Bay leaders discuss sustainability at LaunchPAD forum

University of South Florida St. Petersburg students and community members learned more about business and sustainability Wednesday at a panel conversation. 

The gathering was a part of the educational institution’s LaunchPAD (Pathways for Academic Discovery) Career Exploration Program. This initiative provides experiential learning opportunities for first-year students and allows them to engage with companies and professionals around the St. Petersburg area. 

The panelists were Christie Bruner, chief growth and partnerships officer at Workforce Development Partners; Ryan Helfrick, president of Tampa Bay Rowdies; and Dr. Krista McGuire, senior director of applied science at Rainforest Alliance. USF adjunct professor Dr. Harris Ambush, who is involved with the LaunchPAD program, moderated the conversation. 

The importance of thoughtful business practices was a common theme. Technology can play an essential role.  

Previously, Bruner served as the vice president of advocacy and leadership at the St. Petersburg Area Chamber of Commerce. She also was the community engagement supervisor for the City of St. Petersburg’s Healthy St. Pete initiative. 

“We actually changed the mission of our Chamber in the last few years to be inclusive of ‘for all’ in the community,” Bruner explained. “That was really important to me that it’s not just one population that we’re trying to serve.” 

Similarly, she said that Workforce Development Partners is focused on connecting students and employers and making sure they have access to one another. This can help ensure that everyone has opportunities. Additionally, it can support long-term economic growth in the region. 

Bruner explained that it’s essential to know what technologies and platforms employers are using. This can help determine if students are currently being trained on how to utilize them effectively. With proper education, she believes that this can help keep young graduates in the Tampa Bay region. 

It’s important to consider the supply chain of a community, Bruner added. Factors include affordability and transportation. As a result, companies and organizations should consider creating resilience plans. 

“Think of a nontraditional way of how you’re getting to your end result, not just what inputs that you need,” she said. “You need the employees, the goods and the services. But how do all of those things get there? We want to make sure we’re helping businesses grow and have those systems in place to help our full economy.” 

Prior to joining the Rainforest Alliance, McGuire was an environmental sustainability strategy manager at pharmaceutical company Pfizer. Before entering the corporate world, she was a professor at the University of Oregon and Columbia University.  

“The big challenge really is, when you’re working in a for-profit business, embedding sustainability in a way that doesn’t cut profits,” McGuire explained. “I think there’s this historical perception that sustainability costs money.” 

“So, what I was working on with my team was trying to reframe that narrative and also show clear examples about how sustainability actually is beneficial for the business,” she continued. “Even in short periods of time, there’s certain things you can do to improve profits for a company that are also more sustainable.” 

When pitching a sustainability effort, McGuire said that company team members should discuss where resources need to be allocated, what the return on investment will be over a three to five year period and how the decision will help mitigate risk. 

“It’s figuring out what the business cares about and how to take sustainability and frame it in a way that leadership hears because you are helping them achieve their goals,” she added. “We were leveraging a lot of data analytics capabilities, including artificial intelligence, to try to figure out where those win-win scenarios were.”

Helfrick has been in the sports industry for over 15 years. He joined the Tampa Bay Rowdies organization in 2010 as the director of ticket sales and service. Helfrick became president in 2024. 

“Everybody thinks because we’re in sports, success is wins or losses,” he said. “That’s not necessarily the case. The scoreboard matters, but it’s not everything. So, it’s our responsibility to not only be stewards of the club, but to be ingrained within the community and give back to all different types of demographics within the community.” 

Sustainability is a key effort. 

For example, Helfrick explained that match attendees can recycle plastic bottles at Al Lang Stadium, where the Rowdies play. The organization also sells merchandise made from recycled materials at its team store. Additionally, Rowdies staff members, players and fans participate in beach cleanups when shutouts (when the opposing team does not score in a match) happen. 

“My dream for this club is, in the next five years, to have jerseys made of recyclable materials,” he added. “I think one of the challenges that we have is that we play in a 85-year-old stadium. So, the sustainability piece becomes ‘okay, what are some of the easy wins we can get and build off of and then what are some of the bigger challenges?’”

From a technology standpoint, Helfrick explained that utilizing artificial intelligence has both innovation and responsibility components. For example, clubs and teams can use software to help select and draft players. This can help scouts discover athletes from around the world more efficiently. 

“We’re very cautious with it,” he said. “You still need to know the human to human side and who this player is as an individual and person. Are they good in the locker room? Are they not good in the locker room?” 

Last month, St. Petersburg City Council member Richie Floyd, St. Petersburg-based restaurateur and philanthropist Steve Westphal and St. Petersburg Museum of History executive director Rui Farias participated in a LaunchPAD panel about civic engagement, history, philanthropy and community impact.