Contact: Elnatan Rudolph 347-610-2688 [email protected]

TAMPA – JUNE 5, 2017: Tampa Bay businessman Aakash Patel today announced his candidacy for the District 1 Hillsborough County Commission seat becoming vacant next year.

Patel, President of Tampa-based Elevate, Inc., has long been active in Tampa Bay civic and social causes, and in facilitating business initiatives to help the local economy grow. Aakash believes it’s decision-making time in areas such as transportation, economic development, and tourism.

“My story is the American Dream,” Aakash Patel says. “And that’s one of the reasons I’m running. My parents are of Indian heritage, and came to America in the early-70’s. They instilled American ideals – such as community service – into me at an early age. And I’m running for the District 1 Commission seat because I want to give back to the city that took me in.”

Patel has garnered numerous honors and awards for his civic and business involvement, among them Gubernatorial appointments as Chairman of the Early Learning Coalition of Hillsborough County and to the state’s Early Learning Advisory Council (ELAC), and positions on the Executive Committee of Leadership Tampa Bay and the Board of Directors of the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce.

A graduate of Sickles High School, Patel worked at the Tallahassee Bureau of The Tampa Bay Times while still a student at FSU. After graduation, he worked in public relations at a major hotel company in Tampa. He later became the founding Business Development Director for Chamber.com, which now has 1.5 million members worldwide. In 2012, he started Elevate, Inc., a strategic business consulting firm in Tampa that now employs twelve people.

“Our region is moving into ‘Big City’ status,” Aakash Patel says, “and this is a critical time for us. We need to get a firm handle on issues such as transportation, economic development and tourism right now. And we need to develop plans to effectively deal with our growth…so that all of our residents can benefit from it.”

Political advertisement paid for and approved by Aakash Patel, Republican for County Commissioner district 1