Mickie Valente
President
Valente Strategic Advisers, LLC.

Mickie led the development of Emergency Support Function 18 for Business & Industry at Florida’s State Emergency Operations Center and she serves on disaster response and recovery task forces and initiatives for the Business Civic Leadership Center of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the International Economic Development Council.

Mickie also is engaged in leadership roles at the state and national level to encourage and advance quality economic development and to coordinate the business preparation, response and recovery efforts by federal and state agencies. She serves on several Florida based, Gulf States, and national initiatives focused on enhancing economic disaster resiliency and recovery planning for business infrastructure. She is a frequent public speaker and facilitator on related topics.
She previously served as the Director of Partner Relations for Enterprise Florida, Florida’s primary economic development partnership, a role in which she coordinated economic development initiatives with local and regional economic development organizations. She also facilitated the state’s business response and recovery efforts after the devastating 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons that impacted the majority of counties in the state of Florida. In addition, she assisted on site in Louisiana and Mississippi in developing business recovery strategies following the catastrophic effects of Hurricane Katrina and in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, after the devastating summer 2008 Midwest floods.

Prior to joining Enterprise Florida, Mickie was the daily business columnist for The Tampa Tribune, writing on array of economic development, international trade and general business and commerce issues in Florida.

She is currently a member of the Stakeholders Council of Enterprise Florida and serves on the Policy Advisory Board for the Florida Solar Energy Center. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from the University of Georgia and a Masters of Business Administration from Florida State University.