County Races
D.C. Goutoufas
D.C. Goutoufas was a Tampa banker for decades. He managed banking centers including the Downtown Tampa Wachovia Bank. He retired from bank management at age 39 to pursue entrepreneurship. He has operated three successful businesses over the years, He was also an adjunct professor with the University of South Florida.
Goutoufas has very deep roots not only in Tampa but also in America. He’s a fourth generation Tampan and a thirteenth generation American. His great grandfather on his father’s side was the first Greek to settle in Tampa in 1887. Goutoufas’ ancestors from his mother’s side have a family blood lineage to William Bradford, a signer of the Mayflower Compact and the Governor of the Plymouth colonies. His mother is a certified member of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
Goutoufas is the son of a military police officer, first sergeant, and Silver Star recipient. His father served in the Korean War with the U.S. Army. His mother was an educator and a public school administrator in Hillsborough County and Who’s Who’s in America. He is a proud father with one daughter, Olivia Goutoufas.
Goutoufas lost his hearing overnight when he was 4 years old. His mother spent countless hours each day teaching him to read lips which helped him go mainstream through the Hillsborough County school system. He graduated from Plant High School where he played baseball and football, and he went on to make local news when he became the first deaf person to graduate from the University of Tampa with a Bachelor’s in Business Administration with a concentration in Marketing.
WFLA Gayle Guyardo and Tampa Tribune columnist Steve Otto covered a thorough story on Goutoufas when he decided to go through with a cochlear implant surgery. The journalists broadcasted Goutoufas hearing his first words, his daughter telling him, “I love you”. The story was picked up by other news stations nationwide. The surgical technology gave Goutoufas the ability to hear.
As a fourth generation Tampan, Goutoufas has served on several government and non-profit boards. He served on the Hillsborough County Affordable Housing Steering Committee and the City of Tampa Neighborhood Element Board. He was the Vice President of Culbreath Heights Neighborhood Civic Association. Additionally, Goutoufas was involved in lobbying the closed captioning program for government access television channels, making Hillsborough County the first to caption government access channels in America. The City of Tampa then emulated the move to caption their televised meetings. Goutoufas also served on a task force that made Tampa International Airport more accessible for worldwide travelers through the Americans with Disabilities legislation.
Goutoufas has received several community service awards: the “Service to Mankind Award” from the Tampa Sertoma Club, the “Outstanding Community Service Award” from former Tampa Mayor Sandy Freedman’s Alliance for People with Disabilities, and the “You’ve Made a Difference Award” from the Board of Hillsborough County Commissioners.
Cindy Stuart
Cindy Stuart is currently the elected School Board Member for District 3 serving students and constituents in the Northern section of Hillsborough County. Mrs. Stuart is one of seven members responsible for making policy decisions and overseeing a total budget of $2.9 billion for the 7th largest school district in the nation, which is also the county’s largest employer with more than 26,000 employees.
Cindy currently serves in many roles both within the district and on community organizations. She serves on the Legislative Committee for the board, interacting directly with our contracted firms to push agendas and initiatives at the state and federal level. She also chairs the Transportation Committee directly impacting the decisions that come forward from within the organization but are also in collaboration with outside partners. Within the community, Cindy represents the district on the Metropolitan Planning Organization as a steering committee member and a policy committee member. She also chairs the School Transportation Working Group under this organization to facilitate better communication and balanced decision making for all participating municipalities.
She represents the School Board on the David A. Straz, Jr. Center for the Performing Arts Board of Trustees, Hillsborough Education Foundation (alternate), Juvenile Justice Board, Circuit 13, Glazer’s Children Museum’s Board of Directors, and Safe & Sound Hillsborough Leadership Council member, finance chair and executive team member.
At the state level, Cindy sits as a board member for the Florida School Boards Association representing Hillsborough County and is on the state legislative committee. Cindy was recently named to the Executive Team of FSBA as the treasurer.
Raised in Tampa, Mrs. Stuart is a proud graduate of A.P. Leto Comprehensive High School in Hillsborough County. She worked full-time to put herself through college and became the first member of her family to graduate from a university. She earned a Bachelor’s Degree in 1995 from Florida International University with a concentration in Management Information Systems and Programming.
Mrs. Stuart is a Tampa resident, and mother of three children.
A few highlights of Cindy’s accomplishments in her 7 years as a Board Member include, 6 Community Partnership Schools, 60 Feeding America food pantries within schools of high need, Board development of Racial Equity and Diversity policy (2019 Urban School Board of Excellence Award), a Pre-K swimming program for all students enrolled within district pre-k school and transportation and logistics programs across several municipalities including the school district.
Cindy was orginally elected to Hillsborough County School Board in 2012 and reelected in 2016.
Kevin Beckner
Visit www.KevinBeckner.com for more information about Kevin.
Kevin Beckner was elected to the Hillsborough County Commission in 2008 and re-elected in 2012 to a second four-year term. As one of seven commissioners, he was responsible for approving an annual operating and capital budget that exceeded $4 billion and was one of three representing a county-wide district of more than 1.2 million constituents.
From 2017-2019, Kevin served as the Executive Director of the Hillsborough County Civil Service Board (CSB), an agency that serves over 9,000 Hillsborough County Employees and 20 county agencies. The CSB provides a neutral and independent forum to hear appeals of employee disciplinary and termination actions as well as provides comprehensive Human Resource Services to 15 Hillsborough County Agencies. The CSB was eliminated by the Florida Legislature in 2019.
A native of Michigan City, Indiana, Kevin graduated from the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy in 1990 and earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice with minors in Business and Psychology from Indiana University in 1993. He attended Harvard Kennedy School’s Executive Leadership program in 2013. Kevin has been a Financial Planner for more than 17 years and maintains the professional credentials of a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNING PRACTIONER (CFP®), Chartered Life Financial Consultant (CHFC) and Certified Life Underwriter (CLU). Kevin has also earned the distinguished IPMA-CP designation from the International Public Management Association of Human Resources.
He is a member of Tampa Rotary and past President of Leadership Tampa Bay.
When not hard at work for the people of Hillsborough County, Kevin enjoys traveling and spending quality time with his spouse of 20 years, Gil.