The Haines City Economic Development Council (“Council”) is a private, not-for-profit corporation organized under the laws of the State of Florida and is open to individuals or organizations with an interest in economic development of the City, Polk County and the State of Florida. The Council is made up primarily of companies, individuals, post-secondary education institutions, and workforce development boards. The Council provides the City of Haines City economic development services that provide an overall benefit to prospective and existing businesses that locate within the City and the central Florida area. The Council is managed by a Board of Directors made up of public and private sector members. The Council’s focus is on the development, marketing, consulting, and coordinating of economic opportunities that lead to jobs and ad valorem growth.
The Council performs activities to encourage, support, and promote economic development and growth opportunities in the City of Haines City, Florida. All decisions regarding eligibility for membership with the Council shall be determined by a majority vote of the Board of Directors, with each such decision to be final and binding. The Council is committed to quality job retention and creation from the public and private sectors in Haines City. Our mission is to retain, expand and recruit employers. The Council plays a significant role ensuring the continued economic prosperity of our community. membership.
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“Haines City is the perfect geographical location from a logistical standpoint to service lower and middle Florida with excellent road access. I couldn’t be happier with how Cyndi Jantomaso, the Haines City Economic Development Council, and the City of Haines City has treated our corporation and helped with all our needs.”
Gary P. Krupnick – President,
The Westwood Companies, Inc.
“By serving Haines City, CSX is offering the most efficient, cost-effective, environmentally friendly method for shipping goods long distances over land. This will give shippers an alternative to trucking their goods and will help lower shipping costs in central Florida.
Aubrey Brown, Senior Business Development Manager, CSX Transportation
“Transportation costs are rising rapidly, and trucking is becoming more difficult due to clogged roads and driver shortages. Rail service provides companies flexibility with logistics options, and for those that ship heavy loads or high volumes beyond 250 miles, the efficiency of rail transportation is very attractive.”
Stephen Whitley,
Whitley Capital, LLC
Cyndi is the President of the Haines City Economic Development Council, Inc and has been with the organization since 2011. The Council is a private, not-for-profit corporation organized under the laws of the State of Florida made up primarily of large companies, financial institutions, post-secondary education institutions, county and state representatives, and workforce development boards. The Council is managed by a board of directors made up of public and private sector members. The Council encourages, supports and promotes economic development and growth opportunities within the City and the Central Florida area. As a leader in the community, Cyndi is an Alumni of the Haines City Leadership Class II, Alumni of the Orlando Leadership Class 84’, and Alumni of the Leadership Polk Class VIII. Cyndi is involved with various organizations with the State, County and City Economic Development organizations. She has been appointed by Polk County Board of County Commission for a second term to the NE Polk County Roadway Advisory Committee; Board of Director on the Workforce Development with CareerSource Polk; Board of Director on the Haines City Chamber of Commerce; Past Board of Trustee for Heart of Florida Regional Medical Center; Advisory Board of Director for Citizens Bank; Polk State Corporate College Advisory Board; Chair for Leadership Polk with Polk Vision; Board of Director of United Way; Board of Director of Central Florida Health Care and is a past Board of Director of the Florida Economic Development Council. Cyndi is an advocate for maintaining the City’s investment in road and rail transportation laying the groundwork for growth which will safely move residents and visitors, transport goods which give a positive outcome of job growth, capital investment and competitiveness. Cyndi is devoted to growing Haines City and the Northeast Polk County region and a champion for this area’s enormous potential.
Stacy currently serves as the President & CEO for CareerSource Polk. In this role, Stacy leads a workforce system consisting of two full-service One-Stop Career Centers, a Mobile Career Center, a Youth Services Division, a Business Services Division, and a Corporate office, within the fourth largest county in land mass in Florida. Stacy has over 19 years of experience in workforce development and over 26 years of experience in leadership, supervision, and management. In 2002, Stacy joined the workforce system as the Assistant Director for Business Services. Within 2 years she was promoted to Program Director, where she remained for four years before being selected as President & CEO in September 2006.
Stacy takes seriously the responsibility of refining Polk County’s workforce through continuous improvement in skill development and leadership management. Her 10 years as a college administrator in the field of Student Affairs provided a solid foundation for academic, personal, and professional development. Her leadership positions at the University of Florida and Florida Southern College have enhanced her expertise in the areas of counseling/coaching, motivational speaking, training, facilities and process management, leadership development and strategic planning.
Stacy is very engaged with economic development organizations and Chambers of Commerce in Polk County where she acts as a catalyst in forming successful relationships with vital business and education partners. Stacy has been instrumental in sparking and leading conversations regarding the State of the workforce and business intelligence regarding recruiting and retaining talent. Stacy has served as a consultant for the State of North Carolina’s workforce system to improve customer engagement and satisfaction. She is a highly sought-after speaker and trainer and has presented at numerous national and regional conferences as well as served as keynote for private business events.
Stacy holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Educational Psychology and a Master of Science Degree in Counseling from Mississippi State University. She is a certified as Senior Professional in Human Resources, a Florida and National Workforce Development Professional, and a Job & Career Transition Coach. Stacy is also a highly sought-after Executive and Personal Life Coach. She is a 2003 graduate of the University of South Florida’s Economic Development Institute and a graduate of Leadership Lakeland, Leadership Polk and Leadership Bartow programs.
Stacy has been active on several Boards of Directors including:
Russel, more commonly known as Rusty, has lived in Davenport for the past fifteen years and is married to Cyndi Mouton. He is the proud father of two grown children and two grandchildren.
Rusty has been in banking for 36 years in Louisiana, Indiana and for the last 15 years in The Central Florida market. He is an experienced Commercial Real Estate Lender and has significant experience in Commercial and Industrial Lending, Business Development, Credit Administration, Management and Accounting.
Headquartered in Davenport, Florida between Orlando and Tampa, SouthState operates through two subsidiary banks providing a range of consumer and commercial banking services, including trust services. These services are provided to individuals, businesses and industries within eighteen counties throughout Central Florida.
In addition to providing traditional deposit and lending products and services to its commercial and retail customers, the Company also operates a correspondent banking and bond sales division. The division is integrated with and part of the lead subsidiary bank located in Winter Haven, Florida, although the majority of the bond salesmen, traders and operations personnel are physically housed in facilities located in Birmingham, Alabama, Atlanta, Georgia and Winston Salem, North Carolina. The division brokers fixed income securities, trades for its own portfolio, provides safe-keeping services, bond accounting services, and assets/liability consulting related activities. The customer base includes small to medium size financial institutions primarily located in Florida, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.
Dr. Andy Oguntola moved to Lake Wales nearly 20 years ago when he enrolled at Webber University, where the Kissimmee native earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business administration. He also holds a doctorate in education from Nova Southeastern University and joined Polk State in 2016 after serving as director of admissions and registration at Valencia College. Dr. Oguntola currently serves at the Interim Dean of Workforce & Economic Development and Center Director for the JD Alexander Campus. Within fours years of leadership at Polk State College Oguntola has won the Community Service Award for the City of Lake Wales. His passion and heart are geared to bring effective and positive change to enhance the College and local communities in the surrounding area.
Dr. Oguntola is honored to served along side the great members of the Haines City EDC Board of Directors!
Community Service Boards Served presently and previously served on are below:
2020 Vice Chair City of Lake Wales Charter Review
2020 Chair City of Lake Wales Police Advisory Committee
2019 United Way Loan Ambassador
2017- Present Vice Chair Lake Wales Chart School Board
2019 Chair City of Lake Wales Chamber of Commerce
2019 Chair City of Lake Wales Economic Development Council
2019 Vice Chair of Lake Wales Main Street
2019 Vice Chair Lake Wales Arts Center
2019-2016 Lake Wales Family Literacy Board Member
2019 Leadership Polk Class XIII
2019-2016 Independent Living Community Advisory Council Member
Merle has more than 45 years of experience in providing quality planning, growth management, economic development services, and leadership. Before joining Pennoni, Merle served as the Growth Management Department Director for the City of Winter Haven, FL where he oversaw the growth management activities and functions of the City including comprehensive planning, zoning, land development, engineering, building permitting, inspections, and the Regional Airport.
“My extensive experience in local government land use planning and economic development gives me the unique ability to assist clients find solutions and navigate the myriad complexity of land development requirements,” said Merle. “I believe that my extensive network of contacts throughout Florida while continuing to serve on several professional associations enables me to provide resources and collaborate on projects at multiple levels.”
Chris Schisler serves as the Director of Warehousing & Logistics for the Haines City division of ALDI USA. A resident of Florida since 2020, Chris is responsible for the distribution and fulfillment of product for ALDI stores spanning the Central Florida, Jacksonville, Orlando, Tampa, and Space Coast markets. Chris has 10 years of operational leadership experience and began his career in multi-unit operations as a District Manager in the Kansas City division of ALDI. He graduated from Truman State University and holds his Bachelors of Arts in Business Administration. He is appreciative of the Haines City Economic Development Council facilitating the privilege of having a service mindset to the local community both through distribution of affordable high quality groceries, and through partnership in responsible and thoughtful economic development.
Peveeta Samuel
Duke Energy
Dr. Andy Oguntola
Polk State College
Chris Schisler
ALDI Inc.
Stacy Campbell-Domineck
CareerSource Polk
Russel Mouton
SouthState
Jorge Altieri
Sofidel
Merle H. Bishop
Pennoni
Tim Clark
Advent Health
Stephen Whitley
Whitley Captial, LLC
Gary Krupnick
Westwood Companies
Wade Hughes
Florida Public Utilities
