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LOCAL
ACTION GLOBAL SOLUTIONS Jim Bacchus of UCF
REGIONAL
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BECAUSE OF
GIRL SCOUTS...
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MARCH 2020
I lea r thin ned tha gs # t Pers I’m cap on a l a G ro w b l e o f m th a ny s hing e t g d o i n D o M or e k i l # e d I c i e n ce z i l I re a E M # s T in S
I discovere dI for camera have a good eye work #New Skills
I hav s u pp e t h e co # B e o r t to a n f i d e n c Con e f i d e ccom p l a n d is nt # Take h anyth Cha rg e i n g
To learn more about your local Girl Scout Council and how to get involved, call us at 407-896-4475 or visit us at www.Citrus-GS.org.
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CONGRATULATIONS TO
LEADERSHIP ORLANDO CLASS 98
Leonard K. Spencer, Class 98 Chair Senior Manager, Supplier Diversity Walt Disney Parks & Resorts
Team Building at Disney’s Animal Kingdom® Theme Park Members of Leadership Orlando Class 98 see the global impact of philanthropy in Central Florida. Dr. Sheila Amin Gutierrez de Piñeres Dean, Burnett Honors College University of Central Florida
@LeadershipORL #LO98
Ana-Klara Anderson Director, Legal & Business Affairs Universal Parks & Resorts
Nick Anderson Director of Sales Four Seasons Resort Orlando
Cynthia Barnes Quality Assurance Manager Goodwill Industries of Central Florida, Inc.
Matt Beardman Director of Accounting & Payroll Massey Services, Inc.
Michelle Bilsky Director of Human Resources Orlando Lutheran Towers
John Blanchard Executive Vice President FINFROCK
Aaron Bottenhorn Director, Asset Strategy Orlando Health
Jonathan Box Sales Director Coca-Cola Beverages - Florida
Judy Busto Investment Properties Controller Emerson International, Inc.
David Caesar Business Management - BVCC Walt Disney Parks & Resorts
Thomas Capone Vice President of Business Development Concepta Technologies
Ginny Childs Managing Partner, Orlando Office Akerman LLP
Dr. Cheryl Cicotti Assoc. Vice President, School of Business, Health & Public Safety Seminole State College of Florida
Karen Cochran Sr. Assoc. Vice President of Advancement UCF Foundation
Meghan Curren Director of Community Relations AdventHealth
Eugene Damaso Design Leader RLF Architecture, Engineering, Interiors
Ekta Desai Assoc. Principal/ Design Lead SchenkelShultz Architecture, Inc.
Nathan Ducote Sr. Project Manager Coastal Construction Group
Bonita Dukes Assoc. Vice President for Facilities Management Stetson University
Erica Ettori Director, Communications Walt Disney Parks & Resorts
Casey Fernandez Client Executive Hylant
Frank Fontneau Principal RVR Consulting Group
Sheena Fowler Vice President of Innovation Orlando Economic Partnership
Dr. William Gamble Deputy Chief of Staff Orlando VA Medical Center
Kris Gault-Lewis Director of Sales/ Corporate Partnerships Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts
Mick Golson COO Engineering & Computer Simulations
Bud Hanson Executive Director, Professional & Corporate Education Stetson University
Malika Harrison Director of Social Responsibility Orlando Magic
Diana Hershner Purchasing Manager Greater Orlando Aviation Authority
Regina Hill Commissioner, District 5 City of Orlando
Zach Hoover Manager, State/Federal Government Affairs & Public Policy Orlando Health
Drew Horn Director of Estimating KMI International
Margaret Jarrell-Cole Assoc. Vice President for Director Support Organizations University of Central Florida
Shane Jewell Executive Director Orlando Ballet
Mandie Jones Government Relations Manager AdventHealth
Christina Kennedy Senior Counsel Foley & Lardner LLP
Jake Kirchner Division Vice President, Planning and Development HCA North Florida
John Kiriazes Exploration Research & Technology Programs Kennedy Space Center
Kimberly Kiss President/Managing Partner Kimberly Kiss Law, P.A.
Amy Lafontaine Tax Manager Withum
Col. Lou Lara Program Manager United States Marine Corps
Jason Leary Network Engineer Advanced IT Concepts
Bruce Lower Associate Attorney Greenberg Traurig, LLP
Edgar Madrigal Vice President, Due Diligence CNL Financial Group
LaCresha Martin Manager, IT Business Partnership & Outreach Lockheed Martin Missiles & Fire Control
Jason Middleton Human Resources Reedy Creek Improvement District
Adam Miller Attorney GrayRobinson, P.A.
Taci Montoya Assistant Unit Controller Centerplate
Mark Novak President Kavon Consulting
Randy Nunley Sr. Internal Auditor Greater Orlando Aviation Authority
Amanda Ornelas COO Orlando Regional Realtor Association
John Owen Director of Research & Engineering Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division
Mike Provenzale Shareholder Lowndes
Kelly Quintero Director of Advocacy & Government Relations Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida
Elliot Ramey Deputy Director Air Force Agency for Modeling & Simulation
Mallory Reed Senior Consultant, Value Based Care Strategy Orlando Health
Dave Riccardi Vice President, Middle Market Relationship Manager Fifth Third Bank
Scott Richards Attorney Carlton Fields
Ben Robinson Partner Holland & Knight LLP
Kevin Robinson Shareholder Zimmerman Kiser Sutcliffe (ZKS)
Shelley Rodgers Vice President of Development Orlando Science Center
Abby Shackelford Business Development Director Edible Education Experience
Karen Skyers Director, State Government Affairs (FL) Charter Communications
Evan Slepcevich Financial Educator Slepcevich Financial Group
Derek Smith Art Director Clear Channel Outdoor
Caleb Solley Principal CliftonLarsonAllen LLP
Derek Strickland Founder, CEO, CTO Nascent Corporation
Thali Sugisawa Business Manager Orange County Arts & Cultural Affairs
Ralph Swanson Managing Director PNC
Cory Taylor AST, Aerospace Ev Control Techniques Kennedy Space Center
Dr. Chanda Torres Asst. Vice President, Student Services University of Central Florida
Keila Walker-Denis Asst. Director, Airport Operations Emergency Mgmt. Greater Orlando Aviation Authority
Gary Walsh Director, Sales Support Charter Communications
Audra Walters Sr. Vice President - Commercial Relationship Manager Development iBERIABANK
Jordan Wean Leasing Associate Highwoods Properties
Alan Wiginton Vice Chairman Wiginton Corporation
Suzanne Worthington Asst. Vice President, Orlando Health COO, Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women & Babies
Allie Yadav Grant Development & Special Projects Manager Valencia College
Michelle Zink CEO/Founder Intentional Solutions Corp.
NOW ACCEPTING ENROLLMENT FOR Class Begins September 9, 2020 Contact Lisa Winkelbauer at 407.835.2448 or visit LeadershipOrlando.org to reserve your space!
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INSIDE⊲⊲ APRIL 2020
18
LOCAL ACTIONS, GLOBAL SOLUTIONS
22
REGIONAL ROADSHOW
24
THE SUSTAINABILITY HUNTERS
27
THE RIGHT WAY TO RECYCLE
Former Congressman Champions Sustainable Development
Convoy Pushes for Statewide Network of Electric Vehicle Charging Ports
ecoPreserve: On the Lookout for Better Buildings, Energy Savings, Workplace Wellness
i4 Business Advisory Board
This Month's Featured Advisory Board Members
WE’D LIKE TO THANK OUR ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS FOR KEEPING THEIR FINGERS ON THE PULSE OF OUR COMMUNITY AND HELPING US BRING YOU THE BEST STORIES FROM AROUND CENTRAL FLORIDA.
Thank You
Judi Awsumb, Awsumb Enterprises Becca Bides, Visit Orlando Jim Bowie, University of Florida Incubator Program
Cari Coats The former executive-in-residence for entrepreneurship at Rollins College, Cari Coats now serves as an adjunct professor focused on leadership. She is the cofounder and managing partner of Accendo Leadership Advisory Group, a leadership development company, and is a member of the Forbes Coaches Council. Coats is an advocate for entrepreneurs across Central Florida and has held numerous board positions in entrepreneur-focused organizations including Orlando Inc., ATHENAPowerLink and weVENTURE Orlando. Coats formerly served as chief operating officer at CNL Financial Group and executive vice president of the Orlando Magic NBA franchise.
Jackie Brito, HR Asset Partners Cari Coats, Accendo Leadership Advisory Group Andrew Cole, East Orlando Chamber of Commerce John Davis, Orlando Regional Chamber Laura Dorsey, Florida Black Chamber and National Cultural Heritage Society Stina D'Uva, West Orange Chamber of Commerce Carol Ann Dykes Logue, University of Central Florida Business Incubator Program Susan Fernandez, Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems Lena Graham-Morris, HORUS Construction Mark Allen Hayes, Stockworth Realty Group Gwen Hewitt, United Negro College Fund
Judi Awsumb
Judi Awsumb is president of Awsumb Enterprises, a strateg ic business consulting company. She has more than 30 years of experience leading successful growth strategies for both corporate and entrepreneurial environments. She is the founder of WE-Women Entrepreneurs, powered by CEO Nexus, a group of second-stage business owners generating a minimum of $1 million in annual revenues. She has served on various advisory boards, including the ATHENAPowerLink board of governors; the Florida Executive Women board of trustees, where she is the program's chair and the University of Central Florida Town & Gown Council.
Vicki Jaramillo, Orlando International Airport Karen Keene, ATHENA Orlando Women's Leadership and Dean Mead Attorneys at Law Shelley Lauten, Consultant Yolanda Londono, Harvard Group International Catherine Losey, Losey PLLC law firm Laureen Martinez, Orlando Economic Partnership Yog Melwani, Align Commercial Real Estate and Indian American Chamber of Commerce Hope Edwards Newsome, Triloma Financial Group Rob Panepinto, Florentine Strategies Romaine Seguin, UPS Global Freight Forwarding Mary Shanklin, Fifth Estate Media Marni Spence, CLA (CliftonLarsonAllen)
Rob Panepinto
Rob Panepinto is president of Florentine Strategies, which provides strategic consulting and investment capital for early stage companies. He is also the CEO of Entrepreneurs in Action, managing a local social venture fund. Panepinto is a senior strategic advisor and director of the Downtown Innovation District for the University of Central Florida. Previously, he was part of the founding executive team for Connextions, helping it grow from a small manufacturing company to an innovative healthcare technology/services organization with more than 5,000 employees. Panepinto is chairman of the Rally Social Enterprise Accelerator and past chair of the Central Florida Foundation.
Robert Utsey, Consultant i4Biz.com | APRIL 2020 | 7
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INSIDE⊲⊲ APRIL 2020
SPECIAL INSERT
33
Shelter Mortgage Smart Mortgages
DEPARTMENTS
11
Publisher’s Perspective
13
From the Editor
SPOTLIGHTS
14
Bill Reidy
30
38
Sandler Training by PWRhouse Consulting
40
Doug Starcher Nelson Mullins
42
Up Close with Stacie Ruth
BEST PRACTICES GUEST EXPERT COLUMNS
46
Bridging the Generations in Sustainability
Business Briefs Take 5 with Visit Orlando Unexpected Orlando
54
Social Entrepreneur Gardens and Goals Orlando City Foundation Plants Seeds for Sustainable Health
58
Downtime Unique Experiences for Your Day Off
62
Business Seens
64
Watercooler
Romaine Seguin | UPS International
48
Take Advantage of Trends to Tell Your Company’s Story Cherise Czaban | i4 Business
50
Your Servant Leadership is Key to Unleashing Organization’s Talent
ON THE COVER Special Section: Smart Mortgages
Visit Orlando: Unexpected Orlando
Social Entrepreneur: Gardens and Goals
Up Close with Stacie Ruth
Bill "Roto" Reuter | R-Squared Solutions
52
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The Millennial Movement and Its Effect on Business Alexandria Agresta | Purpose Pioneer
LOCAL
ACTION GLOBAL
FOLLOW US⊲⊲ #i4biz
SOLUTIONS Jim Bacchus of UCF
REGIONAL
ROADSHOW
Electric Vehicle Convoy
8 | APRIL 2020 | i4Biz.com
THE RIGHT
WAY TO RECYCLE
JIM BACCHUS PHOTOGRAPHY BY Julie Fletcher DESIGN BY Tanya Mutton
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CONTRIBUTE Send press releases, article submissions, announcements and images to press@i4biz.com. Please provide 2-3 months advance notice for requests for event announcements and/or coverage. i4 Business® is published monthly by i4 Business, LLC, 121 S. Orange Avenue, Suite 1500, Orlando, FL 32801. Tel. 407-730-2961 | i4biz.com The contents of i4 Business magazine, i4biz.com and any other media extensions related to the brand, including advertisements, articles, graphics, websites, web postings and all other information (“contents”) published, are for informational purposes only. i4 Business® and all other affiliated brands do not necessarily endorse, verify, or agree with the contents contained in i4 Business. i4 Business makes no warranties or representations, express or implied, as to the accuracy or completeness, timeliness, or usefulness of any information contained or referenced. i4 Business shall not be held liable for any errors or omissions. © 2020. All rights reserved. Any reproduction, in whole or in part, is prohibited without written permission from the publisher.
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i4biz.com Tel: 407.730.2961 i4Biz.com | APRIL 2020 | 9
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Promoting the Spirit of Entrepreneurship
SPECIAL SECTION
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Diane Sears
LEGAL PROFESSIONALS
DIRECTOR OF ENCOURAGEMENT Donna Duda COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER Meaghan Branham
Central Florida’s legal professionals stay up to date on the processes and policies that make up the infrastructure of our businesses. In our July issue, i4 Business will spotlight your stories: who you are, what you do, and what the future holds. In telling each of your stories, we build your relationship with our audience and get closer to the heart of what makes our community one of a kind.
Each profile will be: •
Published in our print and digital editions of i4 Business
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ur firm was establi shed in 1976. With combined experie over 130 years of nce our attorneys have the knowle the law and of the dge of legal system to assist matter. Mario, Gunde you with your legal , Peters, Rhoden & Kelley has been in the courtrooms practicing of Brevard County and before the County judges Circuit and here for over 41 years. A full service firm, we primarily practic e in the areas of Criminal Law, Person Family Law, al Injury, Wills, Probate, Civil Litigati Appeals. Our attorne on, and ys have litigate d tough death heartbreaking child penalty cases, custody cases, dog bites, and proper They have also represented clients ty rights. in evictions, patern matters, bankru ity, criminal ptcies, elder matter s, estate plannin personal injury g, probate, and cases. As attorneys and counselors at law part of our job with not just the is to help you cold law and facts of your case but case affects your also how your life as a whole. Aggressive represe compassion are ntation and provided to every client we represe nt. Our seven attorne ys are David Gunde , Barbara Helm Peters, Rhoden, Michae l J. Kelley, Bonnie Kenneth Klein Rhoden, Christina Farley 48]JULY2017 SpaceC
CEO | PUBLISHER Cherise Czaban
Long, and Barton W. Hogreve. Our founding partne Mario, has retired r, Anthony P. and is of counse l to the firm. Mario, Gunde, Peters, Rhoden & Kelley, LLC will treat you like is a family and part of our family. we For more firm and our attorne ys visit www.Legal-Ea information on our for a free consul gles.co m or call today tation.
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Publisher's Perspective
CHALLENGES OFTEN CREATE OPPORTUNITY “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” — Martin Luther King
F
ranklin D. Roosevelt once said, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” We’re living in an interesting season. It’s challenging not knowing what is to come, how mild or severe the COVID-19 outbreak will be. We see different people react in different ways. Most are working to go on as normally as they can and making sure they’re prepared as best they can be in this time of uncertainty. While it’s important to prepare, fear itself will do nothing. We’re already seeing major organizations such as Visit Orlando and tourism industry leaders building a strategy to recover business. Chambers of commerce and other professional organizations are working to do the same and providing resources for our small businesses. We have a strong community, and I’m already starting to see more kindness and consideration extended. At times like these, we will also see great humanitarians come into view.
Many will be our healthcare providers, first responders and nonprofits. Entrepreneurs will see possibilities and opportunities — they’ll embrace innovation. Many will seek to make a difference in the lives of others. We look forward to better days ahead for everyone, and the time when our community can come together again. To your success,
CEO and Publisher
Favorite quotes from this issue
“I’ve always thought that if I can just bring the right people together, we can do anything.” — Alexa Stone, Page 24
“By inviting them to enjoy our beautiful natural assets in fun, environmentally friendly ways, the “unexpected” side of Orlando broadens our destination's appeal and adds unique options for those looking to explore a very real, authentic side of life here.”
“We are a very connected city. We like to come together and do things together. And we keep growing, so we have to keep making sure we’re growing in the right way. Luckily, we have great leaders who are determined to make that happen.”
— George Aguel , Page 31
— Kay Rawlins , Page 56
i4Biz.com | APRIL 2020 | 11
ON THE
RISE ®
iNNOVATORS | iNFLUENCERS | iNDUSTRY LEADERS
Do you have or are you a rising influencer or innovator? i4 Business is looking to share the stories of individuals making an impact, including: •
Recent Promotions
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Leadership Appointments
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Milestones and Anniversaries
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Community Involvement
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Awards and Recognition
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Partnerships/Expansions
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Board Appointments
ON THE
RISE
iNNOVATORS | iNFLUENCERS | iNDUSTRY LEADERS
GEORGE TATE III Akerman LLP, aJennie top 100 U.S. law Brown is firm clients flutistserving and artistic across theofAmericas, director Picosa expanded its litigation bench in Orlando and recording artist with Construction Law Florida Bar with Innova Recordings. Her album Certified Attorney George “Trey” ofTate the music ofisJoseph III. Tate skilledSchwantner in complex was released inlitigation 2015. She teaches at construction and spearheaded Elmhurst and Wheaton Colleges and the multiparty project agreements tois begin construction of Medical at director and faculty member ofCity Credo Lake DMA/MM/PC Nona. Flute. Eastman, BM
Northwestern, HS Interlochen Arts Acad. JennieBrownFlute.com
JONATHAN PIERCE AIRUSH Pulte Group’s North Florida division Jennie Brown isthat has announced Jonathan flutist andPierce artistic has been named vice president of director of Picosa construction. In this role, Pierce andnew recording artist willInnova be responsible for overseeing with Recordings. Her album including of construction the music of operations, Joseph Schwantner construction, customer care and was released in 2015. She teaches at support teams for the North Florida Elmhurst Colleges and is division.and TheWheaton division closes on more director and homes facultyannually. member of Credo than 1,500
Flute. DMA/MM/PC Eastman, BM Northwestern, HS Interlochen Arts Acad. JennieBrownFlute.com
MATTHEW DETZEL Litigation attorney Matthew Detzel has joined Holland & Knight’s Orlando office Jennie Brown is as a partner. Detzel focuses his practice flutist and artistic on helping institutional clients detect, director of Picosa respond to and resolve complex fraud recording artist schemes, routinelyand serving as advisor, with Innova Recordings. Her album investigator and an advocate in litigation a J.D. degree of and the appeals. music ofDetzel Josephearned Schwantner from the University Florida Levin was released in 2015. ofShe teaches at College of Law and a B.A. degree and fromis Elmhurst and Wheaton Colleges the University of Florida. director and faculty member of Credo
Flute. DMA/MM/PC Eastman, BM 16 | JUNE 2019 | i4Biz.com Northwestern, HS Interlochen Arts Acad. JennieBrownFlute.com
V.i.d.a Securities ELISHA GONZÁLEZ BONNEWITZ Jennie Brown is
flutist and artistic FAIRWINDS Credit director Union, oneofofPicosa the largest locally owned and operatedartist and recording financial institutions in Central Florida, with Innova Recordings. Her album González Bonnewitz ofhas theadded musicElisha of Joseph Schwantner as a new vice president of community was released 2015. She teaches at relations andingovernment affairs. Skilled Elmhurst and Wheaton Colleges and is in philanthropy, constituent outreach and issues she will oversee director andmanagement, faculty member of Credo activities in Brevard, Volusia andBM TampaFlute. DMA/MM/PC Eastman, area markets. Northwestern, HS Interlochen Arts Acad. JennieBrownFlute.com CATHERINE NORRIS Cinokyo technologies Catherine Norris has joined Marshall Dennehey Warner Jennie Brown is Coleman & Goggin flutist and artistic as an associate. A director of Picosa member of the casualty department, and recording artist she focuses her practice on automobile with Innovaand Recordings. album negligence premises Her liability ofmatters. the music of JosephofSchwantner A graduate the University of Florida College Law, she was releasedLevin in 2015. Sheofteaches at worked for Congressman Billand Posey Elmhurst andU.S. Wheaton Colleges is on Capitol and the Brevard County director andHill faculty member of Credo Attorney's Office.
Flute. DMA/MM/PC Eastman, BM Northwestern, HS Interlochen Arts Acad. JennieBrownFlute.com SARA BERNARD
Real estate attorney Sara Bernard has joined Holland & Knight’s Orlando Jennie Brown is office as a partner. Bernard handles a flutist and artistic wide range of transactions as counsel director of Picosa for developers, builders, institutional artist lenders, and public and and recording private entities. with Recordings. Herofalbum She Innova serves on the University Central Foundation board of directors ofFlorida the music of Joseph Schwantner andreleased is an executive member was in 2015.committee She teaches at of the University of Central Florida Elmhurst and Wheaton Colleges and is Alumni and Association. director faculty member of Credo
Flute. DMA/MM/PC Eastman, BM Northwestern, HS Interlochen Arts Acad. JennieBrownFlute.com
MATT RUSSO
Jennie Brown is
Matt has flutistRusso and artistic rejoined RMC Group director of Picosa as vice president of operations. He will and recording artist be responsible for providing direction withassistance Innova Recordings. Her album and to each division head in with the placement of of connection the music of Joseph Schwantner business. He brings over 14 teaches years ofat was released in 2015. She experience to the agency, with a diverse Elmhurst and Collegesand and is background in Wheaton risk management director andRusso facultygraduated member from of Credo engineering. the Florida Institute of Technology with Flute. DMA/MM/PC Eastman, BMa civil engineeringHS degree. Northwestern, Interlochen Arts
Acad. JennieBrownFlute.com
Our On the Rise listings will appear in print, on our website, and in our digital edition, as well as in our monthly eNewsletter, allowing you to expand your reach to:
PinTalk ROSANGELA PARKER COMMUNICATIONS Restaurant Managers LLC acquired exclusive Jennie Brown is rights to and the Salata flutist artistic Salad Kitchen branddirector for the state of of Picosa Florida and has recruited Rosangela and recording artist Parker as its marketing manager to with Recordings. album35 assistInnova with the rollout of a Her projected of the music of Joseph Schwantner locations statewide. Parker has more was She teaches at thanreleased 10 yearsin of 2015. experience in tourism, Elmhurst Colleges and is marketingand and Wheaton brand development.
director and faculty member of Credo Flute. DMA/MM/PC Eastman, BM Northwestern, HS Interlochen Arts Acad. JennieBrownFlute.com
ON THE RISE features individuals in your organization who have been promoted, new team members, Jennie Brown is flutist andorartistic board appointments other of Picosa employeedirector announcements.
•
31,000+ i4 Business Print Readers
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2,400 Monthly Website Visitors
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and recording artist with Innova Recordings. Her album ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AT: of the music of Joseph Schwantner was WWW.I4BIZ.COM/ONTHERISE released in 2015. She teaches at Elmhurst and Wheaton Colleges and is director and faculty member of Credo Flute. DMA/MM/PC Eastman, BM Northwestern, HS Interlochen Arts Acad. JennieBrownFlute.com
SUBMIT YOUR LISTING ONLINE AT i4biz.com/leadersontherise
For more information, contact Cherise Czaban Cherise Czaban Cherise@i4biz.com cherise@scbmarketing.com
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From the Editor
A Message of Peace
Amid a Pandemic
A
few years ago, I was having one of those in-depth conversations with a friend over wine, and we were trying to solve the world’s problems. The topic turned to what it would take to end war on a global scale. I said the only thing I could think of would be an attack from something or someone outside of our planet — something that would force all the nations in the world to work together to fight against it. I was thinking of some kind of extraterrestrial beings — you know, something like the scenario from the film “Independence Day.” Watching the world’s response to the coronavirus COVID-19, it slowly occurred to me: The entire planet has been working together on this pandemic. This is not a U.S. problem or a matter of just a few ally countries that are united by political views such as democracy vs. communism. This is a global crisis, and we are all fighting it together. I also thought to myself, “Who would ever have guessed World War III would not be a war of nation against nation, but a war of nations against virus?” It felt surreal to me that as we all watched the outbreak unfold across city after city, nation after nation, I was writing and editing this issue of the magazine, which is about the theme of Sustainability. The 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations are designed to pull us together as a people, as the whole human race. They’ve been written by a collection of people from all over the world who care about the future of our planet, including former Congressman Jim Bacchus, the subject of our
cover story, who now serves as distinguished university professor of global affairs and founder and director of the Center for Global Economic and Environmental Opportunity at the University of Central Florida. This year, the U.N. goals are getting help from the unlikely source of a deadly virus. Even as it claims lives all over the world, COVID-19 is forcing nations to work together instead of against one another, to share information instead of competing against each other, to put down our weapons and pick up laboratory microscopes. It’s forcing us to isolate ourselves in our homes individually and as families while longing for human contact with people we used to pass by in the grocery store without even a polite nod. No one knows how long this world crisis will continue or what kinds of lasting effects it will have, good or bad. So in this time of uncertainty and anxiety, it’s a pleasure to bring to you an issue of i4 Business that contains articles on people and organizations who are working hard every day to make the world a better place. Stay safe,
Editor-in-Chief
PS – This seems like a good time to share with you one of my favorite quotes. This one by French Algerian philosopher, author and journalist Albert Camus has been on a heart-shaped Post-It note in my jewelry box for more years that I can remember, which might explain why so many of my friends call me “Sunshine” and “Pollyanna”:
“In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.”
i4Biz.com | APRIL 2020 | 13
Business Briefs
U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team Honored in Orlando The City of Orlando held a welcome ceremony February 26 for the FIFA Women’s World Cup reigning champions, the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team. Mayor Buddy Dyer issued a proclamation declaring March 5 as SheBelieves Day in honor of two women’s soccer tournament games that were being hosted that evening at Exploria Stadium, home of the Orlando Pride women’s team and Orlando City Lions men’s team. Two players from the U.S. team, who also are team members of the Pride, accepted the proclamation in the outdoor ceremony at City Hall: goalkeeper Ashlyn Harris and defender Ali Krieger. Both were on the FIFA World Cup champion teams in 2019 and previously in 2015.
(Top) Ali Krieger and Ashlyn Harris (Bottom) Orlando City Commissioner Robert Stuart, Tiffany Roberts Sahaydak, Ali Krieger, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, Ashlyn Harris and Orlando City Commissioner Patti Sheehan
The emcee for the event was Tiffany Roberts Sahaydak, the University of Central Florida women’s soccer head coach, who was on the 1996 U.S. team that won Olympic gold and the winning team of the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup. At the SheBelieves double-header in Orlando, the U.S. team beat England 2-0 and Spain beat Japan 3-1. The U.S. team went on to win the 2020 SheBelieves Cup.
PHOTOGRAPHY: Greater Orlando Sports Commission
Sysco Expands Facilities of 2 Central Florida Food Operations Houston-based food distributor Sysco Corporation has expanded two of its Orlando operations this year, increasing its commitment to the region. Its FreshPoint specialty produce company opened a state-of-the-art 150,000-square-foot facility in January that is double the size of its previous quarters. The facility near Florida’s Turnpike and State Road 528 has a culinary center for showcasing new products, developing customer menus, additional equipment and space for increasing the facility’s capabilities to provide custom cut fruit and vegetable products; and sustainability features including LED lighting,
Business 14 | APRIL 2020 | i4Biz.com
energy-efficient coolers and a system that collects produce waste for use in composting and energy production. The company also announced an expansion in February of its Orlando facility for SYGMA, Sysco’s customized distribution subsidiary. The newly renovated, state-of-theart facility was built with sustainability features including new freezers and coolers, LED lighting and dock doors with durable seals. These warehouse updates contribute to a 25% reduction in energy use compared to that of SYGMA’s previous, smaller facility.
Innovation
Education
Business Briefs
BRIDG Names Brian Sapp Interim CEO
Brian Sapp has been appointed Interim CEO of BRIDG, replacing Chester Kennedy, whose last day at the not-for-profit organization was March 4. The change comes as BRIDG works to strengthen its operations and partner with new investors, according to a press release. BRIDG will continue to work with the University of Central Florida and Osceola County to develop
a business strategy for its long-term success.
catalyst for innovation and economic growth.”
Kennedy, who has served as CEO since 2015, was instrumental in positioning BRIDG as one of the nation’s leading facilities for the development of secure microelectronics for the Department of Defense.
Sapp, a recognized leader in technology and innovation, has served as senior director of technical performance and partnerships at BRIDG since September. He was previously an assistant vice president at The Research Foundation for the State University of New York (SUNY), and had stints as an executive at SEMATECH after beginning his career with IBM.
“No one has been a bigger supporter of this project than Chester, and we are grateful for everything he has done to position BRIDG as a national leader in this critical area of advanced manufacturing,” said UCF Interim President Thad Seymour Jr. “As we move forward, our focus with Osceola County and BRIDG remains on attracting investors and partners who also see the incredible potential here as a
With the support of Osceola County, UCF will be working with a consultant to identify a new investor to help make BRIDG financially independent and achieve NeoCity’s goal of becoming a high-tech hotspot for Florida.
Air Force Reveals Helicopter’s Name During Orlando Visit The brand-new HH-60W Combat Rescue Helicopter flew into Central Florida for the first time on February 27 as U.S. Air Force Secretary Barbara M. Barrett made a formal announcement of the craft’s name: Jolly Green II. The helicopter for service members who perform critical search-and-rescue operations touched down at the Rosen Shingle Creek Resort, where the Air Force Association was holding its annual Air Warfare Symposium.
Lockheed Martin Launches Small Business Competition Global security and aerospace company Lockheed Martin has launched a new initiative to encourage growth among small businesses in Central Florida that specialize in sensors, artificial intelligence and technical autonomy. Called Lockheed Martin Invests: Orlando, the program is seeking companies in Lake, Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties to submit proposals and compete for $100,000 to execute a variety of research and development projects. The initiative was launched in early February, and the submission deadline is April 20, with recipients announced in May. As part of the program, small businesses must also hire a science, technology, engineering or math (STEM) intern to support their efforts. “Orlando is an emerging technology hub with an influx of start-ups, entrepreneurs and small businesses,” said Dr. Scott Roberson, director of advanced and special programs at Lockheed Martin in Orlando. “Lockheed Martin has a strong history of innovation investments, supplier diversity initiatives and STEM projects and is fortunate to be experiencing significant business growth locally. This program will not only help us partner with local technical talent, but also strengthen the community's business ecosystem.”
Lockheed Martin, which designs and develops the training system for the helicopter, will train 200 people on the aircraft’s operations in 2020. The company announced it has nearly 600 open jobs in Orlando, where it employs more than 8,000 people.
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Tourism
Growth
Inspiration i4Biz.com | APRIL 2020 | 15
®
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500-acre technology district located in Osceola County, less than 20 minutes from the Orlando International Airport and within a mile of Florida’s Turnpike 100,000 square feet of Class A office space
SPACE COAST
Entitled for up to 11 million GSF of mixed-used spaces Home to BRIDG, imec and future companies to come Featuring NeoCity Academy high school, a new project-based, inquiryfocused STEM learning environment
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BRIDG Not-for-proďŹ t, public-private partnership for advanced sensors and next-generation nanoscale electronic systems ITAR-certiďŹ ed, DMEA trust-enabled versatile 200mm fabrication facility for the development and lowvolume production of microelectronic devices Nearly 60,000 square feet of cleanroom/laboratory manufacturing space with space to accommodate a variety of partner-funded activities Offers process technologies and R&D capabilities for system miniaturization, device integration, hardware security and product development key to aerospace, defense and the IoT/ AI revolution
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LOCAL ACTIONS Former Congressman Champions Sustainable Development By Diane Sears
A
s a teenager growing up in Central Florida, James “Jim” Bacchus became a newspaper reporter for the Sanford Herald and then the Orlando Sentinel. He covered all kinds of news, but he soon learned he loved to write about protecting Florida’s environment. It became a central part of a passion that has taken him all over the world since then, with stops along the way including the Florida governor’s office, the executive office of the U.S. president, the U.S. Congress, the United Nations, the top spot as chief judge on the world trade court in Geneva, a leadership role in the nation’s largest law firm, and now the University of Central Florida. Today Bacchus serves as distinguished university professor of global affairs and founder and director of UCF’s Center for Global Economic and Environmental Opportunity (GEEO), appointed in 2017 by former UCF President John Hitt. GEEO’s mission is to help grow and link innovative sustainability initiatives locally, regionally and worldwide. “I’ve been working on these issues all my life,” Bacchus says. “This is a 21st century approach, and we are well along to establishing the network we believe will do much to help advance the many aims of global sustainable development.” At a time when the nation’s secondlargest university is gaining increasing attention for its research and expertise
18 | APRIL 2020 | i4Biz.com
Global Solutions WHEN MANY PEOPLE HEAR THE WORD ‘SUSTAINABILITY,’ THEY TEND TO THINK ONLY OF THE ENVIRONMENT, BUT IT’S ABOUT OUR ENVIRONMENTAL, ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL NEEDS. —Jim Bacchus
in areas of science and technology, Bacchus brings the university worldwide recognition in sustainability — or, more specifically, sustainable development. “When many people hear the word ‘sustainability,’ they tend to think only of the environment, but it’s about all of our environmental, economic and social needs,” Bacchus says. “The classic definition of sustainable development is ‘development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.’ This is taken from the United Nations Commission on Development report of 1987, and it is a foundational document for all of our work toward sustainable development in the decades since.” Working with many others throughout the world, Bacchus helped devise the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the U.N. for 2030, which encompass everything from ending poverty and hunger to achieving gender equality to attaining affordable and clean energy to responsible consumption and production. One of the goals is addressing climate change, which Bacchus has done as a legal adviser to the U.N. on the Paris climate agreement. “The U.N. goals range far and wide beyond environmental concerns, but a key foundation of thinking about sustainable development is that all of
these social, economic and environmental concerns are interrelated,” Bacchus says. “They cannot be seen as separate and distinct. They are one and the same. You cannot solve any one of them without solving the others.” Sustainable development is a topic Bacchus knows well. His second book, originally published by Cambridge University Press in 2018 and released in paperback format in March, is titled The Willing World: Shaping and Sharing a Sustainable Global Prosperity. “It’s not a New York Times bestseller, but it has more than achieved my modest goals for publication,” he says. “My goal has been for my book to help amplify my message, and it has more than succeeded in doing that. Also, the reviews have been very good. The Financial Times of London named The Willing World one of the best books of the year. I was especially pleased by the last sentence of the review: ‘Read and be inspired.’”
Working Globally Bacchus looks back to one experience in particular that shaped him for this lifelong body of work. At age 24, he became the youngest aide to Reubin Askew, a man he still calls “the greatest governor Florida has ever had.” “I had the great privilege of working alongside Governor Askew and others in helping create for Florida a commitment by law to growth management in the state,” Bacchus says. “Growth management then was what we call sustainable development now.” Bacchus served as deputy press secretary and chief speechwriter for Askew in the mid-1970s and then as special assistant to the governor from 1979 to 1981, when Askew was serving as the chief trade negotiator for the United States. Bacchus went into politics himself and was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives representing
Florida’s 11th District in 1990 and 1992. During two terms, he accumulated a long list of accomplishments ranging from legislation approving the International Space Station to that creating the Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge for endangered sea turtles. Bacchus chose not to seek reelection in 1994, in part so he could work globally and focus more on broadening and improving international cooperation. From 1995 through 2003, he was a founding member and twice chairman of the highest global tribunal for international trade, the Appellate Body of the World Trade Organization in Geneva, Switzerland. He served from 2004 to 2017 as chair of the global practice of Greenberg Traurig, P.A., the nation’s largest law firm with offices all over the world. One day in the second week of November 2016, he looked at himself in the mirror and decided he could i4Biz.com | APRIL 2020 | 19
no longer justify spending more time practicing law than on working on all the community and global causes that are so important to him. Hitt at UCF had been tugging on his sleeve for 20 years to join the UCF faculty. Bacchus reached out to him and finally said yes. “This has proven to be one of the best decisions I’ve ever made,” Bacchus says. “It helps, of course, that Orlando is my hometown and that I represented Central Florida in the Congress. It also helps that my wife, my two children, my three sisters, my brother, various nieces and nephews, dogs and cats and 93-year-old mother all live in Central Florida. There is nowhere else I would want to be.” Bacchus spends his time teaching, writing and speaking worldwide about aspects of sustainable development. He has affiliations with universities and think tanks on a part-time basis on several other continents and is actively engaged in numerous global initiatives. He holds a chair in international law at Zhejiang University in China and usually travels to China several times a year. His travel schedule earlier this year included trips to Indonesia and Europe. He acts as an ambassador for UCF, carrying Central Florida’s message to the world and bringing global knowledge back to the university. 20 | APRIL 2020 | i4Biz.com
GLOBAL SOLUTIONS MUST EMERGE FROM INNOVATIVE LOCAL SOLUTIONS ALL OVER THE WORLD THAT ARE SCALED UP AND LINKED UP. FOR ME, THE PRINCIPAL FOCUS IS LOCALLY AND REGIONALLY —Jim Bacchus
One of his colleagues on the court in Geneva — an Egyptian man almost 40 years his senior — once told Bacchus that the best way to stay young is to work alongside young people. It’s a piece of advice he has gladly followed, especially now that he’s surrounded by UCF students. “The students may be improving my understanding more than I’m improving theirs,” he says. “The young people today do not have to be persuaded that we need to protect the planet. They know we do. But they do want to know how best they can do so, now and going forward. Where I can be the most helpful is with the how. That’s a principal purpose of GEEO.”
Thinking Locally One challenge Bacchus and GEEO are addressing is the relationship between
the effects people are having on the health of the planet and the effects the climatic and other ecological perils of the planet are having on the lives, livelihoods and well-being of people. “A recent national study showed that of the 10 metropolitan areas in the country most likely to be adversely affected economically by the impacts of climate change between now and the end of this century, eight are in Florida and four are along the I-4 corridor,” Bacchus says. “This is not some distant issue. It’s here now in our back yard.” He is helping spearhead two local efforts to measure, monitor and mobilize economic, environmental and social advances in Central Florida. That’s because all efforts should start locally, he said. “I do not believe our challenges for sustainable development can be
met worldwide by imposing top-down solutions from global summits at the top of the world. Global solutions must emerge from innovative local solutions all over the world that are scaled up and linked up. For me, the principal focus is locally and regionally.” In one local project, Bacchus serves on the steering committee for the East Central Florida Regional Resilience Collaborative, a new intergovernmental effort launched by the East Central Florida Regional Planning Council. The eight-county initiative is intended to promote economic, environmental and social resilience. “We cannot have resilience without sustainable development,” Bacchus says. “We will be starting with some specific fact-finding to figure out where we are as a basis for figuring out where we need to be in preparing our region for the future. For example, we will be doing a regional inventory to determine the extent of our current greenhouse gas emissions. We need to know what they are now so we can begin measuring as we try to reduce them.” The second project is the Central Florida Higher Education Partnership for Sustainable Development, planned for a launch at Rollins College, where Bacchus served as an adjunct professor of politics in the mid-1990s. Rollins offers students a new sustainable development minor that connects environmental studies and business. On behalf of UCF, Bacchus is coordinating with Susan Singer, the Rollins provost and vice president for academic affairs, to enlist other local higher education institutions to join the initiative. “We will be focused on improving sustainability in our own institutional operations, on improving the ways we teach the need for sustainable development in the curriculum and on community action,” Bacchus says. “The principal initial form of our community action will be to provide from UCF, and from all the other participating institutions, technical advice and expertise sought by the Regional Resilience Collaborative.” Getting colleges and universities involved will guarantee intergenerational participation in sustainable development, Bacchus says. He serves as a leading adviser for the U.S. effort to achieve the U.N.
THERE IS SOMETHING ALL OF US CAN DO, AND WE ALL HAVE TO RESOLVE TO DO IT. —Jim Bacchus
Sustainable Development Goals and will share what is learned and done in the Central Florida projects with the people involved in the national initiative. “I am still a grassroots activist. That’s how I ended up running for Congress in the first place,” he says. “Governor Askew always told me, ‘Because you can’t do everything, don’t refuse to do all you can do.’ This is good advice when trying to approach the steep incline of all we need to do to achieve global sustainable development. “There is something all of us can do, and we all have to resolve to do it. We also have to do all we can to be
prepared to do it. That’s where higher education comes in and that’s part of why I believe sustainable development must become a common thread in all we teach in higher education.” Bacchus sees all this activity as a new chapter not only in his life, and perhaps in another book, but also in the way Central Florida contributes to global sustainable development: “I have an abiding commitment to a life of service. After decades of trying my best to serve, beginning at the age of 13, I feel like I am just getting started. I am grateful to UCF for giving me the opportunity and the base to enable me to keep going. I also believe UCF is just getting started.” ■ i4Biz.com | APRIL 2020 | 21
THE SALE OF PLUG-IN ELECTRIC VEHICLES (EV) IN THE U.S. HAS GROWN AT AN AVERAGE RATE OF 25% PER YEAR SINCE 2013
REGIONAL ROADSHOW
Convoy Pushes for Statewide Network of Electric Vehicle Charging Ports By Justin Braun
E
lectric vehicle (EV) charging ports can be found just about everywhere you can drive in the Orlando region. If it seems like there are more than ever, it’s because there are. The sale of plug-in electric vehicles (EV) in the U.S. has grown at an average rate of 25% per year since 2013, a result of rising gas prices and an increased interest in people’s impact on the environment. Orlando has responded by installing public charging stations across the region, earning the reputation as a national leader in electric transportation. For now, EVs represent less than 1% of all cars on the road. But experts predict EV ownership could grow to 5% or even 10% over the next decade. The trajectory of EV growth makes a strong business case for a robust EV
22 | APRIL 2020 | i4Biz.com
infrastructure to support the everyday driving habits of residents and visitors alike. Beyond allowing for an influx of EVs, public safety will also benefit from an infrastructure expansion. Without it, what happens to EVs forced to evacuate under the threat of an impending hurricane? Evacuation-related traffic can be challenging even for traditional, combustion-engine motorists. Factoring in range anxiety for EV drivers, especially considering the lack of charging stations on Florida’s major highways and toll roads, it’s clear Florida is driving toward disaster unless more is done to prepare EV drivers for an emergency. To highlight the need for a statewide EV charging station infrastructure, a convoy of 10 EVs carrying a delegation
of 35 elected, business and community leaders traveled to Tallahassee for the opening days of the 2020 legislative session. Hosted by the Orlando Economic Partnership (the Partnership), the group traveled in EVs sponsored by Orlando Utilities Commission (OUC) to proactively advance the region’s legislative agenda to key lawmakers. “We want to make legislators aware of and encourage them to support building a statewide EV charging infrastructure along major corridors and hurricane evacuation routes, intended to eliminate range anxiety,” Clint Bullock, general manager and CEO of OUC, said during a media event prior to the delegation’s departure. Since 2010, OUC has helped install more than 150 EV charging stations across the region as part of Project
▲Clint Bullock, OUC general manager and CEO ▼▼Delegation of 35 business leaders hosted by Orlando Economic Partnership
AS ONE OF THE FASTESTGROWING REGIONS IN THE U.S., ADDING 1,500 NEW RESIDENTS EACH WEEK, MEETING THE NEEDS OF ORLANDO’S GROWING COMMUNITY IS CRITICAL TO THE SUCCESS OF OUR ECONOMY. — Mark Shamley Get Ready, a collaboration between the industry and government to promote the EV movement. “We need to be strategically placing fast-charging stations in key corridors so people can evacuate quickly. We have to do that at scale and think about how that will ultimately play out,” said Jeff Brandes, a Republican state senator who represents the Pinellas County area, in an interview with Automotive News conducted during Orlando’s Autonomous Vehicle Symposium. This session the Legislature is working to pass a bill that will develop a plan to build statewide infrastructure for electric vehicle
charging stations. PCS/SB 7018 would require the Public Service Commission, in coordination with the Florida Department of Transportation and the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, to develop and recommend a plan for the development of EV charging station infrastructure along the state highway system. “As one of the fastest-growing regions in the U.S., adding 1,500 new residents each week, meeting the needs of Orlando’s growing community is critical to the success of our economy,” said Mark Shamley, a board member and the public policy council chair for the Partnership. “Ensuring the business community’s voice is heard by legislators
helps guarantee Central Florida has the resources it needs to succeed well into the future.” But the need for EV infrastructure is only one of many important issues impacting the Orlando region. “Our legislative agenda is critical to the continued success of the Orlando region’s economy,” said Tim Giuliani, president and CEO of the Partnership. “Our legislative focus is to advocate for tools that will help keep our momentum in economic development while also championing initiatives that effectively increase access, mobility and broadbased prosperity for all who participate in the regional economy.” ■ i4Biz.com | APRIL 2020 | 23
I’VE ALWAYS THOUGHT THAT IF I CAN JUST BRING THE RIGHT PEOPLE TOGETHER, WE CAN DO ANYTHING. — Alexa Stone
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The Sustainability Hunters ecoPreserve:
On the Lookout for Better Buildings, Energy Savings, Workplace Wellness
T
he hunting grounds that Alexa Stone and her ecoPreserve team stalk are construction sites, airports, convention centers and hospitals. You’ll find them at job sites and engineering offices throughout Central Florida and nationwide. The sustainability specialists conduct vulnerability studies, assess readiness for change, measure business and building carbon footprint, forecast lifecycle cost and recommend quick-win and long-term climate mediation strategies. Less often, you’ll find Stone back at the office, maintaining the business she launched in 2009. She realized the significant need for sustainability years earlier, while working as the lighting and energy manager at Home Depot Supply. Among her responsibilities there, she promoted light emitting diodes (LEDs) at a time when LED was just an acronym, not seen as valuable in a recession-ravaged market that was dominated by energy-inefficient high-intensity discharge and incandescent lamps. Taking on the challenges of opening a business, Stone supported the Florida Department of Environmental Protection in writing a grant application that brought $1 million in federal stimulus funding for a massive LED lighting conversion at the Orange County Convention Center (OCCC). After installation, when the numbers came in, Stone saw the path leading to energy and greenhouse gas reductions. That became ecoPreserve’s mission: To
By George Pond help humanity thrive in harmony with nature. Focus quickly shifted to planning and administering third-party Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) building certifications. As organizations saw the resulting savings, the projects often expanded to include sustainability plans, air quality testing and recycling programs. An ecoPreserve third-party certification project brought LEED Gold to the OCCC. For that effort, Stone hired Jeff Benavides, who had been in an internship with the City of Orlando. After a decade with ecoPreserve, Benevides was appointed by Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings as the county’s first chief sustainability and resiliency officer. Stone and the ecoPreserve team practice sustainability, as well as administer it. ecoPreserve maintains an energy-efficient LEED-certified downtown office space, although the company operates under a distributed office model: All team members have the flexibility to work at home or come to the office. “We love this model for three reasons,” Stone said. “First, it gives us the flexibility to balance our work and life; second, by eliminating the daily commute and the associated greenhouse gas emissions, we support one of our core values, ‘Be the change’; and third, it allows our team members to produce
exceptional outcomes by taking on high-level responsibility and ownership of our work.” Team members gather for quarterly meetings, including one earlier this year at Orlando’s City Hall, where the city’s chief planner, Doug Metzger, spoke to the ecoPreserve team about what’s happening with 5G deployment and the Under-i urban community park planned for under Interstate 4 downtown. “At every quarterly meeting, we want to accomplish a little bit of learning and a little bit of loving,” Stone said. “The learning might be an invitation to an important stakeholder to speak, like this past meeting, and the loving is the time to interact in person, learn from each other and just get to know each other on a personal level since we don’t see each on a daily basis like most folks in a traditional office environment.” One goal at the company is to become carbon neutral. ecoPreserve team members, who range in age from 21 to 68, have quite different ideas about how to make that work, Stone said. “The younger people said, ‘Let’s get rid of the office altogether. We can meet in open spaces, and we can have vegan potluck meals.’ The older people suggest that as we grow, we may find ourselves within the walls and corridors of a traditional office. Different ages bring different perspectives. And really, as we listen, we learn from each other.” ■ i4Biz.com | APRIL 2020 | 25
T H G I R THE WAY TO
S
BY DIANE SEARS ometimes when Mike Carroll drives around, he’ll see a full recycling cart with a piece of white kitchen garbage bag peeking out the top. Most people would shrug this off, but not Carroll.
As the City of Orlando’s solid waste division manager for the past 20 years, he knows a whole truckload of recycling collected at curbside can be rejected as contaminated if it contains just 15% of improper materials — those that don’t fit into one of five categories typically collected and recycled today in Central Florida. The challenge has grown in recent years as more individuals and businesses in municipalities across Central Florida try their hands at recycling. Despite their best intentions, they don’t always get it right. People try to recycle garden hoses, children’s car seats, paint cans and worse.
“Too many unwanted or inappropriate materials, sometimes called ‘wish-cycling,’ can cause the entire load to be discarded,” Carroll said. “Recycling and proper disposal do matter in protecting the environment. That’s the reason landfills and waste energy plants have such strict criteria.” Each municipality has its own way of handling recycling. The City of Orlando collects mixed materials from residences in one container and takes them to a Cocoa sorting facility operated by a contractor, where each load is separated. Bundles of materials are sent off and sold for use in manufacturing other products in locations including China. The recycling business is evolving. Today much of the work is done automatically, from the truck that uses a mechanical arm to pick up the waste carts curbside to the machinery at the sorting plant. Although more people are recycling, people are not necessarily recycling more — partially because of changes in packaging. For instance, manufacturers are creating thinner cans and plastic bottles, which reduces the amount of material recycled. Over the next four years, Orlando is phasing in mandatory recycling for businesses and multifamily units in the city limits, offering services that will make it easier to comply. To monitor how residents are doing with their recycling efforts, Orlando and other municipalities do their research. “We go into neighborhoods, peek inside carts on the day before the collection van comes, and put a hanger tag on the cart that says ‘Good job’ with a blue ribbon on it, or a tag that says ‘Oops,’” Carroll said. One of the biggest ►► i4Biz.com | APRIL 2020 | 27
S O S D O D G N G I N L I C L Y C C Y R REEC S T S ’ T N ’ O N D O D D N D A AN
offenses is throwing away recyclable items that are bundled into plastic garbage bags. The bags get caught in the machinery at the sorting plant, and then a worker has to crawl in between the blades to cut it loose with a box knife — a dangerous job that is best avoided.
WHAT GOES INTO A RECYCLE BIN:
There’s a three-step rule in sustainability, Carroll said: Reuse materials as much as possible, reduce consumption of those materials, and recycle anything you can. He became passionate about the field when he was a child staying on his grandparents’ family farm in Maine. He remembers shoveling out the henhouse and using the waste for fertilizer in the garden.
1
2
Plastic
Glass.
Bottles and containers labeled #1 - #5. Lids or caps can stay on. Rinse first.
Bottles and jars. Remove lids or caps. Rinse first.
3
4
Metal
Cardboard
Tin and aluminum cans. Rinse food items first.
Flattened boxes. Must contain no food residue.
5
Paper
Newspapers, junk mail, sheets of paper and rinsed drink cartons.
28 | APRIL 2020 | i4Biz.com
But Carroll confesses that even he doesn’t recycle or reuse everything in his house. “I can tell you honestly, I have never recycled a ketchup bottle,” he said. “You can run a lot of water in it, but water is a precious commodity, so I won’t waste water on that.
“The rule of thumb I use is if it can’t be rinsed out in a quick swish, like rinsing out a cup you drank out of to fill it with another beverage, then that’s too much water. A pickle jar, absolutely. Pour the rest of the pickle juice down the drain, give it a quick swish, and now you have a clean jar that can be recycled. If you can’t clean them with a good rinse, you should discard them with the garbage.”
H G U H O R G H U T O T R I H E T K T I A E M K 'T A N M O 'T W W ATT WON HA WH R E T R R O E S T R D E O T S A D E M T O A T U M A O T N U A A AN
Plastic items smaller than 3 inches
These include forks, knives, spoons, straws, coffee pods, pill containers and some yogurt cups.
Plastic squeeze bottles
Ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, shampoo and lotion residue is hard to remove.
Shredded paper
It falls through the mechanism. However, several companies will recycle this in bulk for your office.
Soft plastics
Household paper products These include facial tissues, napkins and paper towels. These can be put into a backyard composter.
Cooking oil
Some municipalities, including Orlando, are collecting this in special containers to turn into energy.
Grocery and retail bags, dry cleaner bags, wrappers from paper products such as toilet paper and paper towels. Some grocery stores accept these in collection bins for recycling. All must be free of residue and empty of items like paper receipts.
Hazardous waste
Motor oil containers, paint cans, pesticide spray containers, batteries. These can be disposed of at hazardous waste drop-off sites.
Some types of packaging
Foam egg crates, blister packs, plastic medicine containers. Some stores will collect these for recycling.
Odd items
Aluminum food pans, garden hoses and other small items can go in the regular trash recepticle. For oversize items that can't be recycled or donated for reuse, schedule a large-item curbside pickup.
NOTE: Recycling rules vary depending on where your business or home is located. Check with your local municipality for details i4Biz.com | APRIL 2020 | 29
TAKE
with Official tourism association for America’s most-visited destination.
UNEXPECTED Just a short drive from our iconic theme parks, unique ecotourism experiences offer adventure, relaxation and scenic views for residents and visitors alike. Here are a few eco-friendly ideas for your next day trip.
WEST ORANGE TRAIL Looking for a place where you can walk, jog, cycle or skate back in time? Hop on the West Orange Trail, a 21-mile paved path that weaves from Oakland to Apopka, roughly tracing the area’s old railroad tracks. Grab a rental at Bikes and Blades, then cruise to the many outposts, stations and nature preserves along the trail. Pause for a relaxing lunch at one of the many fine restaurants in historic downtown Winter Garden.
30 | APRIL 2020 | i4Biz.com
WINTER PARK SCENIC BOAT TOUR WEKIWA SPRINGS STATE PARK Enjoy a one-hour guided cruise aboard a pontoon boat through the Winter Park Chain of Lakes, linked by a series of Venetian-style canals. The narrated tour recounts the city’s history as one of Central Florida’s oldest communities, founded as a warm-weather retreat by affluent Northerners in the 1880s. Tour highlights include Rollins College, Kraft Azalea Garden, the Isle of Sicily, mansions owned by local celebrities — and, of course, native birds and other wildlife.
Nestled on the spring-fed Wekiva River, just outside of Apopka, this beloved local hangout and swimming hole features stunning views and refreshingly cool, crystal-clear water. Bring or rent a canoe, kayak or paddleboard and drift down the river, shaded by native cypress, oak and pine trees. This natural attraction’s convenient amenities include trails for hiking, biking and horseback riding, as well as, campgrounds, a restaurant and general store.
ORLANDO
GEORGE AGUEL President and CEO of Visit Orlando
ECOTOURISM ENHANCES OUR DESTINATION ... NATURALLY
I
t's no secret that theme parks and attractions are our major draw, but for visitors who come back again and again seeking new adventures, Orlando offers an abundance of natural settings to explore.
Explore more outdoor options keyword "ecotourism"
Working closely with our member companies, Visit Orlando is proud to spread the word about our region’s diverse ecotourism opportunities. By promoting our destination as a gateway for visitors to immerse themselves in Central Florida’s expansive green spaces and waterways, it makes us an even more intriguing place to visit. At Visit Orlando, ecotourism is one of the core messages in our “Unexpected Orlando” strategy , which connects visitors to different, perhaps more hidden, parts of our community.
Boggy Creek Airboat Adventures
HARRY P. LEU GARDENS
AIRBOAT RIDES
It’s a well-known fact that Orlando’s scenic gardens are beautiful year-round. Cultivate your love of nature at Harry P. Leu Gardens, a 50-acre property just minutes from downtown Orlando. Stroll along three miles of paved sidewalks to explore over 40 diverse plant collections from around the world, including a tropical rainforest, Florida’s largest formal rose garden and a butterfly garden. Adding to the appeal, admission is free the first Monday of each month.
Cruise the headwaters of the Everglades without leaving Orlando. A classic Florida experience, airboat rides offer up-close and personal views of the swamp. There’s no shortage of options within easy driving distance for locals, including Airboat Rides at Midway, Boggy Creek Airboat Adventures, Kissimmee Swamp Tours, Spirit of the Swamp Airboat Rides, and Wild Florida.
By inviting them to enjoy our beautiful natural assets in fun, environmentally friendly ways, the “unexpected” side of Orlando broadens our destination's appeal and adds unique options for those looking to explore a very real, authentic side of life here. Whether it’s zip-lining through tree canopies, water skiing in one of our many lakes or strolling through lush botanical gardens, our message is that we have something for everyone, from thrill-seekers to those seeking serenity in nature.
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grounded in excellence.
universalengineering.com
SMART
MORTGAGES Mortgages aren’t one-size-fits-all. Every homebuyer has unique circumstances and needs, and sometimes a typical mortgage loan just won’t cut it. Shelter’s Smart Mortgage Series changes all that, providing a series of nontraditional loans perfect for anyone breaking the mold. These nontraditional loans include: SmartCondo: For condominiums that don’t fit agency guidelines; can be used to finance up to $2.5 million. SmartEdge: A nontraditional jumbo mortgage with less restrictive requirements such as alternative income qualification and low down payments. SmartFunds: For borrowers relying mainly on assets; perfect for anyone who doesn’t have access to traditional income documentation. SmartTrac: Allows for a reduced waiting period on past bankruptcy or other financial setbacks. SmartVest: For real estate investors with multiple financed properties looking for help financing their next property. SmartSelf: For those who are self-employed; allows borrowers to use 12 or 24 months of personal or business bank statements, or assetbased income, to qualify.
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Looking Out for Business Owners When business owners possess more than a quarter of a company, they are considered self-employed. Being selfemployed is usually associated with freedom, creativity and innovation — so it doesn’t seem fair that it can actually become a frustrating hoop to jump through when applying for a loan. The usual process for getting a mortgage loan — providing documentation for proof of consistent, comprehensive income for the past two years — presents challenges in these cases, as many entrepreneurs will tell you. For traditional employees, it’s easy to provide proof of income, which is then used to look at debt-to-income ratio. Those are two numbers mortgage lenders examine, looking at pay stubs, tax returns and W-2 forms, which can be obtained from an employer. The self-employed, however, may find this a bit more complicated. They have the additional challenge of proving a low debt-to-income ratio because many of their expenses are written off and can make their net income appear a lot lower. So how can a self-employed business owner qualify for a mortgage loan without jumping through hoops? The answer lies in Shelter’s SmartSelf and SmartFunds mortgages. These programs take a different approach to income analysis.
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Smart Self The SmartSelf loan program uses one or two years of personal or business bank statements to calculate income and other numbers important for qualifying. In addition, no tax transcripts or returns are required. The process works for entrepreneurs, providing an innovative loan for innovative business leaders.
SmartFunds Similarly, the SmartFunds program allows business owners to use their asset value to apply for a loan. These include real estate, cars and the net worth of a business, as well as savings accounts, checking accounts and retirement funds. This choice works for those who do not meet the qualifications with traditional income documentation.
Other Tips on Getting a Loan Be honest with your broker. Communication is key in this process. Ask questions when you’re not sure of something, be up-front when answering your broker’s questions, and stay in touch as much as possible. Your loan officer is there to get you into the home of your dreams and is a powerful player to have on your team.
Keep an eye on your credit score. While a Smart Mortgage Series loan can make the process of getting a loan easier, it is still important to keep up a solid credit score to ensure lower interest rates.
Be patient. Homebuying can take a bit of time, so remember to be patient with the process to be sure you are getting what you want and to keep from rushing anything that might lead to complications later.
Who Can Help You? Shelter Mortgage believes in finding the right mortgage for you. Getting to know your lifestyle, goals and budget helps the company’s loan officers find the best option to get you into the home of your dreams. Their goal is to get your loan approved, closed and funded as quickly and seamlessly as possible. Whether you’re a first-time homebuyer, an experienced homeowner, an empty-nester or a self-employed business owner navigating the market, Shelter’s loan officers can provide the experience and expertise to guide you to your dream home.
KENT WINKELSETH
Vice President, Orlando Branch Kent Winkelseth has been a mortgage professional for over 20 years, with experience in every facet of the industry. From the first steps toward buying a home to reviewing the best loan options for each client to processing applications, Winkelseth and his team at Shelter Mortgage’s Orlando offices bring their combined experience and up-to-date financial knowledge to every homebuyer they help. As vice president, Winkelseth leads his team with an emphasis on thorough, honest and constant communication to create and build trust — helping every builder, buyer and seller feel confident in their future.
© 2020 Shelter Mortgage Company, L.L.C. All Rights Reserved. This communication does not constitute a commitment to lend or the guarantee of a specified interest rate. All loan programs and availability of cash proceeds are subject to credit, underwriting and property approval. Programs, rates, terms and conditions are subject to change without notice. Other restrictions apply. Shelter Mortgage Company, LLC |4000 W. Brown Deer Road, Brown Deer, WI 53209 | Corp NMLS#431223 (www. nmlsconsumeraccess.org). Equal Housing Lender. Kent Winkelseth, Mortgage Loan Specialist, NMLS ID: 552527 |408 East Ridgewood Street |Orlando, FL 32803 | (407) 765-3810 | Kent.Winkelseth@sheltermortgage.com
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STAND WITH ALICE LIVE UNITED ALICE is a hardworking community member, sometimes working multiple jobs to make ends meet. ALICE earns above the Federal Poverty Level, but lives with constant fear of financial ruin. ALICE is Asset Limited, Income Constrained, but Employed.
In Central Florida, 46% of families are living on the verge of financial disaster. ALICE families are forced to make tough choices like deciding between quality child care or paying the rent. One unexpected medical bill or loss of hours at work can push these financially strapped families over the edge.
JOIN US AS WE STAND WITH ALICE
Donate Now!
ALICE FUND FOR COVID-19: Emergency assistance for ALICE workers facing hardship as a direct result of the economic consequences of COVID-19. Learn more at www.HFUW.org/Virus. ALICE COALITION: Whether it’s part of a corporate social responsibility goal or propelling the workforce forward toward a better life, the ALICE Coalition Is comprised of businesses and corporations who are taking a stand to address the unique needs of the ALICE population.
www.StandWithALICE.org
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Company Spotlight
Bill Reidy President
Sandler Training by PWRhouse Consulting
B
ill Reidy was a client of Sandler Training long before he was an owner. “Frankly, at the time, like a lot of sales leaders, I wasn’t looking for sales training for my team. But my team struggled to effectively create pipelines, our sales cycles always seemed to extend past forecast and we struggled with turnover of new sales hires,” Reidy recalled.
of these teams with the Sandler Training models already in place, Reidy develops and delivers curriculum to teams across industries facing struggles themselves. He works with entrepreneurs and business leaders who want more innovative approaches to leading their teams when the traditional methods just aren’t as effective.
Ready for a change, he attended a Sandler workshop, an experience he describes as a “lightbulb” moment. The results for his team spoke for themselves, and when the company sold at the end of 2018, it was clear the next chapter of his career would begin at Sandler.
For Reidy and Sandler Training, it’s more than just putting a bandage on a problem — it’s creating sustainable processes and approaches for long-term success. “In Sandler we teach a concept called BAT: Behaviors, Attitudes and Techniques,” Reidy said. “Behaviors, attitudes and mastery of techniques are the life force of all selling success. When combined in the right measure, they help our sales teams consistently achieve their goals, both personal and professional.”
With more than 25 years of sales leadership and executive management experience, Reidy has known for a long time that his real passion is coaching. Before taking on his current role, his resumé included vice president of sales for KPA LLC, a dealer services provider, and national director of sales for vAuto, a software solutions provider.
As a Sandler trainer, I have to practice what I preach every day. — Bill Reidy
“I have taken great pride in developing both people and organizations for long-term success,” Reidy said. “I strongly believe the job of a great leader is to use every encounter as an opportunity to evaluate, coach and build the selfconfidence of his team.” Integrating his own experience as both a coach and a member
Every team is different, and Reidy knows this better than most. Every client, every team, every person he helps is unique, and understanding that is the key to developing a truly successful sales team. “A good leader manages individuals and leads the team,” he said. “Coaching is not a onesize-fits-all proposition. We need to invest the time to know what makes each member of the team tick. If we focus on managing individual behaviors, the team results will reflect the progress each individual salesperson makes.” ■ i4Biz.com | APRIL 2020 | 39
Executive Spotlight
Doug Starcher Partner
Nelson Mullins
Most people who sell their businesses have never engaged in that type of transaction before, but they are likely sitting across from someone whose job it is to buy and sell businesses on a daily basis. We level the experience playing field, and in doing so, develop a deep bond of trust and gratitude with our clients. — Doug Starcher
Enjoying the Journey
D
oug Starcher describes his journey to become a corporate lawyer as a long string of providential circumstances and learning curves. “Ultimately, I was much less intentional about the start of my career than I am now,” Starcher recalls. Today Starcher prides himself on his intention and commitment to every client. “What excites me now is the satisfaction of guiding a business owner through an intense, complicated transaction in a way that provides comfort and protection.” While his time in law school gave him a good place to start, it’s realworld experience he credits for his signature approach. “Law school teaches you how to do factual and legal analysis, but not how to solve real-world problems,” Starcher says. “Clients don’t want an academic
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research paper; they want their problem solved in a practical way. Some lawyers never make that transition, but the good ones do.” One other thing keeps his priorities in check: meaningful relationships. “The only way to represent entrepreneurial companies effectively is to truly care about the entrepreneur. Caring and performing well builds trust, and trust builds friendships. It is nice to do a good job; it is more rewarding to do a good job for a friend.” Those friendships have included his fellow partners from Broad and Cassel, who are now with Nelson Mullins since the firms merged in 2018. “My new Nelson Mullins partners continue to bless me by being among the best at what they do, while being caring, quality people,” he says. “There were certainly obstacles,
but they have all faded into the shadows of the remarkable people who have helped me on my journey.” His professional journey has hit its stride, with Nelson Mullins now the 69th-largest law firm in the country. His personal journey is also reaching new heights, partly because of his connection to his faith through Bible studies and from watching his four daughters grow up. “I have recently recognized a transition, where knowledge and life lessons are no longer flowing in only one direction,” he says. “My eyes were opened to the fact that my girls were not just extensions of our thoughts and values, but they had become their own people, with their own perspectives and ideas. I am now learning about life from them, and that is inspiring.” ■
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UP CLOSE Stacie Ruth With
By Meaghan Branham
As the daughter of two business owners, AireHealth CEO and Co-Founder Stacie Ruth knew she wanted to make her mark on the world of business in her own way. Once she found a passion for health care, she knew the business side of the industry would be her calling and soon zeroed in on the production and commercialization of medical products. After working at AT&T and Phillips, where she learned how to use innovation tools to get patients the care they needed, it was ultimately her first general manager role at an acquired company in Orlando that would light the spark: “I have seen medical products I had a role in creating or marketing bring my son into the world, keep friends and loved ones alive in intensive care, slowly monitor others or attempt to shock them back as they left this earth. I’ve seen several situations where people could still be here today if health tech advancements were made more widely available and made more affordable.” With the creation of the AireHealth connected nebulizer and Asthma App, Ruth hopes to do the same with her own product. Here, she discusses how and why she founded AireHealth and how tech changes the landscape for sustainable health care.
Why did you focus on respiratory care?
If you can’t breathe, you can’t live — both figuratively and literally. Both my husband Brian and I have been impacted by lung disease. Collectively, we’ve experienced two devastating (and too young) lung cancer deaths, a friend with a lung transplant, three of our grandparents passed away after long battles with COPD, and my father has asthma. There is so much that can be done to improve screening, diagnosis, treatment and monitoring of those with respiratory illnesses. At AireHealth, we believe in starting at the beginning and looking to the vulnerable population of kids who have breathing issues — whether they be wheezy kids who tend to get croupy with a cold, when environmental factors or allergens cause symptoms, or those who have been diagnosed with something more concrete such as asthma or even something more severe such as cystic fibrosis. The AireHealth solution, which includes a portable nebulizer and a companion application, can help. We intend to reach many little hands and their caregivers with our first already released product.
Your company encourages being proactive with care. What does this mean for you? How do you accomplish it? We have an impact cascade that we believe in. It starts with our nebulizer being small, portable and connected. Small and portable means you can use it on the go. When you are more active and pair that with the knowledge our AireHealth Asthma App can place at your fingertips by tracking triggers and symptoms and recording your drug delivery sessions with the device, you can begin to see patterns more effectively. I am a believer in the old saying, “When you know better, you do better.” When a mom gets more comfortable with what’s causing her son’s or
daughter’s symptoms and how well the medication is working for the child, she becomes more proactive. The cascade actually continues from here, and this is where health care can really be impacted. A more proactive care approach for that child results in fewer episodes, fewer doctors’ visits and, ultimately, fewer emergencies. That’s where we see better health outcomes and lower costs to the family and the system. This is a snowball made larger with proactive care. I have a dear friend with three asthmatic children — did you know it runs in families? — and she told me during one of our customer discovery sessions that she “missed” asthma symptom escalations on several occasions in her 30 years as a parent. Two “misses” resulted in ER visits and one trip to the ICU. She’s been in health care for decades, and yet it happens. AireHealth, in the health technology role, has to do better for my friend, her nowgrown kids and the pediatric wheezy breathers of today. I do want to add that we chose to pursue pediatric patients first because we believe this is an underserved population, as evidenced by several studies and medical device consortiums that have welcomed us with open arms. However, our device is cleared for use for a wide variety of respiratory conditions and the drug therapies that help them, and for anyone age 2 to 102 who has been prescribed a nebulized medication. By combining the nebulizer and our AireHealth Asthma App, patients and their caregivers can get their day started on the right foot with their daily air quality and weather reports. These reports inform patients of any atmospheric conditions that might adversely affect their asthma. Throughout the day, patients will also receive medication reminders based on their doctor’s prescribed asthma action plan, and they can log when
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UP CLOSE
they have taken their medication and when they encounter any asthma symptoms or triggers that require them to take their rescue medication. A patient’s medication reminder will automatically be updated based on the number of symptoms or peak flow values the patient enters according to the prescribed asthma action plan. Finally, all of this data is available to give to the patient’s physician during the next scheduled visit.
How did you go about developing it?
We used big company product development excellence techniques that included strong customer requirements and a well defined strategy around IP. We issued an RFP because we wanted the app to be built through a contracted design and development team, and we found our perfect match with SoFriendly, based in Central Florida. With health tech solutions, you cannot look at your navel and achieve greatness. You have to get out of your building and ask your ultimate stakeholders about the problems they face and test how your ideas can help solve them. For AireHealth, our primary 44 | APRIL 2020 | i4Biz.com
stakeholders are patients, caregivers, providers and payers. We were dedicated throughout 2019 to hearing from these key advisors in our creation process. If you are launching a product for children’s health and you haven’t had a kid use your device and a dad stand and watch to give you feedback, I think you are missing the point.
What other patient care solutions are you interested in or passionate about?
I am really into medical wearables. In 2015, my team at Philips and I had an “aha!” moment when we realized how the devices we were using on our wrists to track steps and sleep could evolve into a full-blown remote monitor. We gathered up support and launched a venture that accomplished just that. Fast-forward to today, and the market is popping.
What resources does Central Florida have that make it a promising place for sustainable and accessible care? Central Florida has a rapidly growing population and five major health system players: AdventHealth, Orlando Health, Nemours, HCA and veterans hospitals. That number increases even more if you consider Tampa and Jacksonville. There are 44,000 kids in our region,
with the likelihood that 40% will encounter breathing issues before they become adults. Statistically speaking, that means there are 10,000 children in Orlando metro who will be prescribed an inhaled medication before they become adults. This gives us a perspective on how the first market we have selected to pursue will lead AireHealth to help 29 million children in the U.S.
What do you hope for the future of sustainable health care? What does that mean to you? The future of sustainable health care is a model where tech is designed and developed to serve the patient, where people get care where and when they need it, where our industry solutions help families empower themselves with more information about their conditions, and where more proactive care leads to better outcomes at a lower cost. For me, once AireHealth becomes a trusted partner in respiratory care, we can pursue our ultimate mission to help 100 million people in the U.S. who want to take better control over their conditions, take action to improve their overall quality of life and, as they achieve that, do it at a lower cost to themselves and the system. ■
Best Practice
Leadership Bridging the Generations in Sustainability
Romaine Seguin
is president of UPS Global Freight Forwarding, where she oversees air, ocean and rail freight forwarding, as well as brokerage and supplier management, for the 220 countries and territories UPS serves around the world. She can be reached at rseguin@ups.com.
I spend a great deal of time with different generations professionally and personally. The question I find myself asking often is: How do we bridge the gaps among different generations when it comes to sustainability? Someone of my generation, baby boomer, usually does not think twice about walking into a meeting room with a plastic water bottle that you discard after you finish drinking. I still see plastic water bottles at meetings or conferences. The water bottle is just one example of how differently we believe and act within the five generations that share our workplaces and communities today. I don’t know whether it’s because some of the generations believe we live in “the land of plenty” and that the world will turn as usual no matter what humans do. This concept applies to fuel consumption, thermostat control, water use and so
Today you see efforts and programs to protect the environment and keep communities much more ecofriendly for generations to come
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many other factors. When they were growing up, there were few processes in place to take care of our wonderful planet. Today you see efforts and programs to protect the environment and keep communities much more ecofriendly for generations to come. The question is: How can the generations work together to move at a much quicker pace, with all focused toward a common goal of making the world a much better place to cohabitate? I’d like to share some suggestions to bridge this gap with your employees and communities of different ages working together:
1
Bring the team together. The start of this process could be a little discombobulated in the beginning. But all issues need
The R-Squared team facilitates
to be put on the table, and there needs to be a strong coordinator to take notes and keep all groups focused on the facts rather than opinions. When issues are discussed, try to have the group come up with action plans collectivity. The key is to hold the meetings and to temper emotions by sticking with the facts.
2
Enlist guest speakers. Bring in an external group or individual to lead one of the meetings. There are many groups out there, and some don’t charge for the interaction. Universities are also a great resource. Some of the universities expect students to work within an organization as a credit requirement. If you do get the opportunity to bring in an outside speaker or moderator to meet with your group, make sure the objectives are crystal-clear on what outcomes you would like to achieve.
ENGAGING AND DYNAMIC WORKSHOPS that empower organizations like yours to reach greater success.
3
Discuss sustainability as a mission. Many organizations and community agencies today have a value statement or mission statement that identifies sustainability as a core part of their company’s values. This should be shared with all employees, and updates on the organization’s efforts should be provided at least once a month to show progress. The mission and progress can be presented on your organization’s website or in blogs or company newsletters. The communication piece needs to be delivered in a consistent time and place each month. Also, if there is the capacity to create an annual report to share with employees and clients, that is such a bonus for all.
4
Establish a sustainability committee. This should be done after your first several meetings, and the committee should be co-chaired by the employees from the first several working sessions. Have an agenda created by the co-chairs, and the group should meet once a month. There should be inputs and outputs from each meeting. To get this committee up and running fluidly usually takes about six months. You know it’s a success when more employees want to be a part of the group. The committee process is my favorite because it is employee-led.
5
Lead by example. I was one of the baby boomers who would walk into a meeting with a plastic bottle of water. And did I get looks —rightly so! I made a New Year’s resolution this year to give up the plastic bottles. I got on the internet and found a company called UncommonGoods and purchased a Flavor Infuser Water Bottle. I even bought two extras for Christmas gifts, and they were well received. I feel so proud to walk into a meeting with my new hydration glass that holds cucumbers, citrus or strawberries. It now is a conversation piece. We have had a sustainability committee at my company for three years. Besides a kinder, gentler, safer and more collaborative environment that has been created, there is much more respect across the generations. It was not an easy journey at first, but now I look back with arms crossed and have the biggest smile. Yes! ■
WE MOLD HIGH-PERFORMING INDIVIDUALS INTO RESULTS-DRIVEN TEAMS Looking to take your organization to the next level this year? Give us a call to discuss your goals
Phone: [240] 577- 9017 www.r-squaredsolutions.net i4Biz.com | APRIL 2020 | 47
Best Practice
Marketing Take Advantage of Trends to Tell Your Company’s Story
Cherise Czaban
is the publisher and CEO of i4 Business. She can be reached at cherise@i4biz.com.
Storytelling isn’t an option anymore when it comes to marketing. It’s what audiences have come to expect. Stories engage your listeners, appeal to their emotions and stick around longer in their memories. Telling stories to capture attention might be timeless, but the way you do it still has to be innovative and relevant to today’s audiences. Here are some of the latest trends in storytelling for your next campaign.
Data-Driven Storytelling
In the age of big data, incorporating numbers into aspects of your marketing strategy is becoming unavoidable. Using numbers to back up your storytelling helps you explain why your audience should care, what the results of your efforts have been, and how wide your reach might be. It also adds a pragmatic touch to the
With developments in technology and communication happening every day, staying up to date on how audiences want to hear stories can keep you from falling behind.
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emotional appeal. This way, you’re hitting all the marks for your audience, speaking to both head and heart. This can be done by incorporating the statistics directly into the story you’re telling, or it can be done by creating a data visualization tool such as an infographic. You can also use data to see which stories are eliciting the desired reaction from your audience. Studying the response to the format, presentation platforms and subject matter of the data can give you insight for your future investments of time, energy and resources.
Mini Ads
Attention spans are short. According to digitalinformationworld.com, the human attention span has fallen in the past 20 years to eight seconds — four seconds shorter than it was in 2000. This is not
surprising considering the amount of content we now consume constantly as we scroll through social media, scan emails and flip through magazines. That’s why mini ads, which are short clips of five to 15 seconds, have begun popping up from some of the biggest brands. On Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, where people are mindlessly searching for the next big thing, a shorter ad is ideal. When you’re watching something on YouTube, for instance, you’ve probably noticed you can skip the ads that play before the video. After five seconds of video, a button pops up giving you an option to skip it. Typically, those five seconds feel a lot longer than they are — but if the ad could tell you a story that quickly, or really hook you in that time, you would be far more likely to click on the product link or remember the message.
Experienced M&A Solutions for Central Florida
When you’re creating your video content, consider how you can put it into this format. You don’t have to tell your whole story — just enough to establish your brand’s tone or capture people’s interest and make them want to learn more.
Customer-Produced
A Nielsen survey reported that 85% of millennials trust referral advertising over traditional advertising. It makes sense, because trusting the advice of a friend is a lot easier than listening to someone who you know is trying to sell you something. Luckily, using these referrals, testimonials and reviews is a common practice for many modern brands. Framing them within your own marketing strategy gives you the power to harness this trust and forge connections with potential new customers. A good example of this is Airbnb’s ad campaign called Stories, which features some of the travel app company’s best hosts sharing thoughts about their lives and their love of their cities. This kind of campaign can help your audience members feel like they’re forging a more human connection, not just one to the company, and allow them to associate your brand with positive feelings. Ask your customers for their stories of why they originally tried your product or service, how you helped solve a problem, or what they love about your brand. Not only can you build trust and loyalty, you can also get a lot of content generated quickly without much work on your team’s end. With developments in technology and communication happening every day, staying up to date on how audiences want to hear stories can keep you from falling behind. Keep an eye on how your audience responds, and use that feedback to determine which of the latest trends are best for your industry and brand. ■
Nelson Mullins Broad and Cassel offers the strength and resources of attorneys and professional staff with experience in a range of services. Nelson Mullins provides advice in litigation, corporate, economic development, securities, finance, intellectual property, government relations, regulatory, and other business needs of clients ranging from private individuals to large businesses.
For general business or acquisition questions, call: Doug Starcher 407-839-4208 Pete Schoemann 407- 839-4225 Matt Armstrong 407-839-4258 In Florida, known as Nelson Mullins Broad and Cassel, Attorneys and Counselors at Law 390 North Orange Avenue | Suite 1400 Orlando, FL 32801 nelsonmullins.com | 407.839.4200
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Best Practice
Workforce Development Your Servant Leadership is Key to Unleashing Organization’s Talent
Bill “Roto” Reuter served for nearly 30 years in the U.S. Navy as a test pilot and as commander for its premier training and development organization. He is now the president of R-Squared Solutions, where he and his team facilitate dynamic workshops that empower organizations to reach greater success. He can be reached at roto@r-squaredsolutions.net.
Much has been said and written on the value of leadership. The debates continue on the most effective styles and approaches for leaders to be most effective. I believe servant leadership attributes are key to being an effective leader, regardless of organization or culture.
John Maxwell’s “Law of Addition: Leaders add value by serving others.” Leaders who respected this law earned the buy-in and investment of those they led. These examples led to transforming my view on leadership and its critical role in organizational health and success.
I have coached and facilitated many types of organizations, large and small, and employing servant leadership has been a critical element of their ultimate success. Servant leaders know they are not above the team, but instead that they are a part of the team. Leadership, at its core, is a servant activity.
This is why, when I describe my role as a leader, I say, “I was responsible for 1,200 people” rather than “in charge of.” I provided Maxwell’s “21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership” to all of the leadership teams for which I have been responsible over the last 25 years. I facilitated lunch-andlearns with our leaders during my tenure, resulting in not only better leadership across the organization, but also enhanced alignment on our approaches to leading, which had an immensely positive impact on culture and execution.
Servant Leadership in Context
Why you lead and the way you lead are important. They define YOU, your leadership, and ultimately your contribution. — John C. Maxwell
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One of my favortite Zig Ziglar quotes, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care,” embodies the servant leader’s mindset. During my 28-year Navy career and since, I’ve been fortunate to be led and mentored by some incredible servant leaders who acknowledged and embraced
How to Be a Servant Leader
The most immature leaders derive their “currency” or “influence” from position alone while, in fact, it is the cheapest
Aerospace
Medical
Defense
Facilities
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Government
Commercial
currency there is in leading people. We all know that just because someone is “the boss,” that alone doesn’t make that person a leader. As a leader, you should ask yourself the question, “Why do people follow me?” The answers can provide clarity on just what kind of leader you are. Does your team follow you based on your position or because you exemplify attributes beyond merely “being in charge”? Do the people on your team feel you value and invest in them holistically beyond job performance and their contribution to the bottom line? I emphasize how they feel because their perception of you, not your intent, is their reality. Servant leaders are humble enough to “check in” with their subordinates to provide fertile ground to receive frank feedback that helps ensure they’re on track. In Chris McChesney, Sean Covey and Jim Huling’s book The 4 Disciplines of Execution, one such discipline is to “Act on the lead measures.” Measuring and focusing on the important lead measures of trust, alignment and clarity are crucial. You inspire trust through servant leadership, giving you more leverage and traction with your team. You foster alignment and clarity when you build cohesive teams through servant leadership. These attributes are nearly impossible to develop without a servant-oriented investment in your team. Your individual performance may be measured by the lagging metrics of revenue, return on sales or other factors, but the lead metrics are rooted in things that are more challenging to master. It’s about remembering it is your team that will get you there. Inexperienced leaders are quick to lead before knowing anything about their people and their challenges, strengths and roles. Mature leaders listen, learn and then lead.
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Beyond the Tangible Value
Leaders the likes of Dan Cathy (Chick-Fil-A), Jim Sinegal (founder of Costco) and Sam Walton (Walmart) have documented and demonstrated the values of servant leadership. They have results to show that they are both tangible and not so tangible. The tangible elements of profit, “success” and recognition are one thing. The not-so-visible elements are another, and they include quality of relationships, the development of more servant leaders and the quality of life of those for whom you are responsible. This is a value that adds not only to a high-performing organization, but to the legacy that is left in the process. We often see on the walls of various organizations, “People are our most important asset.” This investment and its return are the calling of a servant leader. ■
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Best Practice
Managing Generations The Millennial Movement and Its Effect on Business You know there is a disruption in the American business landscape when Forbes.com has published more than 21,300 articles on the same topic: millennials. Gallup’s chairman and CEO, Jim Clifton, even went as far as to say that millennials are altering the very social fabric of America and the world.
Alexandria Agresta is the co-founder of Purpose Pioneers. She can be contacted at alexandria@purposepioneers.com
Our society has progressed to the point that our most basic physiological and safety needs have been pretty much met for anyone born in the United States after 1982.
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generation in the history of the United States. This is because they represent the largest generation with a population of approximately 83 million, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. And most importantly, their spending habits are transforming our entire economy, not just our workplaces.
A huge generational gap in the workplace has caused a seemingly insurmountable schism in the workforce. However, the solution is actually much simpler than most people think: Millennials want purpose, and baby boomers and Generation Xers must adjust to this and make it part of their business paradigm.
What makes people in this generation different from their predecessors is that the environment in which millennials were born is vastly different from that of all previous generations. This is due to the rapid advancement of our society and moving up Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, a scale that describes the stages of human growth based on different motivations.
But let us back it up. Who are the millennials and what makes them different? Millennials are the generation of individuals born between 1982 and 2002. They value personal growth, freedom and global impact. They are the most influential
Our society has progressed to the point that our most basic physiological and safety needs have been pretty much met for anyone born in the United States after 1982. No longer are generations fueled by the need for safety, belonging
The West Orange Chamber s
or self-esteem. The motivations they use for filtering decisions in their lives have evolved to fulfilling the highest level on the hierarchy: self-actualization. In other words, uncovering, and then actualizing, purpose. So, what is this purpose we need to uncover and make a reality? Purpose is the “why” behind every decision made, the meaning that drives us to wake up in the morning, and the mission greater than oneself. Humans have been on a pursuit of purpose since the beginning of time, but along the way, as we made incredible advancements as a species, we lost sight of why we innovated in the first place. As society advances, so does the narrative of what is known and true. Millennials were taught at an early age that they can do anything they put their minds to and not to settle for anything they do not want. The only reason these concepts were drilled into the minds of millennial children was because of the abundance created by the technological progress made by prior generations. Abundance in food, shelter and self-esteem set millennials up for an outlook shaped around the idea that anything is possible. That is because now, more than ever, anything really is possible. This mindset has shifted the method and process by which millennials choose to live and add value in the world. This generation is at the height of entrepreneurship; instead of finding organizations to adhere and belong to, they are creating their own organizations, challenging traditional assumptions and demanding something deeper. This mindset is present in every human being, but millennials were born in a time when they can actually focus on fulfilling these higher-level needs.
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These factors, paired with the influence of growing up during an economic recession, have changed the values, beliefs and motivations of this generation. We are seeing these changes in economic trends such as the sharing economy (Airbnb), the giving economy (TOMS), the maker economy (YouTube) and many more. Simply stated, millennials have the innate capacity to value things higher on the hierarchy of needs, which has ushered in a new era of how business is conducted.
Getting on Board
Baby boomer and Generation X business owners have the power, wisdom and capital to transform their companies and take advantage of this profound opportunity. They are in the driver’s seat of change, as long as they can embrace this new way of thinking. This starts with asking questions around everything you hear, say, think and do. This thinking is centered around meaning and is what millennials crave more than anything else. The key to finding meaning is getting clear on purpose and aligning it with everything we do. If you can embrace purpose and make it work for your team, you will activate a community of people that will lead and thrive in this new, emerging economy — the purpose economy. ■
Facilitating Opportunity for Over 45 Years
(407) 656-1304 wochamber.com Dr. Phillips | Gotha | Horizon West | Lake Avalon MetroWest | Oakland | Ocoee | Orlo Vista Pine Hills | Windermere | Winter Garden i4Biz.com | APRIL 2020 | 53
Social Entrepreneur
GARDEN AND GOALS
ORLANDO CITY FOUNDATION PLANTS SEEDS FOR SUSTAINABLE HEALTH
F
ive-foot-7 and 5-foot-4. The respective heights of soccer players Lionel Messi and Marta Vieira da Silva, each named FIFA World Player of the Year six times, aren’t typically found in the player stats of any other sport. That, Kay Rawlins insists, is what makes the game so special. The Orlando City Soccer Club co-founder and Orlando City Foundation president 54 | APRIL 2020 | i4Biz.com
explained: “One of the things I love about soccer is that it is accessible to everyone. Young, old, male, female — any size or shape. Literally everyone can play. That’s what makes it such a great tool.” For the foundation, soccer has become the gateway to a new approach to sustainable and holistic health, from safe places to play to community gardens — and just like the game, that approach is accessible to everyone.
Social Entrepreneur
ONE OF THE THINGS I LOVE ABOUT SOCCER IS THAT IT IS ACCESSIBLE TO EVERYONE. YOUNG, OLD, MALE, FEMALE — ANY SIZE OR SHAPE. LITERALLY EVERYONE CAN PLAY. THAT’S WHAT MAKES IT SUCH A GREAT TOOL. — Kay Rawlins
Growing Organically
According to the foundation, Florida is No. 4 in the country for obesity, with 37% of children overweight or obese — and this number disproportionately affects underprivileged communities. When the Orlando City Foundation began in 2013, Rawlins and her team knew they wanted to be part of the solution. So they started with what they knew best: soccer. They started building what they call mini-pitches. Often built from converted tennis courts, these miniature soccer fields introduce a safe place to play in neighborhoods where there might not have been one before.
gardens. “That was when we had an ‘aha!’ moment, when we realized, ‘We are providing nutrition information to children who don’t always have that option,’” Rawlins said. “They live in food deserts, where there’s very little fresh food.” Instead, children and families in these areas often have access to only fast, cheap convenience food. All they needed, the foundation concluded, was access to the right resources. Enter the first community garden.
“We obviously can’t build a great big soccer field in some of these areas, so we created these,” Rawlins said. There are now eight mini-pitches in total. They serve as the perfect spots to host the foundation’s 12-week soccer programs, which are held two to three times a week at each spot, as well as at an additional four sites throughout Central Florida. The programs provide coaches, equipment and education for children who participate. “It’s divided into weeks,” Rawlins said, “so each week we cover a new soccer skill, a new word of the week — teamwork, attitude, respect — and we also have the nutritional element of the week.” It was the nutritional element that gave way to the i4Biz.com | APRIL 2020 | 55
The First Garden
“We knew about soccer, not gardening, so we started looking around for partners,” Rawlins said. The foundation’s first stop was the Green Works Department of the City of Orlando, which already had a spot in mind: Rock Lake Community Center near Camping World Stadium, which was under construction for an expansion at the time. The foundation also reached out to local urban agriculture program Fleet Farming for its expertise. Fleet Farming continues to build and maintain the gardens as the project expands. “They are our experts,” Rawlins said. “They come out with the tools and expertise, and they follow up with each location to be sure they are getting on well and help out when needed.”
People are really coming together around the garden. — Kay Rawlins
One Saturday morning in 2016, Rawlins and her team set out to work, along with about 100 supporters, volunteers and staff members. “Even the team building the stadium came over,” Rawlins remembered. “They sent over their carpenters. With everyone working together, we built, filled and planted 20 beds in just four hours.” Four years later, there are now 16 community gardens throughout the city. Six of them are near Orlando City’s mini-pitches so instructors can show the kids firsthand the ins and outs of growing their own food and healthy eating. Others are located at centers and 56 | APRIL 2020 | i4Biz.com
schools such as the Boys & Girls Club at Pine Hills, the J.B. Callahan Neighborhood Center, and the Orange County Public Schools Academic Center for Excellence (ACE) school in Parramore. The foundation even helped fund the biggest community garden in Orlando off North Bumby Avenue at Lake Druid Park, which is home to 50 beds. When the location isn’t near a mini-pitch, the hosting organization takes over the programming and maintenance, but the foundation and Fleet Farming still touch base to be sure the gardens are thriving. The gardens have proved to be an effective learning tool for children and adults alike. They’ve also provided much-needed access to healthy food. At locations such as the ACE school, while the children learn to grow food, any leftover produce is available to be picked up by their families free of charge. At sites like the Coalition for the Homeless, the community gardens provide positive gathering places for people to come together. “I have members of my team who come back and tell me they get to talk to people they might have passed on the street who are now hanging out in the gardens, watering or weeding, and trading what they’ve grown,” Rawlins said. “People are really coming together around the garden.”
Building the Future
Rawlins recalls Mayor Buddy Dyer’s goal for Orlando to be one of the best cities in the world for sustainability. “I think we are on a great track for that,” she said. “We are a very connected city. We like to come together and do things together. And we keep growing, so we have to keep making sure we’re growing in the right way. Luckily, we have great leaders who are determined to make that happen.” ■
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Downtime
Unique experiences for your day off LAKE BUENA VISTA Drawn to Life Presented by Cirque du Soleil Drawn to Life tells the story of Julie, a young girl who discovers that her late father, a Walt Disney Company animator, has left behind an unfinished animation. Following her father’s lead, she sets out on a journey where she encounters some of her favorite Disney memories. Along the way, she learns the art of animation and discovers how to bring her own story to life. Imaginative and innovative, the show is a culmination of the legacy of both Cirque du Soleil and Disney: a feat of storytelling, design, acrobatics and performance.
https://cirk.me/2TwVCub
ORLANDO Pompeii the Immortal City When Mount Vesuvius erupted in A.D. 79, the city of Pompeii and its residents were frozen in time and buried under a layer of ash, erased from history until their rediscovery in 1748. The ancient Roman city is now one of the most well-known and fascinating archaeological sites in the world. Starting on June 6, the world of Pompeii comes to the Orlando Science Center, where an exhibition will transport visitors centuries back in time to the daily life of ancient Romans – what they did, how they lived and what the moment of the eruption and the minutes after it were like. Comprised of artwork, replicas of artifacts and multimedia presentations, the exhibit will also feature an interactive 360-degree experience. Science Center members get free access to the exhibit, and others can purchase tickets in advance online.
http://bit.ly/2IdZF9r
To scan the QR Codes, just point the camera app on your smartphone toward the page and follow the instructions on your smartphone screen.
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Downtime
LEVY COUNTY Devil’s Den One of North America’s most prehistoric places, with fossils found dating back to the Pleistocene age, Devil’s Den spring gives visitors a further glimpse deep into Florida’s rich natural history and beauty. Swim in its year-round 72-degree crystal-clear water, cook out at one of the charcoal grills and enjoy lunch at one of the picnic tables under a canopy of ancient trees, or scuba dive and snorkel with equipment available to rent on-site. Those looking to spend a bit more time can take advantage of one of the four cabins or the tent and RV campgrounds.
http://bit.ly/2PGvs7b
LONGWOOD Aiguille Rock Climbing Center As the only dedicated climbing facility in the Orlando area, Aiguille Rock Climbing Center is perfect for experienced rock climbers, first-timers or group outings. The facility offers two different types of climbing: visitors can try bouldering, or climbing lower to the ground and requiring no instruction, or rope climbing, which requires two people and introductory instruction. Aiguille provides equipment and instructors. The center also offers classes, team-building events and youth camps.
http://bit.ly/2IaSIWz
ORLANDO Black Hammock Fish Camp With airboat rides, classic Southern food, live music on weekends, and all of it on the beautiful 100,000-year-old Lake Jessup, Black Hammock Fish Camp is perfect for anyone looking to connect with Florida’s natural beauty. One of the complex’s three airboats leaves for a tour every 30 minutes, giving visitors a close-up look at the lake and its surrounding area’s inhabitants, including alligators, bald eagles, wild boar and bobcats. After the airboat ride, head to the restaurant or the Lazy Gator Bar, relax and enjoy the view. On Sundays, guests can watch the alligators being fed.
http://bit.ly/2PIyR5n i4Biz.com | APRIL 2020 | 59
Business Seen
i4 BUSINESS WOMEN’S INSPIRED LEADERSHIP AWARDS On March 5, 2020, i4 Business magazine held its annual Women’s Inspired Leadership Awards Luncheon at the Country Club of Orlando. The awards celebrate women in Central Florida who have inspired the community. This year, i4 Business recognized seven leaders in the categories of Spirit of Advocacy, Spirit of Collaboration, Spirit of Entrepreneurship, Spirit of Mentorship, Spirit of Progress, ATHENA Emerging Leader and Girl Scouts Woman of Distinction.
WOMEN’S INSPIRED
LEADERSHIP 1
Awards
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1 - Cherise Czaban, Brianna Sheehan, Dr. Laine Powell, Sharon Hagle, A. Noni Holmes-Kidd, Lauren Nelson, Dr. Deborah Crown and Diane Sears 2 – Maryann Berry and Sharon Hagle 2
3 – Marni Spence and Dr. Deborah Crown
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4 – Karen Keene, Noni Holmes-Kidd and Hope Newsome 5 – Donna Duda and Brianna Sheehan 6 – Helen Case and Kathy Panter 7 – Carol Ann Dykes Logue and Dr. Laine Powell 8 – Alyse Quinn and Lauren Nelson 3
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Business Seen
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9 – Susan Ennis, Wendy Lyn Phillips and Cassandra Willard 10 – Dawn Kraus, Celeste Thomas and Cherise Czaban 11 – Denise Turner, Lisa Reineck, Jane Trkna, Dr. Deborah Crown, Peggy Smith Bush, Sabrina Deshner and Lovelyn Findley 12 – Lauren Nelson, Megan Steinmetz and Noni Holmes-Kidd 13 – Maryann Berry, Cheryl Hite, Marc Hagle and Susan Hagle 14 – Minerva Serrano, Lourdes McAgy, Catherine Losey and Jackie Hirsch 15 – Aneesa LeJiste, Rose LeJiste, Dr. Laine Powell and Shalyn Dever
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Business Seen
LEADERSHIP SEMINOLE’S 5TH ANNUAL LEADERSHIP SUMMIT The fifth annual Leadership Summit, A Leader’s Vision: Helping Leaders See Clearly, hosted by nonprofit organization Leadership Seminole, attracted more than 200 attendees. Speakers included Mark Hertling, U.S. Army lieutenant general and CNN analyst; Therrin Protze, COO of Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex; and Rebekah Gregory, a Boston Marathon bombing survivor and founder of Rebekah’s Angels Foundation.
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1 – Nicole Ayoub, Tim Cook, Lieutenant General Mark Hertling, Sarah Hohman and Melissa Robinson
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2 – More than 200 local leaders at the Lake Mary Events Center 3 – Lieutenant General Mark Hertling 4 – Leadership Seminole President Dawn Kraus 2
5 – Student panelists Jade Barkett, Oviedo High School; Kia Singleton, Seminole State College; and Danielle Stewart, University of Central Florida
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6 – Leadership Seminole Program Manager Denise Ward and Lake Mary City Commissioner Jordan Smith 7 – Speaker Kyle Johnson, CEO of Lighthouse Central Florida 8 – Speaker Therrin Protze, COO of Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex 3
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Business Seen
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9 – Katie Bowman and Jean Vansmith 10 – Leadership Seminole President Dawn Kraus, NASA astronaut Bruce Melnick and Summit Chair Andy Searles
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11 – Nashalie Soto, Kim Marlette, Harrette Thompson and Lisa Garbers 12 – Speaker Annetta Wilson from Annetta Wilson Media Training & Success Coaching 13 – Leadership Seminole President Dawn Kraus, Rebekah Gregory and Summit Chair Andy Searles 14 – Jean Vansmith, Lou Tomeo, Teresa Correa, Craig Kesler, Traci Houchin, Paul Carland, Alane Huet and Andrea Rickheim 10
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Watercooler
Stuff you didn’t know you wanted to know
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28
Number of electric vehicle docking stations located in the terminal parking garages at Orlando International Airport
Number of buildings on the University of Central Florida campus that are LEED certified, including 20 gold and 8 silver
2050 The year the University of Central Florida has pledged it will meet its goal to become carbon-neutral
“It feels like we were in a sci-fi movie. It was like we landed in a spaceship and the whole world had changed.” — Cruise passenger Paul Adams upon disembarking from Carnival ship Breeze, which was on a Caribbean voyage during the week COVID-19 protection measures escalated throughout the U.S. Source: Orlando Sentinel
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WE DON’T KNOW WHAT LIES AHEAD, BUT WE KNOW THAT WE HAVE A REALLY GOOD CHANCE AT PREVAILING AND PUTTING IT ALL BEHIND US. WHEN THAT HAPPENS, DO NOT LET THIS BE ANOTHER THING THAT WE FORGET ABOUT. — Chris Castro, board of directors’ president for IDEAS for Us, in a public letter about the COVID-19 outbreak
30 million Number of people who visited Florida’s state parks in 2019
85 Years since the Florida State Parks system was founded in 1935
There’s no doubt Florida is certainly ground zero when it comes to these resiliency issues. — Dr. Julia Nesheiwat, Florida’s first chief resilience officer, who is tasked with preparing the state for the environmental, physical and economic impacts of sea level rise
WOMEN’S INSPIRED
LEADERSHIP
Awards 2020
THANK YOU
TO ALL WHO HELPED US CELEBRATE OUR 2020 WOMEN'S INSPIRED LEADERSHIP HONOREES
ATHENA NextGen
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP SERIES
SPIRIT OF PROGRESS DR. DEBORAH CROWN [Rollins College]
SPIRIT OF ADVOCACY LAUREN NELSON
SPIRIT OF COLLABORATION DR. LAINE POWELL
[DBledsoe Consulting]
[Nemours Children's Hospital]
[Tech Sassy Girlz]
SPIRIT OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP BRIANNA SHEEHAN
ATHENA NextGen EMERGING LEADER A. NONI HOLMES-KIDD
WOMAN OF DISTINCTION GIRL SCOUTS OF CITRUS COUNCIL
[Brianna Michelle Interior Design]
[Parkway Property Investments]
[SpaceKids Global]
SPIRIT OF MENTORSHIP DANA BLEDSOE
SHARON HAGLE
© 2015 Southwest Airlines Co.
Without a Heart, it’s just a machine. So in 1971, a little Heart built a different kind of airline—one that made sure everyone could fly. Everyone has important places to go. So we invented low-fares to help them get there. To us, you’re not 1A or 17B. You’re a person with a name, like Steve. Here, we think everyone deserves to feel special, no matter where you sit or how much you fly. And with all the places we’re going next, we’ll always put you first, because our love of People is still our most powerful fuel. Some say we do things differently. We say, why would we do things any other way? Without a Heart, it’s just a machine.