November Luncheon Meeting – Mobilizing the Next Gen

Mobilizing the Next Gen

Featuring Ned Pope, President of Florida NEXT Foundation

** Note the new meeting location @ Florida SouthWestern (FSW) State College, 8099 College Parkway, Building AA-177, Fort Myers, FL 33919

As PR professionals, we are in tune with four wildly different generations who communicate in diverse ways, and it can be a Petri dish for the most basic PR challenges. Veterans (born before 1946), Baby Boomers (1946-1964), Generation X (1965-1979), and Generation Y or Millennials (1980-2000) grew up in different times, have wide-ranging value sets and often conflicting communication styles.　 We have explored the ways each want to receive their messages and what they do with the information.

This month we will hear from Ned Pope, president of Florida NEXT Foundation located in Tampa.　 As a Generation Xer himself, Ned will talk about ways the Florida NEXT Foundation is mobilizing groups of our next generation of leaders beyond talking and coalescing them into action.

Reminder: NO SHOWS WILL BE BILLED.

Ned Pope is a fifth generation Floridian with a long track record of success in project management and implementation. In his time at the Florida NEXT Foundation, he has implemented programs such as Give Day Tampa Bay and Impact Forums. Pope previously served as the vice president of Alternative Dispute Resolution and Project Management for the Collins Center for Public Policy, where he directed and administered six court-ordered mediation programs and a statewide mediation program sponsored by Fannie Mae.

Pope also served under Alex Sink as director of external affairs during her administration as chief financial officer of Florida. Before taking that position he served as the Department of Financial Services’ primary certified contract negotiator, representing the state as lead negotiator in the 2008 Worker’s Compensation Medical Case Management Project. In 2007, Pope co-managed and developed the nationally recognized searchable contract transparency website, currently known as “FACTS”. Before going to work directly for DFS he served as the operations manager for the agency’s Hurricane Insurance Mediation Program, administered by the Collins Center from 2004-07.

Ned Pope is a 2001 graduate of Georgia Southern University, with a Bachelor of Science degree in Print Management/Publishing, and 2004 graduate of Florida State University, with a Master of Science degree in Communications, New and Interactive Technology. He is also the owner and CEO of the Pope Management Group, a project management firm that consults private companies on workflow efficiency and compliance with their government contracts.

Pope lives in Tampa with his wife, Merris, daughter, Avery, and son, Miles.