Tampa restaurateur George W. Tinsley to serve on The Florida Bar Foundation board

George W. Tinsley Sr.

MAITLAND, Fla. – George W. Tinsley has been appointed to the board of The Florida Bar Foundation, a statewide charitable organization whose mission is to provide greater access to justice.

Tinsley is CEO of PenGeo Inc., Tinsley Group Inc., Tinsley Bridgeman LLC and Tinsley Family Concessions, collectively Tampa Bay’s third-largest black-owned enterprise, and one of the nation’s fastest growing independent restaurant conglomerates with 65 restaurants, including KFC, Chilli’s, Wendy’s, PF Chang’s, Pei Wei, Starbucks, Pizza Huts, Jose Cuervos, Quiznos and Bourbon Academy & Tasting Room. He was the founder and president of the KFC Minority Franchise Association.

Tinsley earned his bachelor’s degree at Kentucky Wesleyan College and was inducted to its Alumni Hall of Fame in 2005. He began at Kentucky Wesleyan in 1966, and as a freshman led the school’s basketball team to the first of three Division II NCAA National Championships. A two-time All-American, he was selected as an alternate to the 1968 U.S. Olympic Team, and was then drafted into the American Basketball League to play for the Oaks, Washington Capitals, Miami Floridians, Kentucky Colonels and the New York Nets. Most recently, Tinsley served as the president on the NBA Retired Players Association and board of directors for six years. He has been named to five Hall of Fames in Kentucky, including the prestigious Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame and has received numerous award for entrepreneurship, including being named Florida’s 1999 Minority Entrepreneur of the Year.

Tinsley will serve out the remainder of a three-year term vacated by Tom Oldt of Winter Haven, who is taking office as the Foundation’s second vice president. Tinsley’s term will go through June 2018, and he will be eligible for a full 3-year term thereafter.