LORNA TAYLOR

PRESIDENT & CEO, PREMIER EYE CARE, St. Petersburg

Since its acquisition in 2023, Premier operates as the national eye-care division of Health Network One, an HIG Capital portfolio company. Premier has more than 100 associates and provides routine vision, medical/surgical and administrative services to health plans and their members in 40 states. Taylor has provided financial support to art projects in St. Petersburg honoring the Courageous 12, a group of African-American officers whose public actions created a national template for law-enforcement equality in the 1960s. 

EDUCATION: Evangel University (BA), Princeton Theological Seminary (MA)

IF I WERE GOVERNOR: I would address the state’s housing crisis. From elevating access to new homeowners, to increasing the stock of affordable and workforce housing, to curbing the costs of property and flood insurance, we must find solutions to this multifaceted issue.

MENTOR: We need women and men in our lives who believe in us and will raise our name in a room where decision-makers determine who will be given access to opportunities that may be unknown to us. For me, that advocate has been former Florida CFO Alex Sink.

INSPIRING FLORIDIAN: Mary McLeod Bethune was a civil rights champion and educator who became longtime friends with First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. Their friendship and long-time collaboration continue to have positive effects on the educational landscape of Florida.