The Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce presented the 2010 H.L. Culbreath Jr. Profile in Leadership Award to Dottie Berger MacKinnon at its Annual Meeting on Thursday, December 16 at the Tampa Convention Center. The award, established in 1997 by Leadership Tampa Alumni, a program of the Chamber, is presented annually by the Chamber to recognize an individual whose leadership made a positive impact within the greater Tampa community. She was nominated by Dr. Ron Vaughn, a previous H.L. Culbreath Award winner and President of the University of Tampa.  Previous winners are Don Wallace, Monsignor Higgins, John Ramil, John Sykes, and Dottie’s husband Sandy MacKinnon.

A former Hillsborough County Commissioner, Dottie has served as a voice for foster children for nearly two decades. She is one of the founders of Joshua House and she has passionately supported the children served there since 1992. She co-founded and chaired the Friends of Joshua House Foundation to provide continued support to Joshua House, a program of the Children’s Home Society of Florida.  In 2005, Dottie inspired, co-founded and then chaired Kids Charity of Tampa Bay, serving all foster children throughout the Tampa Bay area. From 2005-2009, she worked tirelessly to develop, create and co-found A Kid’s Place, a residential care facility for foster siblings.  She has never once stepped from the challenge to make a difference, whether it affects thousands of children or one child at a time.