CityBox Index Launches TechTalk Gulf Coast: Where Innovation Meets Leadership
CityBox Index launched its inaugural TechTalk Gulf Coast, bringing business leaders and technology experts together for an engaging conversation on artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, wireless technology, and custom app development. Hosted by Michele Carlton, Owner of PJ’s Coffee, and moderated by Maryan Aiken, Founder and CEO of CityBox Index, the gathering explored how emerging technologies are shaping the way organizations operate, connect, and grow.
Tanya Simpson
Tanya Simpson, Founder and President of Emerald Coast Granite & Tile, has built a respected Gulf Coast business at the intersection of construction, craftsmanship, design, and relationship capital. With more than two decades of experience serving homeowners, builders, contractors, architects, and designers, Simpson represents the kind of enduring entrepreneurial leadership that helps shape both the region’s built environment and its professional community.
Mary Alexander
Mary Alexander, Founder of HelloBeauty in Gulf Breeze, Florida, brings together a distinctive background in nursing, healthcare leadership, patient experience and aesthetic entrepreneurship. Through HelloBeauty, she has built a beauty and wellness platform focused on non-surgical aesthetics, personalized service and confidence-centered care. Her leadership reflects the convergence of clinical experience, business development, innovation and human connection across the Gulf Coast.
Delayna Blankenship
Delayna Blankenship, Membership Chair of IMPACT 100 Pensacola Bay Area, brings decades of aviation discipline, operational leadership and community service into her work advancing collective philanthropy across the Gulf Coast. A retired FAA air traffic professional, former IMPACT 100 Health & Wellness Focus Area Chair and entrepreneur, she has built a leadership legacy centered on precision, responsibility, relationship-building and service. Her journey reflects how professional experience can evolve into meaningful civic impact long after a primary career has ended.
Melissa Weber
Melissa Weber, Founder and CEO of The Thirsty Ranch, has transformed a mobile bar created for her daughter’s wedding into a distinctive Gulf Coast hospitality and event-experience company. Serving Pensacola, 30A and surrounding markets, Weber combines entrepreneurial discipline, creativity and Southern hospitality to create customized beverage experiences for weddings, corporate events and private celebrations. A CityBox Magazine Food & Beverage Power Player and CityBox Index Executive Roundtable participant, her leadership reflects the power of turning a simple idea into a growing regional brand built around connection, personalization and memorable experiences.
Sweneda McDonald
Sweneda McDonald, LMHC, is Director of Medication-Assisted Treatment at Lakeview Center in Pensacola, Florida, where her leadership spans behavioral health, addiction recovery, counseling and community outreach. A Licensed Mental Health Counselor and President of Hope Above Fear, Inc., McDonald works to expand access to evidence-based treatment while connecting individuals and families with resources that support prevention, recovery and long-term stability. Her leadership reflects a commitment to making recovery more accessible, informed and connected across Pensacola and the Gulf Coast.
Dr. Terry Ptacek, M.D.
Dr. Terry Ptacek, M.D., is an addictionologist with Lakeview Center in Pensacola, Florida, whose work focuses on addiction medicine, opioid-use disorder and medication-assisted treatment. With a background in family medicine and specialized expertise in addiction treatment, Dr. Ptacek helps advance an integrated approach to recovery that combines medical care, behavioral health, counseling and long-term support. His leadership reflects the growing importance of evidence-based addiction treatment across Northwest Florida and the Gulf Coast.
Dr. David Josephs, Psy. D.
Dr. David Josephs, Psy.D., Clinical Director at Lakeview Center in Pensacola, Florida, is a licensed psychologist and behavioral-health leader with more than three decades of experience in crisis intervention, clinical psychology, community mental health and integrated systems of care. His leadership bridges clinical expertise with law enforcement, hospitals, courts and community organizations, helping strengthen behavioral-health response and access to care across Northwest Florida.
Shawn Salamida
Shawn Salamida, President of Lakeview Center and Vice President of LifeView Group in Pensacola, Florida, is a behavioral health and human services executive whose career spans counseling, child welfare, crisis care, healthcare operations and statewide leadership. His work reflects a systems-focused approach to strengthening access, collaboration and community-based behavioral healthcare across Northwest Florida, with additional visibility through his participation in the CityBox Magazine Practitioners Collective.
Dr. Michael Riesberg | Leadership Reel: Where Expertise Meets Human Connection
Dr. Michael V. Riesberg, Founder of The Riesberg Institute, shares the values, perspective, and purpose behind his leadership in medicine. Through this CityBox Index Leadership Reel, discover a career shaped by service, trust, innovation, and meaningful human connection.
Deborah Lanham: Turning Relationships into Opportunities for Growth
From chamber leadership to entrepreneurship, Deborah Lanham has built a career turning relationships into meaningful opportunities for businesses and communities. Now Founder and CEO of Deborah Lanham Consulting, she continues to advance strategic partnerships, economic development, and organizational growth across Greater Atlanta.
Deborah Lanham
Deborah Lanham is a business and community development leader known for turning relationships into strategic opportunities for growth. As Founder and CEO of Deborah Lanham Consulting and former President and CEO of the Alpharetta Chamber of Commerce, she brings deep experience in economic development, strategic partnerships, organizational growth, and community engagement.
The Pulse | CityBox Index Executive Roundtable Gulf Coast Leaders Gather in Pace for Meaningful Conversation and Connection
Gulf Coast executives, founders, and business leaders gathered in Pace, Florida, for the August 19 CityBox Index Executive Roundtable, co-hosted by Alisha and Steven Cadenhead and moderated by Maryan Aiken.
Michele Carlton
Michele Carlton, owner of PJ’s Coffee of New Orleans – Pensacola and Ambassador for the Greater Pensacola Chamber of Commerce, has built her leadership journey around faith, resilience, hospitality, and relationships. From entrepreneurship and family business to community engagement, her story is about creating more than a successful coffee shop—it is about building a place where people feel connected, valued, and at home.
The Pulse | CityBox Index Executive Roundtable Where Leadership, Perspective & Connection Meet
The CityBox Index Executive Roundtable™ brings a curated group of founders, executives, and industry leaders together for meaningful conversation, shared perspective, and relationship capital across the Gulf Coast.
The Pulse | Leadership Means Standing for What Matters: Meet Troy Rafferty
Leadership means standing for what matters. Meet Troy Rafferty, Shareholder and Trial Attorney at Rafferty, Domnick, Cunningham & Yaffa, and discover the conviction, advocacy, and leadership behind his CityBox Leadership Index™ profile.
The Pulse|CityBox Index Executive Roundtable™: Women’s Edition Brings Influential Gulf Coast Leaders Together
CityBox Index™ welcomed an exceptional group of women leaders for an intimate Executive Roundtable centered on candid dialogue, shared insight, and meaningful connection across industries.
The Pulse | CityBox Index Executive Roundtable
Ten leaders. One table. Sixty minutes. The inaugural Gulf Coast CityBox Index Executive Roundtable brought accomplished founders, CEOs, executives, and business leaders together for an invitation-only exchange of ideas, leadership perspectives, and meaningful possibilities.
Unlike a traditional networking event, the intimate gathering created space for substantive conversation, trusted relationships, cross-industry insight, and the connections that can shape businesses, communities, and the future of leadership.
The Pulse | Inside the CityBox Index Executive Roundtable: Where Leadership Meets Meaningful Conversation
The latest CityBox Index Executive Roundtable brought together leaders from healthcare, pharmacy, rehabilitation, AI, financial technology, wellness and media for an intimate cross-industry conversation.
The Pulse | CityBox Index Roundtable | Where Leadership Meets Meaningful Conversation
The CityBox Index Executive Roundtable™ brings a carefully curated group of founders, CEOs, executives, and business leaders together for meaningful conversation. Under Maryan Aiken’s leadership, CityBox Index™ is building an AI-native leadership intelligence ecosystem that fuses technology with humanity discovering, documenting, and connecting leaders across industries, the United States, and the world.