USF St. Pete launches executive leadership center

The University of South Florida strategically selected the St. Petersburg campus for the region’s first center dedicated to fostering executive leadership skills.

USF’s Muma College of Business celebrated the Center for Executive and Leadership Education’s launch Thursday afternoon. The school is now partnering with organizations to provide a world-class curriculum that reflects current corporate challenges and opportunities.

The Kate Tiedemann School of Business and Finance on the St. Petersburg campus will house the center, which will unveil a suite of open enrollment programs for mid-level and senior managers seeking to advance their skills and careers in 2026. David Blackwell, the Lynn Pippenger Dean at the Muma College of Business, said most major research universities – particularly those in urban areas with “a dynamic business community” – boast similar centers.

“I realized that this was an opportunity for us to serve – to help build and sustain talent in this region, or for our businesses,” Blackwell told the Catalyst. “I also saw we had the faculty capability to deliver a very, very high-quality product, commensurate with the best in the country.”

USF President Rhea Law said Thursday that the center would provide “current and emerging executives with the tools and insights that will enable them to successfully navigate constantly evolving challenges.”

A $3 million gift from prolific philanthropists Kate Tiedemann and Ellen Cotton supported the center’s launch. USF subsequently received an invitation to join the University Consortium for Executive Education (UNICON), a prestigious organization with members that include business schools at Stanford, Harvard and Wharton Universities.

Blackwell noted Tampa Bay has lacked an executive education center for mid-level managers who are “trying to move up to the C-suite.” He and his team began a feasibility study in November 2024.

Jon Kaupla, associate dean and executive director of executive and leadership education, said he and Blackwell met with roughly 20 business leaders from Tampa, St. Petersburg and Sarasota. “We wanted to try and capture the voice of the market, if you will.”

Kaupla said nearly every stakeholder was “in great support of this, and, quite frankly, began to talk about specific partnership opportunities.” The team also interviewed officials from local chambers of commerce, economic development corporations and USF to complete a “pretty good 360 (degree) perspective.”

“The needs became apparent pretty quickly,” Kaupla added. “It’s an intellectual undertaking that covers the entire Tampa Bay region, and certainly beyond.”

Jon Kaupla (left) and other stakeholders celebrate the Center for Executive and Leadership Education’s opening Thursday at the St. Petersburg campus.

The goal is for the non-credit, non-degree programs to help participants “the next day when they come back to the office.” Customized courses that address corporate development gaps could take between two and three days or three to six months to complete.

Certification programs will require more time. The center’s first webinar series, “Executive Edge: The Six Dimensions of Modern Leadership,” begins in November and consists of six one-hour sessions.

Blackwell said the “ideal programming” for open-enrollment courses would be “a mixture of our faculty and industry leaders on the various topics.” Curricula will cover how to leverage emerging technologies to grow a business, effective communication, financial acumen for executives and several other evolving topics.

The center’s faculty will often travel to a company’s headquarters for tailored courses. Kaupla said most CEOs would “rather do those bespoke, custom-type engagements.”

“The location in St. Pete is strategic,” Blackwell said. “If you look at the organizations we interviewed, many of them are headquartered in St. Pete.”

He noted that USFSP’s proximity to the downtown core provides amenities not found around the student-centric campus in north Tampa. Blackwell said executives from across the state and country “expect to have some amenities nearby” when they visit.

The St. Petersburg campus is within walking distance of myriad lodging, dining, entertainment and cultural offerings. Blackwell said it is also “pretty readily accessible from downtown Tampa … and a lot of the potential clients are located over there.”

Blackwell’s career and executive education have intersected for over 40 years. He has repeatedly heard concerns from a “broad spectrum of industries” over the past two decades regarding “the pipeline of talent as baby boomers retire.”

Blackwell said there are “huge” leadership gaps in “some critical industries,” which necessitate the need to develop talent within succeeding generations. Kaupla said preparing for the region’s continued growth is equally important.

“We won’t be able to recruit new talent if we don’t have the leaders in place,” he elaborated. “It’s an imperative, and we see USF being at the heart of the solution.

“We’re preparing future talent in our degree programs. This will help leaders who are already in place but are not prepared for the future.”