Vickie Chachere is a journalist and communications professional with more than 30 years of experience in media and strategic communications. She currently serves as communications lead for the Florida High Tech Corridor — an economic development partnership founded by the University of South Florida, University of Central Florida and University of Florida to strengthen the region’s innovation economy — and writes for USF World. Her journalism career includes roles as a reporter and editorial writer for The Tampa Tribune, supervisory correspondent for The Associated Press in Tampa, and executive editor of Florida Trend, the state’s largest business magazine. She also contributed to Forbes, where she was part of the team that produced the annual 50 Over 50 list in partnership with Know Your Value. Vickie spent 13 years in leadership communications roles at USF, serving as a speechwriter and director of special projects in the Office of the President and later as director of strategic communications for USF Research & Innovation. She earned a bachelor’s degree from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University and a graduate certificate in globalization studies from USF.