Pictured above: Will Weatherford (left), a Tampa-based businessman who served in the Legislature from 2006 to 2014, will succeed Jordan Zimmerman, a Fort Lauderdale advertising executive, as the trustees’ chair.
Courtesy of Weatherford Capital and USF.
By Nancy McCann
A former speaker of the Florida House of Representatives who joined USF’s Board of Trustees five months ago will become its chairman on July 1.
Will Weatherford, a Tampa-based businessman, will replace Jordan Zimmerman, a Fort Lauderdale advertising executive who has been a trustee since March 2010 and the board’s chair since April 2019.
The 13-member Board of Trustees on Tuesday also elected Tampa businessman Michael Griffin as vice chair.
Although he is a graduate of Jacksonville University, Weatherford is a longstanding supporter of USF.
He served in the Florida House from 2006 to 2014 and was House speaker during his last two years.
As speaker, he helped champion the downtown USF Health Morsani College of Medicine and Heart Institute and helped secure initial funding for the 13-story building.
In 2019, he received the President’s Fellow Medallion from then-USF President Judy Genshaft. The honor, which was established in 1988, recognizes meritorious service to the university and the community and is awarded at the discretion of USF’s president.
Weatherford, who lives in Wesley Chapel, is now managing partner of Weatherford Capital, a private investment firm founded in 2015 by Weatherford and two brothers.
Weatherford’s ascension to trustees chair caps a series of changes to the board that have come amid grumbling from key Pinellas County elected officials about the way USF leaders are handling consolidation of the three campuses.
State Sen. Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg, has been particularly vocal, declaring last fall that the performance of USF leadership “calls for a deep dive” into the Board of Trustees.
Already this year, the board has gotten three new members – Melissa Seixas, the president of Duke Energy Florida; Shilen Patel, the CEO and founder of a health care technology services firm; and Weatherford.
In an interview with The Crow’s Nest on Tuesday, Brandes hailed Weatherford’s election as “a welcome change (that) will lead to very positive outcomes.”
“Zimmerman did a great job in the initial phase of consolidation, but chair Weatherford will move the ball even farther,” said Brandes, who served in the state House with Weatherford.
“I think he (Weatherford) is the right person at the right time to navigate the complexities of a growing, changing university,” Brandes said.
The senator also said he thinks Weatherford “understands the need” to find financing for the five academic clusters that Brandes helped spur the administration to propose for the St. Petersburg campus.
“I think there’s going to be a strong commitment to ensuring – while Speaker (Chris) Sprowls (R-Palm Harbor) and I are still there (in the Legislature) – that we’re doing everything we can to benefit USF St. Pete,” Brandes said.
Brandes and Sprowls, key architects in the Legislature’s controversial decision to consolidate USF’s three campuses, can serve only one more year under the term limits stipulated in the Florida Constitution.
At Tuesday’s trustees’ meeting, Weatherford thanked fellow board members “for this humbling moment” and pledged to help “continue to make USF a very special place.”
He also praised Zimmerman for his leadership “through some extremely turbulent times.”
“I think a great sign of leadership is not how you are when things are going well, but how did you do when things were really challenging, and you certainly rose to the occasion,” Weatherford told Zimmerman.
Zimmerman, a USF graduate who is founder and chairman of an advertising agency that is the world’s 14th largest ad firm, called his service on the board an honor and “amazing opportunity.”
“I truly am in awe of the transformation of the University of South Florida over the past 11-plus years that I have been able to serve,” he said.
Zimmerman is a longtime supporter of USF and its advertising program. He endowed a scholarship program for advertising students in 2002 and an endowed professorship in advertising in 2006. Then in 2015, he donated $10 million to the College of Arts and Sciences, which named its school of advertising and mass communications in his honor.
According to the Board of Trustees website, Zimmerman’s term as a trustee was scheduled to expire in 2020.
In an email to The Crow’s Nest, university spokesperson Adam Freeman said Zimmerman “continues to serve in his current term as trustee until USF receives notification from the Governor’s Office that he has been reappointed or that a new appointment has been made to fill his seat on the board.”
Griffin, who becomes the trustees’ vice chair in July, is the Tampa market leader for a global real estate services company, according to the trustees’ website.
As a USF student two decades ago, Griffin served two terms as Tampa student body president. He has been chair of the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce and was chair of the task force that helped plan the consolidation of USF.
Six of the USF trustees are appointed by the governor and five by the state board that oversees the state’s 12 public universities – and all 11 must be confirmed by the Florida Senate. The presidents of the USF Faculty Senate and Student Government are also trustees.
