2023 Mentors

A Civil Engineer and Tallahassee native, Richard joined Moore Bass Consulting in 2014 after working as an engineer and construction project manager for a large developer in North Florida. Richard has over 16 years of engineering design experience and has managed construction projects from inception to close-out. He specializes in industrial, large-scale economic development projects bringing job growth and positive community impacts. Richard is active in the community through his volunteerism serving on community boards such as the Urban Land Institute, the Greater Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce, and Access Tallahassee.

Originally from Charleston, Becca Gilbert moved to Tallahassee for a scholarship to attend the Florida State University School of Music. After graduation, she moved to Nashville, TN to work on the famous Music Row. With 18 months under her belt buckle, she was hired to move to Los Angeles to work in music publishing for a sole songwriter.

Five years later, her name husband, a native of Tallahassee and U.S. Air Force active duty member, took her out of the big city lights to the corn fields of Omaha, NE. There, she recreated her career and dove into what she knew best: radio. Her previous jobs in radio through the years helped her steady herself in a new market with zero connections. But, she quickly used radio to build her sales career which eventually lead to a marketing director position.

It was in her first marketing director position that she experienced the power of networking through local Chambers. Nine years later, with her husband’s retirement planned, she reached out to Sue Dick prior to moving back to Tallahassee. She knew that the power of the Chamber network would help in choosing the right job.

That “right” job landed her with Thomas Howell Ferguson P.A. CPAs, where she has been the head of Marketing and Business Development for more than nine years. During this time, the firm has grown from 65 team members to over 150 team members. She is proud of the expansion of the firm and enjoys watching each of the shareholders develop and grow in their leadership positions.

In her spare time, she can be heard bragging about her husband’s work with their church, her daughter’s mad skills on the softball field and grades in the classroom, or her son’s job in the accounting department of Chick-fil-A corporate in Atlanta. 

Alan Hanstein is the Executive Director for the Challenger Learning Center of Tallahassee as of June 2022. He is responsible for all aspects of center operation, including its IMAX Theatre, Planetarium Theatre, Camp Challenger, educational school programs (field trips), lecture series, public programs and more.
Most recently, Alan was partner and director of Business Development at Event Owl, LLC, a developer of hybrid/virtual event apps for state and national associations. He has more than three decades of experience leading successful technology companies. Active in the community, Alan has served on many non-profit boards, including Making Awesome – Tallahassee’s Makerspace, Moonshot Florida, The Florida State University Schools, and Knight Creative Communities. He is a Jim Moran Institute Fellow.

Alan lives in Tallahassee with his wife, Amy. They have two adult children, both of whom grew up visiting the Center frequently.

With more than 20 years managing multi-million dollar enterprise technology projects, Eddie is an award-winning information technology expert, mentor, recognized speaker, and CEO at Ruvos (formerly named Uber Operations), a leading data, security, and cloud computing company. Eddie played a critical role in the development of the company’s strategic growth from 5 individuals to over 45, and he continues this by working with partnerships and supplier relationships, ensuring flexibility and growth in response to an increasingly demanding marketplace.

Prior to joining Ruvos, Eddie served as Senior Project Manager at Stanford International Bank in Antigua, West Indies. While at Stanford, Eddie managed all facets of the technology at the bank including several high profile banking system implementations in Antigua, Panama, Venezuela, and Canada.

Eddie, a Cuban-American born in Miami, Florida, attended Loyola University, New Orleans earning a bachelor’s degree in Finance and Computer Information Systems. He subsequently received his Executive MBA in 2007 from the University of Miami while working full time.

Eddie is fluent in English, Spanish, has a working knowledge of Portuguese, and has traveled on business to over 15 countries. Eddie is an active member of the Technology industry and a staunch advocate for the Latino and Small Business communities. He serves in a number of organizations and attends numerous conferences and technology events serving as an expert on entrepreneurship, project management, and leadership.

Eddie is an adjunct professor at Florida A&M University as well as Emory’s Rollins School of Public Health.

Eddie was named one of Florida’s top entrepreneurs under the age of 40 and was profiled in Hispanic Executive magazine for his work in healthcare technology.

Eddie lives in Tallahassee with his wife Jessica (teacher at Maclay School) and children, Raquel (8) and Meyer (5).

Dan McGrew has devoted over 25 years of experience helping others achieve their education and career goals. Dan currently serves as the Sr. Vice President of Business and Workforce Strategies for CareerSource Florida. In this role, Dan is responsible for developing and deploying the business and workforce strategies for the Governor’s principal workforce policy board for the state of Florida. Prior to CareerSource Florida, he served as Regional Director for Dynamic Workforce Solutions, a workforce services provider, where he led the operations and delivery of workforce contracts with CareerSource Capital Region, CareerSource North Central Florida, CareerSource Pinellas, and CareerSource Tampa Bay. Prior to Dynamic Workforce Solutions, Dan held the position of College Director of ITT Technical Institute in Tallahassee, FL where he was responsible for all campus operations, successfully sought and received state approval to launch a Registered Nurse degree program, and oversaw the first graduation in the local campus history. Dan also enjoyed a 12 year career with Kaplan, Inc., where he served in a number of roles from field operations management to corporate marketing and operations in Boston, MA; New York, NY; Dallas, TX; and Chicago, IL, before returning home to Florida in 2009. Dan earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Biological Sciences, Cum Laude from Florida State University and remains dedicated to the Tallahassee community serving on the Board of Directors for the Foundation for Leon County Schools, the Board of Governors for Leadership Tallahassee, the steering committee for Leon County’s Best and Brightest, and as a member of the Leon County Sheriff’s Citizen Advisory Council. Dan is a proud graduate of Leadership Tallahassee Class 31 and has served as the Curriculum Chair for Youth Leadership Tallahassee Class 13 and Leadership Tallahassee Class 37. He and his wife Jessica are both Florida natives and they have 4 children. 

Barby Moro is a first generation Cuban-American who began her life in Tallahassee on a community scholarship as a Service Scholar at FSU. She majored in Special Education, where she worked for a number of years; eventually returning to FSU for her second master’s in Public Administration. She then became a founding member and the first official employee of The Oasis Center for Women & Girls and created their “Girls Can Do Anything” program.

Prior to joining RedEye in 2018, she was with Southern Scholarship Foundation for 7 years, working with students from FAMU, FSU, and TCC. The switch from the nonprofit world to the business sector was simple because she was so impressed with RedEye’s commitment to give back locally. Barby was promoted to Managing Partner right before the pandemic hit in early 2020.

During the pandemic Barby has worked tirelessly to keep her business alive, help her employees and still give back to the community. She has partnered with local businesses and started several initiatives including Pop-Up Drive-Thru, which was just her, a cup of coffee, a muffin and a smile; Tip Jars, where all proceeds went directly to her staff, Meal Kits and cooking lessons in partnership with Chef Nikki Pettineo; & The Breakfast Club, a partnership with Street Chefs which delivers pre-ordered breakfast to Tallahassee residents.  RedEye has also sponsored several “give days” to first responders, hospitals, teachers, and other essential workers during this time.  During the Black Lives Matter protests this summer, she made her support visible with the motto “Tu lucha es mi lucha. (Your fight is my fight.) All lives can’t and won’t matter until black lives matter.”, while also offering complimentary coffee at RedEye for community conversations focused on racial healing and restoration.

She is serving, or has served as a member of the Commission on the Status of Women & Girls, Youth Leadership Tallahassee, Capital Area Healthy Start Coalition Board of Directors, Kappa Delta Chi Sorority, Inc. and others, but she also volunteered individually and without fanfare as a Big Sister for more than 6 years through Big Brothers/Big Sisters. Barby is also a proud member of Class 28 of Leadership Tallahassee and often states, all that she is she owes to those who have mentored her throughout the years.