John Schueler recently moved to Bixby, Oklahoma after having lived in Tampa Bay for the past ten years holding senior executive positions and leading community organizations. His recent move to Oklahoma (for family reasons,) saw Mr. Schueler relinquish his position as Interim CEO of the Tampa Bay Partnership. His term as President of the Tampa Bay Defense Alliance (TBDA) expired in Q4 of 2015, though he remains an active and enthusiastic member of the Board of Directors.
Mr. Schueler came to Tampa as President of Florida Communications Group. He was responsible for all of Media General’s media operations in Florida including the Tampa Tribune, WFLA News Channel 8, TBO.com, Associate Publications (12 community newspapers), Highlands Today and Hernando Today, and CENTRO, a Spanish language media group. He retired from Media General in June 2012.
In July of 2012, he joined the University of South Florida for one year as Executive Director for Corporate Development. Mr. Schueler was then recruited to assume the role of Chief Operating Officer of the Tampa Bay Partnership, an 8 county economic development organization. Mr. Schueler then filled the role of interim CEO of the Partnership until a National search located a permanent CEO in December of 2015.
Mr. Schueler was a co-founder of the Tampa Bay Defense Alliance, a Section 501 (C) (3) tax-exempt organization. In his capacity as President of the TBDA, Mr. Schueler led community leaders on annual trips to Air Mobility Command at Scott Air Force Base. Mr. Schueler provided quarterly updates for the past 30 months, to Air Mobility Command Staff about defense community events and initiatives taking place in the Tampa Bay region.
Mr. Schueler also led community leaders on a trip to Guantanamo Bay (GITMO) and led annual visits to the Florida congressional delegation in Washington DC. Bringing a rotating group community leaders to Washington, the congressional visits served the purpose of providing regular updates on military and defense issues of concern across the region to our congressional delegation.
Prior to his move to Tampa Bay, Mr. Schueler was with the Denver-based Media News Group from 2001-2006. He was chief executive officer of its Northern California Division as well president and publisher of ANG Group publications and commercial printing. Earlier he was president and publisher of the Star Tribune in Minneapolis, President and Chief Operating Officer of the Orange County Register, and held executive positions with Knight Ridder in Detroit and Miami.
Born in Michigan, Mr. Schueler holds a bachelor of business administration in marketing and advertising from Western Michigan University and earned a SEP from Stanford University.
Mr. Schueler is also a past chairman of the Tampa Bay Partnership. He served on the University of South Florida Foundation Board and chaired its government relations committee. He was past campaign chairman for the United Way of Tampa Bay and for four years chairman of the American Heart Association’s Metro Board. Mr. Schueler was also on the board of directors for the Florida Council of 100.
Mr. Schueler has helped raise over one million dollars for the American Heart Association and has helped secured over $800,000 dollars in grants for the Tampa Bay Defense Alliance.
He currently serves on the Carlton Fields Client Advisory Board, along with long-term strategy committees for United Way Suncoast and the STRAZ CENTER for the performing arts. Mr. Schueler is also an active member of the Airlift/Tanker Association. The Airlift/Tanker Association is a Section 501 (C) (3) tax-exempt organization dedicated to ensuring that American military forces continue to have the air mobility capability required to implement U.S. national security strategy.