DOWNTOWN DIALOGUE: St Petersburg Downtown Partnership CEO Jason Mathis

Host Karen Carmichael sits down with Jason Mathis, CEO of the St. Petersburg Downtown Partnership, for a conversation about the opportunities and challenges shaping the future of downtown St. Petersburg. Jason discusses the Partnership's role in advocating for the downtown community, supporting economic development, and fostering collaboration between businesses, residents, neighborhood organizations, and city leaders.

The conversation explores major redevelopment projects, the importance of preserving downtown's unique character while accommodating growth, improving mobility through walkable streets, and transportation options, and creating welcoming public spaces that encourage community engagement. Jason also shares how strategic planning, investment in infrastructure, and support for local entrepreneurs help keep downtown vibrant, resilient, and competitive while maintaining the quality of life that attracts people to live, work, and visit St. Pete.

Whether you're interested in city planning, local business, or the future of one of Florida's most dynamic downtowns, this episode offers valuable insight into the vision and leadership helping shape St. Petersburg's next chapter.

About Jason Mathis
Jason Mathis is the CEO of the St. Petersburg Downtown Partnership, a private, nonprofit organization dedicated to thoughtful growth and urban redevelopment. The Partnership focuses on big-picture issues and building a shared vision for St. Pete’s future, inspired by national best practices and local sensibilities. Its priorities include walkability, urban management, resiliency, housing for all income levels.

Jason brings three decades of experience in nonprofit leadership, coalition building, and public advocacy. He has a strong record of advancing high-profile initiatives in complex public settings and excels at uniting diverse stakeholders around a common vision.

In addition to leading the Partnership, Jason serves in board leadership roles with the St. Petersburg Innovation District, St. Petersburg Arts Alliance, Pinellas County Urban League, and the Homeless Leadership Alliance of Pinellas. He was part of the 2019 Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative cohort & serves on the City of St. Petersburg’s Community Benefits Advisory Committee.

Jason is an inaugural Emerging Leaders Fellow with the International Downtown Association and a member of the Urban Land Institute’s national Public Private Partnership Product Council. He also founded Florida’s Downtowns, a statewide coalition focused on strengthening downtowns throughout the Sunshine State.
His honors include the 2023 Haynes Hero Award, the University of South Florida’s 2024 Distinguished Citizen Award, and recognition in the Tampa Bay Business Journal’s 2025 and 2026 Power Rankings. Previously, Jason served as executive director of Salt Lake City’s Downtown Alliance and executive vice president of the Salt Lake Chamber.

About the St Petersburg Downtown Partnership
The St. Petersburg Downtown Partnership is a private, nonprofit company dedicated to thoughtful growth and urban redevelopment. The Partnership’s mission is to champion community prosperity through purposeful, transformative projects. Since 1965, the Downtown Partnership has helped to transform downtown, always seeking to be the right catalyst at the right time to move the city forward. The Partnership focuses on big-picture, long-range issues and works to form a shared vision for our future, inspired by global thought leadership, national best practices and local sensibilities. They recognize the relationship between successful cities  and green space, diversity, higher education, art, transit, data-based decisions and a balanced approach to equitable and economically sustainable development.

Learn more about the St. Petersburg Downtown Partnership at www.stpetepartnership.org

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