The Swope, Rodante Vanguard Award Selection Board

The Swope, Rodante Vanguard Award’s Selection Board features an array of industry professionals, politicians, professional athletes, and local community leaders. Each member of the Selection Board brings a unique perspective that enables them to recognize all the different ways in which student athletes excel.

Together, the Selection Board member’s experience amounts to over 45 years in academic education and over 35 years in athletic performance. Once a month the members of the panel read through several student athlete nominations and, though it is not an easy process, they decide who the award recipient will be. Our firm is immensely grateful for the time and expertise that each Selection Board member volunteers to this award.

Selection Board Members

Senator Arthenia Joyner

Former Minority Leader of the Florida Senate

Ms. Joyner serves as Of Counsel at Swope, Rodante P.A. Ms. Joyner began a career in law because she viewed it as an opportunity to find justice for those in need and she has taken every opportunity to do so. As a groundbreaking leader in the legal community, Ms. Joyner was the first female black attorney in Hillsborough County and has always been dedicated to helping the local community.

Senator Arthenia L. Joyner is a dynamic individual whose personal life reads like a chronicle of the struggle for equal justice. She has not just lived history, she made it. Senator Joyner is Of Counsel at Swope, Rodante P.A in Tampa, FL, practicing in the area of personal injury. Born in Lakeland FL and reared in Tampa, she grew up in a time of segregation and has always been determined to end it. Senator Joyner began her long march for equality as a high school student in Tampa protesting for change. That journey took her to jail cells in Tallahassee during her undergraduate years at Florida A&M University when she was twice arrested for demonstrating against segregation and spent 14 days in the Leon County, FL jail. When president of the National Bar Association, she was arrested for protesting apartheid outside of the South African Embassy in Washington, D.C.

Joyner entered politics in the early ‘70s when she chaired Shirley Chisholm’s presidential campaign, Jesse Jackson’s 1984 and 1988 presidential campaigns, and co-coordinator of Lawton Chiles’ 1990 gubernatorial campaign, and Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign in Tampa.

A graduate of Florida A&M University College of Law, she was Florida’s fifth black female lawyer, the first black female lawyer in Hillsborough County, the first black lawyer in Polk County, the first black female lawyer to serve on the board of the Hillsborough County Bar Association, first black appointed by Governor Lawton Chiles to the Hillsborough County Aviation Authority, the first black woman appointed to the Board of Directors of the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce, the first black female State Representative and State Senator elected from Tampa, the first black female lawyer in the Florida Senate and the first black female to lead the Senate Democratic Caucus. Joyner has practiced law for fifty (50) years – longer than any black woman in the history of Florida.

Her most prestigious appointments came from President Clinton, including the U.S. Delegation to the United Nations 4th World Conference on Women. She is widely recognized for her leadership on women’s and human rights issues and her relentless passion for justice, truth, and equal rights. The Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners and the Tampa-Hillsborough Library Board recently celebrated her many contributions to Florida and the community by naming its new $9.3 million library in her honor.

Fentrice Driskell

Minority Leader of the Florida House of Representatives

Minority Leader Fentrice D. Driskell was first elected to the Florida House of Representatives in November 2018. Her approach of bringing common sense solutions to our state’s most pressing challenges related to public education, the environment, affordable housing, social and racial justice, public safety, and economic opportunity for all allows her to bring accessible, passionate representation to District 67, which includes parts of Carrollwood, Lutz, Temple Terrace, the University of South Florida, and New Tampa.

In 2022, Driskell’s peers unanimously elected her as Leader of the Democratic Caucus, making her the first Black woman to lead either caucus in the Florida House. Leader Driskell currently serves on the Appropriations Committee and previously served on committees and subcommittee such as Judiciary, Insurance and Banking, Health Care Appropriations, and the Select Committee on Hurricane Resiliency & Recovery.

In 2023, EMILYs List honored Leader Driskell as its 10th Annual Gabrielle Giffords Rising Star Award recipient. Past winners of this prestigious award include former Georgia House Minority Leader, Stacey Abrams, Colorado House Speaker Crisanta Duran, and U.S. Representative Ayanna Pressley. In the same year, Ruth’s List Florida honored Leader Driskell with its Carrie Meek Award, named after the first Black woman to serve in the Florida Senate and the first Black person to represent Florida in congress since Reconstruction.

Leader Driskell is an AV Preeminent-rated attorney who currently practices law with Swope, Rodante, Newsome & Steinberg in Tampa, Florida. Leader Driskell attended college at Harvard University, where she graduated in 2001 with an honors degree in Government and where she was the first African-American woman to be elected President of Harvard’s student government. Leader Driskell’s experience as Undergraduate Council President helped strengthen her belief in the importance of engaging women in leadership positions, and her studies in Government helped her better understand the importance of engaging diverse voices in the democratic process.

Leader Driskell also is a graduate of Georgetown law school, where she served as a student lawyer for indigent survivors of domestic violence and volunteered extensively with the Innocence Project. Following law school, Leader Driskell clerked for federal judge Anne C. Conway in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida. Since 2006, Leader Driskell has lived in Tampa where she has led or served on the boards of numerous organizations, including the George Edgecomb Bar Association, Athena Society, Tampa Crossroads, and the Hillsborough Education Foundation. Florida Super Lawyers magazine has recognized Leader Driskell as a “Rising Star” each year since 2011, and she was named part of Florida Trend’s “Legal Elite” in 2019. She is also active in The Florida Bar and has helped lead committees there.

Additional Select Honors:

In 2023, the National Coalition of 100 Black Women (Tampa Bay Chapter) honored Leader Driskell with its “Passing the Torch in Leadership” Award in the category of Public Policy/Community Activism.

In 2021, Leader Driskell received the “Friend of Public Education” Award from the Florida Education Association, the “Friend of the Sheriff’s” Award from the Florida Sheriff’s Association, and the “Whitney M. Young Jr. Service” Award from the Greater Tampa Bay Area Council, Boy Scouts of America.

In 2020, her peers elected her as the Parliamentarian of the Florida Legislative Black Caucus.

In 2019, the Florida League of Cities recognized Leader Driskell with a Legislative Appreciation Award for her efforts in defending local governments and home rule during her first legislative session. In the same year, the Speaker of the Florida House appointed Leader Driskell as a Commissioner on the Florida Women’s Suffrage Centennial Commission to help guide the state’s plan for commemorating the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment.

Santiago Corrada

President and CEO of Visit Tampa Bay

Santiago Corrada is an accomplished Tampa Bay figure with over twenty-five years of public service experience. He is an expert at understanding the work city departments do to give residents a better quality of life. Santiago spent 17 years in the Miami-Dade County school system, and shortly after he was recruited to as Chief of Staff for the City of Tampa. Santiago is passionate about bettering the lives of all Tampa residents.

Santiago Corrada is an expert when it comes to Tampa Bay tourism, and more than anything he has an outstanding capability to build connections. These skills have successfully enabled him to manage convention centers, organizations, and teams.

Corrada began his current position as President and Chief Executive Officer of Visit Tampa Bay in May of 2013. He is responsible for the oversight of all agency activities, day-to-day operations, and assuring a smoothly functioning, efficient organization. He serves as the main spokesperson for the tourism and hospitality industry; ensures stakeholders coordinated efforts in collaboratively increasing visitation to the destination while maintaining open lines of communication. Visit Tampa Bay has been awarded numerous marketing awards over the years, including four HSMAI Platinum Adrian Awards, and most recently four Henry Awards at Visit Florida’s Flagler Award Ceremony.
Corrada individually has received HSMAI’s Top 25 Award for Extraordinary Minds in Hospitality, Sales and Marketing. He was also recognized as Hillsborough County’s Hispanic Man of the Year in 2013.

With more than 20 years of public service and management experience, Corrada previously served as Chief of Staff for the City of Tampa. In this role, he coordinated and integrated the efforts of more than 50 City departments and divisions. In his tenure with city government, Santiago participated in bidding and hosting efforts for large meetings and groups including Super Bowl XLIII and the 2012 Republican National Convention.

Prior to joining the City of Tampa in 2004 as Neighborhood Services Administrator, Santiago served as the Director of Parks and Recreation for the City of Miami, and spent 17 years in the Miami-Dade County School System.
His current Board Affiliations include The Florida Aquarium-Board and Executive Committee, Hillsborough County Hotel Motel Association-Board and Executive Committee, Outback Bowl, Arts Council of Hillsborough County, Hillsborough County Human Trafficking, Hillsborough County Cultural Assets, Straz Center for the Performing Arts, Tampa Bay Hospitality Alliance Board, Tampa Bay Sports Commission, Tampa Hillsborough Film and Digital Media Commission, The Tampa Club, USF CAMLS Health Professions Conferencing Corporation, Tampa Theatre, Tampa’s Lowry Park Zoo-Board and Executive Committee.

Corrada graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Miami with a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology and Exceptional Student Education as well as a Master’s in Education.

Claire Lessinger

Vice President of Special Events, Tampa Bay Sports Commission

Claire Lessinger is a Clearwater native who has always been naturally drawn and committed to the sports industry. She herself was a volleyball player and coach for a total of over 15 years at the University of South Florida (USF). Since then, she has followed a career with the Tampa Bay Sports Commission, bringing a lot of attention to the sports industry in Tampa Bay. Claire is very well versed in this area, making her the perfect member of our Selection Board.

Lessinger has been a part of the Tampa Bay Sports Commission (TBSC) since July of 2012, and she took on the role of Vice President of Events in 2019. Lessinger focuses on driving economic and social impact by identifying and bidding on sporting and entertainment events in Tampa Bay. She has been a liaison between TBSC and the NCAA many times for their DI and DII Championship Conferences, as well as hosting NHL All-Star Weekends in partnership with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Most recently, Lessinger served as the Chief Operating Officer for the Tampa Bay Super Bowl LV Host Committee, helping deliver a historic and unprecedented 5th Super Bowl to the Tampa Bay community.
Lessinger has been recognized by numerous organizations throughout her career. She featured as one of the most influential women in Tampa Bay sports by the Tampa Bay Times. She has made a great impact in the “Beyond Series,” which empowers women across Tampa Bay sporting events, and she has also been a mentor for the USF Athletics Selmon Mentoring Institute. Also at USF, she serves on the Executive Board of USF’s Women in Leadership and Philanthropy.

Prior to joining TBSC, Lessinger was the head volleyball coach at USF for eight years, and assistant volleyball coach for seven years, totaling a time of fifteen years spent coaching. Her coaching time came naturally to her, as she had already spent 4 years playing collegiate volleyball at the University of Florida (UF). While playing collegiate volleyball, she won five SEC Championships, participated in five NCAA Tournaments and three Final Four Tournaments. In honor of her relentless effort, the UF volleyball program established the “Claire Roach Defensive Award” which is still presented annually to the best defensive player on the team.
Claire, raised in Clearwater, and her husband reside in Tampa with their two sons.

Chief Barbara Tripp

Fire Chief for Tampa Fire Rescue

Chief Barbara Tripp brings over 30 years of collective experience in fire and rescue services to her role on the Swope, Rodante Vanguard Award selection committee.

Barbara Tripp is a 27-year veteran of the City of Tampa and has served in the fire service for more than three decades. In June 2021, she was sworn in as the first female Fire Chief in Tampa Fire Rescue’s history, making her both a trailblazer and a strong advocate for diversity and equity in public safety.

Raised in East Tampa, Chief Tripp’s early aspirations initially led her into engineering and military service before community encouragement prompted her to enter the fire service. She began her firefighting career with Hillsborough County in 1994, and transferred to the City of Tampa in 1997, rising through roles such as paramedic, lieutenant, captain, acting district chief, quality assurance officer, rescue division supervisor, and rescue division chief.

As Chief, she is committed to transforming Tampa Fire Rescue through inclusive leadership, operational excellence, and mentorship of the next generation of fire service professionals. Beyond her departmental duties, she also serves on regional boards and planning councils.

Patrick Manteiga

Editor at La Gaceta

Patrick Manteiga is the editor and publisher of La Gaceta, the longstanding family-owned tri-lingual newspaper based in Tampa. Under his leadership, La Gaceta continues to publish in English, Spanish, and Italian — a legacy approach that honors the diverse immigrant history of the region.

A third-generation steward of the paper, Patrick succeeded his father Roland and grandfather Victoriano in carrying forward the mission of providing a platform for the Hispanic and immigrant voice in Tampa. He authors the weekly political column “As We Heard It,” maintaining the tradition of incisive local commentary that has become a hallmark of La Gaceta.

Beyond journalism, Patrick is active in historic preservation, civic engagement, and advocacy for Tampa’s Latin community. He serves as president of the Cuban Club Foundation and has held leadership roles on boards such as the Hillsborough Hispanic Coalition, Ybor City development organizations, and the Tampa Sports Authority.

Carlton Rice

Associate Athletic Director at USF

USF Athletics welcomed Carlton Rice to Tampa as the Assistant Athletics Director for Student-Athlete Enhancement in January of 2022.

In his position, Rice oversees the day-to-day operations of the Student-Athlete Enhancement unit including staff, programming and execution. He has a special focus on the areas of leadership advancement including the Student-Athlete Advocacy Committee (SAAC), the International Student-Athlete Club (iSAC), the Student-Athlete Leadership Academy and all Student-Athlete Professional Development. Personal enhancement and department wide events are other areas he works very closely with.

Rice, earned his Doctor of Education degree from Tennessee State University in December 2025, came to USF after serving eight years as the athletic director at Lawson State Community College (2013-21) in Birmingham, Ala. He also previously served as athletic director at Burke High School (2009-13) in Charleston, S.C., and worked as a physical education instructor and as a graduate assistant in the Alabama A&M athletics department.

Rice was a football letterman at Mississippi State (2003-06), where he earned his bachelor’s degree in physical education in 2006, and at Alabama A&M, where he was the Defensive MVP and earned his master’s degree in physical education in 2009.

Chris Griffin

Certified Mediator and Attorney

Chris Griffin is a seasoned attorney and Florida Supreme Court– and Federal Court–certified mediator, providing civil litigation mediation services across the state of Florida. He has been active in litigation since 1979, representing clients in state and federal courts in matters ranging from commercial disputes to employment, real estate, intellectual property, and business torts.

A graduate of Florida State University (J.D. 1978; undergraduate degree 1976), Griffin earned both his degrees with highest honors and completed near the top of his class. Over the course of his practice, he has tried numerous cases in virtually every circuit of Florida, and has argued appeals before all Florida district courts, the Florida Supreme Court, and the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

In addition to his mediation and courtroom work, Griffin has held leadership roles in major law firms and currently operates Griffin Mediation, LLC. His broad experience and deep knowledge of dispute resolution equip him well to serve with discernment and fairness on the selection committee for the Vanguard Award.

Sara Bogue

Director of Athletics, Hillsborough County Public Schools

Sara Bogue is a dedicated educational and athletic leader with more than 20 years of service in the Hillsborough County Public Schools system. Throughout her career, she has served as a teacher, coach, assistant principal, and athletic administrator, building a reputation for developing students both academically and athletically. She currently serves as Hillsborough County’s first female Director of Athletics, where she is committed to expanding opportunities for student-athletes and promoting excellence in athletics across the district.

A former collegiate basketball player, Sara understands firsthand the powerful role athletics play in teaching resilience, teamwork, accountability, and leadership. Her passion for student success has driven her work at every level of education, ensuring that athletics remain an extension of the classroom and a catalyst for personal growth.

Sara earned her master’s degree in educational leadership from Saint Leo University and has served students and school communities at Newsome High School, Lennard High School, and Bloomingdale High School during her career. Beyond her district leadership responsibilities, she serves on the Board of Directors for the Florida Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (FIAAA), having presented multiple times at the state level. Sara is also an active member of the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (NIAAA), helping advance best practices in athletic administration throughout the state and nation.

Family plays an important role in Sara’s life. Her husband, Jeff, is a longtime educator in Hillsborough County, and together they are proud parents of two children, Carter and Colton. Sara brings decades of experience in education, leadership, and athletics, along with a deep appreciation for recognizing student-athletes who demonstrate excellence in competition, achievement in the classroom, leadership among their peers, and service to their communities.

Ray Roa

Editor-in-Chief and Co-Owner, Creative Loafing Tampa Bay

Ray Roa is the editor-in-chief and co-owner of Creative Loafing (CL) Tampa Bay, a 38-year-old alt-weekly publication, where he’s had a byline since 2011. CL has long covered folks and topics outside of mainstream coverage and evolved to become a go-to, free-to-read, trusted source for locals seeking news along with the latest from the Bay area’s arts, music, and food scene. He also co-hosts “The Skinny” a public affairs radio program airing Fridays on WMNF-Tampa 88.5-FM.

He previously enjoyed bylines at the Tampa Bay Times, Consequence of Sound, Suburban Apologist, REAX music magazine, and the Daily Beast.

A Tampeño since he was 11 years old, Roa’s time in the Bay area has taken him from Town ‘n’ Country to Citrus Park, Carrollwood, the university area and Tampa Heights. He ran track at Jesuit High School, but never lettered or made a team, opting instead to take stats for the school’s basketball and football teams.

In between collaborating with CL’s staffers and contributors to produce the weekly publication and update cltampabay.com, Roa works to grow and develop Tampa Bay Journalism Project, a non-profit-driven effort to expand access to non-paywalled news and information across the Bay area.