Tiffany Van Wieren leads the Arts in Medicine initiative at the Watson Clinic Foundation, based in the Watson Clinic Cancer Center. Through this program, she orchestrates activities within the center and extends its impacts throughout the community. As a musician, public speaker, consultant, and mother of four, Tiffany, a Florida Southern College graduate, brings over 25 years of professional arts experience, two decades of teaching expertise, and 10 years of consulting knowledge to serve as a bridge between the arts and health.

Rick Maxey has more than 30 years of experience working in Florida government. He is currently the Assistant Vice President Office of Diversity and Inclusion at Florida Polytechnic University in Lakeland, Florida. At Florida Poly he has also held positions as Assistant Vice President Economic Development and Board Management and Director Government Relations. Prior to working with Florida Poly, Maxey held a similar post as executive director for government relations at Florida’s State University System Board of Governors. He acted as the lead legislative and executive advocate for the State University System of Florida from 2005-11. He later became director of government relations at Florida LambdaRail, a fiber optic company serving educational and research entities in Florida.

Maxey also served for more than a decade in the Florida Department of Law Enforcement in various capacities that included senior executive assistant to the commissioner, agency liaison to the Florida cabinet, bureau chief of training and forensic scientist. As the bureau chief of training, he regulated instruction for more than 72,000 law enforcement, corrections and correctional probation officers in Florida and had oversight of 39 law enforcement training facilities throughout Florida. He also served as bureau chief of training for the Florida Department of Corrections, where he was responsible for the professional development of 25,000 employees in Florida’s prison system.
In 1998, he founded and operated Express Office Products providing office supplies and furniture to commercial and government entities.
Maxey holds a master’s degree in public administration from Florida State University in Tallahassee, and earned his bachelor’s degree in biology from Troy State University in Alabama. His areas of skills and expertise cover legislative relations, policy analysis and political campaigns.

Throughout his adult life, he has volunteered with community organizations to serve the people in the communities in which he lived. Rick continues to volunteer his time since moving from Tallahassee to Lakeland in 2018.

Married since 1985, Rick and his wife have two grown daughters.

Ileana Kniss was born in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, and moved to Lakeland, FL at the age of 7. As a long-time resident, she graduated from Lakeland High School before earning her BA in Communications from the University of Central Florida. With over 18 years of experience in fundraising, development, and community relations, Ileana joined the United Way of Central Florida (UWCF) team as the Chief Development and Marketing Officer in 2023. Her career has included roles with the Lakeland Chamber of Commerce, the Community Foundation of Greater Lakeland (now GiveWell Community Foundation), Lakeland Regional Foundation, Polk State College Foundation and Peace River Center.

Ileana has a history of leadership and service, having served as past president of both the Kiwanis Club of Lakeland and the Polk County Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals. She is also a graduate of Leadership Lakeland Class XXX and Polk Vision’s Leadership Polk. Outside of work, Ileana enjoys spending time with her family, being outdoors, and giving back to the community. A proud boy mom to two sons, ages 19 and 15, she is married to her high school sweetheart, Gregg.

Originally from Tampa, Trinity is a first-generation college graduate with a BA in electronic media from the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Her thirst for obscure and esoteric knowledge led her to work on documentary series about such varied topics as the Russian space program and 19th-Century explorers in Egypt.

Her devotion to media for the public good led her to PBS, then National Geographic, the BBC’s Motion Gallery, CNN and finally to LkldNow, Lakeland’s non-profit, independent, locally-driven news outlet. She serves as LkldNow’s Community Engagement Director charged with growing awareness of the critical role local journalism plays in the civic health of a community and the urgent need to ensure the future of local news and its accessibility so all Lakelanders can be informed and engaged citizens.

Trinity is married to Michael Laurino, an actor most recently seen as Will Gaines on Nickelodeon’s “I Am Frankie.” They have one daughter, Olivia, two cats, one rabbit, and four chickens. Trinity’s other passions include coxing (which she doesn’t get to do since moving to Lakeland), baking bread, gardening, and aerial yoga.

Carole has lived in Lakeland since 1996. She served for 15 years as a Vice President at Lakeland Regional Medical Center. During that time she  had executive responsibility for master planning and overseeing construction and opening of the laundry building, the Cancer Center and its first expansion and the B wing and the parking garage.

She also oversaw many other clinical departments and support functions at the hospital as well as the behavioral health inpatient units and outpatient behavioral health clinic.

She also was responsible for renovation of the M wing,the behavioral health unit, pharmacy,the laboratory as well as many others areas.

She oversaw the master planning and negotiating with the city to obtain the adjoining land South of the hospital for construction of the East Tower( now the Carol Barnett wing).

For the past 5 years Carole has been a Vice President in a similar capacity with Adventist Health System at Florida Hospital Carrollwood. There she was also responsible for Human Resources, their Occupational Health Clinic and their Wound  Care Centers.

Carole is a graduate of Leadership Lakeland and Leadership Polk. She has served on the Midtown CRA board as well as Central Florida Healthcare board. She also served on the Board of All Saints Academy in Winter Haven.

She was a Campus Board member of USF Lakeland and USF Poly and was involved in the master planning, site selection and construction management of the campus now known as Florida Polytechnic. She served on the last Polk County Efficiency Commission.

Carole currently serves on the Boards of the USF Foundation, Goodwill Suncoast and the Lakeland Police Pension Fund . She is also on the board of the newly formed USF alumnae Polk county chapter and the regional advisory council of GiveWell.

She is a certified public Pension trustee and a Lifetime Fellow in the American College of Healthcare  Executives. She is also approved as a FINRA arbitrator.

Other information- born in Miami. Graduated with a Bachelors in Psychology from Tulane and a Masters in Healthcare Administration from the Tulane School of Public Health.

She is married to Lyle. They have 4 grown sons.

Amy Wiggins is a public relations and communications professional who recently learned the meaning of the word proscenium.

After finishing her BA at Florida Southern College, Amy worked as the YMCA of West Central Florida’s first Teen Development Director before beginning a career in communications and economic development at the Lakeland Area Chamber of Commerce.

In 2015, Amy joined the Imperial Symphony Orchestra, a dynamic cultural arts organization with a 50-year history of educating, entertaining and inspiring audiences. Knowing that arts and cultural opportunities help to stimulate innovation and drive the economy, Amy is committed to making high quality live music accessible to everyone.

When she’s not attending a concert or supporting a fellow arts organization, Amy enjoys honing her gluten-free baking skills and rehabilitating orchids from the clearance rack.

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.