Committee Lead

• Policy Council
• Military Advisory Committee

Katie Lopez, IOM is the Vice President of Advocacy, overseeing the Chamber’s efforts in Public Policy and Government Relations at the regional, state and federal level. She also leads Workforce Development initiatives and our Military programming. In Katie’s prior role as Vice President of Member Engagement she led programs and initiatives fostering a diverse business community reflective of our community at large.

An advocate for creating economic opportunity, Lopez is a past chair of the Hiring Our Heroes Tampa Military Spouse Economic Empowerment Zone and previously served as a board member of Mission United. In 2021, she was recognized by the Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives (ACCE) as a 40 under 40 recipient – spotlighting emerging leaders in shaping the chamber of commerce industry under the age of 40. In 2023, Katie was recognized in a similar fashion by the Tampa Bay Business Journal – named in its coveted 40 Under 40 list of top business leaders in the Tampa Bay region younger than 40 years old.

Since joining the Tampa Bay Chamber in 2018, Katie’s efforts have been instrumental to receiving national recognition for our Chamber’s efforts to support military families. To date, those recognitions include: the Association of Defense Community’s Great American Defense Community Award, Hiring Our Heroes Three-Star Chamber of Valor Award, and the Hiring Our Heroes Military Spouse Community of the Year Award. Under Katie’s leadership, we successfully recruited and launched in Tampa Bay the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s Hiring Our Heroes Corporate Fellowship Program and Military Spouse Economic Empowerment Zone. 

Prior to joining the Tampa Bay Chamber, Lopez served as the Director of Military & Governmental Affairs at the Christian County Chamber of Commerce and was recognized as the 2017 Staff Member of the Year by the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce Executives.

A native of Florida, Katie holds a Master of Arts degree in Social Responsibility and Sustainable Communities from Western Kentucky University and a Post-Crisis Leadership Certificate from the University of South Florida. She graduated from the Institute for Organization Management, the professional development program of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, in 2024.