Big Brothers Big Sisters moving headquarters to Tampa thanks to Pam Iorio and the EDC
By Jamal Thalji
Tampa Bay Times
Published: Jan 7, 2015

TAMPA - Big Brothers Big Sisters of America is moving its national headquarters to Tampa for one very important reason: It's the hometown of its president and CEO, former Mayor Pam Iorio.

Iorio was hired in 2014 to steady the nonprofit. She committed to run it for two years and flew weekly to its Dallas headquarters. Last month Big Brothers Big Sisters extended her contract to 2019.

"The national board asked me to make a longer commitment to the organization," Iorio said, "and this commitment to Tampa makes it possible."

It took weeks to lay the groundwork for the deal, first reported by the Tampa Bay Times last month. To make the relocation happen, Iorio turned to the Tampa Hillsborough Economic Development Corp.

They have history: The former mayor, sitting at a small table, explained Wednesday how she and a group of business leaders founded the EDC five years ago.

"It was a startup," she said, "meaning this table was the EDC. We met every month at a table no bigger than this."

Iorio would find out just how big that startup had grown.

• • •

What is now the EDC was once known as the Committee of One Hundred. For decades, it was the economic development arm of the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce.

But in 2009, a schism between the two led business and political leaders to split them apart, leading the Committee of One Hundred to become the EDC.

Iorio said they needed a more nimble, private agency to focus on business retention and recruitment. That meant reducing its reliance on government.

"We needed an organization the private sector could invest in," she said, "and that would get a return on that investment in terms of economic growth."

The EDC expanded its private funding from $360,000 in 2010 to $1.4 million this fiscal year. It won public contracts to lead economic development for Hillsborough County, Tampa, Temple Terrace and Plant City. It identified companies and industries that could be lured to the area with the right salesmanship and incentives.

Iorio finished her second term as mayor in 2011. In 2012, Rick Homans was hired as the EDC's new CEO.

"She left when it was still in those very formative stages," Homans said. "She left with a vision in her mind about what it could possibly be."

The EDC said fiscal year 2014 was its best ever: It attracted 4,532 new jobs and $614 million of capital investment - the agency's best job numbers in a decade.

Iorio set up a meeting with Homans. He started by showing her around the EDC. She started to tear up.

"To me and the staff, this was kind of like having your parent come to you and give you a pat on the back," Homans said. "It really brought everything full circle."

• • •

Iorio said the EDC connected Big Brothers Big Sisters with the resources it needed to make the relocation deal happen.

The EDC helped the group find a developer to donate office space. Parkway Properties offered 6,900 square feet of Class A office space at Corporate Center One in the West Shore area rent-free for five years.

ROF Furniture donated office furnishings, and the Beck Group contributed design and build work to get the office ready. An anonymous Tampa donor will cover moving expenses.

Homans said no economic incentive dollars were offered to the nonprofit for the move. But the more than $1 million in donations will help its bottom line.

The group hopes to officially start in its Tampa office in March. It plans to bring in 20 new jobs.

Big Brothers Big Sisters isn't the Fortune 500 corporate relocation that officials have long coveted. But Homans said the prominent nonprofit will aid that goal.

It is a 110-year-old organization with 331 affiliates nationwide. Those members, as well as those who work with the nonprofit and sit on its board, will all soon be regularly visiting Tampa.

"The big return on investment for us," Homans said, "is becoming the epicenter for its network of directors, donors and affiliates."

• • •

Iorio made the official announcement Wednesday in front of dozens of VIPs at the Tampa Convention Center.

But when she took to the podium, she could barely speak. She had laryngitis.

There's history to that as well: Iorio said the last time she lost her voice was 12 years ago to the week when she announced she was running for mayor. After a 77-day campaign, she won.

"I have not lost my voice since," she said.

That, however, raised another question: her commitment to Big Brothers Big Sisters ends in 2019, when Mayor Bob Buckhorn will be term limited out.

Is laryngitis a sign she might run for mayor once again? Iorio laughed - or tried to.

But her answer was loud and clear: "I'm not. No. I have absolutely no plans to do that. At all."

Times staff writer Sue Carlton contributed to this report.