Business Network Symposium Series Kicks Off Oct. 8

The leaders of Aspire Financial Services, Creative Sign Designs/Creative Mailbox & Sign Designs and Liberty Group are slated to speak at The University of Tampa on Tuesday, Oct. 8, to kick off the 2013-2014 Business Network Symposium series.

There will be a continental breakfast at 7:15 a.m., followed by the program from 7:45 to 9 a.m. The event, which is free and open to the public, will be held in the Vaughn Center Crescent Club.

Pete Kirtland is the president, CEO and founder of Aspire Financial Services, a leading full-service provider of retirement solutions, and has more than 25 years of experience in the retirement planning industry. Aspire was recently named No. 18 on the Tampa Bay Business Journal’s 50 Fastest Growing Companies.

Jamie Harden is president and CEO of Creative Sign Designs (CSD) and Creative Mailbox & Sign Designs (CMSD). CSD is one of the fastest growing architectural sign companies in the U.S. CMSD is the largest turnkey residential streetscape company in the southeastern U.S. The combined companies employ more than 100 people throughout Florida, with the majority based at its Tampa headquarters.

Punit Shah is president and chief operating officer of the Liberty Group, a company founded by his father, Raxit Shah. Over the past decade, Shah has managed and invested in more than $300 million of commercial real estate, including multi-family developments, senior living facilities, and more than 3,000 hotel rooms affiliated primarily with Intercontinental Hotels, Starwood Hotels and Hilton Hotels.

The event is sponsored by The University of Tampa Board of Fellows, and the presenting sponsor is LCG. Other sponsors include the Tampa Bay Business Journal and Sodexho Campus Services.

The Board of Fellows holds this networking event three times a year to allow businesses that are well known, changing or new to the Tampa Bay area the opportunity to share their accomplishments and plans with the business community. The next Business Network Symposium will be held on Jan. 28, 2014, and the final symposium is scheduled for April 8, 2014.

For more information, contact Alexandra Silence at (813) 253-6200 or asilence@ut.edu.