Michelle Turman Celebrates Six Months on Hillsborough County Arts Council

Tampa, FL, May 4, 2017 – Women’s Exchange member Michelle A. Turman, MA, CFRE was appointed to a four-year term to the Arts Council by the Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners on October 5, 2016. The Arts Council services include grant programs for nonprofit cultural organizations, individual artist grants, arts-in-education programs in the Hillsborough County School District, executive representation of the arts on local government committees, task forces and community outreach organizations.

The Arts Council works with local artists and arts organizations to support their cultural enrichment efforts; with the School Board of Hillsborough County to contract for artists in the schools’ programs; and the finance staff works closely with the Tampa Theatre, Community Stepping Stones, the Firehouse Cultural Center and other community outreach organizations as well as serving the Arts Council’s sister organization, Hillsborough Arts, Inc.

Turman is the Principal of Catalyst Consulting Services, whose mission is to facilitate positive change in the areas of executive searches, governance and fundraising coaching, organizational management and strategic planning. Turman received her bachelor’s degree in Humanities from Florida State University and master’s degree in Art History from University of South Florida. After thirteen years of museum management with a focus on curating exhibitions, fundraising, administration and working for organizations such as the Museum of Fine Arts (St. Petersburg), the Vero Beach Museum of Art, RMS Titanic, Inc. and the Gulf Coast Museum of Art and serving as an associate professor of art history and humanities for St. Pete College, she moved into the health and human services industry. In 2000, she was inducted into the prestigious Explorer’s Club in New York by joining Bob Ballard, Dr. Sylvia Earle, and others for her dedication to underwater exploration and artifact conservation.

With over twenty-two years of nonprofit experience, Turman has been responsible for increasing the impact and best practices of nonprofit organizations she serves and has raised over $60 million for the Tampa Bay community through her professional and personal philanthropic efforts. In addition to facilitating change nationally and in the Tampa Bay area, Michelle’s community service has included leadership roles on the boards of the Elevate, Inc., Suncoast Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, Partnership for Philanthropic Planning, Leadership Pinellas, the South Tampa Y and University of South Florida’s Women in Leadership and Philanthropy, the Women’s Exchange (WE) and Working Women of Tampa Bay.

Turman is a Key Partner and educational trainer for the Nonprofit Leadership Center of Tampa Bay and at the Edyth Bush Institute for Philanthropy & Nonprofit Leadership at Rollins College. In 2015, Turman was recognized by Tampa Bay Metro Magazine as one of Tampa Bay’s Distinguished Women in Business in 2015 and The Face of Nonprofit Change in 2016. Turman was also a 2007 and 2016 nominee for the Tampa Bay Business Journal’s Business Woman of the Year.

Via Catalyst Consulting Services. Learn more at www.catalystcs.org.