Tuesday - September 15, 2020

11:30 AM - 1:00 PM

Virtual Conversation with a Philanthropist  

Lorna Taylor of Premier Eye Care

Join us for an enlightening conversation with one of the Tampa Bay’s most visionary philanthropists, Lorna Taylor. Taylor is an accomplished leader, both in directing Florida based managed eye-care company, Premier Eye Care, as the President and CEO and in community impact. “People, planet, profit” is the triple bottom line her and her leadership team use to foster a culture of equity, diversity, engagement and corporate social responsibility. She’s been recognized for her goodwill in numerous aspects of the community including the arts, academics, heath and wellness, female business leadership among many others. She has served on several boards including The Dali Museum, Tampa Bay Businesses for Culture of the Arts, Arts Conservatory for Teens, Preserve Vision Florida, University of Tampa, The Athena Society and the Foundation for a Healthy St. Petersburg. Her work spans beyond the Tampa Bay Community including involvement with the International Green Belt Movement which formed a coalition of women in Kenya with a focus on planting trees. Kevin Bakewell, Principal of Bakewell Public Relations, LLC, will host a moderated conversation with Ms. Taylor about her lifelong drive to help others.

AFP Members FREE OR Donation of $10.00

Guests $10.00

Please register to be sent the link/code to join the Session.

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Thank you to our Meeting Partner!

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Applied for 1 hour CFRE Credit

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Lorna Taylor: Lorna Taylor is the President and CEO of Premier Eye Care, a leading expert in national managed eye care that provides services and administration of everything from routine vision exams to complex ocular surgical procedures.

Taylor is an accomplished leader, both in directing Florida-based Premier and in making an impact in the community. Premier, ranked as one of “Florida’s Best Companies to Work For” for eight consecutive years -- #1 in mid-sized companies in both 2019 and 2020 -- has also been ranked repeatedly as one of the state’s fastest-growing companies by the Florida Business Journals.

Premier manages full-risk medical and routine ophthalmic care for over 4 million people and is recognized for industry-leading technology-based solutions and a successful corporate culture. Taylor promotes associate engagement through an organizational model that encourages innovation and self-direction to team members, half of whom are millennials.

Taylor and her leadership team embrace a culture where the triple bottom line, “people, planet, profit,” is part of the corporate DNA.  Her team is purposeful in hiring and promoting practices.  Premier believes that the more diverse the team at all levels of the organization – from entry to senior leadership – the stronger the team.  Premier also practices pay equity across the company, including gender, race, age and ethnicity.  This requires an intentional focus with continual review and adjustments.  Reflecting the success of this approach, Premier has high associate loyalty and engagement with only a 2% turnover rate, significantly lower than the 22% industry average, and has been ranked nationally as one of the 75 Best Places to Work for Millennials by the Center for Generational Kinetics.

Taylor was named as an entrepreneur of the year by the Business Observer and received the Tampa Bay Ethics Award from the University of Tampa’s Center for Ethics; the International Women’s Day Leadership Award from Working Women of Tampa Bay; the Mildred M. Baynard Founder’s Award presented by Preserve Vision Florida; the 2019 Patron of the Arts IMPACT Award by Tampa Bay Businesses for Culture & the Arts; Academy Preparatory’s 2020 Fabulous Five; and the Pinellas County Urban League’s 2020 Whitney M. Young, Jr. Leadership Award.

Also she received Angie’s Award for exemplifying a commitment to community service, as well as was awarded the Health & Wellness category of the Tampa Bay Business Journal’s Business Woman of the Year awards.  Among her other awards: Supporter of the Year, Faces of Philanthropy by the Florida Museum of Photographic Art; Woman of Distinction by the Girl Scouts of West Central Florida; the Light of Sight Award from the Lion’s Eye Institute Foundation, and the Sustainability Leadership Award from the Sustainable Business Coalition of Tampa Bay.

Personally, Taylor is involved in a wide variety of community and nonprofit causes. She has board positions with The Dalí Museum, Tampa Bay Businesses for Culture and the Arts, Arts Conservatory for Teens, Preserve Vision Florida, University of Tampa Board of Trustees, The Athena Society, and The Foundation for a Healthy St. Petersburg.

She has also been involved at the board level in the International Green Belt Movement for many years. Led by founder and Noble Laureate, Wangari Maathai, the group built a coalition of women in Kenya, paying for every tree seedling they planted. From this initiative, the women started businesses and improved conditions in their communities. Since 1977, the movement has planted over 50 million trees, and the effort has had a profound impact on making steps toward environmental sustainability, eradicating poverty and empowering women.

Taylor is a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary with a master’s degree in divinity, concentrating in social ethics. She lives in St. Petersburg, Florida, where she enjoys her two rescue pups, travel, art, and the vibrant cultural life of the Tampa Bay area. Reflecting her approach to work and community, Florida Trend named her as one of St. Petersburg’s movers and shakers, and she was named by Tampa Bay Times columnist Ernest Hooper as one of the 10 most intriguing people of Tampa Bay.

Kevin Bakewell, Principal of Bakewell Public Relations LLC, is passionate about supporting nonprofits and his profession – passions that evolved during his 45-year career at AAA and which have guided his focus since becoming a freelance public relations practitioner and principal of Bakewell Public Relations LLC. His passion for nonprofits is recently evidenced in a free two-part webinar he presented to AFP Tampa Bay, entitled, “Communicating in a Time of Crisis: Solid Advice for Nonprofits.” Click HERE for video recordings of the webinar.

Kevin is a member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, Tampa Bay Chapter and through his dba PR4nonprofits (www.pr4np.com), will soon be launching a suite of NPO-affordable services designed to help nonprofits leverage the power of public relations and strategic communications to support their missions.

Before his retirement from AAA in January of last year, Kevin was responsible for all public affairs operations in 11 states and 2 US Territories. As senior vice president and chief public affairs officer, he was head of corporate social responsibility, legislative advocacy/lobbying, media relations, community engagement and corporate communications. He led a staff of 60 and managed a $10 million annual budget, including yearly charitable giving and nonprofit sponsorships totaling more than $1 million. In 2010, Kevin founded and, until his retirement, chaired AAA’s Auto Club Group Traffic Safety Foundation, a 501(c)(3) public charity dedicated to improving traffic safety.

He is currently serving his third term as board chair for Preserve Vision Florida, the state’s premier nonprofit dedicated to preserving sight through vision screenings, correction, medical treatment and advocacy. Preserve Vision Florida, founded in St. Petersburg in 1957, has its roots in Prevent Blindness America, founded by Helen Keller in 1908. He also serves on the executive board for the Greater Tampa Bay Area Council/Boy Scouts of America, the executive committee for the Suncoast Safety Council, and as chair of the administrative board for Aldersgate United Methodist Church.

Kevin is nationally accredited in public relations (APR) through the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), is a past president of the PRSA Tampa Bay Chapter (1997) and is the current Chair Elect for the national Independent Practitioner Alliance (IPA) Section of PRSA.

A native of St. Petersburg, Kevin and Debbie, his wife of 42 years, have three grown children, four grandchildren, and reside in Clearwater, Florida.