Trustees
Mason Phelps Jr. Phelps Media Group International
Dave Vespo PNC Bank
Kimberly Leland PRINT-IT Plus
Mason Phelps Jr. is a lifelong horseman who has participated in many aspects of the equestrian world, including as a rider/ trainer, event manager, governance leader, charity organizer and multi-media executive. Phelps was a rider and trainer in his early years, competing in eventing and the hunter/jumper ranks, where he earned national and international recognition as an equestrian athlete. Phelps was named as alternate to the U.S. Three Day Equestrian Team in the 1968 Olympics and, the same year, was named as the U.S. Combined Training Association’s Rider of the Year. He began to expand his role and became involved in the production and management of many competitive equestrian events around the U.S. During the 1970s, Phelps developed his own training stable for hunters and jumpers, working with riders on both coasts of the U.S. until his retirement from competition in the late 1990s. But he became increasingly involved in the governance aspect of the industry and in organizing many charity events. Phelps is chairman of the National Horse Show and owns Phelps Media Group International, an equestrian public relations and media firm based in Wellington. In 2006, he founded PhelpsSports.com, an equestrian news website.
Dave Vespo proudly serves as PNC Bank’s Central Palm Beach County Chamber trustee. He has spent 14 years as branch manager for PNC Bank in the downtown Lake Worth office while also holding various positions within the community. Over the past 14 years, Vespo has held positions of both treasurer and president for the Lake Worth Playhouse and for the Greater Lake Worth Chamber of Commerce. He served as Lake Worth’s city commissioner for District 4, as well as a voting member of the Lake Worth Community Redevelopment Agency. He was born in Indianapolis and is a graduate of Indiana University, holding a bachelor’s degree from the School of Public and Environmental Affairs. Dave is a veteran of the U.S. Army Tank Corps, where he served as a crew member on the M1A1 Abrams tank.
Kimberly H. Leland is co-owner of PRINT-IT Plus, a long-established printing firm based in Royal Palm Beach. She has been an active member of the chamber for 24 years and served on the marketing committee during the chamber’s critical branding and merger transition period. Leland is the art director and oversees her firm’s marketing. She is also the in-house information technology person. Leland is married to her business partner, David T. Leland, who is a past president and current vice president of the Central Palm Beach County Chamber of Commerce. Over the years, they have devoted much time and effort to youth sports, high school debate and Central Palm Beach County Chamber events, including the Holiday Parade and Royal Palm Beach Art and Music Festival. The Lelands live in the western communities and have two adult daughters, one employed by E.J. Gallo Winery in Modesto, Calif., and attending the University of Berkeley Haas School of Business, the other a practicing attorney at Sedgwick, LLP in Fort Lauderdale; and an adult son who is a student attending the University of Central Florida for biomedical sciences.
David Unversaw Republic Services
Jess Santamaria Royal Inn Resort Hotel
Larry Tabloff Royal Palm Mazda
David A. Unversaw has been a general manager with Republic Services, Inc., for more than 13 years. Following assignments in Fort Lauderdale and Vero Beach, he assumed the role of general manager in Palm Beach more than eight years ago. His area of management responsibility covers from Palm Beach to Brevard County and includes hauling and landfill operations in Indian River and St. Lucie counties. Unversaw works out of a LEED-certified building in West Palm Beach. He was the project manager during its construction in 2010. A South Florida native, he graduated from Florida State University with a bachelor’s degree in accounting and received his master’s of business administration from Eastern Kentucky University. Unversaw is a certified public accountant but is currently on inactive status. He is very active in the community as well – a past president of Keep Indian River Beautiful, current vice chairman of the Lord’s Place and president of the Wellington Rotary Club. David and his wife, Brooke, are the proud parents of Alexander, Liliana and Nathaniel.
Jess R. Santamaria arrived in the western communities in 1974 and since then has been involved in countless civic and business activities, too numerous to include in this biographical sketch. Among his accomplishments is performance as builder/developer of about 3,000 homes and nine commercial projects, some of which he currently owns and manages with his lawyer son, Chris. Santamaria has a chemical engineering degree and a master’s of business administration from the prestigious Wharton School of Business of the University of Pennsylvania. He is a founding member and 2000 president of the Central Palm Beach County Chamber, where he also served as chairman of the Chairman’s Club. Santamaria has received numerous “Man of the Year” and “Hall of Fame” awards from many Palm Beach County organizations, and he has been honored as “outstanding citizen” by both the villages of Royal Palm Beach and Wellington. In 2006, Santamaria was elected Palm Beach County commissioner for District 6, which includes the western communities. He has been married to his wife, Victoria, for 44 years, and the couple has three children (two lawyers and a computer specialist) and three grandchildren.
22 |2013| Central Palm Beach County Chamber of Commerce guide
Larry Tabloff is the general manager of Royal Palm Mazda located on Southern Blvd., just west of the South Florida Fairgrounds, a division of Penske Automotive Group. Royal Palm Mazda is a top 25 store in the nation and the No. 1 certified Mazda store in the southeast. Royal Palm Mazda is the No. 1 rated Mazda store in all of Florida according to DealerRater. com. Google Reviews rates Royal Palm Mazda with a 5 star rating, the highest available. Tabloff and his team pride themselves on consistently beating every customer’s satisfaction in both sales and service, which is why they keep coming back to Royal Palm Mazda for their car buying and service needs. Tabloff believes in giving back to the community, so with each sale he gives a charitable donation to either Little Smiles of Florida or the Justin Bartlett Foundation Pet Rescue, with the choice made by the customer. Tabloff and his wife, Karen, have lived in Palm Beach Gardens since 2001. They have two children, Xander and Hunter.