Pictured above: The appointment of Reuben Pressman (left) was welcomed by Campus Board Chair Melissa Seixas (right), who called him part of “the next generation of leaders” at USF.
Courtesy of Presence and Melissa Seixas.
By Nancy McCann
A young entrepreneur who was active in USF St. Petersburg’s Student Government a decade ago has been named to the St. Petersburg Campus Board.
The appointment of Reuben Pressman, who graduated in 2011, was approved today by a committee of the USF Board of Trustees.
The Campus Board is made up of seven Pinellas County residents who help oversee the St. Petersburg campus and serve as community advocates for it.
Pressman is founder and CEO of Presence, a St. Petersburg-based software company that helps 250 universities collect data and use it to increase student engagement and workforce readiness.
Pressman attended USF St. Petersburg in 2008-2011 and became the first graduate of the campus’ Entrepreneurial Program.
He was active in Student Government and, according to the university, created Bulls in the Burg, a program that offers students discounts at certain local businesses, and helped lobby in the state capital to get funding to build the University Student Center.
Pressman is now entrepreneur-in-residence for the city of St. Petersburg, serving as a liaison between City Hall and the entrepreneurial community.
In 2018, the USF Alumni Association named him one of seven USF Outstanding Alumni for his professional and charitable contributions in the area.
Melissa Seixas, a member of the Board of Trustees and chair of the Campus Board, welcomed Pressman’s appointment.
“I see him as a new member that will add to the diversity of experience for our campus, and I see him as the next generation of leaders that we want to see represent the University of South Florida,” she said.
Pressman becomes the second member to join the Campus Board this spring. Lisa L. Brody, a lawyer who helps run the largest nonprofit public-interest law firm in the Tampa Bay area, was appointed in March.
