Messages that make things simpler, easier and more convenient are coming from new Lee County Tax Collector communications manager Chris Bright. The 13-year Fort Myers resident and award-winning film producer and director is starting what he calls his dream job.
“It’s exactly where I want to be and exactly what I want to be doing,” Bright said. “It’s an opportunity for me to be a part of a team and to lead at the same time.”
Bright, who started in early November, will oversee both internal and external communications for the Tax Collector’s Office, managing content and ensuring it all conveys Tax Collector Larry Hart’s core values of public service, kindness and innovation.
“Chris is gifted at making complicated subjects easy to understand,” Hart said. “That’s why we’re so excited to have him as part of the Lee County Tax Collector’s Office.”
Bright is already hard at work familiarizing himself with the agency and figuring out ways to more efficiently and effectively convey key messages that streamline the taxpaying process. He also wants to help strengthen the bond between the Tax Collector’s Office and the communities it serves.
“The Tax Collector is one of the few organizations that touches everybody in the county,” Bright said. “Whether it’s red tide cleanup, police or firefighting, we ensure there’s enough money for all the critical services to take place.”
He spent the past six years at Big Arts on Sanibel, first as technical director and later as director of operations, working to create and reinvent the video production, online and social media capabilities of the local performing arts hub. Before that, Bright was a digital production and computer information instructor at Rasmussen College in Fort Myers, and he also produced video, audio and graphic-based continuing medical education coursework for a Connecticut-based company.
The Chicago native earned a Bachelor of Arts in Communications at Saint Ambrose University in Iowa and has maintained his own video production company for nearly 20 years. Bright Idea Media LLC makes narrative and documentary features and also handles commercial projects. The company won a national Best Film award in 2015 for a documentary it produced about Southwest Florida, and Bright won Best Director and Best Screenplay awards as part of the 48 Hour Film Project.
Bright plans to use the storytelling skills he’s learned over his career to forge a deeper connection between the Tax Collector’s Office and Lee County residents.
“My biggest goal, realistically, is just to create a larger reach for the Tax Collector’s message,” Bright said. “I want to engage the community in what we do, and in what they do as well.”
Visit leetc.com to see all the ways the Lee County Tax Collector is making a difference for the better.