USFRF Board Members
Beatriz Bare
Beatriz Bare
Bea Bare was most recently Sr. Economic Development Executive at the Tampa Bay Economic Development Council since 1993. She was responsible for dealing with CEOs and other decision-makers in marketing Tampa/Hillsborough County as a good business destination. Examples of team efforts that closed successfully for which Bea was project leader include AACSB (the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business), Advanced Airfoil Components (a Siemens/Chromalloy joint venture), Amgen, Axogen, Baker McKenzie, Bertram Yachts, Bristol Myers Squibb, Citi, Coca-Cola Refreshments, Cognizant, Chromalloy, DTCC (Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation), Fisher Investments, Gordon Food Service, MetLife, Morphogenesis, New York Life/AARP, PEMCO, PwC, Primo Water Corporation (formerly Cott Corporation), Quest Diagnostics, Tampa Ship, The Inc. Lab, Toufayan Bakeries, USAA, Verizon Wireless, WellCare Health Plans, White & Case.
From 1986 to 1993, Bea was vice president of the Business Development Corporation of Southwest Florida, then a private, non-profit economic development corporation in Fort Myers. She was charged with marketing Lee County to corporate America and managed all aspects of business recruitment and retention programs for the area. Prior to accepting the Business Development Corporation position in late 1986, Bea worked six years at the Tampa Bay Chamber’s Committee of One Hundred (now Tampa Bay EDC) where she was involved in closing over 50 projects for the Greater Tampa area. Some of those projects included Anchor Glass Container Corporation, British Airways, CIGNA, and Citicorp. Companies she assisted with becoming established in Southwest Florida include Bagel Bites, GE Client Business Services, Garrity Industries, Midas International Corporation and Shaw Aero Devices. She was a member of the community team that attracted the Minnesota Twins to Lee County for spring training, and the group that convinced the Florida Board of Regents (now Governors) and state legislature to establish a tenth state university to be located specifically in Southwest Florida (Florida Gulf Coast University).
Her experience in economic development is complemented by a Bachelor's degree from Indiana University, two years of the Economic Development Institute at the University of Oklahoma, and attendance at annual Florida Economic Development Council conferences. An accomplished writer and creative thinker, Ms. Bare has authored several articles and is a frequent public speaker. She worked previously in the banking, legal and residential development fields, but three years in the training and development profession proved to be her most valuable resource as an economic developer.
Economic development projects in which she was involved throughout her career have yielded over $2.75 billion in direct capital investment and the creation of 27,000+ direct jobs.
Ms. Bare belongs to CoreNet. She served two years on the Board of the statewide Florida Economic Development Council (FEDC) and is a past member of Enterprise Florida’s Economic Development Practitioners Advisory Committee. Other professional affiliations have included the Human Resource Management Association of Southwest Florida, the Association for Talent Development and five years of service on the Board of the Lee County Private Industry Council. An alumna of Tampa Leadership ’99 and the 1987 Leadership Lee County program, Ms. Bare also served on the Executive Committee of the University of South Florida at Fort Myers Campus Advisory Council when USF had a branch campus there; chaired the Lee County Business and Industry Services Training Advisory Council, served on the Tampa Mayor’s Beautification Committee Board and as an instructor at USF’s Florida Basic Economic Development Course. She has served on the Florida High Tech Corridor Council. In 1998, FEDC presented her with the Eunice Sullivan Award (Economic Development Professional of the Year for the State of Florida).
Bea is trilingual and was born and raised in Barranquilla, Colombia. She is privileged to be an American citizen since June 12, 1987.