Samira K. Beckwith, president and CEO of Hope HealthCare Services, has been selected to serve on the Six Pillars Caucus, the Florida Chamber Foundation’s expanded research and policy development effort focused on improving Florida’s economic plan for the future.
Beckwith was selected based on her visionary leadership of Hope HealthCare Services since 1991, when the organization served fewer than 100 patients a day to more than 2,000 patients today in Lee, Charlotte, Collier, DeSoto, Hendry, Glades, Hardee, Highlands and Polk counties.
Hope is now one of Southwest Florida’s largest employers and has the broadest geographic service area of any hospice organization in Florida.
The product of years of collaboration and research by the Florida Chamber Foundation, the Six Pillars identify critical factors determining Florida’s future: talent supply and education; innovation and economic development; infrastructure and growth leadership; business climate and competitiveness; civic and governance systems; and quality of life and quality places.
As a member of the Quality of Life and Quality Places caucus, Beckwith will provide strategic recommendations, including corresponding public policy, to be shared with the Florida Chamber of Commerce and other partners in the Six Pillars to help develop priorities for Florida’s economic agenda.
“Florida is moving toward its next economy, and the foundation’s new caucus system will prove to be an invaluable framework to help get us there,” said Jeff Lyash, chairman of the board of trustees of the foundation and executive vice president of corporate development for Progress Energy Florida.
“The Florida Chamber Foundation is a proven leader in tackling the challenges that Florida faces – and none of those challenges is more significant today than our economic strategy to ensure a prosperous future,” Beckwith said. “I’m truly honored to be appointed and look forward to sharing my experiences and knowledge.”
She has been recognized for professional and personal achievements on the local, state and national levels. Most recently, Beckwith was awarded the 2010 Ellis Island Medal of Honor, one the nation’s most prestigious awards, and in 2009 received the Alumni Medalist Award from The Ohio State University Alumni Association and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Stevie Awards for Women in Business. Beckwith’s previous honors include the APEX Award from the Greater Fort Myers Chamber of Commerce, Gulfshore Life Magazine’s Woman of the Year, Survivor of the Year for the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, and the Junior Achievement of Lee County’s Business Leadership Hall of Fame.
