Bob Rohrlack, President and CEO, Tampa Bay Chamber

July 2026 — Invest: spoke with Bob Rohrlack, president and CEO of the Tampa Bay Chamber, about the region’s business headwinds, the chamber’s advocacy strategy, and the priorities Tampa Bay must tackle to sustain growth. “If there’s a change that will have a negative impact on business, if it’s consistent, business will strategize a way to deal with it,” Rohrlack said.

What key changes over the past year impacted the Tampa Bay Chamber and the regional business community?

Last year, 2025 was productive, but businesses were required to work harder through uncertainty. Predictability was the biggest uncertainty. Consistent businesses will strategize a way to deal with negative business impacts and those leaders will plan around the challenges. When conditions shift frequently, this creates more of a challenge because it disrupts strategy and makes it difficult to invest confidently.

Last year, a lot of the challenges came from the broader policy environment. Businesses can navigate almost any issue when the direction is clear, but rapid shifts make it difficult to commit to long-term decisions. That uncertainty layered on top of ongoing regional pressures, including workforce availability and housing constraints, which are felt more sharply as growth accelerates.

Even so, the region kept moving forward. Organizations adapted, recalibrated, and continued to pursue opportunities, but the pace of change created more friction and more sweat in day-to-day decision-making.

How does the chamber approach advocacy to ensure members’ interests are effectively represented?

About 15 years ago, we made a strategic decision to expand advocacy as a core capability. A key part of that was restructuring so we are not dependent on government contracts or public dollars. We have not had public dollars contractually coming into the chamber for more than a decade. That was a bold decision by our member leadership, but it gave us the ability to lean in and speak more directly on the issues impacting business.

Going into 2026, we have refined and sharpened our advocacy priorities and how we engage at the city, county, state, and federal levels. We are more active in Tallahassee and in Washington, DC, and we also bring elected officials into the chamber to discuss their priorities and our region’s needs.

We do that in structured ways. Our annual legislative kickoff brings together the broader regional delegation, not just one jurisdiction, to lay out the year’s agenda. Then we work through the session, and we follow with a legislative wrap-up, which is a professional way to hold officials accountable: you shared priorities, we shared priorities, and now we measure outcomes. We also schedule advocacy trips to Washington, DC tied to issues that affect the region, because advocacy is not a side effort. It is central to what members expect from a modern chamber, and we have built our organization to deliver on that responsibility.

What updates can you share on programs, resources, or initiatives to support member growth and resilience?

We are in the 10th year of our 10-year plan, Vision 2026, and it has served as a guidepost through a decade of disruption and change. A plan does not predict everything that will happen, but it provides a foundation for making decisions when conditions shift.

We also operate with a focus on organizational excellence. The Tampa Bay Chamber is accredited by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce at the highest level, a five-star accreditation, which only a small percentage of chambers achieve nationally. That discipline matters because it allows us to execute consistently for our members.

Vision 2026 is built around three guiding pillars. First, we are a catalyst for change, including advocacy and civic leadership on issues that affect the business climate. Second, we are the hub for business, where members come to understand what is changing and what they need to be ready for. Technology is a good example. We hosted a three-part webinar series on AI to help members understand how it will affect operations and competitiveness, and why businesses cannot afford to be left behind.

Third, we are an inclusive organization. If you want to improve the business climate in Tampa Bay, we want you involved. We do not treat participation as limited seats. We expand the table, and we have seen that approach diversify membership meaningfully over time, growing from about 6% to 32% in terms of diversity.

As we close out Vision 2026, we are also preparing the next chapter. We will begin work on the next 10-year plan, with the goal of rolling it out at our annual meeting in December, because steady progress requires long-term alignment.

What workforce or talent initiatives has the chamber led or supported to help address employer needs?

We have a strong workforce development committee focused on practical talent pipelines and creative pathways into employment. Internships are a major part of that. We have brought regional initiatives into the chamber to brief members and board leaders on how to place interns and use internships as a test-run pathway from school into long-term roles.

We are also engaged with military transition programs for service members exiting the military, because we want to keep skilled talent in the Tampa Bay region, especially given the role and scale of MacDill Air Force Base.

We have embraced a unique effort at the University of South Florida: the Bellini Talent Development Center, funded by Arnie Bellini, founder of ConnectWise. The goal is for every College of Business graduate to complete an internship and have a job in place by graduation and then expand that model to other colleges once it is fully established. Bellini has also invested in the new Bellini College of Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity and Computing, which is getting underway. These efforts strengthen education as a workforce engine, and they give employers clearer pathways to talent that is trained and ready.

Looking ahead, what are your key goals and priorities for the chamber over the next two to three years?

Tampa has been discovered. The market’s growth, innovation, and quality of life have drawn national attention, and continued in-migration is likely. With that opportunity comes a set of challenges we cannot ignore, especially infrastructure.

Housing is a critical issue, particularly for young professionals who have good jobs but do not yet have deep savings or long credit histories. If the region cannot keep housing within reach, it risks losing the very talent it is working to attract and retain.

Transportation is another urgent priority. Tampa Bay needs multimodal transportation. We cannot keep building roads and expect that to solve congestion and connectivity. The region is behind, and the chamber will keep raising this as a business issue that requires elected leadership and sustained action.

We also stay focused on major regional assets. We are excited about the developments to keep the Tampa Bay Rays in Tampa Bay. The project is massive and will have a huge regional impact.  We are supportive of the current proposal and are watching the details as they are finalized. The long-term goal to keep the Rays in Tampa Bay is about to be achieved. Location and site decisions have complexities, but our goal is to keep the economic and community impact in the region. We will also continue supporting MacDill Air Force Base and the broader Military Bay USA identity.

Finally, higher education is entering a new chapter. USF, the University of Tampa, and St. Leo University have brought in new presidents in the last couple of years, and that leadership shift creates opportunity for deeper alignment between higher education, talent development, and the regional economy.