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.

Shaun Drinkard, LPM, is the Vice President of the St. Petersburg Downtown Partnership, where he leads the planning, implementation, and operation of the St. Petersburg Downtown Improvement District. In this role, he oversees stakeholder engagement, capital improvements, and programming for key public spaces such as Williams Park and Central Avenue. His work supports the organization’s broader mission to enhance economic vitality and elevate the downtown experience for residents, businesses, and visitors.

Drinkard brings nearly 20 years of experience in urban place management, most recently serving as Senior Vice President of Public Programming and Operations at the Tampa Downtown Partnership. There, he played a pivotal role in shaping Tampa’s nationally recognized Special Services District, leading efforts that included the clean and safe programs, signature public space programs, and the development of the organizations first in-house transit operations. He also founded the organization’s Homeless Liaison program, recognized as a model of compassionate urban management.

Previously, Shaun served as Director of Placemaking and as Executive Director of the Friends of the Riverwalk from 2013 to 2017. Earlier in his career, he worked as a landscape designer with WilsonMiller/Stantec’s Urban Design Studio on projects including the Channel District Strategic Action Plan and award-winning public spaces in Tampa and St. Petersburg.

He holds a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture from Louisiana State University and was selected for the International Downtown Association’s (IDA) prestigious Emerging Leaders Fellowship Program in 2017. He is a certified Leader in Place Management and currently serves on the IDA Board of Directors. Shaun has remained active in the local arts and community, previously serving as Chair of the Gasparilla Festival of the Arts.

A longtime resident of St. Petersburg, Shaun enjoys all St. Pete has to offer with his wife Carolyn, a high school math teacher, and their twin boys.

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Since 1995, Eric has been the Transportation Director for the St. Petersburg Downtown Partnership. He is the administrator for the Looper downtown trolley, overseeing their fixed route service, shuttles to major events, and private charters for special occasions. He’s helped grow Trolley use 99% from last year.

He began his transportation career in 1993 as the Director of Marketing for Bay Area Commuter Services in Tampa. This newly formed non-profit was designed to assist commuters with alternatives to driving to work alone.

As a member of the Association for Commuter Transportation (ACT) since 1993, Eric has served as the co-chair of several regional and national conferences,  served two terms as the ACT SouthEast Chapter Treasurer, and one term as the ACT National Treasurer.

While attending the University of South Florida St. Petersburg to receive her Bachelor of Science in Marketing with a minor in Psychology, Nicole Roberts fell in love with Downtown St. Petersburg. After graduating, she joined the St. Petersburg Downtown Partnership to help our downtown grow while maintaining the same vibe that made her fall in love with this place to begin with.

In her role, she also helped start the Car-Free St. Pete initiative in 2019, a movement to encourage locals to use all the amazing alternative transportation options available in Downtown St. Pete. This initiative has expanded over the years to include advocacy to improve those options, and a new nonprofit called Connect Pinellas has recently been created to expand the mission county-wide. Nicole served as the lead organizer in 2021 of the first Halloween on Central, a now annual event where Central Avenue is closed to cars to allow the community to enjoy the heart of our city from a different perspective. She is a member of the Leadership St. Pete® Class of 2021, completing one of the oldest leadership programs in America, designed to develop community leaders through an intensive six-month experience. In 2022, she joined the APA Sun Coast Board as the Communications Officer.