Kristina Park, 38

Of all the things Kristina Park learned from her dad, John Alspaw — and there were a lot — one that has particularly helped shape her career is work ethic. “He would always say if you don’t have a full-time job, your full-time job is getting a full-time job,” Park says. 

Park has taken that guidance to help make her mark in a career in tourism marketing and chambers of commerce. Her most recent post: She was named president and CEO of the Greater Naples Chamber late last year, assuming the position in January.

Photo by Mark Wemple

Park spent the past decade prior to the Naples role in the chamber field in Pinellas County, first with the St. Petersburg Area Chamber of Commerce and next with Amplify Clearwater. In Clearwater she was executive vice president and most recently COO, while in St. Pete she was the visitor experience manager, among other roles. 

Getting to the St. Pete chamber, and the industry in general, was something of a happy accident, says Park — facilitated by her dad’s lessons in work ethic. That goes back to 2012, when Park, working in tourism marketing in North Carolina, met St. Pete Chamber CEO Chris Steinocher. She was in St. Pete on an assignment, and crafted a SWOT analysis for Steinocher and the chamber. Steinocher was so impressed with the work, he hired Park. “I didn’t even really know what a chamber was,” Park says. 

Park now is a full-on chamber advocate, relishing the ability of the membership-driven organization to create and facilitate change in a variety of areas, from workforce development to affordable housing. She often tells her team to look for counterintuitive solutions to problems and situations, and avoid the status quo, a “but what if we did it anyway?” strategy. 

Being adaptable like that is another lesson from her dad, too, who she says worked hard to find a balance between his work and personal life — recognizing it was a work in progress. Her dad was a serial entrepreneur, in everything from cell phones to real estate. “He didn’t get it right all of the time, and we both learned from those times as well,” Park says in her 40 under 40 questionnaire. “I also got to experience how he identified and corrected when he knew that imbalance existed.” 

Another important balance for Park lies in how she directs the Chamber team, and on what projects the organization pursues. She often tells herself, and the chamber staff, to not forget their why. And to also be serious about their work — but not over-serious. “We are not doing life-saving work,” she says, “but we are doing life-changing work.”