In the mid-1980s, R. Patrick Hill established Hill & Associates in Tampa with a conviction that still guides HCP today: good decisions begin with understanding. He built a firm that used research to help clients see their challenges clearly, set a sound direction, and measure the results.
A Tampa native, Pat earned his marketing degree at the University of South Florida. As a student/employee, he worked with Mario Garcia to help launch The Oracle, USF’s national award winning student newspaper, and helped develop the university’s early mass communications programming. He remained devoted to USF throughout his career, serving as president of its National Alumni Association and spending more than 15 years on the Foundation Board. USF named him a Distinguished Alumnus in 1992 and honored his service with the Donald A. Gifford Alumni Service Award in 1994.
Pat joined Procter & Gamble in 1970 and rose through its brand management ranks responsible for some of the largest selling products in their portfolio. He later held senior roles at Griswold Eshleman and Bozell & Jacobs before returning to Florida as a partner at Ensslin & Hall Advertising, where he served as executive vice president. He brought that experience in brand development, agencies, and business leadership to the practice he founded in Tampa.
That work reached far beyond the clients people might expect of a Tampa firm. From Colonial Williamsburg to Raymond James and Media General to NASA, and major companies in Europe and the Caribbean, Pat brought a research-led approach to their operating profile. His firm also supported development projects including Hidden River, Tampa Palms and multiple southern retail, golf and real estate ventures. HCP’s later “Revolution in Heartcare” campaign helped advance the Pepin Heart Institute and Dr. Kiran C. Patel Research Institute. And in Florida, Pat continued to put research to work for the Tampa Downtown Partnership, the Florida Department of Commerce, and multiple area entities, developed studies of the people who lived, worked, toured and built businesses in our state.
In our early days, the concept of brand development was emerging and sophisticated data was being developed defining consumers, their habits and attitudes. Capturing the data and matching it with product attributes led to insightful and productive marketing for our many clients. Our education from supporting this diverse client list became a key element in our unique ability to refine innovative marketing in so many categories of products and services.
R. Patrick Hill | Founder, HCP Associates
Pat gave his time to the institutions and people he believed in. He served as president of the local American Marketing Association chapter and the Florida Travel Tourism Research Marketing Association. He also chaired the MOSI Foundation and served on multiple community boards.
A private pilot and balloonist for many years, Pat shared his love of aviation through SUN ’n FUN Aerospace Expo in Lakeland, where he served for nearly three decades on the board, and the Florida Air Museum, which he chaired. His work in aviation and aerospace reached Colorado Springs: the US Space Foundation was among HCP’s clients, and Pat participated in numerous conferences and was a featured panelist at its 2003 National Space Symposium.
His ties to hospitality were personal as well as professional. Through Skål International, he was part of a community of travel and tourism leaders that included his longtime friend and client Russ Kimball of the Sheraton Sand Key Resort. His role in the evolution of Useppa Island Club and Palm Island Resort with the Beckstead families was vital in their evolution to major destination status.
Pat was also an active member of Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla, taking part in a tradition closely tied to his hometown. Across all these circles, he built relationships that lasted far beyond any single project.
Tampa was home and returning to the community in 1980 was the best business decision of my life. While our focus was on national and international business, the importance of contributing to our community was generational with family local ties back to the early 1900’s. Being a part of the community means saying “yes” when the opportunity to contribute experience to help make our home better for future generations emerged. Whether it be to build a new stadium, support a downtown evolution, sustain community traditions, or to help integrate an expanding University to the community, it was part of who we are then and now!
R. Patrick Hill | Founder, HCP Associates
When Pat joined forces with Sean Coniglio and Eric Polins around 2000, his research and strategy expertise became the foundation of a broader firm that could carry an idea from insight through execution. With the contributions of many associates over four decades, HCP has grown and changed. Pat’s belief in understanding first, has endured.
His legacy lives in the questions we ask, the evidence we seek, and the responsibility we feel to give clients an honest answer. It lives in the people he guided and the relationships he built along the way.
In 2022, we named the HCP conference room at our Tampa headquarters in his honor. It was a small way to recognize someone whose influence reaches well beyond any one room. Many times while meeting there, we still ask ourselves, “What would Pat think about this?”
“Pat, thank you for starting this firm, trusting us to help carry it forward, and showing us that insight is only valuable when we put it to work. Thank you for the late evening calls, the early morning meetings, and the advice that went well beyond business. You helped us think about the leaders we wanted to be at work and the fathers we wanted to be at home. Your guidance meant a great deal to us then, and we carry it with us today.”
Sean Coniglio & Eric Polins
Managing Partners, HCP Associates, Inc.
Tampa Headquarters
HCP Associates, Inc. · The Joseph Garcia International Center 1101 Channelside Drive, Suite 301, Tampa, Florida 33602