Grant D. Petersen, President 9th Annual International Business Summit Office: 813-289-1247 Email: grant.petersen@ogletreedeakins.com Date: March 16, 2015

For Immediate Release

9th International Business Summit Scheduled for March 23th in Tampa, FL.

The Tampa Bay International Business Council announced today that the Ninth Annual International Business Summit will take place on Monday, March 23, 2015 at the Hilton St. Petersburg Carillon Park, 950 Lake Carillon Drive, St. Petersburg,Florida 33716 from 11:15 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

The Summit, which supports Diversity, Collaboration and Prosperity through growing ties between the Tampa Bay business region and world markets, will offer a full range of events and workshops with community and business leaders. Key participants include: Keynote Speaker Paul Anderson, Chief Executive Officer Tampa Port Authority; International Business Summit Diversity Awards Presentations by Bright House Networks, a special Global Panel featuring well-known Tampa Bay area business people: Moderator-Deborah Wilkinson, Executive Director Tampa Bay Trade & Protocol Council Panel: Carlos Buqueras, Port Manatee Executive Director, Rick Homans, President and CEO for the Tampa Hillsborough Economic Development Corporation, Chris Minner, VP of Marketing Tampa International Airport; Robert Blumel, Senior Director Business Development Invest in France, and SareetMajumdar, President of ICTC Headquarters and special Workshop presentations: "Managing a Global Workforce" by Kelley Rexroad, SPHR and Founder of Krexconsulting; "45 Minutes that might change your investment portfolio forever" by Helge Oeren, Registered Representative Agent of New York Life Insurance Co., and Frank LaValla, Jr., Corporate V.P., Regional Sales Manager South Central Zone, New York Life Insurance Co.; "International Investment in Tampa Bay Real Estate" Moderator-Yakhin Israel, Vice President, FifthThird Bank and President, Florida CCIM West Coast District 3, Panel: Steve Morey, Director of Business Recruitment for the Tampa Hillsborough Economic Development Corporation; Santosh Govindaraju, Convergent Capital Partners LLC; Erma Charles, Managing Director and President of Corinth Global Investments & Capital Solutions, L.L.C.; and G. Richard Hostetter, President, CommerCenters, LLC (Orlando EB5 Investments); and "Sustainability for Global Business" Moderator: Shanida De Gracia, Financial Professional/President Nordic Life & Recruitment, Panel: Vinny Tafuro, President & CEO of Conscious Capital of Florida and Kelly Bishop, Assistant Director of Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

Speed Networking Event, followed with a Caribbean Style Cocktail Reception, where you have the chance to "Meet the Presidents", Network and enjoy the Entertainment by Mello Vibes Entertainment.

The goal of the Summit, as stated by TBIBC president Grant Petersen "is to integrate minority communities and cultures into mainstream business by building relationships and supplier links between diverse business members and organizations for mutual economic development…both for individual enterprises and the Tampa Bay area." The International Business Summit is organized by a group of bi-national chambers of commerce, business councils and trade associations in the Tampa Bay area. Represented are the British American Business Council of Tampa Bay, Caribbean American Chamber of Commerce of Tampa Bay, Chinese Chamber of Commerce of Tampa, French-American Business Council of West Florida, German American Chamber of Commerce, Indo-US Chamber of Commerce, International Business Board, Philippine American Chamber of Commerce, Russian American Association, Scandinavian Trade Association, Tampa Bay Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Tampa Bay, Taiwanese Chamber of Commerce of Tampa Bay, CCIM West Coast District and CANDO- Caribbean American National Development Organization, Inc and LinktoEXPERT.com. 

Tickets for the International Business Summit are $75 (Full Day); $45 (Lunch and Programs), and $35 (Cocktail Reception Only). For Sponsorship opportunities and additional information, please contact Joanne L. Cornell at 813.221.7243 or joanne.cornell@ogletreedeakins.com. To Purchase tickets, please visit our website at www.tbibc.org. ---END---