By Dayana Melendez
Every Friday morning at a downtown café, a group of professionals gather for breakfast. They’re not coworkers or longtime friends — at least not in the traditional sense. Five years ago, they were strangers thrown together in Leadership St. Pete’s Class of 2017. Today, they’re part of an invisible network that has quietly shaped St. Petersburg for over five decades.
“I’ve worked and lived in Tampa for 20-plus years,” said Audrey Grounds, a member of that breakfast group and current Leadership St. Pete Alumni Association Class Reunion committee chair. “Coming to St. Pete is a completely different vibe. It’s much more community driven. If there could be a catchphrase for St. Pete, it really is ‘How can I help you?'”
Such lasting connections aren’t unusual for the program that boasts some notable alumni: Rick Baker applied three times before being accepted and later became the city’s mayor, and Charlie Crist graduated years before winning the Florida governor’s race.
Now celebrating its 55th anniversary, Leadership St. Pete stands as the second-oldest leadership program in the nation — a distinction that speaks to both its longevity and its impact on a city known for rapid transformation.
The program consists of three main components, including leadership development retreats facilitated by Eckerd College Leadership Development Institute, educational seminars covering topics from local government to environmental sustainability and a class-selected community service project for a local nonprofit.
“Unlike other leadership programs where you just listen to speakers, this one requires every class member to be involved,” Grounds said. “You get broken up into groups to plan different seminars. So, everyone is invested.”
The program’s selection process is equally distinctive. Applications are reviewed with names, employers, gender and race redacted from submissions.
“We don’t want somebody getting in just because they’re CEO of some company,” Grounds said. “We really want people who care about the community.”
Each class selects a local nonprofit for their community project, raising funds and providing hands-on labor to transform spaces across the city. The 2024 class created an inviting gathering area at St. Pete Youth Farm, an organization addressing food insecurity while developing leadership skills in local youth.
“Everything they’ve done took us further, faster than we could have done by ourselves,” said Carla Bristol, director of St. Pete Youth Farm. “Every participant will forever be tied to St. Pete Youth Farm because they were involved in a project that strengthened our community.”
Bristol has witnessed how the program creates lasting connections between nonprofits and the city’s professional network.
“Power Designs came out with their entire team after Leadership St. Pete was over,” Bristol said. “They may never have known about St. Pete Youth Farm had it not been for Leadership St. Pete.”
The program has evolved over time while maintaining its core focus on community needs and accessibility.
“We offer scholarships, so it’s not just a bunch of lawyers and accountants — the typical people that you always see going through leadership programs,” Grounds said.
Jenna Stock Wunsch, chair of the 2025 Leadership St. Pete class, has experienced firsthand how the program transforms participants’ relationships with the city.
“I just loved the experience,” Wunsch said. “I’m not originally from St. Pete, but I’ve lived here for 14 years, and you learn so much about the city, its history. You know how you can give back and get involved and help with the growth and evolution of our city.”
As Leadership St. Pete celebrates with a 55th-anniversary reunion on April 17, the program’s impact continues to ripple through the community.
“Every participant, every last one of those 40 people, will forever be tied to the projects they completed,” Bristol said. “They’re involved in something that strengthened our community in ways that would have taken us years to accomplish alone.”
With 55 years of leadership development and thousands of alums shaping everything from city government to nonprofit organizations, Leadership St. Pete continues to fulfill its mission of building a more connected, service-oriented community.
“I always tell people it is the best decision I ever made,” Grounds said. “You learn, you grow, you make a difference. From a business perspective, a friend perspective and a community perspective — it’s pretty incredible.”