TAMPA, Fla — A new talent development center is coming to the University of South Florida's Tampa campus to help increase job placements for students in the Muma College of Business.
And it's all thanks to a $10.6 million gift from alumni Arnold F. “Arnie” and Lauren Bellini to the USF Foundation.
According to the university, the gift will be used to create and staff the Bellini Center for Talent Development. The center will look to provide the Tampa Bay area with a talent pipeline of employees through a three-year-plus certification program.
“The Bellinis’ vision will provide our business students with a unique professional development program, one that can serve as a national model,” USF President-elect Rhea Law said. “We are grateful for this very generous gift, which will benefit our students, business partners and the entire USF community for generations to come.”
In their first year, students will go through a "progressive program" set to help increase both internships and post-graduation job placement.
"Unlike other career-development programs, the Bellini Center will rely on business executives to lead workshops addressing the hard and soft skills they want to see in future employees, from writing refined resumés to exhibiting professionalism," a press release reads.
USF says the Bellini Center will occupy a 9,000 square-foot space and will include seminar and conference rooms and student workspaces.
Certain aspects of the new program are expected to launch immediately, while others will fall into place throughout 2022, according to a press release.
“The Bellini Center is revolutionary, a space and program dedicated to both student and business success,” said Dean Moez Limayem of the Muma College of Business. “Thanks to the Bellinis, from their first year in college, our students will be career-focused and guided by a team of advisors who help them chart their course and gain the internships they need to achieve their goals.”
Arnie Bellini and his brother David co-founded Tampa IT support company ConnectWise Inc. in 1982. USF says, for four decades, they revolutionized the technology industry's $213 billion managed service segment. They'd sell the business in 2019. Today, Bellini serves as the CEO of Bellini Capital.
“The biggest challenge in business is finding, attracting and keeping great talent,” he said. “The ‘go’ button for business growth has been pushed in Florida, specifically in the Tampa Bay area, and now we can promise employers a talent pipeline that will meet all their needs.”
