Downtown Development Authority in West Palm Beach

The DDA Board is composed of 7 members who are appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the City Commission. To qualify for the appointment, prospective members must reside, have their major business, or own property in the Downtown Development District. Each member serves a three year term and may be re-appointed.

The DDA Board meets every 2nd Tuesday of the month at 8:30am in the George Greenberg Board Room, located at 301 Clematis St., Suite 200.

Mr. Bruce Lewis (Board Chair)
LBJ Limited & Associates, Inc.
Public Relations
120 S. Dixie Highway, Suite 205
West Palm Beach, 33401
Office: 833-8080, Fax: 833-3040
Email: blewislb@bellsouth.net
Term: 07/01/11

Bruce Lewis is the Founder, President & CEO of LB Limited & Associates, Inc. Strategic Public Relations where he oversees business strategic planning, new business development, financial responsibilities and special public relations/marketing initiatives. Previous experience includes work as a Sr. Chemical Design Engineer for Fortune 500 corporations including Honeywell, Digital Equipment Corporation, Intel, RCA and General Electric (GE). Bruce is a graduate of the University of Minnesota BSEE where he specialized in Chemical Design Engineering and also, a graduate of Leadership Palm Beach County, class of 1997 with a proven track record of leadership on many fronts. Mr. Lewis also serves as a business advisor/consultant to 31 businesses in the state of Florida. He is highly active throughout the community working with City and County-based organizations and most recently served as the United Way of PBC 2005 - 2006 Campaign Chairman raising a record $15.5 million for communities and people in need. As the Board Chairman of the DDA, Mr. Lewis will continue to enhance the quality of life of both business owners and residents in the District. "I want to have a positive impact by making the District what it needs to be - the most desirable downtown to work, play, visit and conduct business! We've overcome many obstacles however, we still have a long ways to go!"

Mr. Rob Samuels
Provident Jewelry
331 Clematis Street, #408
Office: 833-7755, Fax: 833-8763
Email: robertmsamuels@hotmail.com
Term: 07/01/11

Rob Samuels is also an accomplished business owner and successful entrepreneur. As partner in a series of jewelry stores across South Florida, Rob operates Provident Jewelry with locations in West Palm Beach (331 Clematis Street), Naples and Jupiter, as well as Palm Beach Jewelry & Antique Show also based in West Palm Beach and a 2nd antique shoe in Baltimore, MD. Rob is married and has an eight year old daughter. He holds a Bachelor of Science/Business Management from the University of Florida and a graduate degree in Gemology from the Gemological Institute of America.

Ms. Amelia Ostrosky
201 S. Narcissus Ave., #801
West Palm Beach, 33401
Email: amostrosky@aol.com
Term: 07/01/11

A long-time resident of West Palm Beach, Amelia Ostrosky is a retired 30 year educator in Palm Beach County and a former Director of the Armory Art Center, a non-for-profit community-based visual arts education and exhibition center. Presently, she is a third party consultant with an educational publishing company and is also a consultant with the Port St. Lucie School District. Ms. Ostrosky currently serves on the Board of Kidsanctuary and Downtown Helping Hands Foundation.

Ken Druskin
525 S. Flagler Drive, #12A
West Palm Beach, 33401
Office: 832-8764, Fax: 832-8764
Email: barnken@aol.com
Term: 07/01/11

Originally from Washington, D.C., the Korean War Veteran and real estate company owner, Ken Druskin has been a Florida resident at Trump Plaza for the last 16 years. Prior to moving to Florida, Mr. Druskin was a senior vice-president for 15 years at the commercial and leasing investment company, Julian J. Studley Co. In Washington, Mr. Druskin served on the Mayor’s economic development committee. Since moving to Florida Mr. Druskin previously served as a Board Member for the Downtown Development Authority and currently continues as a Board Member for Foundcare, who’s mission it is to develop a medical facility that will serve the uninsured and underinsured community of Palm beach County.

Mary Hurley Lane
Eileen's Travel Agency
329 Clematis St.
West Palm Beach, 33401
Office: 655-2234 Fax: 655-9259
Email: mary@eileenstravel.com
Term: 07/01/10

Mary Hurley-Lane is the owner of Eileen's Travel, which has been the premier traveling agency in Downtown West Palm Beach for 30 years. The agency was founded by Mary and her mother, Eileen Hurley in October of 1977. Shortly after the agency was founded, Mary's Father, Frank Hurley joined the team as a book-keeper. The agency allowed Eileen and Frank to enjoy their retirement years doing what they loved so much, traveling.

In 1990, Mary and her husband, Jack Lane purchased the agency and moved from their original location in the Comeau Building to their present location at 329 Clematis St. Mary has seen many changes in the last 30 years that have affected downtown and Clematis and is excited to watch the city evolve into the Gem that it is today. Eileen's Travel has changed and grown along with the city. As the travel industry has changed, the focus has changed from being a large corporate agency, to concentrating on becoming a prominent leisure agency. The addition of the many condominiums that have been added to the Downtown has been a boost to their leisure business.

In addition to being on the board of the Downtown Development Authority, Mary is very involved with her Church, St. Ann's, another downtown landmark. As a native West Palm Beach Floridian, she loves to call West Palm Beach her home. A resident of the Northwood area, Mary enjoys the small town feel of our ever growing city and all that it has to offer.

Linda Casey

1st United Bank
307 Evernia St.
West Palm Beach, 33401
Office: 653-3700 Fax: 653-3735
Email: lacasey@1stunitedbankfl.com
Term: 07/01/11

Linda Casey brings a new perspective to the DDA's Board of Director's as the senior vice president at 1st United Bank and the market executive of its West Palm Beach and Palm Beach markets.

Based in the bank's Downtown location at 307 Evernia St., Casey is a native Palm Beach County resident with more than 35 years of banking experience. She is actively involved with the Executive Women of the Palm Beaches, Business Development Board and the Forum Club, as well as the Chamber of Commerce of the Palm Beaches and the Palm Beach Chamber of Commerce where she serves on their Governmental Affairs committee.

Howard Pincus

610 Clematis St.
West Palm Beach, 33401
Email: hspincus@gmail.com
Term: 07/01/10

DNA President

Since moving to West Palm Beach in 2005, Howard Pincus has immersed himself in Downtown life. He currently serves as president of the Downtown Neighborhood Association, is a member of the Downtown Security Task Force and previously served two years on the advisory board for the West Palm Beach Community Redevelopment Agency.

Prior to moving to Florida, Pincus’ professional career in human resources spanned more than 37 years and included a broad spectrum of business, consulting, education and governmental experience in the practice areas of workforce planning, employment, management training, leadership development and organizational change. Most recently, he served as senior vice president of Atlanta-based Executrack, Inc., a career consulting firm affiliated with OI Partners, the world’s largest career consulting partnership. In this position, he focused on executive coaching, talent development and corporate outplacement. Pincus also served as assistant regional vice president in the Atlanta office of Fannie Mae, where he was responsible for human resources and administration, and additionally held management-level and staff positions at Southern Company, a Fortune 500 company and one of the nation’s largest publicly traded energy producers.

With an emphasis on educating others, Pincus was an employment and training specialist at the U.S. Department of Labor; a teacher, counselor, career education coordinator and vocational/technical school director in the public school systems of Florida, Georgia and Kentucky; served on the continuing education faculty at Mercer University-Atlanta; and led presentations on interviewing, organizational change and salary negotiation for the MBA program at the University of Georgia.

He has spoken around the country on career development-related topics, and previously served on the board of directors of the Atlanta-based Human Resources Leadership Forum and the board of directors of the Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless, where he coordinated career planning programs and job fairs for homeless and unemployed adults. To recognize his ongoing philanthropic work, the United Way of Atlanta presented Pincus with its distinguished Leadership Award. Served as President of the Western Kentucky University National Alumni Board, 2009-2010. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s in psychology and counseling from Western Kentucky University.