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CareerSource Florida has provided information about the consolidations resulting from the REACH Act here. You can also bring questions to the leadership teams at CareerSource Pinellas at any time. 

The anticipated effective date is July 1, 2024. 

A new name will be decided by the Consortium made up of local elected officials to govern the establishment of the new entity. It is possible they may defer the decision to the board of directors they appoint.  

The Hillsborough/Pinellas Workforce Development Consortium is the delegation of Chief Local Elected Officials (in this case, county commissioners) appointed by each county in the newly consolidated workforce development board to make policies and appoint board members to lead the new consolidated CareerSource entity. 

• Hillsborough County Commissioner Gwen Myers (Chair)
• Hillsborough County Commissioner Joshua Wostal
• Pinellas County Commissioner Rene Flowers (Vice Chair)
• Pinellas County Commissioner Chris Latvala

A working group of representatives from both counties and their respective workforce boards was created to facilitate discussion items related to the consolidation. They meet on a monthly basis.   

Pinellas County:

• Kevin Knutson, Assistant County Administrator 
• Corey McCaster, Economic Development 
• Cody Ward, Hillsborough County Attorney’s Office 
• Stephanie Marchman, GrayRobinson, general counsel for CareerSource Pinellas

Hillsborough County:

• Ron Barton, Assistant County Administrator 
• Ken Jones, Economic Development 
• Jonathan Wolf, Economic Development 
• Mary Helen Farris, Hillsborough County Attorney’s Office 
• Katherine Benson, Hillsborough County Attorney’s Office

CareerSource Pinellas:

• Steve Meier, CEO

CareerSource Tampa Bay:

• Michelle Zieziula, SVP (Senior Vice President) & COO 
• Sheila Doyle, SVP (Senior Vice President) & CFO 
   

Recruiting firm Newland Associates was selected from a competitive RFP process to conduct the executive search for the CEO leading the new CareerSource entity. The new CareerSource board will meet for the first time in May and we expect the CEO to be onboarded by that time. 

On December 5, 2023, the Consortium approved an Advisory Committee, consisting of the board chair and treasurer from both CareerSource Pinellas and CareerSource Tampa Bay. These individuals will also serve as a resource to the Consortium, providing recommendations and guidance to the Consortium on matters such as the CEO recruitment process, structuring Bylaws for the new Regional LWDB (Local Workforce Development Board) and assisting Consortium staff in preparing a recommendation for appointments to the new Regional LWDB’s Board of Directors.  
 

Advisory Committee members include:

• CareerSource Tampa Bay Chair: Sean Butler, President, Titan Technologies
• CareerSource Tampa Bay Treasurer: Gary Hartfield, President/CEO, Serenity Village
• CareerSource Pinellas Chair: Scott Thomas, Regional HR Manager, ProMedica Senior Care
• CareerSource Pinellas Treasurer: Barclay Harless, SVP Market Executive, Valley Bank

This Advisory Committee met for the first time on December 12, 2023. They elected Scott Thomas as the Chairperson of the Committee.  

Procurement decisions will be made under the leadership of the new consolidated entity. The appropriate staff member will communicate with existing vendors about renewing contracts or transferring goods and services to the new CareerSource entity on a case-by-case basis. 

The Consortium will appoint a new Board of Directors for the merged entity. Board members for the new entity will be selected only from current board members of CareerSource Pinellas and CareerSource Tampa Bay. We anticipate that the new Board members will be approved at the April Consortium meeting.

A Request for Proposal (RFP) is going to be issued to select a firm to perform an analysis of the current benefit structure and organization charts of both entities and will be tasked with making a recommendation to the new Board and CEO relating to a suggested organization chart and benefit structure for the merged entity.  

Internal working groups have been established that are comprised of staff from each workforce board and the respective areas, such as Human resources, Finance, etc. These working groups will be reviewing current plans, policies, processes, resources, and tools currently utilized by each workforce board to identify differences and potential best practices for discussion and proposal to the new Board of Directors and CEO