Pictured above: Jordan Zimmerman (left), who donated $10 million to the College of Arts and Sciences, will be
replaced by Lauran Monbarren.
Courtesy of USF and Simpson Environmental Services.
By Nancy McCann.
Jordan Zimmerman, a USF grad who became one of the university’s most prominent benefactors and leaders, is leaving the Board of Trustees after 11 years.
The university confirmed today that Lauran Monbarren – who was appointed to the board by Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday – will replace Zimmerman, effective immediately.
The departure of Zimmerman, who became a trustee in 2010 and served as board chair from 2019 until earlier this year, comes a week after USF President Steve Currall announced he is retiring after just two years in the post.
Zimmerman, 65, a 1980 graduate, founded a Fort Lauderdale-based advertising agency that, according to USF, “discarded conventional wisdom and infused marketing creativity with a relentless focus on data and analytics that drove the bottom line.” It is now the world’s 14th largest ad firm.
Over the years he also has been one of USF’s strongest supporters.
He endowed a scholarship program for USF advertising students in 2002 and an endowed professorship in advertising in 2006. 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.
Zimmerman was appointed to the Board of Trustees by then-Gov. Charlie Crist in 2010 and reappointed to another five year term by then-Gov. Rick Scott in 2015. He was elected vice chair of the board in 2016 and board chair in 2019.
Zimmerman could not be reached for comment by The Crow’s Nest today. But when the trustees elected Will Weatherford to succeed him as chair in June, he 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.
At that meeting, Weatherford 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 you do when things were really challenging, and you certainly rose to the occasion,” Weatherford told Zimmerman.
