The Honorable Glenda Hood To Headline Ten At The Top’s Regional Summit

June 9, 2014

GREENVILLE, SCTen at the Top has selected The Honorable Glenda E. Hood as the 2014 Keynote Speaker for its 2014 Upstate Regional Summit entitled “Re-Checking Our Reality.” Hood will speak on September 16 during the summit luncheon held at the TD Convention Center.

Hood has a distinguished career as a public citizen and servant. Her leadership roles include becoming the youngest and first female Mayor of the City of Orlando and serving as Florida’s Secretary of State during the second term of Governor Jeb Bush. In those positions, Hood was instrumental in crafting Florida’s Strategic Plan for economic development, commissioning impact studies for arts, historic preservation and libraries, and developing Florida’s 10-year cultural strategic plan.

She is a Founding Partner of triSect,LLC, which is a strategic consulting firm that focuses on civic innovation and serves business, government, and independent sectors. Hood also currently serves as a member of the Urban Land Institute (ULI) Board of Trustees and is an active participant with their Advisory Services Program. She has been a recognized figure in promoting civic growth and change in America’s cities, and has appeared on national, state and local TV, radio, print, and online media.

During her keynote speech at the Upstate Regional Summit, Hood plans to provide insight into collaborative initiatives, like Ten at the Top, that are currently active across national and global regions. She will also speak about how Upstate leaders can increase quality of life for residents while remaining competitive in the global economy.

Hood explains, “Today’s complex 21st Century economic and quality of life issues require communities working together like never before.  No one city, no one county, no one business, no one civic organization will ever have the collective impact that working together across jurisdictional and sector boundaries achieves.”

Recognizing the fifth anniversary of the successful “Upstate Reality Check” event held in 2009, the Upstate Regional Summit will highlight what has been done to promote collaboration and enhance economic vitality and quality of life in the Upstate over the past five years, discuss key systemic issues facing the Upstate today and into the future, and generate constructive dialogue on how to continue building collaborative efforts that increase capacity and maximize resources.

Admission to the Summit’s Opening Session and Breakout Sessions is free. To attend the Luncheon, general tickets will go on sale July 1 and can be purchased for $40, or $20 for non-profits and elected officials, made possible by Summit sponsor the Daniel-Mickel Foundation. To register for the event, click here or visit Ten at the Top’s website homepage (www.TenattheTop.org) after July 1.

Executive Director of Ten at the Top, Dean Hybl, explains that the purpose of the Summit “to allow business and community leaders, and engaged citizens, the opportunity to learn something valuable, share something valuable, and meet someone valuable” that can drive the Upstate forward around the five key drivers that Ten at the Top focuses its programming and efforts around: Human Potential, Economic and Entrepreneurial Vitality, Community Vibrancy, Sustainable Growth, and Natural Resources.

More information about Ten at the Top and the upcoming Summit can be found online. For more information about how to get involved with the Summit as a sponsor, please contact Jamie Prince with Flourish at (864) 248-0255. The deadline for sponsorship is July 14.

 

About Ten at the Top

Founded in 2009, Ten at the Top fosters partnerships and cooperation amongst ten counties, which form the Upstate South Carolina region, and has become an active regional entity fostering collaboration and strategic planning around issues that impact economic vitality and quality of life in the Upstate. Ten at the Top has hosted more than 350 meetings, programs and workshops that have informed and engaged more than 20,000 participants across the Upstate during its first five years. To learn more about Ten at the Top, visit tenatthetop.org or connect with them on Facebook.