Lauren Poe is the Co-founder, President, and CEO of the Greater Gainesville International Center (GGIC), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit she helped build from inception to serve Gainesville’s growing international, immigrant, and refugee communities. Under her leadership, GGIC has developed programs across four pillars, celebrating culture, exchange programs, economic empowerment, and service to community, and maintains fourteen active Sister Cities partnerships.

Before founding GGIC, Lauren served fifteen years as a Gainesville City Commissioner and Mayor, acting as fiduciary for a $1 billion public entity and leading the city through two economic recessions, the COVID-19 pandemic, and complex policy challenges spanning housing, utilities, public health, transportation, and social equity. He led five international delegations to Gainesville’s Sister Cities across the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and the former Soviet Union and has presented at international conferences on topics of civic engagement and community development.

Lauren also spent twenty-four years as an educator, teaching at the secondary and post-secondary levels, including nineteen years as a professor of social sciences in Santa Fe College’s dual enrollment program, ranked the number one two-year college in the United States by the Aspen Institute.

He holds a Master of Education and a Bachelor of Arts in History, both from the University of Florida, and brings a career defined by public service, cross-cultural engagement, and a commitment to building more equitable and welcoming communities.