is already more practice than concept.

Internships that power industries

Through off‑campus ReliaQuest Labs, USF interns receive hands‑on cybersecurity training, and more than 300 graduates have been hired by global cybersecurity company ReliaQuest since 2017–18.

“USF is a key talent pipeline,” said Kim Hill, ReliaQuest’s chief of staff, a USF graduate and former vice president for communications and marketing and chief marketing officer for USF.

USF’s internship programs increasingly function as on-ramps to professional life, embedding students inside companies early and intentionally.

The Muma College formally partners with roughly 200 companies.

At one, AmeriLife, ��ҹ��Ƭ students make up most summer interns and are treated as professionals, not observers, said Kiersten Burstiner, the company’s chief human resources officer. “They’re not getting coffee. They have a seat at the table and real responsibility. That hunger and communication skills bring new ideas and immediate contributions, and many convert to full‑time roles here.”

USF doesn’t just educate entrepreneurs — it helps build them.

Driving measurable growth

In faculty‑guided MBA and upper‑level courses, student teams tackle live business challenges, often delivering solutions companies implement immediately.

At Sun State International Trucks, a six‑location operation with more than 250 employees, that approach paid off.

When Sun State president and USF Trustee Oscar Horton needed to overhaul sales training, he turned to the university.

“This wasn’t theoretical,” Horton said. “��ҹ��Ƭ students took on a real business problem, built a real solution, and we put it into practice. That sales program is still how we train our people today.”

By early 2025, Sun State was on track to reach $250 million in revenue, up from $160 million in 2019.

“That’s experiential learning,” said David Blackwell, the Lynn Pippenger Dean of the Muma College of Business. “Students solve real problems for real organizations — experience that goes straight onto their résumés while helping companies in real time. It’s one of many reasons so many companies choose to locate in Tampa Bay — because USF is here, and we work together.”