This #LTAFamous visit with our most recent nominee, Kareem Spratling, was solo with Laura at Little Tina Cantina. (Amanda was attending a conference for MOW). Kareem and I connected like we’ve been friends for years…and we just met for the first time. That’s the LTA way! We squeezed a zillion topics into 35 minutes, including Flamingos, God Children, Mont Blanc, Community Tampa Bay and the fact that he and his firm were instrumental in funding/financing USF CAMLS ten (10) years ago! Please enjoy and relate to Kareem’s comments…
Name: Kareem J. Spratling
LT Class Year: LT 2012
Company Name: Bryant Miller Olive P.A.
Interviewed by: Laura Frost
1. Tell us, why LTA?
First off, I can’t believe it’s been over a decade since I graduated … I was encouraged to apply by a friend and mentor, the late Steve Burton. Steve was extremely involved in the community and when I spoke with him about my love for my “forever home,” he encouraged me to apply and make the most of it.
- For you, what separates LTA from other business leadership programs?
There are many things, but I am particularly proud of the application and vetting process. To get into LTA, you must make it through your LT year. . For years, I served on the selection committee with some of Tampa Bay’s best and brightest public servants. I can’t say 100%, but for the most part, people who graduate from LT and join LTA are already excelling in their professions. In other words, joining LTA to excel professionally, is not the primary driver for continuing as a member of LTA. Those individuals continue to be involved because they want to invest their time, which, in turn, often yields dividends in genuine relationships and optimization of community impact.
- Describe a time when the LTA experience impacted your life or career?
On July 1, I began my service as Feeding Tampa Bay’s Board Chair. As I type this, Feeding Tampa Bay is building the largest social service project in the history of Tampa Bay. It’s a new home for Feeding Tampa Bay that will seek to not only feed our neighbors, but “shorten the line” in other important ways. This work is one of the great joys of my lifetime and I wouldn’t have been introduced to it without my LTA classmate and dear friend, Kelley Sims, Feeding Tampa Bay’s Chief Development Officer.
- What is a LTA benefit you wish everyone knew about?
The directory and the fact that people are responsive to it. I’m not always as timely as I’d like, but when an LTA member reaches out to me, even someone that I don’t know, I will respond.
- Describe how the leadership journey will continue to shape you? It’s hard to predict, but I think I will continue to be shaped by the relationships with LTA members. Because the classes are so carefully thought out, the graduates tend to be exceptional as well. As they say, “iron sharpens iron.” I often grow in the presence of great leadership and I seek that out.
Fun Facts About You/Local Knowledge:
- Latest movie? Oppenheimer.
- Favorite spot to meet friends/colleagues for coffee, lunch or happy hour---- My wife Tammy (LT 2014) and I are lucky enough to live on the Hillsborough River in Seminole Heights. We LOVE lounging on our dock and watching for marine life and friends boating. One of my other favorites is Grand Cathedral Cigars. If Tampa is “Cigar City,” Grand Cathedral is one of its most beautiful churches.
- For staycation in Tampa Bay, you like to…… Besides hanging out on the dock and boating, we like to sneak over to our little beach house on Sunset Beach in Treasure Island. From there, we can enjoy other beaches and even drive the golf cart to downtown St. Petersburg.
- When out of town guests are visiting, you plan…. Ybor, boat rides down the Hillsborough River, Tampa River Walk, Sparkman’s Wharf and the beaches.
- Any hidden treasures/recent discoveries you’d like to share?! Yes! I probably shouldn’t even share this for fear they will get too busy for me; but there is a restaurant in Ybor CIty called “El Puerto Restaurant and Grill.” I was introduced to it over a decade ago by a client. It serves authentic Latin American cuisine with amazing flavors and with the most hospitable servers who truly care if you enjoy yourself. It’s a jewel.
Send your nomination for the next #LTA Famous feature to: Laura Frost - [email protected] or Amanda Jacobson - [email protected]