Roberta Lopez was born and raised in the beautiful town of Archer, FL. Eventually, she branched out and worked her way into successful private and public sector employment. She spent many years working in government in Washington, DC and then moved to Tampa where she worked for 13 years with Eastern Airlines and more with the Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners. In a short amount of time, Roberta found her way into the community relations department, finishing her time as a Director. She gained valuable experience as an intermediary between the public and their elected representatives and that experience has shaped her governing philosophy.
In the year 2000, she moved back to Archer to take care of her aging mother. Immediately she began giving back to the community. In a matter of months she was registering, previously unregistered, voters. It wasn’t long before she transitioned from volunteer activist to public servant, being elected to the Archer City Commission in 2002 and serving terms as both Mayor and Vice-Mayor over the coming years. In that time, she also took a couple of years as the lead grant writer and project manager for the restoration of a former “white-only” high-school gymnasium into a community center which is now used by everyone. During the course of that project, Roberta helped to engage with the business community and government to raise more than $900,000.
She has been recognized by numerous groups for her commitment to public service, leadership and activisim; winning the Alachua County Democratic Executive Committee’s Eleanor Roosevelt Award in 2003, the Santa Fe College Woman of Distinction Award in 2006 and many others.
She currently lives in Archer with her husband Francisco (Frank) Lopez.
