Leadership

Melissa Seixas is Duke Energy’s state president in Florida, serving approximately 1.8 million
electric retail customers in central Florida, including metropolitan St. Petersburg, Clearwater and the Greater Orlando area. She is responsible for the financial performance of Duke Energy’s regulated utility in Florida and for managing state and local regulatory and government relations and community affairs. She also has responsibility for advancing the company’s rate and regulatory initiatives related to its electric operations.

Prior to assuming her current position in February 2021, Seixas served as vice president of government and community relations in Florida. She directed efforts to strengthen relationships with local municipal, community and civic organizations, as well as business leaders throughout the company’s 35-county service area. Her team worked closely with leaders to help communities achieve their energy, growth and sustainability goals.

In 1986, Seixas joined Florida Power (later to become Progress Energy and then Duke Energy) in distribution engineering. Over her 34-year career with the company, she has served in numerous roles with increasing leadership responsibilities.

Seixas holds a bachelor’s degree in American history from Eckerd College and a master’s degree in American history from the University of South Florida. Her executive training includes a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) certification from Johns Hopkins University, and programs with the Edison Electric Institute and Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business.

Seixas has a strong tradition of supporting her community. She has served on numerous boards for nonprofit and business organizations including the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, the Pinellas County Urban League, the St. Petersburg and Clearwater Chambers of Commerce, Pasco Economic Development Council and as immediate past chair of the board of directors for the St. Petersburg Downtown Partnership. She also has a long history of service to the University of South Florida and was honored as the 2019 recipient of the USFSP Regional Chancellor Award for Civic Leadership. She currently serves as a member of the USF St. Petersburg Campus Advisory Board and the board of trustees for the University of South Florida.

She and her husband, Greg, have four children and four grandchildren.

Term expires 2026.

Lisa L. Brody, Esquire, is the Assistant Deputy Director and Managing Attorney for the St. Petersburg Office of Bay Area Legal Services, Inc., the largest nonprofit public interest law firm in the Tampa Bay Area. Ms. Brody joined Bay Area in 2002 and in her role, supervises the delivery of high quality legal services to income eligible clients in Pinellas, Manatee and Sarasota Counties. Bay Area Legal Services, is consistently recognized as one the Tampa Bay Area “Top Workplaces”.

Since 2013, Ms. Brody has served as an Adjunct Professor in the Paralegal Studies Program at St. Petersburg College. Ms. Brody is a licensed Florida Attorney (1995) and a member of the Florida Bar, St. Petersburg Bar and Fred G. Minnis Bar Associations. She has held numerous Bar positions and presently serves as the Chair of the St. Petersburg Bar Association Diversity Committee. Ms. Brody received her B.A. Degree in Political Science from the University of Oregon and her J.D. from the University of Oregon in 1995. She has also earned a Certificate in Non-Profit Management from the University of Tampa. She is a Life Member of the University of Oregon Alumni Association and a Charter Board Member and Board Secretary of the University of Oregon Black Alumni Network.

As a graduate of Leadership Tampa Bay, she has a long history of Board Service and community involvement. Her current Board involvement includes the St. Petersburg Free Clinic, Pinellas Opportunity Council and the Youth Development Foundation of Pinellas Inc. Ms. Brody’s past Board involvement includes the Bayfront Hospital Board of Trustees, Vice Chair (2017,2018), Pinellas County Community Foundation, Chair (2008, 2010) , Clothes To Kids and many roles as a parent in Pinellas County Schools.

She is married to Carl E. Brody, Jr, Esq., and the proud mother of daughter Mara and a son, Clayton.

Term expires 2025

Scott Goyer has spent his career serving the YMCA. Since 2000, he has served as President/ CEO of the YMCA of the Suncoast, a eight operating unit, $31 million Association serving over 100,000 men, women and children per year in Central and North Pinellas, West Pasco, Hernando and Citrus Counties. Prior to that, he served in various roles with the YMCAs in Cincinnati, San Francisco, Nashville and St. Paul.
Mr. Goyer is a graduate of Springfield College and has participated in Leadership Pinellas, serves as Board Chair of Amplify Clearwater, serves on the YPN/EAF Board, the Steering Committee for Y-USA After-School Programs, is the current Treasurer and former Chair of the Florida State YMCA Alliance, and a member of the Clearwater Rotary. He and his wife live in Clearwater and they have two adult children and two grandchildren.

Term expires 2024.

Isaac McKinney is an accomplished leader and problem solver, with a proven ability to deliver cost-effective, innovative solutions that enhances the ability of a business when delivering cutting edge products and solutions to its clients. Isaac has over twenty-five years of organizational leadership experience with a canny ability to identify and solve complex problems. A highly effective communicator who inspires others to maximize their performance, and equally important, achieve their professional and personal goals. Respected as a credible voice in decision making, finding strategic direction, and establishing execution guidelines, Isaac earns a seat at the table wherever he serves.

Currently, as Network Information Security Global Project manager for Internet First Borderless technologies at PWC, a multinational professional services network of firms, operating as partnerships under the PwC brand, Isaac manages efforts to reduce redundant technology investment, enabled migration to public and internal clouds, which allows territories to focus on innovative efforts while utilizing Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platforms for public cloud services and provide private cloud services via Global Hosting Centers (GHCs) located in North America, Europe and Asia.

Internet First Borderless allows PwC to provide seamless and consistent connectivity to PwC applications and the broader Internet regardless of location (office, client, home, or public location), All while lowering global annual spend 35 million dollars, increasing global security, and providing a better user experience for our network of firms and clients

Previously, as Principal Consultant, Isaac led Telecommunications consulting engagements for Oracle Consulting. During his time, he drove client transformations to Oracle Applications, transforming client Enterprise systems, resulting in increased IT cost savings for clients along with increased business functionality. Earlier he rose through the ranks of Andersen Consulting/Accenture providing Database services to Utility and Telecommunications clients.

Isaac holds an MBA from the University of South Florida, BS from Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University. Isaac serves on several boards and is a member of numerous professional organizations, including: Leadership St. Pete Alumni Association, Information Systems Security Association, Project Management Institute, National Black MBA Association.

Reuben is the Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Presence, a software platform which he founded to help higher educational institutions collect and understand data, and take action to increase co-curricular student engagement, success, and workforce readiness. Reuben has since grown Presence more than 250 Universities with over 1.5M students, small and large, including University of Minnesota, Washington State, Cal State, UNC, Texas A&M, SUNY, CUNY, and LSU with a team of 40.

Reuben works deeply with economic development serving as the Entrepreneur-in-Residence for the City of Saint Petersburg by advocating for entrepreneurs, promoting the city around the US for company, workforce, and investor recruitment, and helping to improve government efficiencies. He was born and raised in Tampa Bay, and moved to Saint Petersburg to attend USFSP’s Entrepreneurship program in 2008.

He’s been programming since age 10 and started his first company at age 12. Since then, he’s started, built, failed, joined, sold, and other verbs, many more ventures. He serves on boards of community organizations in the arts, technology, university, and entrepreneurship.

USFSP Affiliations
College of Business Advisory Board
Former Enrollment and Marketing Staff
Former Student Government VP
First Entrepreneurship Grad, '11
USF 2018 Outstanding Young Alumni

Term expires 2025

Debbie Nye Sembler is a former member of the USF Board of Trustees and former chair of the USF St. Petersburg Campus Board. She also served on the USF Presidential Search Committee and the USF Consolidation Task Force. Debbie is an active supporter of educational and civic causes across the Tampa Bay community, including serving on the board of the USF Foundation. She served in the past on the All Children’s Hospital, the Florida Governor’s Mansion Foundation, Shorecrest Preparatory School and Temple Beth-el. In addition to her work with USF, she is a member of the Florida Holocaust Museum Advisory Board and is also involved with Academy Prep. Sembler is a resident of Pinellas County.

A University of Florida graduate with a B.A. in journalism and marketing, Sembler’s professional career included serving as senior account executive on the Hong Kong and Mexico accounts for Hill and Knowlton; and the Director of Public Relations for the Wyndham Hotel Seaworld in Orlando. She was also the first director of marketing for Old Hyde Park Village.

Term expires 2024.