Meet Kevin Cooper

And learn more about why we asked him to moderate our town hall event.

We are proud to announce that Kevin Cooper will be moderating the candidate forum at our upcoming town hall event.

We asked Kevin to be the moderator for a few specific reasons.

He loves Sarasota
He is passionate about getting the public involved in policy decisions
He has a strong track record of civic involvement
He has extensive knowledge on local hot button issues

We have been working closely with Kevin as well as other members of the community, to come up with questions for the candidates that represent our mission here at the Sarasota Underground. Please take a moment to get to know Kevin, and then use the form below to register for the town hall.

Kevin’s Bio

Kevin Cooper is President|CEO at The Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce. Prior to his current role, Cooper was Director of Community Investment for Gulf Coast Community Foundation where he helped oversee grant administration and initiatives.

His previous experience also includes having been Vice President for Public Policy and Sarasota Tomorrow Initiatives at The Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce and, before that, Executive Director for the Siesta Key Chamber of Commerce.

Cooper was a sergeant in the United States Army National Guard, and his service included a tour of duty in Operation Iraqi Freedom. He earned his undergraduate degree in Marketing from Kent State University and an MBA from Florida State University. Cooper is active in the community, serving on a number of advisory boards. Kevin is married to his wife, Missy, and together they parent a daughter, Violet.

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Meet our new community engagement platform

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About the town hall

We’re empowering area creatives and driving local commerce

Hello there, my name is Raymmar Tirado, and I’m the founder of the Sarasota Underground.

A few years back, I started a personal blog to share the story of my adventures as an entrepreneur publicly. Over time, the blog became pretty popular and eventually got to the point where it was outperforming some of the local media companies here in Sarasota.

The national exposure was great, but it was not very effective in helping me drive local change which is where I think we can have the most impact. Now I am working with a team of technology professionals to build a Sarasota centered web property that allows us to leverage the online clout we’ve built to drive real change here in my local community.

This website is the beginning of our efforts to do just that.

We’re building an open source media company that is designed to empower area creatives, and drive local commerce.

It’s a blend of…

New-media
Small business networking
Word of mouth marketing.

Were helping small businesses drive local commerce and encouraging more engagement on important civic issues by presenting important information about our community in a way that our generation can appreciate.

We understand that Sarasota is special for some very specific reasons, and we want to make sure we don’t lose sight of that. We also understand the need to amplify the voice of area young professionals, present the Sarasota story in a way that appeals to a younger demographic, and show younger voters how easy it is for them to get involved in shaping the future of this city we all love.

We think it’s time for a new generation of movers and shakers to come together to make a real difference in Sarasota…. Because this shit isn’t just going to fix itself.

So if you want to learn more, or are interested in helping us push Sarasota into the 21st Century then click the link below and join in on the conversation.

Join us