Jason Willey is the Business Development and Special Projects Manager for the City of Lakeland. He is responsible for the City’s internal economic and business development activities. Working closely with developers, contractors, engineers, architects and realtors, much of Jason’s time is spent navigating processes and solving problems. He has a Bachelor of Science in Public Administration from Florida State University and Master’s Degree in Business Administration. Jason is a graduate of Leadership Lakeland Class XXX and Leadership Polk Class IX. He serves on a number of volunteer advisory boards and committees and has worked for the City of Lakeland since 2000.

Jason lives in Lakeland with his wife and two children. He enjoys spending time with family, running, soccer and traveling.

Pat Steed is the Executive Director of the Central Florida Regional Planning Council which covers the counties of Polk, DeSoto, Hardee, Highlands, and Okeechobee and the twenty-five cities located within them. She has lived in Lakeland since 1982. Pat has 35 years of management and professional planning experience including serving as Planning Director for Polk County, Planning Manager for the City of Lakeland, Director of the Polk County Transportation Planning Organization (TPO) and Project Director for a national consulting firm. She has served on many local non-profit boards and committees including Lakeland Vision, Polk Vision and myregion.com and leads the Heartland 2060 regional visioning initiative. She currently serves on the Board of the National Association of Development Organizations (NADO) and has served on many state and national transportation committees.