i4 Business January/February 2022 Issue

CONVENTION CENTER INVIGORATES ECONOMY

I-DRIVE CELEBRATES 50 YEARS IN TOURISM

UP CLOSE WITH PAUL SOHL

LIFEBOAT PROJECT FILM: STOP HUMAN TRAFFICKING

4BUSiNESS Orlando's Leadership Connection

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022

$4.95

A PASSION for COMPASSION 26Health Provides Path to Wellness for Underserved

HUMANS on aCHIP HESPEROS AIMS TO

END ANIMAL TESTING

NESTRE TECHNOLOGY

For Elite Athletes and Everyday Performers

Leadership Orlando provides business and community leaders in our sevencounty region with the opportunity to be an active part of the Central Florida region’s priorities while building lasting relationships with professional peers.

Through its one-of-a-kind experiential curriculum, participants will explore regional assets, gain insight into the hottest topics from local leaders and connect with more than 80 other likeminded professionals.

Continuing to

EMPOWER COMMUNITY LEADERS

The largest community leadership program in America.

Enroll today in Class 102.

LeadershipOrlando.org CHAIR, CLASS 102

SHERRY MAGEE KPMG Lakehouse

A signature program of the Orlando Economic Partnership.

LUNCHEON

Wednesday, April 6, 2022 11:00 A.M. - 1:30 P.M. Rosen Plaza Hotel 9700 International Parkway Orlando, FL 32819 Individual tickets: $95 (open seating)

Corporate tables: $2,000 (reserved seating for 10)

Register at

www.UWWomenUnited.org

Ginger Zee

A global movement of more than 70,000 women strong, Women United is a place for women to come together to find their voice and take a stand for issues that matter. With that same goal in mind, the Women United Luncheon draws supporters from across the tri-county area to connect, lead and inspire! Join Women United for our 15th Annual Women United Luncheon, featuring Ginger Zee! With the release of her new memoir, A Little Closer to Home, which is a follow-up to her debut New York Times bestseller Natural Disaster, Ginger Zee explores ways we can all overcome trauma and find lasting hope.

She brings readers along the immensely difficult path that took her from a depressed fledgling meteorologist to the first female chief network meteorologist at a network. As she puts it, by chasing these storms she was avoiding the real one brewing at home—a string of misguided relationships, including a horrifically abusive one that wouldn’t end until she was forced to call the police, and a deep soul search that led her to check into a mental health hospital ten days before starting her job at ABC. Despite it all, she has managed to build a remarkable career and family. Ginger Zee will bring her message of resilience and self-care to the Women United Luncheon on April 6, 2022, leaving audiences feeling renewed, empowered, and intensely moved by her raw, poignant chronicle of life as a Natural Disaster.

For sponsorship information call (407) 429-2104 or e-mail WomenUnited@hfuw.org for more information.

CONTENTS

INSIDEFF JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022

FEATURES

14

A Passion for Compassion

18

Pampering with a Purpose

20

High-Tech Training

26Health Provides Path to Wellness for Underserved LGBTQ+ Community 26Health Spa Helps People Feel Good While Doing Good

NESTRE Focuses on Mental and Cognitive Fitness for Elite Athletes and ‘Everyday Performers’

28

Conventional Wisdom

32

Work and Play, Your Way

69

In the Game

Orange County Convention Center Invigorates Central Florida’s Economy Inn on Fifth Caters to Today’s Discerning Travelers

CEO Leadership Forum Panels Discuss How Businesses Can Plan for World Cup 2026

36 BEST PRACTICE

Guest Expert Columns

MARKETING

58 Dr. Tommy Shavers, CEO & Founder of NESTRE Health & Performance

22 26

Trends of 2022 Will Help Pull Us Past the Pandemic

20

‘Human-on-a-Chip’ Hesperos Replicates Inter-Connected Organs Systems to Reduce Animal Testing

Meaghan Branham | i4 Business

60

ON THE COVER Dr. David Baker-Hargrove, left, and Robert Baker-Hargrove

"Our goal is to use the great game of college football to make everyone aware of the current state of cancer research, and it’s gone very well.”

– Alan Gooch, executive director of the Cure Bowl, Page 38

Photography by Julie Fletcher Cover Concept Design by Bruce Bicknell

4 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022 | i4Biz.com

Negotiation Knowhow: Tips for Securing That Next Contract Nancy Allen | Women’s Business Development Council of Florida

Building on a Strong Foundation Universal Engineering Sciences Triples in Size in Past 18 Months

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

FOLLOW US►►► #i4biz

4BUSiNESS INDUSTRY INSIGHT THE BUSINESS OF TOURISM

34

Celebrating 50 Years: International Drive’s Future Is Just as Exciting as Its Past Maria Triscari | International Drive Resort Area Chamber of Commerce

36

THE BUSINESS OF TOURISM THE BUSINESS OF SPORTS

Bowl Games Put Orlando at Epicenter of College Football Experience Jason Siegel | Greater Orlando Sports Commission

62

7

i4 Business Advisory Board

9

From the Editor and Publisher

10

Business Briefs

46

Up Close with

74

Business Seen

100 Years Later, the Impact of Water-Skiing Continues Mark Jackson | Polk County Tourism and Sports Marketing

38

DEPARTMENTS

Paul Sohl, CEO, Florida High Tech Corridor

THE BUSINESS OF EMPLOYMENT

Developing a Culture to Attract and Retain Top Talent Jason James | Mechanical One

64

THE BUSINESS OF EMPLOYMENT

The Win-Win: Why Investing in Workforce Development Is Worth It Lisseth Russa | Goodwill Industries of Central Florida

66

THE BUSINESS OF THE ARTS

Not for Sale: The LifeBoat Project and JCFilms Team Up to Stop Human Trafficking Meaghan Branham l i4 Business

SPOTLIGHT CHANDA HORNE | WITHUM

44

The Best On and In the Field

TECHNOLOGY SPECIAL SECTION UP CLOSE

46

With Paul Sohl

CEO, Florida High Tech Corridor

50

‘SPECIAL FORCES’ OF SIMULATION

Bohemia Interactive Elevates Military Training from Games to Reality

78

Downtime

54

FOCUS ON SAFETY

80

Watercooler

NovoaGlobal Uses Innovation to Help Communities Protect Lives

Unique Experiences for Your Day Off

Stuff You Didn’t Know You Wanted to Know

i4Biz.com | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022

5

4 SPOTLIGHTING WOMEN IN BUSINESS

4BUSiNESS EDITOR AND PUBLISHER Diane Sears MANAGING EDITOR Meaghan Branham CREATIVE DIRECTOR Bruce Bicknell Digital Blue Productions PHOTOGRAPHY DIRECTOR Julie Fletcher JulieFletcherPhotography.com COPY EDITOR Ben Turner

Get in front of our audience and featured among the incredible women in business of Central Florida.

In our March/April issue, we will showcase women’s accomplishments in business and industry throughout Central Florida in a special section.

WHO YOU ARE, WHAT YOU DO, AND WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS. Build your relationship with our audience and yours with this special section spotlight.

• • • •

Each profile will be:

Published in our print and digital editions of i4 Business Published on i4biz.com Shared on our social media channels Spotlighted in our Special Sections newsletter

Coming March/April 2022! i4biz.com Tel: 407.730.2961

6 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022 | i4Biz.com

CONTRIBUTORS Nancy Allen, Meaghan Branham, George Diaz, Mark Jackson, Jason James, Lisseth Russa, Jason Schmidt, Diane Sears, Jason Siegel and Maria Triscari BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR Tracey Serebin SUBSCRIPTIONS DIRECTOR Rana Stark

i4 Business is a participating member of:

i4 Business Advisory Board This Month's Featured Advisory Board Members Mary Shanklin

Thank You 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.

Judi Awsumb, Awsumb Enterprises Jim Bowie, Consultant Jackie Brito, HR Asset Partners Cari Coats, Accendo Leadership Advisory Group Andrew Cole, East Orlando Chamber of Commerce 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, Dignitas Technologies Lena Graham-Morris, HORUS Construction Mark Allen Hayes, Stockworth Realty Group Gwen Thompson Hewitt, United Negro College Fund Susan Howard, Communications/Public Relations Specialist Vicki Jaramillo, Orlando International Airport Chris Leggett, Central Florida International Trade Office Catherine Losey, Losey PLLC law firm Laureen Martinez, Orlando Economic Partnership Yog Melwani, Align Commercial Real Estate and Indian American Chamber of Commerce Davia Moss, Next Horizon Hope Edwards Newsome, Virtus LLP Rob Panepinto, Florentine Strategies Bill Reidy, Thumbs Up Jerry Ross, National Entrepreneur Center Romaine Seguin, UPS Global Freight Forwarding Jason Siegel, Greater Orlando Sports Commission Mary Shanklin, Fifth Estate Media Robert Utsey, Gilbane Building Company

Recognizing the disruption in newspapers, veteran journalist Mary Shanklin retooled with a master’s degree in publishing from George Washington University and launched Fifth Estate Media publishing company in 2015. Her group works with authors to deliver hardcover, softcover and e-books, including one she just authored herself. She brings to the table experience covering real estate, business, politics and education for newspapers including the Orlando Sentinel, where she was part of the Pulitzer Prize finalist team for coverage of the Pulse tragedy. In 2019, she cycled crosscountry to raise funds for the Adult Literacy League and now serves on its board of directors.

Vicki Jaramillo Vicki Jaramillo is the senior director of marketing and air service development for the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority (GOAA). Responsible for much of the development of domestic and international air service at Orlando International Airport, she facilitates relationships with airlines and regions that have been instrumental in Central Florida’s growth. In her 25 years with GOAA, international destinations at the airport have grown from 15 to nearly 60. Prior to her current role, she was chief of aviation marketing at Miami International Airport and served as a Walt Disney World Resort ambassador.

Chris Leggett

Chris Leggett is the program manager for the Central Florida International Trade Office. He works to bring awareness to the importance of trade and provides educational resources for leaders in the Central Florida area, connecting local businesses with the global marketplace. Prior to joining the trade office, Leggett worked for the Canadian government department Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. He served abroad as counsel for agriculture for more than 10 years, first at the Canadian Embassy in Washington, D.C., and then at the Mission of Canada to the European Union.

i4Biz.com | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022

7

4BUSiNESS

4 SPOTLIGHTING DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION PROFESSIONALS

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BACK ISSUES Back issues may be purchased for $4.95 each by calling 407-730-2961.

Get in front of our audience and next to the most exciting stories about diversity and inclusion in Central Florida.

In our March/April issue, we will showcase the professionals advocating for diversity and inclusion in a special section: WHO YOU ARE, WHAT YOU DO, AND WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS. Build your relationship with our audience and yours with this special section spotlight.

• • • •

Each profile will be:

Published in our print and digital editions of i4 Business Published on i4biz.com Shared on our social media channels Spotlighted in our Special Sections newsletter

Coming March/April 2022! i4biz.com Tel: 407.730.2961

8 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022 | i4Biz.com

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i4 Business® is published eight times a year 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. ©2021. All rights reserved. Any reproduction, in whole or in part, is prohibited

without written permission from the publisher.

From the Editor and Publisher

How Are We Handling Our Collective Trauma?

Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.

— Dalai Lama

M

ost days I feel fine. I get up and do what I need to do, and at the end of the day I go to bed and sleep.

But something has shifted since the beginning of the pandemic. I wasn’t able to put my finger on it until recently, when I attended an East Orlando Chamber of Commerce luncheon where the topic of the panel discussion was mental health.

I’d congratulated myself for making it through these past two years relatively unscathed, but I realized listening to the panel that this wasn’t true. We’ve all been affected, whether we realize it or not.

Before the pandemic, I’d get up early, work all day, take a couple of breaks, and then work at night in front of sports on TV. But I don’t do that anymore — by the end of the day, I have no concentration left. My brain is telling me to relax, which I think is a good thing, but for this self-professed workaholic, it just feels weird.

At the luncheon, panelist Mary Senne from Orlando Health described the three kinds of stress we experience in our lives. Senne serves as the corporate director of well-being and the director of physician wellness, and she has seen all three kinds of stress up close.

The first type is acute stress. You might feel this if your car breaks down, but it goes away when the situation is resolved. Then there’s chronic stress, which arises from long-term, low-intensity pressure such as caring for an elderly or disabled family member. You learn to cope with this over time, but it’s always there.

The third is complex stress, which everyone on the planet has suffered during the pandemic.

This comes from feeling out of control and being unable to rely on normal coping mechanisms and social interaction. When so much of the world shut down, many people stopped going to the gym, visiting family and friends, attending events and traveling for vacation.

This has changed our behavior. We’re seeing more people fighting on planes and at stoplights. Children are showing aggression in

school. Workers are leaving their jobs in record numbers to look for more meaningful careers.

What are you experiencing?

Mental health seems to be a topic of discussion all around us. We chose our cover story about 26Health for this Health and Wellness issue because of the way the company got its start supporting a community in crisis after the Pulse nightclub tragedy of 2016. The largest mass shooting in U.S. history at the time left 49 dead and a community wounded forever.

Mental health will also be front and center during the Women United luncheon on April 6 at the Rosen Plaza, where Ginger Zee from ABC News will be the keynote speaker. The chief meteorologist will share insights from her latest book, A Little Closer to Home: How I Found the Calm After the Storm.

It’s clear we need to change our expectations of what’s “normal,” panelist Allison Craft from Nemours Children’s Health said at the luncheon.

The organizational psychologist said expecting ourselves to be who we were pre-pandemic would be like installing 2015 technology on our computers.

It’s OK if we need more hugs than we used to, or more down time. We can console ourselves with the words of another panelist, Dena Register, a certified music therapist and Chopra meditation teacher at the Lake Nona Performance Institute: We are doing the best we can with the resources we have at this very moment in time.

Collective trauma calls for collective compassion, and we’re all going to need that in the year ahead — for each other as well as ourselves.

Have a great month!

Diane Sears Editor and Publisher

i4Biz.com | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022

9

BUSINESS BRIEFS

Lake Mabel Home Sale Sets Local Record at $12.5 Million Florida Golf and Beaches recently set a record for the largest residential real estate sale in Orange County when it sold an 11,565-square-foot home on Lake Mabel in Orlando for $12.5 million. The previous record was an $11 million deal in 2017 for an estate on Interlachen Avenue in Winter Park.

Dubbed the “Windermere Chalet,” the home sold in October 2021 and has nine bedrooms, 13 bathrooms, a double bridal staircase, a floor-to-rotunda fireplace carved to replicate the one in Cinderella’s Castle, a two-story library, a wine cellar, two private apartments, a home theater, a pool and a dock. It sits on 13 acres and is built of limestone that never needs painting. It was constructed by master builder Victoria Martoccia in 2010, when it won the Parade of Homes High End Custom Home award.

“While there were many other Realtors interviewed to list this home, we were the only ones who understood the quality and value,” said Karan Wienker, the owner and broker of Florida Golf and Beaches. “The number the sellers kept hearing from other Realtors was $6 million. I didn’t flinch when the sellers said $12.95 million. Our competition wanted comparable sales, but there were none because this is a standalone, unique property.”

To overcome the lack of comparable properties, the real estate company got creative and determined the replacement value of the structure to be $10 million to $11 million, not including the land.

To stage the property for potential buyers to view it, the Realtors enlisted the help of exotic car rental company CorsaHQ to provide a Bentley, a Rolls Royce and a Lamborghini in front of the home, which has what Wienker called an “impossibly long driveway.”

The sale signals an increase in demand in the high-end luxury market in Central Florida, Wienker said. “We sold it to the second person to see the home. The first was from outside the country, sent his emissary, and was coming to see it in person before purchasing. I believe we could’ve sold it twice.”

Orange County Schools Superintendent to Retire After leading Orange County Public Schools (OCPS) for 10 years, Barbara Jenkins has announced she will be retiring at the end of the year. The superintendent shared her plans during a School Board meeting on February 8, although her retirement has been in the works since 2018. The board has started a search for a new superintendent.

“Serving in this role has been a calling and a tremendous blessing,” Jenkins tweeted. A graduate of Winter Park High School and the University

Business

10 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022 | i4Biz.com

Innovation

of Central Florida, she started as a teacher in Orange County more than 30 years ago and moved up through the ranks. She was named chief of staff for former Superintendent Ron Blocker in 2006 and continued to rise to the top spot.

Jenkins was named Florida Superintendent of the Year in 2017 and was one of four finalists for the national title. OCPS is the eighth-largest school district in the nation, with more than 206,000 students.

Education

BUSINESS BRIEFS

Lake Nona Headquarters Planned for Air Travel Services Provider dnata Global air and travel services provider dnata expects to open its new headquarters this year in the Orlando community of Lake Nona, where its office will be close to Orlando International Airport. The company’s U.S. operation provides ground, passenger and cargo handling services to more than 60 airlines at 26 airports across the country.

Founded in 1959 in the United Arab Emirates as the Dubai National Air Travel Agency, the company provides services at 128 airports in 35 countries.

In the U.S., it employs more than 3,000 people and works with 20 airlines, 60,000 flights, 18 million passengers and 500,000 tons of cargo annually.

In Lake Nona, dnata joins fellow industry leaders SIMCOM Aviation and Training and BBA Aviation/ Signature Flight Support, which also have headquarters there, and Lilium, which is building a hub there for the nation’s first vertiport network. The dnata headquarters will occupy the top floor and assume the naming rights for the community’s newest Class-A office

building, which is five stories tall. The office will house 50 employees and a leadership training center.

Orlando Amazon Fulfillment Center to Handle Print-on-Demand Amazon has chosen Orlando for the site of its first facility in Florida for manufacturing print-on-demand books. The fulfillment center, located off Boggy Creek Road near Orlando International Airport in the Lake Nona area, will allow the company to print books locally while streamlining production and reducing costs.

The facility is expected to create more than 100 jobs. On top

Tourism

of Amazon’s minimum $15-per-hour wage, the company offers extensive benefits to full-time employees.

“We’re excited to expand our network to better serve our customers in Florida,” Amazon Economic Developer Sam Blatt said in a press release. “We are grateful for the strong support we’ve received from local and state leaders as we broaden our footprint throughout the Sunshine State.”

Growth

Inspiration i4Biz.com | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022

11

BUSINESS BRIEFS

Cogent Bank Partners with TassatPay for Blockchain Payment Platform Orlando-based Cogent Bank has begun offering its businessto-business clients access to TassatPay, the only blockchainbased real-time payment platform fully deployed within the U.S. banking system. The platform enables clients to make and receive instantaneous, secure, real-time payments 24 hours a day, seven days a week, without waiting for transactions to clear.

“Providing our B2B clients with instantaneous payments using the power of blockchain technology, in a regulatory-compliant manner, is critical for competing in today’s fast-paced digital economy,” said Chirag Bhavsar, president of Cogent Bank. “Our B2B clients recognize that blockchain-enabled payments offer

better fraud protection, faster settlement, reduced inefficiencies and lower costs that benefit their clients. Most importantly, TassatPay can be adopted without disruption to our operations and the services we provide to our clients.”

Tassat Group, based in New York, unveiled a real-time Digital Interbank Network in December 2021 with a demonstration of real-time funds transfer using blockchain technology. It is adding other banking institutions to the network. “Banks of all sizes are turning to TassatPay so they can compete and win in an increasingly digital economy,” Tassat Group CEO Ron Totaro said.

Mission-Driven Climate First Bank Joins Net-Zero Banking Alliance Climate First Bank, founded by Lake County resident Ken LaRoe, has joined the Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA), a coalition of banks worldwide that are committed to aligning their lending and investment portfolios with net-zero emissions by 2050 or sooner. NZBA, convened by the United Nations, includes 98 members from 39 countries and $66 trillion in total assets. The organization fosters the

Sports

12 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022 | i4Biz.com

role of banks in supporting the global transition of the economy to net-zero emissions.

Based in St. Petersburg, Climate First is the world’s first climate-focused commercial bank. Since it opened in 2021, the bank has reported that 43% of the loans it has financed have been for work aligned with its mission of protecting the planet, including solar energy, LEED retrofitting and electric

Leadership

vehicle charging infrastructure.

“Banks have a huge part to play in our battle against the climate crisis,” said LaRoe, Climate First’s CEO and founder, who previously founded First Green Bank. “Each investment in fossil fuels and other extractive industries is an investment against humanity’s future. That’s why 'changing finance to finance change' is a huge cornerstone in the plan to save our planet.”

Technology

BUSINESS BRIEFS

Downtown Orlando Apartment Building Wins Construction Award The MAA Robinson apartment building in downtown Orlando recently won national recognition for being best-in-class for its type of construction. Constructed by Finfrock, the building was named recipient of the Harry H. Edwards Industry Advancement Award and the Building Information Modeling Award in the Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute’s 2022 PCI Design Awards.

Only 29 recipients and 13 honorable mentions were chosen for design excellence in the buildings and transportation categories. The PCI Design Awards have showcased and recognized the creative and innovative use of precast concrete for the past 59 years.

MAA Robinson is a mixed-use 11-story structure with 369 luxury apartments, an attached 725-stall

parking structure, restaurants and amenities including a private dog park, a clubhouse, a rooftop pool deck and a fitness center. The use of precast concrete allowed Finfrock to premanufacture the superstructure faster. The design uses long, unobstructed spans that are columnfree and provide the owner with increased flexibility for any future changes to the building.

City Gym in Rosemont Receives State Honor For Green Construction The City of Orlando won statewide honors recently for a renovation project at the Rosemont Neighborhood Center gym. The U.S. Green Building Council of Florida recognized the gym as the 2021 Innovative Project of the Year for New Construction in the category of Public Assembly.

Finance

The 15,300-square-foot facility houses space for a variety of sports, including basketball, volleyball and gymnastics, along with locker rooms and restrooms. The building is LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold certified and includes solar panels on the roof to operate LED lights and an efficient air-conditioning system.

Community

Health i4Biz.com | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022

13

Compassion A Passion for

14 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2021 | i4Biz.com

COVER STORY

26Health Provides Path to Wellness for Underserved LGBTQ+ Community

W

BY DIANE SEARS

hen Dr. David Baker-Hargrove first served as a Red Cross volunteer responding to the 9/11 tragedy at “Ground Zero,” he felt like what he calls “The Accidental DisasterResponse Person.” The clinical psychologist felt unprepared for the things he encountered working the nightshift counseling first responders and survivors of that fateful day in 2001.

But it gave Baker-Hargrove the training and experience to know exactly what to do 15 years later, when the Pulse nightclub shootings tore a hole in the heart of Orlando’s LGBTQ+ community. With 49 people dead, 53 wounded and a city stunned by the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history at the time, the doctor helped mobilize the local mental health response – work that clarified his life’s mission.

Today, the doctor and his husband, Robert Baker-Hargrove, celebrate the sixth year of their nonprofit company 26Health, which supports wellness of the mind, body and spirit of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning people and their allies — those who support the LGBTQ+ community even if they are not part of it.

As a nonprofit, the company helps people regardless of insurance status or ability to pay.

“Our health care system in America tends to come from a white male perspective, and that can feel alienating to some people,” says the doctor, who serves as the company’s president and co-CEO. “We connect people who are disenfranchised from the system and get them back to wellness.”

The company offers everything from mental and physical health appointments to an on-site pharmacy to medical spa services. 26Health also operates an adoption agency to connect parents and children.

The Baker-Hargroves oversee a team that includes almost 50 people, who know them as “Dr. David and Robert.”

At a time when mental health has — Robert Baker-Hargrove become a worldwide priority because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the company that started through the doctor’s former private psychology practice is seeing explosive growth. It recently purchased the four-story building it was leasing on North Magnolia Avenue in downtown Orlando and is

expanding its clinic and office space.

In July 2021, 26Health established a $3.5 million endowment fund through the Central Florida Foundation to ensure a permanent and predictable source of revenue to continue its mission.

“Orlando has an extremely large LGBTQ+ and ally community,” says Robert, a former Walt Disney World leader who serves as the co-CEO and chief operating officer of 26Health. “When we started, we recognized there was a gap in the way this population received health care. We wanted to fill that need.

New providers have come up since then, but the important thing is the service. It’s about the patients and how we serve them.”

The widespread isolation brought on by the pandemic has forced the Baker-Hargroves to reflect on that grim day after the Pulse massacre. Officials with the City of Orlando and Orange County were contacting blood relatives of the victims, but Dr. David knew something was missing. “They didn’t know the LGBTQ community and how so many people within it have ‘families of choice.’ I knew that our entire community was broken, and no one was reaching out and connecting with them.”

That summer, 26Health had been open only nine months, but the couple spent time organizing volunteers to reach out into Central Florida through places where LGBTQ+ people gathered to avoid being alone. “People were starting to break down in bars,” Robert says, “so we sent out counselors who would sit in the bars and be there for support.”

“Orlando has an extremely large LGBTQ+ and ally community. When we started, we recognized there was a gap in the way this population received health care. We wanted to fill that need.”

Many Hats

One of Dr. David’s specialties in his private practice and at 26Health has been helping people in the LGBTQ+ community cope with feelings of not belonging and the challenges of wanting to be accepted for who they are.

Terminology for the ways people define themselves is continuously evolving, and the company is an advocate for cultural sensitivity.

Dr. David identifies as nonbinary, using the gender-neutral pronouns ve, ver and vers. Robert identifies as cisgender, meaning his personal identity corresponds with his birth gender, and uses he, him and his.

Like cultural awareness, the company i4Biz.com | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022

15

COVER STORY

Dr. David Baker-Hargrove, left, and Robert Baker-Hargrove

has come a long way over the years.

Dr. David recalls playing multiple roles before hiring and training the first employees. “Robert was still at Disney and I wore all the hats. I was still a health care provider. I was the CEO, the CFO, the CMO, all of the C's, plus some of the non-C's. I did almost everything, but I had to start giving away some responsibilities as we grew.”

The road has not been easy, and Dr. David sees that as a cautionary tale for other entrepreneurs. When asked what it was like in those early days, ve answers in one word: “Terrifying.”

“Unless you've been through it before, it’s hard to really understand what that feels like,” Dr. David says.

“So much of that is not addressed in articles or books about being an entrepreneur and building a business.

Either successful entrepreneurs are so far removed from it that they forget — like with childbirth, where you don’t remember how much it hurt — or they just kind of gloss over it. I don't feel like we talk enough about how scary and painful it is.”

“There’s all this uncharted territory.

I'd never done any of this before. At the same time, I realized that if you know where to look, you can find the solution to any problem.”

16 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022 | i4Biz.com

A New Brand

There’s all this uncharted territory.

I'd never done any of this before. At the same time, I realized that if you know where to look, you can find the solution to any problem.

— Dr. David Baker-Hargrove

The Baker-Hargroves originally founded the company as Two Spirit Health Services. In October 2019, it underwent a name and branding change.

The current name comes from the 26 letters of the alphabet, emerging from the way Dr. David and Robert quipped about caring for LGBTQ+ “and all the different letters.” Today, the tagline is “Care for every letter.”

“As we grew in scope and in size, we realized the original name didn't fit who we were becoming and didn’t accurately describe the range and breadth of who we were as an organization,” Dr. David says. “Rebranding seemed like a big scary ordeal. We're a little organization with big intentions, and we like to put our brand on everything. We wanted to be an iconic brand that people would recognize over the next five, 10, 20 years and say, ‘That’s 26Health.’ Something like the Human Rights Campaign’s equality sign, or the Apple, or the Nike swish, or the Under Amour logo.”

The Baker-Hargroves worked with local marketing agency Findsome and Winmore to define and design the 26Health brand. Robert describes one of the results: “In the logo, if you turn the 26 one way, you see an equality sign.

If you turn it the other way, you see an

COVER STORY infinity sign.”

This year, 26Health has moved forward aggressively with its plans for growth. An online advertising campaign and a collection of 18 local billboards tout an initiative that helps prevent HIV through medication. Physicians in the company’s expanding telehealth program now work with patients across 39 states.

The company is introducing more ways to provide services for LGBTQ+ community members who experience barriers to health care. These include expanding programs that offer medical testing and helping people navigate health insurance policies. The company is working to get a mammography machine for female-identified patients.

It’s offering seminars and help with paperwork for transgender people to change their names and identifying information. It’s holding seminars for LGBTQ+ job seekers and building a free clothing bank for people transitioning through gender change.

The company also plans to add staff — being sure to give careful consideration to diversity and inclusion, something the company is proud to support through its actions every day.

And because 26Health helps people who speak so many different languages, the company hires employees who have the skills to communicate with them, including sign language for the deaf.

“From the beginning, we didn't think of ourselves as a small local nonprofit organization,” Robert says. “We thought of ourselves as a large corporate Fortune 100 company. We may not have been

there, but everything that a Fortune 100 company did, we decided we were going to do — we just scaled it appropriately to the size of our company.”

Entrepreneurial Mindset Dr. David recalls another pivotal point that led to the growth of the private practice and the birth of 26Health. In 2010, ve attended a morning meet-andgreet for psychologists at the University of Central Florida (UCF) counseling center. The practice’s growth was stagnant, and the doctor was struggling with that.

“I didn't really want to go, and I didn't know why I was going, but I went anyway. I was standing in the corner with my orange juice and my donut, and I must have looked like 12 miles of sad road. A woman introduced herself to me and asked, ‘How is your business going?’ As we chatted, she recommended a book about how to become a better businessperson.

“I thought to myself, ‘I've been to school, I’ve got a Ph.D. I've been to therapy. I don't need a book’. But for some reason, I emailed her anyway and she sent me the information on this book called Twelve Months to Your Ideal Private Practice by social worker Lynn Grodzki. I ordered it online. And 26Health exists today because of that.”

The book showed the doctor how to develop an entrepreneurial mindset.

Meanwhile, Robert helped look for ways to make the practice profitable, including collecting insurance reimbursements Dr. David never had time to track down.

“One of the things that I don't ever want to forget, because I don't want the message to get lost to other visionaries, is how lonely it feels,” Dr. David says. “I don't think our situation was unique to our community.

“The Anthony Robbins and Brene Browns of the world tell you, ‘You’ve got to believe in your vision. Your business isn't going to skyrocket through the roof until you believe in your vision.’ But what are you going to do when you're wrestling with feeling like you're the only one? This is something every single entrepreneur has the potential to go through. There's no way Steve Jobs didn't feel like this.”

Since then, Dr. David has stayed open to learning and growing — something ve says is critical for leaders of any size organization.

“With every stage of growth in your company, you have to learn how to be a different leader,” Dr. David says. “The leader I was when we were a company of 10 employees is completely different from the leader I have to be now that we’re at nearly 50. And let me tell you, the growing pains were awful. The problem is, you don't know what you don't know.

“Right now, I feel really comfortable because I think I've got it. I'm going to have to let go of that at some point because it's not going to work anymore – we're going to be at a different size and I'm going to have to redo it again.”

As 26Health carries out its mission, it’s helping breathe hope into a community that continues to cope with

“With every stage of growth in your company, you have to learn how to be a different leader. The leader I was when we were a company of 10 employees is completely different from the leader I have to be now that we’re at nearly 50.”

— Dr. David Baker-Hargrove

i4Biz.com | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022

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FEATURE

Pampering with a Purpose Beautiful You Medispa Helps People Feel Good While Doing Good

BY DIANE SEARS

Photography by Julie Fletcher

A

s a laser tech and medical electrologist, Brandi Concolino was handling hair removal for clients — a job she says breeds the same type of confidante relationships that people form with their hairstylists. One of her clients confided she was going through a gender transition with the emotional support of her psychologist at 26Health, a nonprofit that helps LGBTQ+ patients and their allies with wellness of the mind, body and spirit.

The client said Concolino would be a good fit at 26Health and recommended her, knowing the company was planning to expand from mental health to medical services and would soon be hiring a manager for its new Beautiful You Medispa.

That was nearly seven years ago. “They brought me in for an interview, and I was hired on the spot,” Concolino says. “I was so impressed with their vision, passion and cause that I thought, ‘This is it.’ I didn't have to think twice about taking the job.”

Concolino started setting up the spa at 26Health’s headquarters, a four-story office building on Magnolia Street in downtown Orlando. In the evenings, she went to school to become a licensed aesthetician. Under her

Aesthetician Brandi Concolino

18 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022 | i4Biz.com

direction, the spa has expanded its services to offer cosmetic procedures that make skin look healthier and more youthful. These include: • Facials, a set of treatments that exfoliate the skin, removing impurities, acne breakouts and dead cells.

• Chemical peels, which apply a solution that helps remove the top layer of skin to get to the layer under it, which is smoother and less wrinkled.

• Microneedling, which involves pricking the skin with tiny sterilized needles, creating wounds that force the body to make more collagen and elastin that heal skin cells.

• Dermaplaning, which uses a scalpel to exfoliate skin and remove dirt and “peach fuzz” or light hair.

The spa plans to add microblading, which uses a needle to insert pigment under the skin to create semi-permanent natural-looking eyebrows. The spa is also bringing in a nurse practitioner to handle injectables and fillers, which involve elements like Botox to eliminate wrinkles brought on by aging and sun exposure. A massage therapist and a dietitian will round out the team, Concolino says.

Today, the spa is an important part of

Beauty begins the moment you decide to be yourself, that's my motto.

— Brandi Concolino

FEATURE

Aesthetician Brandi Concolino decorated the office herself, choosing white cabinets and countertops that convey the look of a clean, airy medical environment but adding pops of color and what she calls “glitter” to make it feel more like a boutique. “When you walk in, it's very warm and inviting but also elegant,” she says. “The colors and the decor were purposely chosen not to be clinical, except for the chair where I do my work.” the full suite of care under the 26Health umbrella. Most of its services are considered cosmetic and self-pay instead of covered by insurance — as opposed to the mental and physical medical care 26Health offers to patients regardless of their insurance status or ability to pay.

“The nice thing is that the profits from the spa help to fund the other side of the business, which is awesome,” Concolino says. “So when you take care of yourself at the spa, people who might not necessarily be able to afford medical or mental health services can then have an opportunity to receive them.”

The spa’s clients range in age from 15 to 70. “I see all age ranges and skin types,” Concolino says. “Your gender orientation, your skin color, your ethnicity — none of that matters here.

You're going to get the same treatment no matter what. You're going to leave here feeling good no matter who you are.”

She emphasizes that the spa sees patients who are part of the LGBTQ+ community and patients who are not. “We're inclusive. We want everybody to feel welcome to come in and be pampered and receive the same treatment they should receive anywhere, but know they're going to get here. I want them to look and feel their very best. Beauty begins the moment you decide to be yourself, that's my motto.”

The company has launched a marketing campaign that includes wedding shows, small business expos and other events where 26Health can showcase the spa’s services. Concolino also uses her personal enthusiasm to generate one-on-one marketing opportunities.

“A lot of my clients are repeat customers, and a lot of my clients are referrals,” she says. “But I’m always looking for more. Every time I go out, I carry pamphlets and brochures,

or little palm cards. I always talk to people and look for opportunities to let them know I can help them. If l see a teenager with acne, or a person trying to cover facial hair with makeup, chances are they don’t know that there are services available to them. I don't come out and say, ‘Hey, I can help you with that.’ But I might strike up a conversation and mention what I do for work. Inevitably, people say, ‘You know, I could use your services.’ I give them a card with a coupon on the back for 10% off.”

In her office, Concolino greets every person who comes through the door with a sit-down consultation at her desk.

“I really care about them as a person,” she says. “I might remember this person's child's birthday is coming up, or that this other person was dreading going home for Thanksgiving. I want to talk to each person as an individual, not just get them in and out. You’re not a number when you come here. You're a human being.”

One advantage is that being in an office building offers clients more privacy than they would get if they were spotted walking in and out of a retail storefront, she says. “It's a little more private for the clients who don't want people knowing they're coming in for hair removal.”

The spa sees about 65 to 70 people a month, and that number is expected to increase this year as the list of services expands.

Concolino is continuing to grow professionally as well. She had little left to learn in her former job, but this one challenges her daily to be better and do better while she helps clients do the same. “I knew I was destined to do something bigger,” she says. “This was the perfect opportunity.” i4Biz.com | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022

19

HEALTH & WELLNESS FEATURE

Julius Thomas Co-Founder

Dr. Tommy Shavers, CEO & Founder NESTRE Health & Performance

Calvin Johnson Jr. Investor

High-Tech Training NESTRE Focuses on Mental and Cognitive Fitness for Elite Athletes and ‘Everyday Performers’

D

BY GEORGE DIAZ r. Tommy Shavers’ career path begins in a fog.

He suffered somewhere between six and seven concussions while playing football as a defensive back at the University of Central Florida from 1998 to 2000. The collateral damage was significant. He started experiencing mental and cognitive impairment and decline. The prognosis from doctors was not exactly satisfying: “Just give it a little bit. It'll get better and wear off.”

“That didn't happen,” Shavers said.

Distraught, he even began writing a memoir at the time titled “Remember Me” for his young son. He then realized that by writing it, he was accepting his own cruel fate.

Instead, Shavers built a new life out of that foggy haze. Today, NESTRE Health & Performance Inc. stands as a testimonial to his perseverance. Founded in September 2018, the Lake Nona-based company is focused on improving and strengthening mental and cognitive fitness.

Patient No. 1: Dr. Tommy Shavers.

“That was my motivation: my wife and my child,” he said. “I started with the premise that if the brain can be injured, it serves to reason that it functions like a muscle. And if

20 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022 | i4Biz.com

it functions like a muscle, it serves to reason that it could be rehabbed and strengthened.

“So I created a cognitive conversion model for self-recovery and recovered my own mental and cognitive capacity.

That’s when I discovered the science of neuroplasticity that I didn't know existed, and I had a chance to share about my recovery and my vision.”

Neuroplasticity is the ability of the brain to form and reorganize synaptic connections, especially in response to learning or experience, or following injury — and it’s the cornerstone of the NESTRE business model.

The key is to use artificial intelligence (AI)/machine learning to improve cognitive functions in individuals through brain health training and exercise routines. Hence, Nestre, meaning neuro-strength.

The business pitch worked when NESTRE Health & Performance was one of six companies accepted in 2020 into the leAD Lake Nona Sports & Health Tech Accelerator, the first program of its kind opened in the U.S. by Berlin-based leAD Sports. Named after Adidas founder Adi Dassler, the international program was started by his grandchildren.

I started with the premise that if the brain can be injured, it serves to reason that it functions like a muscle. And if it functions like a muscle, it serves to reason that it could be rehabbed and strengthened.

— Dr. Tommy Shavers

HEALTH & WELLNESS FEATURE

Lake Nona Performance Club home of NESTRE Neurostrength Training Rooms

A number of former NFL players have invested in the NESTRE concept, including Hall of Fame wide receiver Calvin Johnson Jr. and his Detroit Lions teammate Rob Sims.

NESTRE recently raised $1.6 million in advance of its next round of funding.

That has paved the way for in-person neuro-strength training, the NESTRE Mindset Profile, and virtual work through the app, scheduled to be released this year.

Just like in football, Shavers has teammates who have his back. Meet Julius Thomas, a former two-time NFL Pro Bowl tight end who is the co-founder and NESTRE’s chief innovative health and performance officer. Thomas played for the Denver Broncos, Jacksonville Jaguars and Miami Dolphins.

He, too, sought a greater purpose than football. He retired from the sport in 2018 to study psychology and earned a doctorate with a focus on mental health and neuroscience.

He wrote an article in The Players’ Tribune, delving beyond psychology and into cognitive issues experienced by players.

That prompted a call from Shavers.

“And then we start talking about the need to provide services for people we both care about,” Thomas said. “And for us, that’s athletes. These are people who want to have high performance.”

To be clear, NESTRE is all-inclusive. The company serves everyone from elite athletes to weekend warriors to highly competitive individuals looking to improve mental health and performance — those Shavers refers to as “everyday performers.”

“Elite athletes are a personal passion of ours, and

we're uniquely suited to impact that demographic. But also, we look at changing the stigma around mental health and performance by bringing the two worlds together, by breaking the silos. And saying, ‘We want the everyday person to be able to train like the elite individuals train in the same capacity with the same technologies.’”

To circle back to the world of exercise and sports, the concept is similar to going to a gym and getting in your “reps” on the bench press or the squat machine. Repetition and consistency are key, as is establishing what works best for every individual.

“Strength training is neuroplasticity. And learning is neuroplasticity,” Shavers said. “When strength training was first introduced, they’d offer the same workout for everybody.

Today, from a physical standpoint, you go in and they're personalizing it to your makeup, to your strength level, to your goals. That’s the same way we look at it from a mental and cognitive perspective: Everyone’s mental makeup or framework is unique.

“So if we can begin to personalize and customize their training based on their mental makeup, which is what we've developed with our Mindset Profile, then we're able to truly give someone a personalized strength training experience in both digital and live formats.”

Shavers and Thomas are teammates, but their sport is much more impactful than the score from any given Sunday.

It’s a 24-7, year-round effort, driven by a goal to improve the body and mind for their circle of clients.

Sounds like a winning game plan. i4Biz.com | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022

21

Dr. James “J” Hickman

‘Human-on-a-Chip’

Hesperos Replicates Inter-Connected Organs Systems to Reduce Animal Testing

BY MEAGHAN BRANHAM Photography by Julie Fletcher

H

ow many human organs can you fit in your hand? It seems a gruesome question at first, one you’ve (hopefully) never thought about.

But Dr. James “J” Hickman and Mike Shuler have thought about it — in fact, they’ve dedicated their careers to creating a technology that allows a system of human organs, from the heart to the lungs to neurons and more, to be reproduced on microchips that can be inter-connected, and it all can fit right in the palm of your hand. Their creation could be the answer to an ongoing crisis in the world of drug and chemical testing.

The pioneers of this “human-on-a-chip” technology have been commercially developing the groundbreaking devices in our own backyard since 2014 out of the Orlando-based facility of Hesperos Inc., founded by Hickman and Shuler. The chips are poised to

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eliminate many of the issues that make current pharmaceutical, cosmetic and food testing so difficult: high expense with low success rates, inhumane and inefficient animal testing, and limited opportunity for testing in human trials.

“The classic drug development pipeline relies heavily on animal models, and we now know that nine out of 10 drugs that proved safe and effective in animals fail to translate to human studies,” Hickman says. “So that's where this technology slots right in.”

Shuler, who has a daughter with Down syndrome, describes the difficulty that comes even with traditional human clinical trials: “One of the caveats of drug development is that different people react differently to any particular drug. For somebody who’s not in the ‘typical’ population, physicians often have trouble

FEATURE deciding how to prescribe drugs. So this technology allows us not only to look at rare diseases, but also to build models that are more specific to individual members of the population for such diseases as cancer.”

The chips themselves, in their simplest terms, are tiny re-creations of human organs. These surrogates are designed to mimic the function of their human counterparts and are flexible enough to re-create breathing motions, undergo muscle contractions, and handle many other movements particular to the function of that organ.

A patient’s cells can be introduced to the environment of the chip, which is specific for each organ “mimic.” The chips can be connected as well, as they are in Hesperos’ two-, three- and four-organ platforms. Once ready, medicines, chemicals, patient sera, and whatever else might need to be tested can be introduced to the chip or system of chips, allowing scientists to observe how they interact with these human organ mimics, record the effects on the organs, and replicate how those effects would appear to a doctor first seeing a patient in a clinical setting.

“We can look at the beat frequency, for instance, and conduction velocity and force of the heart,” Hickman says. “For the brain, where we can look at the processing of information, we can look at how motor neurons connect the muscle and how those units work.”

The classic drug development pipeline relies heavily on animal models, but we now know that nine out of 10 drugs that proved safe and effective in animals fail to translate to human studies.”

— Dr. James "J" Hickman

A Meeting of the Minds

Thirty years ago, as a faculty member at Cornell University since 1974, Shuler was honing in on the concept of “artificial animals,” work that would be the basis for the “body on a chip.” In 1998, he shifted his focus to the human body, wondering if by doing so he could steer researchers away from animal testing by providing a more accurate re-creation of the human body.

Meanwhile, Hickman graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1990 and was building on the work in nanoscience he spearheaded there. Applying it to biology, Hickman zeroed in on the clinical readouts that are tied to physiological, mechanical and electrical reactions. For instance, by placing human neurons on small pieces of metal called electrodes, he could see when those neurons started or stopped firing in response to a nerve agent.

The two met at talks and conferences in their respective fields over the years, but it wasn’t until 2009 that they started to think about what their work might

look like together: a human body on a chip that would recreate multi-organ systems and could show researchers the immediate and long-term functional effects of drugs. Hesperos was starting to take shape.

When circumstances pushed them to find new avenues of development and income beyond their academic grants, they adapted yet again.

“There came a point at which we thought we could continue this research in our academic positions, then a grant, unexpectedly, was discontinued. The National Institutes of Health suggested there were other avenues for additional funding, but only if we formed a company and applied for funding through things like Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants,” Hickman says. “We used our own money to start the company.

The two of us have never taken a salary. We’ve written grants and have commercial contracts, but we still to this date have not taken any outside investments. We’re a 100% employeeowned company.”

Community partnerships and initiatives, like those with the University of Central Florida (UCF) Business Incubation Program and the Florida High Tech Corridor Council, helped keep the revolutionary project going.

“We were able to start it up for very low cost and low overhead, allowing us to focus the money we had on our employees and research,” Hickman says. In the initial stages, the two found that their many public presentations — probably 20 a year each, Hickman guesses — were all they needed to get the word out. “That was pretty much our marketing for the first two or three years.”

Another partnership, Hickman’s relationship with John Reed, head of research at Swiss multinational pharmaceuticals and diagnostics company Roche at that time, would lead to their first commercial contracts.

“Mike and I had seen a particular pattern through the years: Technologies come up, people oversell them, and they just collapse upon themselves and never really get integrated the way they could have,” Hickman says. “We figured if we could actually start the company, have principles in place to get the technology out there to help people, and then maintain those principles, we could really change how drug discovery gets done.” i4Biz.com | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022

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FEATURE

Nate Post

Changing the Infrastructure

Nearly 10 years into that mission, Hesperos has made a name for itself as one of the only companies in the world offering the “human-on-a-chip” model. Partnerships with AstraZeneca, Roche and more have led to research on treatments for everything from autoimmune diseases to Alzheimer’s Disease to cancer.

“This can significantly reduce the development timeline required to get a new therapeutic to a patient,” says Nate Post, the company’s director of business operations. “The platform gives researchers unprecedented visibility into specific disease states and how the human body will respond to treatment — something that previously could only be determined in clinical trials. This is particularly exciting for patients battling rare diseases, since many have no existing treatment options.”

24 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022 | i4Biz.com

In a world with only 400 active research programs working on the 7,700 known rare diseases, that ability is a powerful thing. Right now, according to the team, pharmaceutical spending for larger-scale conditions and diseases is at about $2 billion per drug, a number derived from dividing the overall R&D spending by the number of drugs approved that year, usually with a success rate of about 10%.

“If we can double that to 20%,” Hickman adds, “then we have the potential to not only increase the number of drugs tested, but to decrease the cost per drug by around a billion dollars.”

Beyond pharmaceuticals, Shuler says, the possibilities expand even further: “This technology applies to the whole range of toxicology: foods, cosmetics, chemicals. And it has an important role to play.”

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Building on a Strong Foundation Universal Engineering Sciences Triples in Size in Past 18 months

With nearly six decades of experience in geotechnical engineering, construction materials testing, building code compliance, threshold inspections and environmental consulting, Universal Engineering Sciences (UES), headquartered in Orlando, is a familiar name in Florida.

But those outside of the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry may not realize that UES has transformed itself into the fastest-growing engineering and consulting firm in the United States through 12 significant acquisitions in 24 months and notable project wins.

The company has tripled in size and now employs more than 3,100 engineers and other industry professionals in nearly 70 locations in 20 states. It has more than doubled its revenue and has received significant investment capital from BDT Capital Partners LLC.

Strengthening the Leadership Team with Industry Experts Former AECOM Chairman and CEO Michael Burke joined the board of directors as chairman in 2021 and made a significant investment in the company. President Brian Kirkpatrick, one of the initial investors in partnership with Palm Beach Capital, leads day-to-day operations and is heavily involved with mergers and acquisitions. Newly appointed CFO Michael Dear joined the company in January with more than 30 years of global expertise in engineering services and construction with both privately held and public organizations.

Capitalizing on Population and Infrastructure Trends UES is capitalizing on two key trends: the migration of the U.S. population to states in the South and West and the increased funding to support infrastructure projects nationwide. “UES is well-positioned to be the leading

infrastructure company in the geotechnical engineering space,” Burke says. “UES has the ideal combination of business strategy, leadership, industry talent, strong reputation and client relationships to help shape infrastructure and development in communities nationwide for decades to come.”

Maintaining and Attracting Great Talent

UES’ professional engineers, geologists, scientists, inspectors and field technicians are registered throughout the United States, and most hold advanced degrees. The company plans to hire an additional 1,500 people over the next three years, many of those in Florida. Team members have passion for their work and are committed to excellent client service and a warm, friendly culture.

“UES is growing purposefully, adding locations and new partners to serve areas of the U.S. that are experiencing tremendous development growth and the need for our diverse set of services,” Kirkpatrick says.

UES’ Contributions are Everywhere

Team members joke that they enjoy getting their hands dirty because they work in the dirt all day. You may not see them working underground, but their work is critical for the roads and bridges we drive on the buildings we work and live in, the structures where we enjoy arts, entertainment and sports, and the schools our children attend.

UES has developed a reputation as the problem solvers, the engineers you call when you need to figure how to build a performing arts center over 6 feet of water or a skyline-defining signature bridge through the heart of one of the nation’s busiest downtowns. UES has grown into a significant market leader in the AEC industry.

UES has contributed to hundreds of projects throughout Central Florida, including: Winter Park Library , I-4 Ultimate (opposite page), Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts , Brightline High-Speed Rail and SunRail (above).

Brian Kirkpatrick, President

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Universal Engineering Sciences founded in Merritt Island

Palm Beach Capital begins consolidating engineering firms, acquiring GFA International and UES

BDT Capital Partners becomes majority shareholder

Kansas-based GSI joins UES as 12th acquisition

UES includes more than 3,100 team members and nearly 70 branches in 20 states

EDITORIAL

Conventional Wisdom

Orange County Convention Center Invigorates Central Florida’s Economy

BY MEAGHAN BRANHAM

A

n almost-forgotten air of excitement fills the once-empty and echoing grand exhibit hall. Attendees file in, and any lingering silence is quickly replaced by sounds that room hasn’t heard for months: Old friends spot each other and, beaming with warm smiles, go in for a handshake or an elbow bump. “Good to see you!” and “How have you been?” can be heard throughout the crowd, along with plans to grab a cup of coffee or meet for drinks later in the day.

Those are the moments that Mark Tester, executive director at the Orange County Convention Center (OCCC), missed most in the months of inactivity spurred by COVID-19 closures.

“I’ve always loved the opening day of an event,” Tester says. “In virtual meetings, you don’t have that chance conversation in a line to get a cup of coffee, or get to introduce yourself organically to someone you don’t yet know. Virtual meetings just can’t replace the need to get together and develop those relationships. But walking through a trade show or convention, on an elevator, in a hotel

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lobby, those connections can happen.”

Tester believes in those connections.

He believes in the relationships and chance discoveries that strengthen industries, and ultimately strengthen Central Florida’s economy. And he believes that the convention center's strength lies in its role as a hub for all of that connection.

A Sudden Shift

Tester joined OCCC as executive director in February 2020, just a month before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down most business meetings and conventions in the United States. He quickly pivoted in his role in March of that year, turning his focus to a plan to prepare for future events, respond to event cancellations with his team and meet customers' immediate needs.

With the support of Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings and the Board of County Commissioners, as well as county administration, the convention center pulled through a four-month pause without having to furlough any of its full-time employees.

Through a medical concierge program with Orlando Health and third-party certifications

People are relational.

They want to sit down face to face with somebody and have a casual conversation, or look at a new product and feel it.

— Mark Tester

FEATURE on cleaning, disinfecting and disease prevention through the International Sanitary Supply Association (ISSA) and its Global Biorisk Advisory Council (GBAC), the OCCC came out on the other side with the tools to host shows that were up to par with the “new normal.”

“We were one of the first convention facilities to get this a GBAC star accreditation, and we were the first to renew it,” Tester says. “We’ve been doing these protocols for well over a year now, and they’ve become the daily routine.”

A “one entrance, one exit” model was implemented for traffic on the trade show floor, in meeting rooms, and in bathrooms. Wider aisles made room for social distancing. More than 3,000 signs throughout the space carry reminders of health and safety precautions.

In July 2020, OCCC became the first convention center in the country to start hosting modified events, beginning with the American Athletic Union (AAU) Junior National Volleyball Championships.

Just one year later, the same AAU event brought 135,000 attendees and $173.3 million in economic impact.

In July 2021, the convention center anticipated being back to full strength,

“Our mission is not only to drive economic impact for the county through the events that we have, but to support the industries that are here and help them grow and diversify.”

— Mark Tester

with a calendar as robust as any year before. It seemed the OCCC and its guests had adapted to the new order.

Then the Delta variant arrived.

“We had what I would call a blip,” Tester says. “We had eight trade shows and conventions cancel — all that were planned from August to December 2021. We were poised to have a record number of events. Now we were faced again with retooling, and we were asking ourselves: “How do we make people feel comfortable? How do we get everyone together? Where are the opportunities to

grow within these precautions?”

New Connections

Conventions look different as they move into 2022, Tester admits, but like the rest of the world, OCCC finds itself working to strike a balance between keeping people safe, and keeping them sane. Attendees prioritize safety and health, of course, but they also are eager to get back out there on the convention floor to find those connections that happen only when the air is buzzing with excitement.

“People are relational,” Tester says.

“They want to sit down face to face with somebody and have a casual conversation, or look at a new product and feel it.

We have absolutely seen that manifest, beginning with the first B2B trade show we had back. Everyone in every industry was very conservative in the beginning because of those unknowns. They were asking themselves, ‘Do we buy more equipment? Do we launch a new product?

Do we buy more services?’ Now they're ready to go do that. There’s pent-up demand.”

Despite a change in appearances, that intangible excitement on the floor is still there, maybe more so than in a pre-

i4Biz.com | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022

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FEATURE

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FEATURE

pandemic world.

“In the past, people judged a convention with their eyes,” Tester says. “If they walked in and saw fewer people in the room, they might have thought it wasn’t a good event. But now, generally numbers are slightly down. Companies are sending five people where they might have sent 10, for safety reasons.

And the booths are much more spread out, so the aisles don’t look packed. Now exhibitors are not judging by how packed something looks, but by the leads they generate on the floor.”

What they’ve found, he explains, is the chance to spend more one-on-one time with a buyer, in some cases leading to more business being done on the trade show floor.

Industry Advocate

As conventions continue in their new forms, the OCCC and Tester expect to be back to pre-pandemic levels sooner rather than later. And all the better, he explains, not just for the health and business of the attendees, but for that of the community built on the relationships they forge.

The International Center for Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAAPA) returned to OCCC to hold its annual conference in November 2021, after COVID precautions led the Orlando-based trade association to cancel its event in 2020.

IAAPA’s total registration hit 28,229 for an economic impact of

31 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022 | i4Biz.com

approximately $79.6 million. “Their numbers really accelerated short term, and the opening of the borders allowed them to even get some international traffic in,” Tester says.

Later that month, the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference (I/ITSEC) explored the latest in technology. Military and tech organizations from all over the country converged right on Central Florida’s doorstep.

“The key to those events is what they mean to our community as both the ‘Theme Park Capital of the World’ and the ‘Augmented Reality Capital of the World,’” Tester says.

“It means more people are coming here for professional development and opportunities to learn. It may even result in a company adding a regional office in Orlando. Our mission is not only to drive economic impact for the county through the events that we have, but to support the industries that are here and help them grow and diversify.”

For Tester as a self-described “trade show junkie,” the potential of these events is ever-evolving to fit the new normal — and growing by the day, with new groups making plans to hold events in Central Florida.

“Mayor Demings’ guiding principles are innovation, collaboration and inclusiveness,” he says. “That’s also where we’re focusing. Orlando’s reputation as an outdoor destination, and for cleanliness and safety, puts us in a really good position

FEATURE

Work and Play, Your Way Inn on Fifth Caters to Today’s Discerning Travelers

BY MEAGHAN BRANHAM

F

lorida’s reputation as one of the world’s top tourist destinations hasn’t changed over the past two years during travel restrictions brought on by COVID-19. What has changed, however, is what visitors expect from the places they go for work and for play.

On South Florida’s west coast, Inn on Fifth in Naples has become a hotspot for people looking for a getaway or destination meeting place, including travelers from Greater Orlando. Recently renovated, and with indoor and outdoor meeting space, the boutique hotel is perfectly positioned to take advantage of today’s new expectations.

“Whether guests are here vacationing or for a conference, they are looking for the more laid-back, relaxed atmosphere of our hotel and our destination,” says Cathy Christopher, the resort’s director of sales and marketing.

With the posh 5th Avenue shopping and dining district just outside the front door and the white sands of the Gulf of Mexico only blocks away, Inn on Fifth has long been a favorite for those looking to unwind or host an event in one of Florida’s most beautiful cities.

Today the hotel checks off all the boxes of what 2022 travelers are looking for. Christopher says. “It’s been a stressful couple of years for everyone, and a trip here is an opportunity to slow down, take an extra nap every day, enjoy the outdoors in a safe and friendly environment, and enjoy the amenities of a world-class destination.”

Those amenities include a spa, a fitness center, a rooftop pool and two popular on-site restaurants known for their extensive wine lists: Ocean Prime and Truluck’s. Throughout the 119 elegantly appointed rooms and suites, including 32 suites on the club level, the resort has continued to focus on pleasing aesthetics and impeccable cleanliness — something all travelers are demanding from the hospitality industry now more than

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ever because of the pandemic.

Visitors are also taking advantage of the inn’s conventional and not-so-conventional meeting spaces.

“Recent events have taught us that more than ever before, our group attendees want to get outside for their meals,” Christopher says. “They leave the meeting room and relocate to the pool and courtyard area to order lunch a la carte from our pool menu. Often, they love it outside so much that they continue their meeting poolside.”

That outside space extends to the popular shopping and dining spots on 5th Avenue, where smaller crowds allow for safer outings. And visitors in Naples, as in most of Florida, have the advantage of a climate that allows those outside gatherings all year long — making the destination all the more viable for a safe meeting or vacation.

This year, the Inn on Fifth sees visitors continuing the trends they started in 2021, booking space for business and leisure trips — or a combination of both. And those guests are not willing to compromise on either safety or comfort.

Inn on Fifth is ready to accommodate them without compromise. Whether they’re in the hotel’s 1,875-square-foot ballroom, its executive boardroom, its sprawling rooftop courtyard, or on a terrace overlooking 5th Avenue, guests at Inn on Fifth can enjoy their getaway — and they can always take their productivity poolside, just the way they like it.

World

Naples

CLASS

CLASSIC

WHAT DEFINES A CL ASSIC? A beloved landmark that’s proud to be front and center.

A vibrant destination with a loyal following.

And a commitment to make our guest experience the very best it can be, year after year.

Experience a true icon in the heart of Naples.

Inn on Fifth | 699 5th Avenue South, Naples, Florida 34102 239.403.8777 innonfifth.com 2021

INDUSTRY INSIGHT

The Business of

TOURISM

By Maria Triscari

Celebrating 50 Years

International Drive’s Future Is Just as Exciting as Its Past

T

he International Drive Resort Area is marking its 50th anniversary this year, and there is a lot to celebrate.

The I-Drive corridor is home to more than 130 hotels, six major theme parks, 35 family-friendly 50 restaurants, 900 retail outlets and the world-renowned Orange County Convention Center.

The I-Drive resort area is an important part of what makes Orlando one of the most successful tourist destinations in the country, welcoming millions of visitors each year. The area is also home to more than 20,000 residents and 75,000 employees.

In the past 50 years, the I-Drive corridor has grown into a major economic engine. It is responsible for more than $2 billion in new and planned development, and it represents 10% of Orange County’s tax base.

One of the reasons for the area’s tremendous success is that it continues to grow, evolve and transform itself with new developments and attractions, giving visitors a reason to keep coming back again and again.

In just the last several years, major developments have transformed the I-Drive corridor into an even more exciting destination.

The Mercado shopping and dining district that was a part of the original south I-Drive is now ICON Park, a $300 million new development with popular restaurants, shops and attractions. Friday’s Front Row is now Mango’s and Hollywood Plaza. Pointe Orlando has

34 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022 | i4Biz.com

transformed with a $32 million renovation and includes new restaurants, shops and attractions.

And the original Orange County Civic Center is now the Orange County Convention Center, one of the largest and most significant event venues in the country.

As I-Drive celebrates the success of the last 50 years, it’s the next 50 years that are the most exciting. The I-Drive chamber has identified four major projects and initiaves that will bring the area to a new level of excellence on the world stage in the coming decades.

Mass transportation from Orlando International Airport to I-Drive will be a game changer for the resort area. A much-needed mode of transportation that is being studied right now will provide another leg to SunRail and expand Central Florida’s mass transit system, providing local residents and visitors a source of transportation throughout Central Florida.

The chamber’s transportation and infrastructure committee has been working closely with city and county leaders as well as the CFX and SunRail boards to help facilitate this important transportation initiative. The goal of the committee is to create a station at I-Drive for mass transit to service the I-Drive corridor, its residents and the millions of visitors each year.

The enhancement project at the Orange County Convention Center is also a priority for the chamber as it looks to the future. The

MARIA TRISCARI is president/CEO of the International Drive Resort Area Chamber of Commerce.

INDUSTRY INSIGHT

An aerial view of International Drive in 1971, above, and today, below.

convention center is a major economic engine for the corridor, hosting millions of travelers for business trade shows and other kinds of events. It is also Orange County’s largest asset. The enhancement of the convention center that was put on hold because of the pandemic includes the completion of the NorthSouth Building as well as the addition of a multipurpose venue.

The addition of these projects will help the convention center maintain its status as a leader in a very competitive market. The return on investment is substantial, providing the community in 2019 a $3 billion economic impact with more than 29,300 individuals employed by the activity generated at the convention center and more than 1,200 businesses positively impacted by the activity generated at the trade shows.

EPIC Universe, Universal’s newest theme park, is currently being constructed in the I-Drive corridor. It is set to open in the summer of 2025, bringing theme parks to a whole new level with state-of-the-art interactions and experiences and giving visitors another reason to come back and enjoy all that I-Drive has to offer. EPIC Universe will also provide 14,000 new jobs in the Orlando market.

Additionally, Universal’s Housing for Tomorrow project will provide 1,000 state-of- the-art apartment homes, bringing affordable housing to a whole new level.

In fact, the I-Drive resort area has become a mecca for Central Florida residents. Known as “Orlando’s Entertainment District,” it is attracting locals who are enjoying staycations and getaways with a number of resorts and family-friendly attractions. And I-Drive is a foodie magnet, offering restaurants for every taste and cuisine. Shopping is also abundant in this exciting corridor, with 900 outlets offering every label and level of shopping, from domestic to international trade.

The I-Drive corridor has become a world-class resort destination, and it has a lot to celebrate.

As Central Florida continues to move beyond COVID-19, one thing is for sure: The tourism industry is resilient. We have been through many challenges in the past, including 9/11, the Great Recession and now a pandemic. And every time, the tourism industry comes back stronger than ever.

All the new and exciting developments along the corridor have given the I-Drive community reason to celebrate as a world-class destination.

So, here’s to celebrating I-Drive’s 50 years of excellence and the next 50 years of spectacular. We are making memories of a lifetime.

i4Biz.com | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022

35

INDUSTRY INSIGHT

The Business of

TOURISM

By Jason James

I

Water-Skiing in Winter Haven 100 Years Later, the Impact of the Sport Continues

t grew from one man’s dream on a Minnesota lake to a Hollywood darling, from a pastime to a sport, and changed the economic landscape of a state half a nation away. Entwined like roses, the story of water-skiing must include not only Florida’s first theme park, but the lasting impact the sport continues to have on the Sunshine State and the nation, even 100 years after its birth.

The sport of water-skiing started when a young thrill-seeker, Ralph Samuelson, decided he wanted to skitter across Lake Pepin on skis instead of the then-standard board. After days of trial and error, all young Samuelson had gained was a crowd from Lake City who watched his efforts while safe and dry on shore.

But not so far away that he couldn’t hear them.

The mocking stopped on July 2, 1922, when Samuelson glided across the lake, upright on his skis. When he got to shore, the crowd gathered around him, begging him to teach them how to do it. And thus, after nearly a week of trial and error, a new pastime was born.

It was almost 25 years later when Dick Pope Sr. returned home after serving the nation during World War II and learned that his wife, Julie, had added a water-ski show to their lakeside botanical theme park, Cypress Gardens.

Pope not only embraced the idea but doubled down on it. Using cutting-edge technology, Pope created newsreels featuring

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the daredevils of Cypress Gardens. In no time, Winter Haven was “the water sports center of the United States” with Lake Eloise becoming the equivalent of the sport’s Lambeau Field or Fenway Park.

Developed into a competitive sport just a few years earlier, and boosted through Pope’s marketing, water-skiing brought international attention to both the sport and the theme park.

This attention, in turn, fueled greater levels of competition and improved the skill of the competitors. The stunts got bigger, the speeds faster and the distances longer. Innovations included human pyramids, clowns, titanic ski jumps and crafty inventions, such as Willa Cook’s swivel ski.

All the activity soon caught the eye of Hollywood and was captured in the 1953 Esther Williams movie Easy to Love, filmed at Cypress Gardens and featuring the sport’s stunts and performers. As the years passed, television often used Cypress Gardens as a backdrop – and world-famous celebrities took to the water during the massive water-ski spectacles.

In short, when partnered with the Popes’ ceaseless and inventive marketing campaigns, water-skiing and Florida tourism came of age together. Intertwined, they transformed the image of the Sunshine State from the marshes, swamps, and cowboys of yesterday to the playground for sun and fun of today.

The relationship continues. In Florida, as we approach the sport’s July 2 centennial

MARK JACKSON Mark Jackson is the director of Polk County Tourism and Sports Marketing. A former professional water-skier at Cypress Gardens, he continues to contribute to the sport as a color commentator on numerous broadcasts.

INDUSTRY INSIGHT

celebration, water-skiers still perform on Lake Eloise, where Cypress Gardens was replaced by LEGOLAND Florida 10 years ago. While the original theme park might be gone, tourism is the number one industry in the Sunshine State, cementing Pope’s legacy.

As for water-skiing, today it constitutes a healthy portion of an estimated $42 billion industry, according to the National Marine Manufacturers Association. We like to think we get more than our fair share of that business here in Central Florida’s Polk County, where we’re blessed with more than 500 lakes ringed with restaurants featuring dockside dining as well as water-ski schools staffed by those same Cypress Gardens water-skiers of lore.

Polk County will highlight the unique marriage of Pope’s legacy and the sport during the upcoming yearlong centennial celebration of the creation of water-skiing. At least 10 different sanctioned water-ski events featuring every discipline known in the sport will take place in Polk County this year, including the July 2 Water Ski Extravaganza by the Cypress Gardens Water Ski Team on Lake Silver in Winter Haven.

The events culminate in the Oct. 22-23 International Waterski and Wakeboard Federation’s World Water Ski Show Tournament, also on Lake Silver. Held every two years, the event features the best show ski teams in the world, who gather to perform one-

hour spectaculars that combine entertainment with world-class athletics. The USA Water Ski Show Team has won the team title at each annual event. Other teams expected to participate include Belgium, Canada, Germany, Australia, China, and Mexico.

Bringing the event to Polk County was a joint effort between the Cypress Gardens Water Ski Team and Polk County Tourism and Sports Marketing. It was only right that they would bring the biennial world championships to the Water Ski Capital of the World. Assistance from USA Water Ski and Wake Sports, the national governing body of organized water-skiing and wakeboarding in the United States, was also instrumental.

New disciplines and techniques continue to evolve from the old. Thanks to advances in technology, the sport is far more accessible today than ever. Cable parks – think of ski gondolas without the gondolas – have opened the doors to the boatless.

Other advances have made the sport a favorite among people with disabilities, including blind surfer, wakeboarder, water-skiier and Ironman competitor Scott Leason.

And who knows — perhaps someone in the crowd, watching an athlete glide across Lake Silver, will start to dream. What are dreams if not the inspiration for innovation? Central Florida’s Polk County welcomes the world to join us in celebrating the 100th anniversary of the sport that defines the Sunshine State: water-skiing.

i4Biz.com | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022

37

INDUSTRY INSIGHT

The Business of

SPORTS

By Jason Siegel

Economic Infusion Bowl Games Put Orlando at Epicenter of College Football Experience

C

ollege football is not just about the eye on the prize and national championship confetti dropping down from the skies. It’s about ordinary heroes playing a sport they love.

“In a sport that has probably 8,000 to 9,000 student-athletes playing, 100 of which maybe will go on to do this for a living, we often forget about the fact that fans love their schools,” said Steve Hogan, CEO of Florida Citrus Sports, a nonprofit based at Camping World Stadium. “They love the name on the front of the jersey and on the back of the jersey. And they root for them. They root for that next generation of kids who are now getting their first playing time and are probably going to be starters next season.

They want to see their heroes play one last game.”

Orlando proudly stands in the epicenter of that experience. The region hosted an unusual five college football games during this past bowl season: The Florida Blue Florida Classic (played Nov. 20, 2021), the Cure Bowl (Dec. 17, 2021), the Cheez-It Bowl (Dec. 29, 2021) the VRBO Citrus Bowl (Jan. 1) and the Hula Bowl (Jan. 15).

All five games have their unique shape and character, but together they are one, delivering a strong message with a common denominator: Orlando is the place to be if you want to go “bowling.”

For sure, the national championship game held in Indianapolis and the two playoff games in Miami and Arlington, Texas, got a lot of attention. But for the complete bowl

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experience, nothing beats Orlando when it comes to entertainment, heads-in-hotel-beds economic impact, media exposure, game-day atmosphere and other assorted pluses.

Hogan had the honor of having three of those games under his watch at Camping World Stadium: the Florida Blue Florida Classic, the Cheez-It Bowl and the VRBO Citrus Bowl.

“There are some other cities now that host two bowl games, but not three, literally in the same place,” he said. “So it's a blessing.

It's exciting for our community. It's a seal of approval from the college football world, and fans in general, that Orlando is that kind of market. It's a market built for neutral-side events.”

It was also a welcome relief that everyone was back in business without the ominous threat of the pandemic. With COVID-19 still in play but much more manageable, the bowl season of 2021-22 was much different than that of 2020-21.

“Last year, we managed our games at the height of positivity rates in Central Florida, and it was brutal,” Hogan said.

“You feel horrible thinking about sports and entertainment as a business in the pandemic, because so many people from around the world have lost their lives and families have been affected.

“But the reality of our business over the last two years in sports and entertainment was that large gatherings were under threat in a big, big way. We were

JASON SIEGEL is the president and CEO of the Greater Orlando Sports Commission.

Longtime Orlando sportswriter George Diaz contributed to this article.

Camping World Stadium

INDUSTRY INSIGHT

The Cure Bowl

blessed enough to play our bowl games last season — very safely, I might add. Four teams came into town and put on a good show for many people around the country on TV and for limited fans in the stands.”

Fast-forward to 2021-22.

With COVID-19 protocols in place, the bowl market was ripe with philanthropic and charitable causes. The Cure Bowl — now in its seventh season — had raised a collective $3.88 million before 2021 to help fund cancer research. More than $1 million has gone to Dr. Annette Khaled, professor at the University of Central Florida College of Medicine’s Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences and head of the medical school’s cancer research division.

“We put a face to our research,” said Alan Gooch, executive director of the Cure Bowl, which was held at Exploria Stadium, home of the Orlando City Soccer Club.

“Our goal is to use the great game of college football to make everyone aware of the current state of cancer research, and it’s gone very well.”

It’s a positive vibe, despite the sobering backdrop etched in the word “cancer.”

For the December 2021 Cure Bowl, for instance, Gooch and his staff launched a “Go Pink on Game Day” event and encouraged fans to meet downtown at the train depot on Church Street. There, they were joined by the two marching bands of the competing schools for a fan fest. The “March2Cure” event concluded with a march to Exploria Stadium shortly before kickoff.

The Hula Bowl came to Orlando in January because of a twist of timing and a desirable location. The game, which features all-star players from across the nation, was moved from its traditional location in Honolulu, Hawaii, because Aloha Stadium was undergoing renovations. Organizers

instead took it to the stadium at UCF, nicknamed the “Bounce House,” home of the Golden Knights football team.

“They reached out to us via the governor’s office,” said David Hanson, UCF’s senior executive associate athletics director and chief operating officer. “They pride themselves on the experience of athletes. Orlando can deliver an exceptional experience, and UCF has all the components to host an event like this, including training facilities and the ability to accommodate leisure events.

“We have everything that they need to have a first-class event,” he said, “and hopefully a better one than they had in Hawaii.”

The rental payment to UCF for the event was designated toward the athletic department’s 2021-22 budget. The UCF Athletic Association also received revenue from food and beverage sales, parking fees and sponsorship deals.

It’s obvious to see why Orlando is the epicenter of the bowl experience — one that is now into its 75th season as Florida Citrus Sports commemorates its benchmark anniversary. “Our college football infusion in Central Florida is a $100 million-plus economic engine, year in and year out,” Hogan said.

The benefits are not just from the people attending in person, but also those visiting virtually. “A lot of times, we underestimate the sheer power of the viewership and the exposure delivered by these events to the country and, in some cases, the world.

“New Year's Day a couple years ago, we had as many as 15 million viewers,” Hogan said. “Think of the value of that, the investment the community receives. People turn on TVs from around the country, many in maybe not-so-warm climates, and they see folks in shorts and golf shirts and say, ‘Hey, Orlando looks like a pretty great place to visit.’‘’ i4Biz.com | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022

39

Left To Right Julie Bettosini, Erin Wanner, Irhelma Pieterse, Rob Rahter

© 2022 Stockworth Realty Group LLC. All Rights Reserved. Stockworth™ is a registered trademark licensed to Stockworth Realty Group LLC An Equal Opportunity Company. Equal Housing Opportunity.

Stockworth Headquarters

4705 S. Apopka Vineland Road, Ste 210 Orlando, FL 32819

Technology and market disruption will never replace old fashioned hard work.

There is a real estate firm right here in Orlando that is breaking the mold of how today’s “traditional” real estate brokerage is operated, and their secret is much less of a secret than you may think. It is a tried and proven approach to business…skill, consistency, and discipline. And their method of execution is getting the attention of big dollars within the world of real estate firms.

Stockworth, now independently owned, was founded by global private equity firm Tavistock Group. Its practitioners today are keeping of its founding group’s pedigree, an extreme diligence and unwavering commitment to excellence and service. These traits are embodied through a unique operating philosophy within the firm, to give its practitioners not only a voice within the company, but a hand in its direction.

The Stockworth Leadership Council is an internal program unique to the organization, constituted by its President & Broker, Jason Schmidt, along with senior partners within the firm, Julie Bettosini, Rob Rahter, Erin

Wanner, and Irhelma Pieterse, who collectively possess almost 100 years of real estate experience and billions of dollars in sales and equity placement. Their aim? To lead the organization into a new era of the industry.

The practitioners on Stockworth’s Council are individually amongst not only the top performing real estate practitioners in the region, but the Country. Whether representing celebrities, professional athletes, fortune-level executives, or major real estate development groups, Stockworth’s Council members have participated in some of the most complex and exciting real estate projects in the region.

Bettosini, who is the leading representative of the Ritz-Carlton Residences, a 37-unit luxury project on-site at the Ritz-Carlton Orlando, Grande Lakes is a prominent practitioner within the luxury real estate sector. Her background in luxury community structure and sales makes her preeminently qualified to counsel owners, buyers, and developers within this segment of the market.

Rahter, who also shares a specialty in luxury communities, has developed a track record for closing complex transactions, the most recent and notable example is his representation of the buyer for Shaquille O’Neal’s former

Isleworth estate. Rahter’s broad experience lends itself well to those looking for creative solutions to unconventional scenarios.

Wanner, who is a member of the Ritz-Carlton Residences team, has developed a niche expertise in logistics. Her representation of professional athletes and C-Suite executives requires navigation of complex systems, mechanisms, and people. Her diligence and attention to detail make her uniquely suited to maneuver this area of the market.

Pieterse, having relocated across the globe herself, has developed a specialty for corporate relocation and international service. Her multi-disciplinary approach to real estate allows her a flexibility in and around the complicated and challenging needs of those moving to the greater Central Florida area.

Together, the broad experience and backgrounds held by Stockworth’s Council place it in a unique position to navigate the complex, fast-moving, and ever-changing landscape of real estate. Their future, led by core principles and work ethic, will surely be exciting.

Stockworth Media Contact Michele Ronsisvalle Michele@Stockworth.com

BREAKING THROUGH THE NOISE

By Jason Schmidt President & Broker, Stockworth Realty

Will the Central Florida real estate market cool down or stay red hot in 2022?

The beginning of 2022 has been filled with noise surrounding the Federal Reserve’s tapering policy and the coming increase in its target funds rate. The subsequent increase in mortgage interest rates has had many wondering whether this would quickly cool our fiery housing market here in Central Florida. As of the end of January, there are no such signs of cooling in Orange County. Total transactions were relatively flat from January 2021, an indication that we are returning to normal seasonal activity following pandemic-shifted sales cycles. Transaction volume saw a 10% climb, and median value rose by 16%.

January 2021 - January 2022

10%

TRANSACTION VOLUME

16% MEDIAN HOME VALUE

RATES Kicking off 2022, 30-year fixed rate mortgages moved from 3.1% to 3.8% as the Fed slowed its mortgage-backed securities purchases. Assuming a high loan-to-value conventional mortgage of, 95%, and using January’s median home value of, $355,000, the principal and interest payment moved slightly more than $100 per month. This rate movement alone does not present an affordability challenge, and it is likely not until actual affordability is affected that we will see rates driving demand trends. Both time and the market will determine rate movement and to what degree rates will affect real estate activity.

INVENTORY For several years we have seen a persistent decline in overall housing inventory within Central Florida. Post pandemic, suburban relocation and rate-fueled purchasing have begun to cool. This slowing of externally and artificially driven purchasing may provide a breath for inventory to begin a rebound. The question now surrounds regional population growth and if its growth is sustainable within the housing market.

Single-family housing demand is likely to remain strong within

the region. If we are to assume pandemic suburban sprawl and exclusively rate-driven purchasing has calmed, inventory should slowly climb. The spring buying season will be the real tell in this area. With less than a single month of existing home inventory in Orange County, we may find ourselves in a tough position should we see the anticipated surge in buying without a matched growth of existing home inventory.

Total Q1 activity will provide us with insight into stability and the anticipated trajectory of Q2 and Q3. Saving for significant financial, political, or global market disruption, which, in those events, all bets are off, the residential real estate market within Central Florida will likely perform similarly to 2021.

AFFORDABILITY Residential values are at historic peaks. Does this mean, however, real estate is not “affordable?”

Within the greater arc of time, the spread on the rate of change between a median value 30-year fixed rate mortgage payment (PMT) and the Federal Reserve’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) has been narrowing since the 1970’s. This measure is used to assess

affordability of housing against other goods. CPI excludes housing in its calculation process, making it a reasonable comparable against housing in the context of general pricing movement.

Considering cost of capital and absolute affordability, housing is not “unaffordable.” In recent decades, it was only in 2021 as an outlier growth year that we saw any meaningful upward shift in the greater affordability equation and a widening of the PMT/ CPI spread.

The obvious objection here is that housing is very expensive.

The drivers of greater affordability are lengthy and complex. In this instance, pricing pressure is not affordability pressure in a broad historical context. The affordability issues we see today are largely external to real estate.

Real household income has been on the decline relative to housing cost since the 1970’s. Shifting industry demands and rising costs of healthcare, transportation, student debt, and food has created an imbalance in our ability to manage areas of household spending. Housing is an expensive line item, yes, but its relative affordability compared to other essential

spending items has not risen as substantially. The complex unwinding of real household income growth is most significant as an underpinning of housing being considered largely unaffordable. Longer-term observation of movement within these expense items will be tremendously important.

DEMAND Projecting demand over the long-term is a challenge. It is highly likely that remote working will be with us forever and the need for corporate relocation and job movement will measurably decline within certain industries. We are also seeing a downward trending of U.S. population growth and marriage rates, two principal drivers for housing demand. The trajectory of these demographic issues will be the future impetus to mass new construction or controlling existing home inventory.

Locally, if we assume Florida remains an attractive business, living, and tourism destination, our market demand is likely to persist for many years to come. It will be through strict observation of cost relative to affordability and inventory that we will be able to understand in what direction we are headed.

PMT / CPI SPREAD - PMT / REAL MED. HH INCOME SPREAD

© 2022 Stockworth Realty Group LLC. All Rights Reserved. Stockworth™ is a registered trademark licensed to Stockworth Realty Group LLC An Equal Opportunity Company. Equal Housing Opportunity.

SPOTLIGHT

The Best On and In the Field

BY MEAGHAN BRANHAM

Chanda Horne Withum

Partner, Team Leader Sports and Entertainment, South-East Markets

44 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022 | i4Biz.com

I

n sports, all good athletes know they need a team to count on, whether it’s on the field or the court or in a supporting role on the sidelines. At the heart of that team for many of Central Florida’s players is Chanda Horne, the leader in the Sports and Entertainment division for the Southeast markets at national advisory, tax and audit services firm Withum.

Horne, who is based in Orlando, has spent more than 20 years in tax compliance and advisory roles in sports and entertainment, as well as consumer products, hospitality and real estate. There’s no sector she would rather serve than the one she’s in now.

“In my first few years of working, I had the opportunity to work in a firm with a large sports and entertainment clientele,” she says. “Once I came to Withum, several of my former professional athlete clients sought out my services, which reignited my passion for that type of work. Withum always encourages our team members to follow their passion.”

In her role behind the scenes, things stay as dynamic as they are under the spotlight, keeping Horne on her toes and her clients at the top of their game.

“Sports and entertainment never provide the same day,” she says. “Our clients are the best in their fields, and my goal is to educate them on accounting and tax to help them focus on what they do best, and not on the details. Ultimately, we are always trying to help them meet their financial or personal goals.”

“At Withum, we focus on being a catalyst for growth and success for our clients, team members and communities.” — Chanda Horne

INDUSTRY INSIGHT

LOOKING TO SCALE YOUR BUSINESS?

Don’t Do It Without This Book!

Author Nancy G. Allen

With over 20 years experience coaching leaders on business growth, Nancy G. Allen is your go-to resource. – Diane Sears

The Decision to Scale is a resource for all business leaders.

The book focuses on three key areas: personal, business, and company development.

AMONG THE TOPICS COVERED: • Understanding what makes a successful president • Using mind mapping to generate new ideas • Identifying new business trends • Creating an excellent capabilities statement

• Forging strategic alliances • Embracing the power of delegating • Crafting a strategic plan • Using action plans for success

Nancy G. Allen is the President & CEO of the Women’s Business Enterprise Council of Florida and is an international speaker, coach, and consultant. www.wbecflorida.org

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UP CLOSE With

Paul Sohl

By Diane Sears

Paul Sohl was named CEO of the Florida High Tech Corridor (The Corridor) in June 2020, taking the helm at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. That timing didn’t stop him from branching out throughout the region, absorbing information about technology sectors in the 23 counties spanning Central Florida. His travels have taken him from the University of Florida (UF) in Gainesville to the University of Central Florida (UCF) in Orlando to the University of South Florida (USF) in Tampa and beyond.

As a 33-year veteran of the U.S. Navy, Sohl brings to the position a career that has included an emphasis on aviation and modeling, simulation and training. In just two years, he has already left a lasting impression on The Corridor. Among other initiatives pursued under his leadership, The Corridor team partnered with Orange County government in February 2021 to launch Cenfluence. Its mission is to bring businesses and support organizations together in a formal cluster structure that will accelerate industry sector growth and, as a result, strengthen the regional economy. Initially, the effort focuses on four industry sectors: Energy + Environmental Sciences; Gaming, Entertainment + eSports; Life Sciences; and Learning Sciences + Human Performance.

What did you want to be when you were a little kid?

I wanted to be a pilot from the minute I saw a plane land at the airport. As a kid, I used to draw pictures of planes, and a friend of mine in fourth grade and I even created a cockpit out of spare stuff from my dad’s workshop that we used to “fly around” in our heads.

Perhaps that’s where I first saw the value of simulation.

You had a career in the Navy that spanned more than 33 years, most recently as commander of the Operational Test & Evaluation Force based in Norfolk, Virginia. Can you share the story of how you first went into the military?

to keep going. I stuck with it for two weeks, really out of spite for my dad. Of course, I ended up loving it.

Other influences include my first set of squadron mates and my first commanding officer – really, all the people you meet along the way. I met so many selfless leaders and aspired to be like them. Later in my career, I was increasingly inspired by the energy and enthusiasm of younger sailors and Marines.

Another thing that kept me going was the constant call to take on responsibilities outside my comfort zone. It kept things interesting. And, of course, living my dream of being a jet pilot was also a big draw. It’s just fun!

Initially, I set out to be a commercial pilot. I heard joining the U.S. Air Force was a sure way to reach that goal, so I applied for an Air Force ROTC scholarship in hopes of going that route. I was committed to becoming a pilot in the Air Force until my dad and I traveled to MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) for a campus tour. While we were visiting, I met a Naval aviator in a leather flight jacket (six years before Tom Cruise and Top Gun, by the way) and he showed me a VHS tape of Navy planes and aircraft carriers. That’s when I learned you could be a pilot in the Navy, and I was hooked.

You held several posts while you were in the service, and you spent some time in Jacksonville. What kind of impression did you have of Florida then?

Who were your greatest influences in the Navy — those who made you stay with it as a career?

You said your wife wanted to come back to Florida after you retired. How did that conversation go, and how did she persuade you?

My greatest influence was my dad, who today is 93 years old. The first thing we did in Navy ROTC at MIT was go through boot camp. I was scared out of my socks by the Marine staff sergeant. Think of every movie scene you’ve watched about boot camp, and that was exactly my experience. I thought I had made a huge mistake. I told the Marine captain in charge of MIT’s ROTC boot camp that I didn’t belong, and he called my dad, who urged me

I was stationed in Jacksonville for four years. Our kids were in grade school then and, in all four years, we hardly ever left the state for family vacations. There were just so many things to do. We loved it. When it was time for us to move again, my wife, Kat, told me she had a feeling we would be back someday, and I’m so glad she was right.

Little did we know, there was a whole other side of Florida that we hadn’t even been introduced to yet.

It wasn’t until I retired from the Navy when I really took the time to learn about the abundance of opportunities in Florida, especially in the world of hightech innovation. Everyone I met reinforced the openness of this community and the special culture of collaboration here. It quickly topped our list of possible locations for the next chapter.

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UP CLOSE Once I accepted my new role with The Corridor, I think it took Kat about two seconds to get on Zillow and look for a house. She and the kids have always been supportive of the move to Florida. They know this role allows me to do two things I love: learn and give back. In the world of high-tech, it’s impossible NOT to learn something new every day and apply those learnings to create meaningful connections or drive innovation that makes a difference for our community.

You formed BackFin Partners when you retired. What was your objective with the consultancy, and how did that work out?

The best advice I received when retiring from the Navy was to not rush the journey. Starting BackFin Partners allowed me to be a consultant and continue contributing to the important defense mission of the military and its industry partners, while taking the time to explore long-term opportunities. It also exposed me to other sides of industry and education I hadn’t been as familiar with before. I wasn’t ready to make a commitment to one organization until I learned more about the Florida High Tech Corridor.

Talk about how you came to be named CEO of The Corridor and what it means to you.

Initially, when I got the call about The Corridor, I was a little scared. It’s a big responsibility and I was hired right at the beginning of the pandemic. But I was also confident enough to apply what I learned in the Navy about relentless curiosity, and a desire to first listen and learn before taking the lead. My first six months were dedicated largely to a “listening tour,” including a series of conversations with key stakeholders from all corners of the region. In some ways, that journey has never ended. My idea of entrepreneurship and innovation, and the role of higher education in economic development, looks a lot different today than it did two years ago – and it’s constantly evolving. I try to enter every conversation with an open mind, and that approach has led to continual learning about our region and what makes its innovation ecosystem unique.

I get out of bed every day excited to continue the important work of The Corridor. It’s great to be here at this time in the organization’s evolution and have the chance to work with such an amazingly talented team and dedicated, collaborative partners. Together, we are forging a new vision for the region’s future.

You’ve been all over the state since taking the helm at The Corridor. What has impressed you most about the business landscape in Florida?

I used to regularly attend the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference (I/ITSEC) in Orlando for the Navy, so I knew about the depth of Florida’s tech industry, especially in modeling, simulation and training.

Now I know that what I saw at I/ITSEC was just the tip of the iceberg. The breadth of technology in The Corridor is incredible, from optics and photonics to fintech to agritech to advanced manufacturing … I could go on. Florida truly has it all.

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What about in the Orlando area in particular?

Orlando obviously has deep roots in the modeling, simulation and training space with the National Center for Simulation and the Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division (NAWCTSD) leading the way. The Florida Photonics Cluster is also a partner of ours and has generated global awareness for Orlando and Florida in the field of optics and photonics, largely because of CREOL, the College of Optics and Photonics at the University of Central Florida. Especially now that The Corridor is involved with Cenfluence, I’m learning more every day about Central Florida’s equally robust capabilities in other sectors. The gaming, life sciences and clean energy communities have a ton to offer. I’m excited to focus some of our resources on initiatives that will help accelerate their growth.

You have some very definite views about the role The Corridor should play in the development of Central Florida’s technology sectors. Can you share those with us?

As an initiative of three universities – UCF, USF and UF – The Corridor’s primary role is to facilitate collaboration between our partners in higher education and members of the region’s high-tech and innovation community.

For The Corridor’s first 25 years, the primary tool for this was our signature Matching Grants Research Program.

Since the program started in 1996 to grow the region’s talent and technological capabilities, its public-private partnership approach has generated an estimated $1 billion in downstream economic impacts. Countless successes include the hiring of student research participants, commercialization of new products with life-changing capabilities, groundbreaking patents and stronger company positioning to attract federal funds.

As we build upon the legacy of The Corridor’s first 25 years and begin thinking about its future, I’m also working with the team to consider new ways of contributing to the growth of our technology sectors. I’m very careful about evaluating potential programs to ensure that what we do is complementary and not competitive. Given the talent on our team, our regional vantage point and our funding, I’ve found that The Corridor can add the most value in “manufacturing serendipity,” or connecting organizations and resources that otherwise might not have found each other. The Corridor is also uniquely positioned to complement the initiatives of our partners without taking their resources or recognition. We more often apply funding to ignite partner programs and maintain the capability to play a lead role as needed, such as with Cenfluence.

Recently, we’ve also started capitalizing on opportunities to serve as a regional convener and attract federal funding that will support our entrepreneurial community, including an emphasis on minoritized groups and technologies with societal impact. Examples of this include the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Catalyst Competition, which has allowed us to empower more women entrepreneurs, and the U.S. Department of Energy’s EnergyTech University Prize, which encourages colleges students to commercialize clean energy technologies.

Cenfluence was formed in partnership with Orange County. Can you tell us how it works and share your vision for this initiative?

Cenfluence is a formal cluster management organization that Orange County government’s economic development team partnered with The Corridor to establish in February 2021 to stimulate and diversify the local economy. Since then, the team has been focused on establishing and serving our four target clusters.

We aim to complement partners like the Orlando Economic Partnership, the National Entrepreneur Center, the UCF business incubation program and others that are already serving business in the region by helping cluster members navigate their resources and build upon them by offering help where it’s appropriate for us to fill a gap.

Jack Henkel, The Corridor’s program director for industry and regional diversification, and Dr. Amy Beaird, our senior cluster manager, conduct a needs assessment with each cluster member to understand their objectives and uncover opportunities or challenges that Cenfluence can support. This intimate knowledge of each organization allows the team to take a tailored approach and better positions us to proactively connect cluster members with relevant resources, funding and partnership opportunities. It also allows us to find threads of connection between companies where their talents and needs intersect, and foster collaborations for members within and between the four clusters.

Just in the last year, Jack and Amy identified and helped cluster members apply for more than $1 million in funding opportunities. These are funding sources that our members may not have had the time or awareness to find on their own. They have also kicked off a series of working group discussions that will lead to industry-led projects to strengthen each cluster and have been fostering new relationships with European clusters to expand the reach and visibility of local tech firms.

From your perspective, what will success of the Cenfluence program look like?

In the near term, Cenfluence is hyper-focused on meeting the unique needs of its cluster members and helping them leverage industry-specific opportunities. We are providing business support resources to more than 60 companies, helping them access tangible business opportunities, develop new

collaborative partnerships, find new revenue streams and overcome barriers to their growth.

We’re also interested in expansion, with a goal to recruit cluster members in Seminole, Brevard, Volusia, Lake, Polk and Osceola Counties. Longer term, together with the entire team at The Corridor and Orange County government, we aim to grow Cenfluence into a world-renowned cluster management organization serving multiple clusters across all 23 counties of the region.

Ultimately, this will allow us to fulfill a larger vision for The Corridor. Cenfluence provides an avenue through which we can harness the energy of companies in emerging sectors where innovation is already happening and apply our unique, regional perspective and an unparalleled, collaborative network with access to resources that accelerate their success. As the hightech clusters grow, so will our regional and state economies.

What do you hope to see the Florida High Tech Corridor accomplish in the next decade?

In 10 years, I hope the region we call “The Corridor” will have earned the credibility and influence to put itself in a position where our team and our partners can make a significant impact on the world. I hear a lot that “we need to do a better job of getting our story out there” and I agree marketing is critical to achieving this goal. But this isn’t just about marketing. What it really requires is the courage to set our egos aside and work inclusively to set the conditions for boundless creativity and innovation. I’ve seen it happen on a smaller scale in initiatives like Cenfluence and in university-industry partnerships made possible by our Matching Grants Research Program. In the next decade, I want to see The Corridor multiply that effort tenfold throughout the region, the state and beyond.

Any other thoughts you would like to share with us?

Especially when we talk about Cenfluence and initiatives to grow The Corridor’s high-tech industry, I want to be clear that the conversations we need to have are about “both, and,” not “this OR that” … I want The Corridor to be known for both tech AND tourism, tech AND sports, tech AND the arts, tech AND agriculture, tech AND community, tech AND education. This is not a zero-sum game. The magic of this region is in the truly creative ways it tackles BIG challenges. Creativity is at the heart of innovation. Creativity is ALWAYS additive — it’s AND, not OR. i4Biz.com | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022

49

TECHNOLOGY

‘SPECIAL FORCES’ OF SIMULATION BOHEMIA INTERACTIVE ELEVATES MILITARY TRAINING FROM GAMES TO REALITY

W

BY DIANE SEARS

arfighters preparing for what they might encounter in battle are turning more and more to virtual reality software that takes its cues from the video gaming industry. But what makes a video game exciting is not necessarily suitable for military training.

That’s where Bohemia Interactive Simulations comes in, helping warfighters become familiar with different terrains and decision-making scenarios through “live” environments that are realistic.

“The enemies don’t bounce around and jump off roofs with ninja stars being thrown at you,” said Arthur Alexion, the Orlando-based CEO for the company known as BISim. “They’re a little bit more normal in the way they behave. Let’s say you’re in a convoy with three Humvees, and the middle Humvee gets blown up by an IED (improvised explosive device). There’s a sniper up on the hill. How do you exit the vehicle? How do you communicate with each other? We have radio simulation as well as physical visual simulation.”

Multiple users in various locations can train and

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communicate in real time in the same scenario, playing against each other as well as artificial intelligence (AI) units. The training can be modified for squads of 12, platoons of 30 or companies of 120.

BISim’s collection of software products and services has grown over the company’s 15 years because of customers who say, “Hey, this software is great, but wouldn’t it be good if it could do this as well?” Today the company also provides pieces that can be integrated into other types of virtual training, such as the visuals for flight simulators, working with about 300 integrator

“WE FIND THAT PEOPLE HERE HAVE DEEP KNOWLEDGE OF THE INDUSTRY, AND WE DON’T HAVE TO TRAIN EVERYBODY UP FROM SCRATCH.” — ARTHUR ALEXION, CEO, BOHEMIA INTERACTIVE SIMULATIONS

TECHNOLOGY

Innovate. Disrupt. Serve.

Located in the heart of the Central Florida Research Park, Bohemia Interactive Simulations (BISim) is a global software company at the forefront of simulation and training solutions for defense and civilian organizations.

At BISim, we aim to innovate, disrupt and serve.

Our tech has been selected as the core simulation, visualization and terrain management software for the U.S. Army’s 2025 and beyond simulation capability. Globally, many hundreds of thousands of military personnel are trained every year using our software products.

Since our Orlando office opened in 2010, we’ve grown from a handful of employees to more than 70 staff locally and 300 internationally.

BISim’s Orlando facility brings together the latest in simulation technology from a group of leading simulation software and hardware providers.

To learn how we can solve your simulation challenges, check us out online at bisimulations.com or email sales.us@bisimulations.com and see how our team can help advance your training. i4Biz.com | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022

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TECHNOLOGY FEATURE

Arthur Alexion

CEO

BISim

Pete Morrison

Global Growth

Founder and chief commercial officer

Since joining the company in 2013, Alexion has steered its growth from 60 team members worldwide to about 330. The company’s software trains hundreds of thousands of people every year for customers including the U.S. Army, the U.S. Marine Corps and warfighters in the U.K., France, Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands, Belgium, Australian, New Zealand, South Korea, Japan and Canada.

Global private equity firm The Riverside Company announced in November 2021 that its majority stake in BISim was being acquired by British multinational arms, security and aerospace group BAE Systems.

Bohemia Interactive Simulations has come a long way since its early days, when former Australian Army Captain Pete Morrison had the idea of linking his love for video games with his interest in military training. The founder served as CEO and chief technology officer in the early years and today is the company’s chief commercial officer, setting long-term strategy for new products.

Alexion describes the way the company started in a shed at the bottom of a garden in Australia. To get inside, people had to step around a menagerie of farm animals – including one that made itself known during a customer call with the U.S. Marines. “They actually stopped the call and asked at one point, ‘Pete, is that a turkey I hear in the background?’

It was a real classic startup,” Alexion said. “Back then, they would knock off work at 5 o’clock to go surfing because that’s what you do in Australia.”

One day, Morrison reached out to a stranger in the Czech Republic who had a video game called ARMA that seemed to be a good starting point for military simulation. The inventor sent him the entire source code and then became an investor, and Bohemia Interactive Simulations took its name from the historic Czech region. Another ARMA fan, Mark Dzulko, joined the company to write code, moving with his wife from Germany to Australia to collaborate with Morrison as co-founder of Bohemia Interactive. BISim still maintains its global headquarters in the Czech Republic.

Special Forces

Alexion, who is British, joined the company after his own entrepreneurial venture operating a Japanese digital animation company that created high returns for venture capital investors.

With an MBA from the world’s top-ranking business school,

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Mark Dzulko

Co-founder and board advisor

INSEAD, and experience working at global management consulting firm McKinsey & Company, he was well-suited to become the CEO who would take the company to the next level.

For Alexion, the job matched the personality of someone whose childhood aspirations were to challenge the status quo and to obsessively learn new things.

“There are some people who add enormous value by changing things and adding 1% of the margin on some huge number, and that’s awesome for investors,” Alexion said. “But it’s not what I want to do. I’m much more interested in highly innovative activities where there’s lots of discontinuity and lots of chaos happening and it’s unclear how to make money and how to do things the right way. I’m much more interested in that type of business.”

As an industry disruptor, Bohemia Interactive is looking for the best talent, which is one reason it chose to set up headquarters in Orlando, a hub for modeling, simulation and training. “It helps with hiring,” Alexion said. “We find that people here have deep knowledge of the industry, and we don’t have to train everybody up from scratch.”

The company tells new hires they have two obligations: One is to perform their specific job and the other is to make the business better. In exchange, the company offers them three types of compensation. One is financial, including pay and benefits. The other two are professional development and what Alexion calls enjoyment.

“That means very different things to different people,” he said. “If you can’t say to people at Thanksgiving dinner that you’ve developed professionally and you’ve enjoyed yourself, then you should go to your manager and give us a chance to fix it. We should all work at a place where we get all three types of compensation.”

The company prides itself on being made up of elite teams of “special forces,” just like the customers it serves. For each new hire, the manager has to justify why that person is in the top 25% of people who would be qualified for that position. “Otherwise, we shouldn’t hire them,” Alexion said. “We want to be like the Army Rangers. And that creates a virtuous circle, because people are attracted to work in that type of business.”

three seventeen Virtual Workplace Solutions

2021 Honoree GrowFL Companies to Watch

NovoaGlobal CEO and President Carlos Löfstedt

Focus on Safety

NovoaGlobal Uses Innovation to Help Communities Protect Lives

BY DIANE SEARS Carlos Löfstedt is the CEO and President of NovoaGlobal, which is based in Orlando. This article is one in a series based on interviews with honorees of the GrowFL Florida Companies to Watch. For information, visit www.GrowFl.com.

Talk about how the company was started.

Very early in life, my dream was to become a CEO and business owner.

I studied in Sweden for a master's in industrial engineering and management, which is a combination of engineering, economics, and management. Many people who go that route in education end up as CEOs. After my studies, I started working at a company where I had the privilege to be part of the inception of the nonprofit

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project Vision Zero and to introduce traffic safety solutions to more than 20 countries. I was looking into starting a new subsidiary of this company in the United States.

The strategy was different for the U.S. because it’s such a big country and the way of doing business is a little bit different. We’re talking about traffic enforcement — speed cameras, red light cameras, and railroad crossing, stop sign and crosswalk enforcement equipment for automating police work. In some countries, such as Sweden, this kind of business is centralized. The country buys the equipment and then manages the project. In the U.S., it’s different. You sign the contract with the government entity and then your company has to do most of the work including engineering, installation, studies, public relations, and

“MY FATHER GAVE ME SOME ADVICE THAT I HAVE TAKEN WITH ME ALL MY LIFE: IT IS NOT IMPORTANT WHAT POSITION YOU HAVE, HOW MUCH YOU WORK OR HOW MUCH YOU GET PAID. THE IMPORTANT THING IS HOW MUCH YOU LEARN”

TECHNOLOGY

setting up of payment systems. It’s very labor-intensive.

The board of directors at that company didn’t approve the investment and the risks that were required. So, I ended up financing the new company myself, and that’s how I started NovoaGlobal in 2010.

Did you always know you wanted to be an entrepreneur?

I was born in Chile, but I moved to Sweden when I was 12 because my parents had separated and my mother had married a Swedish gentleman. I stayed close with my father, who was an entrepreneur. He had a clothing company that manufactured pants and jeans.

From when I was a child, my father always told me that I should try to be independent. I always wanted to become a CEO and ultimately own my own business. My father gave me some advice that I have taken with me all my life: It is not important what position you have, how much you work or how much you get paid. The important thing is how much you learn. Take every opportunity you can and learn as much as possible.

I’ve lived and worked following my father’s advice. I followed this advice first in my education and after that in my work experience. So by the time I started my company, I had the experience to navigate all areas of a business.

Tell us about your business and the value it brings your customers.

The vision of our company is to create safer communities for our families. We do this by providing technology to automate the work to be more efficient.

We focus mainly on traffic safety and public safety. We do our best to combat accidents that lead to more than 1.3 million deaths worldwide every year and more than 50 million non-fatal traffic injuries. In the United States alone, more than 40,000 people die every year in traffic accidents.

The challenge in the U.S. is that instead of operating like a single country, it works more like a federation, with each state having different laws, and people are very independent in their way of thinking. We’re all human beings and we have biological limitations. Getting into crashes at certain speeds has consequences. So the way to lower the risk is by decreasing the speed and certain kinds of offenses to minimize the consequences of a crash.

What is your company's competitive edge? What makes you different?

and what makes the most money, but we have developed applications that go with our other products and enhance safety, educate people and save lives.

We are also known to have exceptional picture and video quality. In addition, we have managed to outperform the largest companies in the market in system performance.

Explain the culture of your organization. What is it like working at your company?

We have 15 team members and about 25 people who work with the company indirectly. We are still a small company, so to work with us you need to be a team player and be willing to wear multiple hats if needed.

Describe some major challenges you've found in growing your business. How did you overcome or solve them? What kinds of challenges do you foresee in the next three years?

There have been many challenges. The first challenge was how to manage the cash flow and financing of the business and operations. I moved over to the U.S. without thinking it over.

I quit my job and I was new to the U.S., so I didn’t obtain any loans in the U.S. or in Sweden. I used my savings to run the business at the beginning.

That was a big challenge, especially for this type of business, because the burn rate was high for the level of people the company needed to have. That kept me awake many nights.

My goal was to have a turnkey operation, with long-term contracts that would make us financially stable, but I started by selling products. The first year we mainly sold technology systems in order to finance what I could not finance myself in the form of a turnkey business. Over the years, we have grown to more than 95% turnkey revenue.

Today we have no debt. And we have been profitable since the very first year.

The biggest challenges with our growth will surely be employees and organization structure. The biggest challenge to get there is to increase our contracts and sales.

Looking ahead, what are your goals? Where do you hope to see your business in the coming years?

I measure a successful business if: a) b) c) d) e) f)

You are profitable.

Your customers rave about you.

You develop and change.

You grow.

You enjoy what you do.

You make a difference.

We compete with companies that are extremely large, much larger than we are. Most of them are traded on the stock exchange. We’re a smaller player, but we have advantages.

We provide a very high service level. Anyone can call our customers and hear rave reviews about us, and that has to do with the service we maintain with our customers.

We are innovators and are always creating new solutions.

The bigger companies are focused on their core business

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TECHNOLOGY

Today, we fill in all the boxes. I just want the company to grow even more and be able to continue to make a difference by saving lives and keeping families safe. But from that growth, I don’t want to jeopardize any of the other key points.

What is your proudest moment as CEO?

My proudest moment was when we were awarded an eight-figure contract with our U.S. capital, Washington D.C. It was quite an achievement. Today, we have served the District of Columbia for more than a decade.

Is there anyone in particular you'd like to thank?

To be a CEO and business owner is very lonely. You need to be careful who you trust and what interests they have.

Having a mentor is important because you need people who are selfless, and that is sometimes difficult to find. For me, one of the most important people has been someone I call my mentor, Anders Norling, my old CEO in Sweden. I also have to thank Magnus Johansson, our development director. And

Carlos Löfstedt

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Markus Hemstrom, our operations director, has been a great asset and support over all these years.

What is your advice for aspiring entrepreneurs or business owners?

My advice is nothing you have not heard before, and I don’t have a silver bullet. You need to work hard and to learn as much as possible to be able to navigate all the difficulties that will come up. When I say learn, I mean to learn all sides of a business so you can avoid having to hire people for everything and so you can overcome problems.

Whatever you imagine, there are going to be more obstacles than expected. You need to be willing to work very hard and give up other things in life, at least until you reach your goals. I’m a workaholic, so many times I need to stop myself. For that reason, having clear goals will help you understand when you’ve done enough. You have only one life, so you also need to give time to the things you love in life other than work.

Never miss a growth opportunity.

Connect with your fellow founders.

Discover the coolest startups in Orlando.

Find the latest news and events.

Join Orlando Tech Hub.

BEST PRACTICE

Meaghan Branham

is the managing editor for i4 Business, where she oversees the company’s digital media strategy, handles client relationship marketing for the print and digital magazines, and serves as one of the publication’s lead writers.

A native of Brevard County, she splits her time between Central Florida and Nashville, Tennessee.

Marketing

TRENDS OF 2022 WILL HELP PULL US PAST THE PANDEMIC

T

he beginning of the year is a good time to reflect on the triumphs and pitfalls of the past year, as well as goals and plans for the months ahead. That could never be more important than it is now in 2022, which marks two years since Central Florida began dealing with the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As we enter a new chapter, there’s no better time to take a look at what might be around the corner this year. Here are some of the most anticipated marketing trends for 2022:

Hybrid Events

To effectively communicate, we must realize that we are all different in the way we perceive the world and use this understanding as a guide to our communication with others.

— Tony Robbins

There’s no question that many of us are ready to gather again in person as soon as possible, but it’s just as true that others are not ready to give up the convenience and added safety of attending events from the safety of their homes. The future of events will bring these two together to meet in the middle, meaning an increase in events that are held in person with an option to stream and attend virtually. Some are even beginning to leverage augmented and virtual reality, allowing more immersion for those who choose to attend online.

Support for Nonprofits

The past few years have seen a huge increase in consumers looking to support brands that align with their values. According to a 2021 report by Groundtruth, 89% of consumers are more likely to purchase from a brand they feel makes a positive impact.

Partnering with nonprofits is a perfect way not only to build relationships with other local names, but also to show your audience that you’re committed to your cause.

Content Options

Content is still one of the most reliable marketing tools in your arsenal, though the

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way it is presented and consumed is evolving every day. This year, video is set to continue leading the way in how audiences expect to see their content. Multimedia is another trend leading the way. By inserting video clips or slides into text-heavy pages, you’re more likely to keep audiences engaged.

Augmented Reality

The pandemic has only intensified the interest in augmented reality for consumers.

Whether that means allowing them to try a product virtually before buying, offering virtual tours of spaces, or giving virtual presentations to clients, using augmented reality in your strategy shows that you’re on the cutting edge.

Podcasts

According to a report by Edison Research and Triton Digital, the audience for podcasts grew 29.5% between 2018 and 2021. It seems that the once underground and misunderstood platform is now one of the most influential tools for marketers looking to provide more to their audience, partner with other companies, or get their ads in front of a new crowd. Even if you aren’t quite ready to orchestrate your own show, take advantage of podcast ad marketplace tools, like Gumball and Midroll.

Voice Search

The ability to ask Alexa, Siri or even your TV for what you’re looking for is quickly taking over search tools. While traditional search engine queries are likely to be stilted and efficient, we’re more likely to phrase our voice searches in a more natural way with these new tools. That means a search like “Tom Hanks movies” becomes something more conversational like “What movies has Tom Hanks been in?” It means how you

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optimize your content makes a difference, so make sure you’re up to date on the latest tools and tricks that will keep your business at the top of the search engines.

First-Party Data

As new privacy policies and updates begin to take effect, marketers are losing some of their often-used thirdparty data resources. Get prepared by making the switch to first-party dat — information collected directly from your organization’s efforts. This can ensure you don’t lose valuable audience insights. By using your social media, website and advertising analytics, and shifting your focus to brand building and lead-generating campaigns, you can make the most of the new age of data collection.

The new year is full of new possibilities for your business.

By staying on top of the latest in your industry now, and in the months to come, you could make 2022 your biggest year yet.

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BEST PRACTICE

Nancy Allen is the CEO of the Women’s Business Development Council of Florida, a nonprofit that operates the Women’s Business Enterprise Council of Florida, which certifies companies as women-owned for the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council. She also serves as the CEO of The Growth Shift and Nancy G brands. Allen speaks to business groups all over the world about management, leadership, certification and transitions. She can be reached at nancyallen@womensbusiness. info.

Business Development NEGOTIATION KNOWHOW: TIPS FOR SECURING THAT NEXT CONTRACT

“Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.”

— John F. Kennedy

M

onica owns a multinational software development company that prides itself on innovation and customer service. She recently told me this story about how she negotiated a large contract in a way that benefitted her company and an existing client.

Monica was called into the client’s office, and she went there thinking the meeting was going to be about extending her existing contract. She had done the work as expected, the evaluations were positive, and she felt confident the client was satisfied.

She was surprised to hear that the reason for the meeting was a request she cut her existing contract by 25%. The client said the shareholders were asking all vendors to cut their contracts by 25% because of a downturn in the economy.

Monica said she understood the request and would get back to the client by the end of the week.

Monica went back to her office and discussed the request with her team. A 25% cut would mean millions of dollars and the loss of countless jobs in her company. Monica’s team worked out a proposal for her company to reduce the

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contract by 20%, not the 25% requested.

The proposal outlined how she could cut costs without compromising the current and expected outcomes for the customer in terms of technical and customer support services she was providing as part of the contract. Monica’s goal was to negotiate the 20% reduction by showing the client how any further cuts would ultimately affect the client’s ability to retain customers, which would affect the client’s bottom line.

The client accepted her proposal, and Monica was able to keep the contract. The key was that she demonstrated she understood the client’s business model and proved she was a valuable partner.

This story is a great example of a win-win negotiation, and it contains some valuable lessons and insight that can inform your next negotiation.

CREATE Strategy

We like to use the word CREATE as an acronym and mnemonic that helps business owners, business development professionals and other leaders successfully negotiate contracts.

Here’s how it works in Monica’s story:

•

•

•

•

•

•

Clarity. Monica clearly understood what was asked of her. She also had clarity around what her company was bringing to the table and how it affected the bottom line of the client’s client. Very often, we forget to bring in the client’s client as part of the negotiation.

Research. Monica’s first reaction was to inform the client’s representatives that she would get back to them. This allowed her to do some very important research, crunch the numbers and come back with an emphasis on the client’s client.

Extra. Research shows women are better negotiators when they are negotiating on behalf of someone else. In this case, Monica had her employees in mind, knowing how a 25% cut would affect them, as she was preparing for the negotiation.

Alternatives. The best negotiators always have an alternative scenario that they can present as a negotiating tool. Monica’s alternative was to still offer a reduction, but a smaller one than the amount the client was requesting. She accompanied this offer with an explanation that the full amount requested would be detrimental to the client’s bottom line — instead of focusing on the effects it would have on her own company, which would not be a selling point for persuading the client to change course.

Timeframe. Monica did not panic. She did not accuse the clients of being in breach of the current contract by asking for the reduction. She also did not immediately accept the reduction request. She gave herself some time by saying “I understand. I’ll get back to you by the end of the week.”

Energy. Monica kept her cool. She went in with one expectation, and when it became clear that her assumptions were wrong, she did not react.

Maintaining her composure showed respect to the client and also showed the client that she was not a pushover who would accept without a counteroffer.

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Lessons Learned

There are several take-aways business leaders can learn from Monica’s example. These are important in any business negotiation scenario. They are: 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Know your client and know your client’s client.

Present alternatives in terms of how it will affect the client, not you.

Rely on your team to help you come up with alternative solutions.

Be professional and respectful, even if it doesn’t seem that the other side is reciprocating.

Know what you bring to the table and use that to your advantage.

The key is to keep your composure and give yourself the time and space to think through all of the various scenarios during a potential negotiation. Bring in your team or some of your trusted advisors to help if necessary. Look at the issue from all angles. Keep Monica’s story in mind, and you’ll know the best way to negotiate when it’s time for you to stand up for what you want, need and deserve.

Facilitating Opportunity for Over 45 Years

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INDUSTRY INSIGHT

The Business of

EMPLOYMENT

By Jason James

Developing a Culture Attract and Retain Top Talent

M

aintaining and recruiting employees has always been a tough task for companies, but the Great Resignation has only heightened the challenge.

Mechanical One, a plumbing and air conditioning (HVAC) company, was launched in July 2021 during the midst of the pandemic.

The HVAC industry isn’t exactly known for an employee-first culture, which proved an opportunity to create a company that makes its team members a top priority.

Despite launching Mechanical One during a challenging job market, when many employees have chosen not to return to the office while others have chosen to resign, the company has quickly grown and continues to develop its team each day. Prospective employees are attracted to the company because of its benefits and resources to help them grow and the culture that allows teammates to support each other in their development.

One scorching Florida summer day, I noticed a teammate hard at work on his hands and knees and I was overcome with appreciation for this employee, later to realize it was his birthday. I had no idea because the team member never mentioned his birthday or requested any time off, but instead showed up at work full of passion and ready to get the job done.

At that moment, I knew I wanted to invest my resources into giving back to my team members because they truly deserved it. After analyzing

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my budget, I realized I had the ability to not only give away one house to an employee, mortgagefree, but to give away two.

During our first annual company meeting, we shared new employee incentives launching in 2022, including a new health care package, access to mental health resources, and financial education courses. We also shared the exciting news that the company will be gifting two brand new homes to two of its current team members as an expression of gratitude for their hard work and dedication.

The company was created with the intent of building a culture where employees can increase their quality of life and achieve prosperity. For anyone regardless of where they work, they most likely consider their job to be a huge part of their lives. To retain and attract employees, it’s important to create an environment where employees feel appreciated and valued. At Mechanical One, our team members show up each day ready to give their all. This is because we all share a mutual appreciation for one another, and ultimately, that is why people stay.

Team members who feel they are taken care of will enjoy coming to work every day and will be less likely to leave. Being a strong workplace leader first comes from within. You need to have a passion for your business and your employees, and you must be dedicated to putting them first. Acknowledge your team members and the incredible hard work they put in each day.

Always express your gratitude and find ways to

JASON JAMES Jason James is the president of Central Florida-based Mechanical One, a company offering plumbing and heating, ventilation and air conditioning services, www.mechanicalone.com.

INDUSTRY INSIGHT

give back to them in any way possible to make their lives a little bit easier.

Along with the two-house giveaway, the company will also be rolling out a new robust health care plan for the entire team. Many companies in the plumbing and HVAC industry lack extensive health plans, which is why we made it a top priority to provide the team access to affordable health care, including mental health resources.

Good health care is something all employees seek but very few can find. Health care can be expensive, and for many, can be one of the largest financial burdens on a household. Businesses that want to attract top talent must understand how critical it is to offer good and affordable health care.

Additionally, to prioritize your team’s best interest, the mental health of each employee must be kept top of mind. Most people

have their own struggles they deal with after hours, which is why it’s important to create a culture where teammates aren’t bringing their work stressors home with them. At Mechanical One, we offer mental health resources so employees can get the help they need, including therapy, at no cost.

My company has even more tools in store to guide each team member on the road to prosperity. We are offering employees access to Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University at no cost to help each family to learn how to spend wisely, manage debt and live a life with financial freedom.

Attracting and retaining employees can be a real challenge for many companies, especially in the current climate. The key to having a strong team is to show your employees how cherished they are to your organization and to give back in any way you know how. We’re excited for our new rollouts and home gifting, but we’re

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INDUSTRY INSIGHT

The Business of

EMPLOYMENT

By Lisseth Russa

The Win-Win

Why Investing in Workforce Development Is Worth It

I

t’s an age-old question: How can we bridge the gap between people who want to work and employers that want to recruit them?

As employers struggle with a shortage of skilled labor in industries like hospitality and transportation, a considerable number of workers are still trying to find their footing in the midst of the pandemic. The situation is improving, but at a snail’s pace. Over the past few months, overall unemployment has hovered around 5%.

Of course, this isn’t a new problem.

Changes in technology and new job models have continually reconfigured the way we do business, creating a gap between the skills workers have and the skills companies need.

To stay on top of the market, job seekers need opportunities to gain training and experience.

While terms like “workforce development” may sound daunting, they’re not so complex to put into practice.

Learning how to use a new tool in Excel, practicing public speaking, and completing a new professional certification are all examples of how employees can strengthen their skills and their resumes on a daily basis.

Take the example of Marcel, a truck driver at Goodwill Industries of Central Florida. After joining the transportation team in 2019, he realized that obtaining his commercial driver’s license (CDL) would

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give him more career options and improve his earning potential by increasing the types of vehicles he was qualified to drive.

But obtaining that certification posed a considerable challenge. On his days off, Marcel woke up at 5 a.m. and drove to a training location about an hour away, where he waited in line for hours with other hopefuls vying for any time they could get behind the wheel of a truck. When his colleagues found out, they offered support by taking time after their routes to help Marcel get real-life practice in the parking lot. When it came time for him to take his licensing exam, he succeeded on his first try.

That’s not just a success story for Marcel; it’s an example of how workplace learning is critical to addressing labor shortages in skilled industries, including trucking.

Prior to the pandemic, the American Trucking Association reported that the U.S. was short 60,000 drivers. The pandemic only exacerbated the shortage by increasing demand for land transportation, causing a wave of early retirements, and making it harder for new drivers to access training and licensing. To overcome that gap, it’s essential to provide more opportunities to workers like Marcel.

Businesses and workers can both benefit from investing in professional development.

According to a Gallup analysis, companies

LISSETH RUSSA is the director of workforce development for Goodwill Industries of Central Florida.

INDUSTRY INSIGHT

with a high level of engagement – including more opportunities to learn – tend to have 21% higher productivity, 22% higher profitability and 25% lower turnover, even in high-attrition fields.

It’s tempting to set aside training when times are tight because of obstacles including a busy schedule, a low budget or poor access to materials. But the reality is that investing in training is a cost-effective way to improve a company’s capabilities and resources, while creating a more committed workforce.

At Goodwill, our mission is building lives that work through active skill development in the workforce – not only for our own employees, but for anyone seeking work. Through our virtual Job Connection services, our training and career counseling programs, and our partnerships with local companies, we can create a pipeline of skilled workers who have the experience and training they need to succeed.

People who want to connect directly with Goodwill should visit www.GoodwillCFL.org, email JobConnection@GoodwillCFL.org or call (407) 235-1541.

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INDUSTRY INSIGHT

The Business of

THE ARTS

By Meaghan Branham

Not For Sale

The LifeBoat Project and JCFilms Team Up to Stop Human Trafficking

C

an a movie with a message change the world? The teams behind The Lifeboat Project and JCFilms Studios have teamed up with a new big-screen project that answers that question with a resounding “Yes.”

The film, titled Not For Sale: Florida, is the latest development in The Lifeboat Project’s decade of fighting to combat human trafficking. Founded in Orlando, which is ranked number three in the nation for human trafficking rates, The Lifeboat Project has been lauded for its holistic approach since its launch in 2013.

Founder and CEO Jill Cohen recalls an “Aha!” moment when the nonprofit first started and she was speaking with team members of Freedom Network USA, a national coalition that fights for human trafficking survivors. “They told me, ‘If you’re only bringing awareness and training, and

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you don’t have a game plan for housing and services, you’re doing a grave injustice to the victims and to the community.’ That hit me like a ton of bricks. From then on, I knew we needed to continue to assist people after they’d escaped these situations.”

Human traffickers force people into slave labor or commercial sex acts through violence, manipulation, or false promises of well-paying jobs or romantic relationships, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The problem occurs on an enormous scale: Worldwide, nearly 40.3 million people have lost their freedom to human trafficking.

Traffickers prey on people who are susceptible through psychological or emotional vulnerability, economic hardship or lack of a safety net. They target people of all ages and backgrounds, and they know their victims are too afraid to go to the authorities.

The issue has been thrust into the global spotlight in recent months because of the

MEAGHAN BRANHAM is the managing editor for i4 Business, where she oversees the company’s digital media strategy, handles client relationship marketing for the print and digital magazines, and serves as one of the publication’s lead writers.

A native of Brevard County, she splits her time between Central Florida and Nashville, Tennessee.

INDUSTRY INSIGHT

court cases of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, who were both convicted of sex trafficking involving young women.

The two were linked with Britain’s Prince Andrew, who recently settled out of court with a woman who said she was offered up as a sex partner for him when she was a minor.

The Lifeboat Project helps trafficking victims get back on their feet and reintegrate into society. Sonya HightowerLaBosco, who serves as the nonprofit’s project coordinator and a board member, explains how the program operates: “There are three components to our program: making them safe, helping them heal, and empowering them to grow. There’s no expiration date on their stay here or on the resources we provide.”

For The Lifeboat Project, there is no better place to make a difference than in their own backyard. As one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world, Central Florida is a target for human traffickers because they can get lost in the crowd, and the area’s waterways and airports provide an easy means of travel and escape. There is also plenty of opportunity for traffickers to find customers for their nefarious work.

“Whenever there’s a big event, which happens so often here, human trafficking rates go through the roof,” Cohen says.

“You’ll see spikes in trafficking at the hotels as well, because that’s where a lot of the conventions and business gatherings are hosted. Unfortunately, that’s a prime opportunity for traffickers to make money.”

In the past two years, COVID-19 lockdowns have only exacerbated those numbers. Many people were suddenly trapped at home in unsafe environments, while children were spending more time online, where they are more vulnerable. And some children were at the mercy of desperate parents who were willing to go to unspeakable lengths to overcome economic hardship. All those circumstances drove up trafficking numbers worldwide, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Global Report on Trafficking in Persons Report released in 2021.

For Cohen and Hightower-LaBosco, who is also a former Daytona Beach police officer and a retired federal air marshal, those extra challenges simply hardened their resolve. “We never stopped working,” Cohen says. “We didn’t shut down.

And we finished that first year of COVID in the black.”

signing on to co-produce the feature with JCFilms Studios, known for its work making faith-based feature films that help nonprofits spread their message.

The movie is scheduled to begin filming in Central Florida this year and is set to star Dean Cain, who played Clark Kent and Superman in the TV series “Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.” The rest of the casting took place later in 2021, with Cohen, Hightower-LaBosco and some of The Lifeboat Project’s survivors taking a more active role in that process than they’d expected. At one casting call that turned out more than 200 people, the collaborators were shuffled to the screen-testing room.

“We didn’t know anything about casting,” Cohen laughs, “but they said, ‘Nobody knows the characters that are needed better than you guys.’”

They even contributed to the script, with Cohen drawing on her background in production as a professional singer and worship leader.

The film is shaping up to center on The Lifeboat Project’s mission and the real stories of their survivors, although some aspects will be changed to protect the identities of those involved.

“We don’t want to retraumatize them or interfere with any of the open cases,” Cohen says. “Everybody within our program is attached to a trafficker, sometimes internationally.

At the core, the goal is to make sure the victims can continue to safely live their lives.”

The Lifeboat Project has other goals associated with the film, too, Hightower-LaBosco says. “Maybe this can be the start of building a roadmap using what we’ve done here in Central Florida as a model, and it can help other organizations that are providing long-term care service.”

Sharing the Road Map

That model currently includes four properties, gifted to The Lifeboat Project by another local nonprofit that closed its doors in 2018. With the help of the Home Depot Foundation and HomeAid Orlando, the properties were remodeled, turned into a 14-bed safe house, two transitional homes for women and LGBTQIA+ community members, and a permanent low-

From Backyard to Big Screen

The Lifeboat Project was in the middle of navigating those increasingly choppy waters when an out-of-the-blue email dropped a new idea right into their laps.

“A colleague mentioned that JCFilms and the director, Jason Campbell, were coming to Orlando to do a project on human trafficking, but we weren’t really familiar with them at the time,” Hightower-LaBosco recalls. “Campbell’s phone number was right there on the email, so I just picked up the phone and gave him a call. I left him a voicemail and told him who I was and what we did. Within five minutes, he called me back.”

In that first brief conversation, she quickly explained the last decade of The Lifeboat Project’s work. Three days later, Campbell flew to Orlando to meet with them.

“We had a couple of survivors go with us to relate their stories,” Hightower-LaBosco says. “We asked whether he could address labor trafficking, male survivors, stories that have gone untold in the past. It really opened his eyes.”

The partnership was born, with The Lifeboat Project i4Biz.com | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022

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INDUSTRY INSIGHT

income housing triplex.

The organization’s awareness-raising campaign is also robust. Community partnerships with entities including law enforcement, the Florida Department of Transportation and Orlando International Airport enable the nonprofit to train employees in how to spot suspicious situations, and what to do after one has been identified. In partnership with the Orlando Police Department, for example, The Lifeboat Project has completed more than 60 training sessions with staff at the airport.

“There are certain things they can watch out for,” Hightower-LaBosco says. For instance, sometimes victims are not allowed to control their own travel documents, speak with a person at the counter, or look up and make eye contact with

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anyone. “We get these insights from the victims themselves, and we use these real-life scenarios to prepare those who might encounter them to intervene.”

Hotel staff are getting that same training. “No hotel wants to be a part of this horrible thing, so they’re trying to be proactive,” Cohen says. “The hotel industry recognizes human trafficking as a significant issue and is doing everything within its power to inform employees: from the front desk, to baggage attendants, to the caterers and everyone in between.”

The Lifeboat Project is poised to bring that same awareness to filmgoers all over the world once the film is distributed.

“Jason makes movies that don’t just entertain, but that get people off the couch and engage them,” Cohen says. “Our hope is that people will watch the movie and want to get involved.”

FEATURE

In the Game How Businesses Can Plan for World Cup 2026

BY DIANE SEARS

Panelists tell the audience that Orlando is hoping to be named as a host city for World Cup 2026 and is a strong candidate, especially after learning from being a host city in 1993.

M

ajor sports events held in Orlando present unique opportunities for local businesses to capitalize on all of the activity surrounding them. But what do those businesses need to do to get themselves ready?

Two expert panels considered that question during a networking event in November hosted by CEO Leadership Forums, a peer roundtable organization based in Central Florida. It’s a question people have been asking since Orlando was announced as one of 17 cities vying for 10 or 11 spots in the United States to host 2026 FIFA World Cup soccer games. The U.S. is part of a North American host site along with Canada and Mexico, and official host cities are expected to be announced this year.

Held in the lobby of City National Bank in downtown Orlando, the event included the presentation of a check for $26,020.26, a play on the 2026 theme, from CEO Leadership Forums by founder Geoffrey Gallo, a partner with Grennan Fender CPA firm. The presentation to Valencia College President Dr. Kathleen Plinske and the topic of the event gave attendees a chance to consider what makes Central Florida special and how each private and public organization fits into the fabric of the community.

Proceeds were part of a three-year $100,000 fundraising campaign designed to benefit Valencia students participating in associate and baccalaureate degree programs. The group also fosters student internships with Central Florida’s small business community.

“This meets the commitment we made to the college in 2017 to provide financial assistance and employment opportunities to Orlando’s aspiring talent pool,” Gallo said.

“We have the strong support of our sponsor companies, which has made this type of gift an annual occurrence.”

Valencia and other educational institutions rely on collaboration with the private sector to produce the talent output necessary to prepare the region for economic growth, Plinske said. “Organizations such as CEO Leadership Forums, local government, and large and small businesses have been the impetus for educational institutions like Valencia to deliver talent where it is needed most.”

That mission becomes even more critical with the potential of World Cup 2026.

Large Businesses

The first panel included community leaders who discussed how large businesses and government agencies work together on plans for Orlando to host an event as large as World Cup soccer, which attracts billions of fans from all

From left: Jason Siegel, Geoffrey Gallo, Christine Kefauver, Joanie Schirm, Caesar Lopez and Gary Cohen. i4Biz.com | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022

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FEATURE

Valencia College accepts a check from CEO Leadership Forums, from left: Valencia College President Kathleen Plinske; Jerrid Kalakay, Valencia professor of business and organizational leadership; Nasser Hedayat, Valencia assistant vice president of career and workforce development; Paul Wilder, Valencia dean of Engineering, Computer Programming and Technology; Geoffrey Gallo, CEO Leadership Forums founder and a partner at Grennan Fender; Chris Coghlan; Julie Holmes; Diane Sears, editor and publisher of i4 Business; Erik Weiner; Jeff Condello; Cheri Cutter, interim dean of Valencia’s division of business; and Marie Vasquez-Brooks, dean of Valencia’s School of Allied Health over the globe in person and via broadcast.

Moderator Gary Cohen led the conversation with panelists Jason Siegel, CEO of the Greater Orlando Sports Commission (GO Sports); Caesar Lopez, chief administrative officer for Orlando City Soccer; Joanie Schirm, chair of the host committee when Orlando was a World Cup host in 1994; and Christine Kefauver, senior vice president for corporate development with Brightline.

“We try to be the glue at the center of the sports ecosystem here in our community and make sure all of our stakeholders are collaborating,” Siegel said of GO Sports.

“Organizers have had to consider everything from human rights to environmental sustainability and other non-sportsrelated issues in presenting Orlando as a perfect place for World Cup Soccer. But it also has a reputation as one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world. We’re blessed.

We have 125,000 hotel rooms and 75 million people visiting our community annually.”

Moderator Cohen said he has lived in Orlando since 1983 and remembers Orlando being seen as a longshot to host the 1994 games.

However, the city pulled it off well, said Schirm, who spoke from experience. She started getting involved in 1988 — long before cell phones, the internet and the formation of GO Sports. The community had to mobilize around everything from hotel accommodations to traffic control to law enforcement.

She remembers a visit FIFA made in October 1991 to the

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Citrus Bowl, where the games eventually would be held. Walt Disney World representatives, with the blessing of company President Dick Nunis, told the committee, “Whatever it is you want, do it.”

“That support allowed us to put our best foot forward,” Schirm said. The FIFA visitors were impressed, she said, but oddly enough, the locals were not — at least not at first. “We had real trouble, frankly, selling World Cup here in Orlando. People didn’t know what it was. At that moment, it was harder to sell here than it was to the world.”

But when Orlando was chosen in March 1992, the whole community rallied behind what Schirm called “a ragtag group” of volunteers who had been spearheading the World Cup bid.

Today, the region is in a different place. Lopez with Orlando City Soccer spoke about how the community has embraced the sport in recent years, which led to the city getting major-league men’s and women’s teams, building a new soccer-specific stadium, and hosting large events like the CONCACAF Gold Cup and the Florida Cup. “I’ve had the opportunity to work with other cities to bring in marquee events, and there’s nobody who does it better than Orlando,” Lopez says. “We work closely with GO Sports and the sports organizations, our government partners and our private entity partners to do what’s best for

FEATURE

Panel 2, from left: moderator Diane Sears, Jeff Condello, Erik Weiner, Chris Coghlan and Julie Holmes our city. We all have a similar North Star.”

Orlando is often referred to as “the soccer capital of the U.S.,” Lopez said, largely because it played host to the MLS “bubble” near the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. To keep players and coaches safe, teams played each other in isolation, with no fans, in the MLS Is Back Tournament at Disney’s ESPN Wide World of Sports.

Kefauver of Brightline talked about what it will mean for the region to be connected to South Florida when the company’s expansion brings high-speed trains up the coast to Orlando, where service is set to start in early 2023. The train will enable fans to travel to and from Miami, which is also in the running to be a World Cup host city.

They can hop on a train, grab a cocktail, watch a movie on their mobile device and arrive rested and ready. “Brightline is a transportation system that is built on a foundation of very high customer service,” Kefauver said. It fits in well with Orlando’s philosophy about its civic buildings, including the sports venues, the Dr. Phillips Performing Arts Center and

Donovan Pyle, Jill Bolander Cohen, Gary Cohen and Ron Wilkinson

Orlando International Airport.

“They’re all designed with this front-porch mentality, where everyone is welcome,” Kefauver said. “Brightline is very happy to be a part of that collaboration.”

Small Businesses

The second panel looked at what events like World Cup 2026 could mean for small and midsize businesses. Panelists included Chris Coghlan, the CEO of Fastening Specialists; Jeff Condello, the CEO of Randall Construction; Julie Holmes, the CEO of JK2 Scenic; and Erik Weiner, the market president for City National Bank.

Coghlan, also a member of the famed 2016 Chicago Cubs World Series team, was a frequent traveler during his 10-year professional baseball career. He believes Orlando is uniquely positioned to be a good host. Its diversity of residents and industries leads to diversity of thought, which is a plus.

For small businesses to think about how to jump into the excitement of a lifetime event like World Cup soccer, Weiner

Chris Coghlan (at center), an outfielder with the Chicago Cubs when they won the World Series in 2016, tells the audience he traveled all over the U.S. during his 10-year baseball career and that Orlando’s diversity is a plus for World Cup consideration. i4Biz.com | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022

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FEATURE recommends they look at the supply chain and where they and their customers fit into it. His clients are excited about the possibilities, he said.

It’s important for small businesses to make sure they have the right professional advisors on their team, including their banker, business attorney and CPA. They also need to have their suppliers lined up and consider capital improvements they might need to make to their facilities to take on a big job as part of World Cup 2026, panelists said.

Small businesses will want to make sure they have access to enough capital to support their plans, Holmes said. The time to apply for a line of credit is before a company needs it. Now is not too soon.

One big cost could be a ramp-up in employees or contractors a small business would need to take on a project as big as

Erick Weiner (center) encourages business owners in the audience to work closely with their advisors to prepare for potential growth, including a banker, a business attorney and a CPA.

Ron Nation, Diane Sears, Julie Holmes, Jackie Hirsch and Tim Bach

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something linked to World Cup, the panelists said. Finding workers has been a challenge for everyone in recent months, so planning ahead for the interview and onboarding process is key.

At Randall, Condello’s team is working to create potential future employees for the growing manufacturing company by developing them in-house. He has started the Randall Academy, which brings in high school students to let them work in a real manufacturing plant, where they learn about all aspects of running a business, from accounting to manufacturing to distribution.

It’s important to start now, the panelists told the audience.

They had this advice: The relationships you establish today can be critical to helping you take advantage of any opportunity to capitalize on World Cup and other major events. You might think you have time, but if you wait to prepare, you might be too late.

Joanie Schirm (second from left) sports her green 1993 World Cup jersey and shares how she chaired the effort to help Orlando host soccer fans from around the world.

FEATURE

Julie Holmes (at right) shares a tip for small businesses that are looking to get a piece of the economic impact of World Cup 2026: Get a line of credit in place in case the company needs to quickly expand staff and inventory.

Christine Kefauver (third from left) tells the group how Brightline train company will be prepared to transport visitors between Orlando and Miami.

Audience in the lobby of City National Bank

CEO Leadership Forums – Orlando Group Lauren Arevalo, Apple One

Aimee Collins Hitchner, Swann Hadley

Tim Bach, Patterson-Bach Communications

Nicole McMurray, Apple One

Gary Cohen, Nperspective

Brian Mills, Swann Hadley

Paul Dietrich, Swann Hadley

Joh Molayem, Acquivest Financial Group

Brian Fatigati, ARX Payment Systems

Sean Meder, City National Bank

Casey Fernandez, Hylant Insurance

Steve Quello, CEO Nexus

Doug Foreman, Fringe Benefit Plans

Roy Richardson, Aurora-Infotech

Geoffrey Gallo, Grennan Fender

Russell Slappey, Nperspective

Glyn Griffis, Raymond James

John Tenney, Employernomics

Kevin Grullon, Grennan Fender

Ray Watson, CEO Nexus

Andrew Hebert, South State Bank

Paul Wilder, Valencia College

Nasser Hedayat, Valencia College

Ron Wilkinson, Nperspective i4Biz.com | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022

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BUSINESS SEEN

NATIONAL ENTREPRENEUR CENTER LAUNCHES BIZLINK ORANGE In partnership with Orange County Government, the National Entrepreneur Center held an event November 8, 2021, to launch BizLink Orange, a new online platform that connects entrepreneurs and small business owners to business-building resources throughout Central Florida, including Orange, Seminole, Osceola, Lake, Brevard and Volusia counties.

Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings read a proclamation for BizLink Orange Day, helping NEC President Jerry Ross announce the partnership with more than 40 resource groups. The event also featured guest speaker Jonathan Ortmans, the founder of Global Entrepreneurship Week and the Global Entrepreneurship Network.

From left: Jo Newell, Orlando Economic Partnership vice president of corporate engagement; Jane Hertz, Veterans Entrepreneurship Initiative program coordinator; Todd Piorkowski, Perk Business Solutions president and Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Metro Orlando ambassador chair; Rebecca Hertz, Veterans Entrepreneurship Initiative director of operations; Pedro Turushina, Hispanic Chamber director of business development; Joan Cleveland, African American Chamber of Commerce administrative assistant.

Jerry Ross, Andrea Wesser-Brawner and Rob Williams.

Orange County Government leaders Andrea WesserBrawner, chief innovation and emerging technologies officer, and Eric Ushkowitz, economic development administrator.

National Entrepreneur Center President Jerry Ross announces the launch of BizLink Orange.

Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings and Jerry Ross hold a press conference after the event.

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Mayor Jerry Demings (right) presents BizLink Orange Day proclamation to Jerry Ross.

Rachel Matson, program manager of BizLink Orange.

BUSINESS SEEN

Eric Ushkowitz and Jerry Ross.

Khalid Muneer, Asian American Chamber of Commerce, and Lois Perry, SCORE.

Audience gathers for BizLink Orange event at the National Entrepreneur Center.

Jonathan Ortmans, president of Global Entrepreneurship Network, kicks off Global Entrepreneurship Week at the NEC event.

From left: Carol Palacio, Orange County Economic Development Program coordinator; Rosanne Harrington, chief of staff for Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings; Eric Ushkowitz, Orange County economic development administrator; Julie Matthews, NEC vice president; Andrea Wesser-Brawner, Orange County chief innovation and emerging technologies officer; Rachel Matson, BizLink Orange program manager; Orange County Commissioner Nicole Wilson; and Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings.

Cupcakes provided by Sugar Divas Bakery.

Orange County Commissioner Mayra Uribe and Kevin Sutton.

Rob Williams, SourceLink director.

Georgia Lorenz, Seminole State College president, and Nicholas Abrahams, Orlando Economic Partnership senior vice president of partnerships and regional investment

Goodie bags for attendees await at NEC.

i4Biz.com | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022

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BUSINESS SEEN

JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT HALL OF FAME INDUCTIONS Junior Achievement of Central Florida’s 44th Annual Mid-Florida Business Hall of Fame was held on November 4, 2021, at the Full Sail University Orlando Health Fortress. This annual event brings together a dynamic collective of leaders and learners through an experience that connects and inspires, underpinned by JA’s vision of providing access and opportunity to every student in the region. Five honorees were inducted into the Hall of Fame: Dick Batchelor, Laureate; Ronald Rogers, Laureate Posthumous; Beverly Seay, Laureate; James Tharp, Spirit of Achievement; and Suneera Madhani, Entrepreneurial Vanguard. JACF students hosted the event, conducted lively and insightful interviews of the honorees, and shared their own personal journeys as well.

Fran Korosec, chairman of Junior Achievement of Central Florida (JACF).

Dick Batchelor; Suneera Madhani; Beverly Seay; James Tharp; Karen Revels, JACF president and CEO; Dr. Janice Rogers Choice; and Debra A. Rogers.

Dr. Janice Rogers Choice and Debra A. Rogers flank the marque of Posthumous honoree Ronald Rogers.

Dick Batchelor; Paul Snead, 100 Black Men; Retired Vice Admiral David Brewer, 100 Black Men; and Walt Nason, JACF vice president of finance and administration.

Dick Batchelor interviewed by Melanie Bezold, 3DE by Junior Achievement, Osceola High School, 11th grade.

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Suneera Madhani, Entrepreneurial Vanguard honoree, during interview by Makaila Demosthene, 3DE by Junior Achievement, Oak Ridge High School, 10th

BUSINESS SEEN

Melanie Bezold, Jessica Colgan, Lola Jean Baptiste, Kaylani James, N’Kayla Nisbett, Marc Delcy, N’Kayla Nisbett, Thuy Anh Dang and Makaila Demosthene.

Paul Snead sharing his memories of the late Ronald Rogers and accepting the Laureate award on his

Karen Revels, JACF president and CEO.

James Tharp, Spirit of Achievement honoree, interviewed by Kaylani James, JA Academy for Leadership & Entrepreneurship, Oak Ridge High School, 12th Grade.

Jason Scott, JPMorgan Chase Bank, JACF chair-elect.

BACK ROW: Kristy Mathieu, Suneera Madhani, Beverly Seay, James Tharp, Karen Revels, Dr. Janice Rogers Choice, Debra A. Rogers, Dick Batchelor, N’Kayla Nisbett. FRONT ROW: Thuy Anh Dang, Lola Jean Baptiste, Kaylani James, Makaila Demosthene, Marc Delcy, Jessica Colgan.

Kimberly Lundy Palmer, a mentee of Ronald Rogers, is interviewed by Mark Delcy, 3DE by Junior Achievement, Oak Ridge High School, 10th grade.

Jessica Colgan, 3DE by Junior Achievement, Osceola High School, 11th grade, presents honoree Beverly Seay with her award.

Audrey and Pat Knipe. Mr. Knipe was awarded the Junior Achievement Centennial Leadership Award.

Hosts Thuy Anh Dang, 3DE by Junior Achievement, Oak Ridge High School, 11th Grade and Kristy Mathieu, 3DE by Junior Achievement, Oak Ridge High School, 11th Grade.

Sharing JACF’s impact on their lives: Lola Jean Baptiste, 3DE by Junior Achievement, Oak Ridge High School, 11th grade; and N’Kayla Nisbett, JA Academy for Leadership & Entrepreneurship, Oak Ridge High School, 12th grade. i4Biz.com | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022

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DOWNTIME

UNIQUE EXPERIENCES

By Diane Sears

for your day off

ORLANDO SlingShot and FreeFall at ICON Park

Good news for thrill-seekers: Two new rides are now open at ICON Park on International Drive. One is the Orlando SlingShot, the world’s tallest ride of its kind at 300 feet.

The two-tower attraction launches two riders out of an “exploding volcano” about 450 feet straight up into the sky, reaching speeds of up to 100 mph. The other ride is the Orlando FreeFall, the world’s tallest free-standing drop tower at 430 feet. The ride takes 30 passengers at a time inside a vehicle that rotates around the tower and rises into the sky. At the top, the vehicle tilts forward 30 degrees and faces the ground for a brief moment before free-falling nearly 400 feet at speeds reaching more than 75 mph. Each ticket is $30 for the SlingShot and $12 for the FreeFall. The two new experiences join The Wheel and the StarFlyer rides at ICON Park, which is at 8375 International Drive. https://iconparkorlando.com/

ORLANDO

Dragons & Fairies at Harry P. Leu Gardens

Set in the historic Harry P. Leu Gardens, a new immersive theatrical experience called “Dragons & Fairies” takes guests on a three-quarter-mile journey through a moving story that centers around an adolescent fairy and her dragon friend. Live actors in beautiful costumes lead the way through large-scale lighting installations, where surprises and nine animatronic dragons await. The show started in January and runs through March 6 at Leu Gardens, 1920 North Forest Avenue. It is produced by The Memoir Agency and Creative City Project, creators of previous shows “Dazzling Nights” and “Down the Rabbit Hole” and the annual IMMERSE festival in downtown Orlando. The show is presented

by Orlando Health Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children and Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women and Babies. Tickets are $22 per person on Wednesdays and Thursdays and $25 on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. On-site parking is available for $12.

www.dragonsorlando.com

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DOWNTIME

WINTER PARK Stebbins American Art Collection at the Morse Museum

OCALA Horse Capital Tours

If you’ve ever watched horse races live or on TV, you’ve heard about the reputation of Ocala, which is home to more horse breeds than anywhere else in the United States and a hallowed training ground for Triple Crown contestants and winners. Branded as The Horse Capital of the World, it’s the perfect place to see working farms and learn more about the majestic animals that have fascinated people for thousands of years. Horse Capital Tours offers guided experiences that include thoroughbred training centers, the World Equestrian Center, Mare and Foals Day and many other opportunities. The organization can also help you arrange a private tour for you and your friends, family members or larger group.

Be sure to check out the “frequently asked questions” section for details about what to expect. Gift cards are available.

Visitors to the Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art can now enjoy a private collection donated last spring by Theodore Stebbins Jr. and Susan Cragg Stebbins. The gift of about 70 works of art, unveiled in November 2021, includes late 19th century and early 20th century American sculptures, watercolors, drawings and paintings by 53 artists. The couple donated their collection, curated over 55 years, in honor of longtime Winter Park residents Evelyn and Henry Cragg, the parents of Susan Cragg Stebbins. Henry Cragg was a founding member of the Morse Museum’s board of trustees in 1976 and served until his death in 1988. Theodore Stebbins Jr. is known as a professor of art history and a curator at the Yale University Art Gallery, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and the Harvard Art Museums. Susan Cragg Stebbins is a scholar in literature and Romance languages. The Morse Museum is home to the world’s most comprehensive collection of works by American designer and artist Louis Comfort Tiffany. All visits are by appointment only. Regular admission is $6 for adults, $5 for seniors, $1 for students and free for children under 12. www.morsemuseum.org

DELEON SPRINGS Old Spanish Sugar Mill and Griddle House

Located in a 100-year-old replica of an 1830s sugar mill inside DeLeon Springs State Park, the popular Old Spanish Sugar Mill and Griddle House is a treat. You can cook your own pancakes right at your table, choosing from a variety of pitchers of homemade batters and toppings, as well as other sweet and savory breakfast and lunch items.

The restaurant is open from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on weekends and holidays and from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on weekdays. Park admission of $6 for a vehicle of two to eight people is required to get to the restaurant. Pancakes are $5.25 per person plus side orders and drinks. After your meal, visit the gift shop, wander outside and look for manatees in the springs, rent canoes or kayaks, or take a Fountain of Youth Eco/History Tour. https://oldspanishsugarmill.com/

https://thehorsecapitaltours.com/ To scan the QR Codes, point the camera app on your smartphone toward the page and follow the instructions on your smartphone screen.

⊲⊲ FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK AND SHARE SOME OF YOUR FAVORITE LOCAL PLACES TO VISIT: @i4BIZ.COM ⊳⊳ i4Biz.com | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022

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WATERCOOLER

Stuff you didn’t know you wanted to know

7,000+

Miles of reach of two Cape Canaveral weather stations, which picked up a distinct rise in air pressure on the Space Coast moments after the massive volcanic eruption January 15, 2022, near the Pacific island of Tonga. The largest recorded in the last 30 years, the eruption wielded the power of 600 Hiroshima bombs.

Source: City of Cape Canaveral

“WHEN COMPLETED, THIS PROJECT WILL BECOME A MILESTONE IN RAILROAD HISTORY.” — Al Aponas, president of The Middlesex Corporation, based in Orlando, which is serving as general contractor on the Brightline train project connecting Miami to Orlando.

Source: Brightline

#3

ORLANDO’S RANKING AMONG 50 U.S. CITIES FOR BEST PLACE TO START A BUSINESS. LAS VEGAS RANKED HIGHEST, WITH SALT LAKE CITY COMING IN SECOND. MIAMI AND ATLANTA WERE FOURTH AND FIFTH, TAMPA WAS SIXTH AND JACKSONVILLE WAS EIGHTH.

9,265

Average number of business applications per 100,000 residents in the past five years in Orlando, compared with the national average of 5,931.

Source: Real Estate Witch, Best Startup Cities 2022

$52 billion Increase in the total value of homes in the metro Orlando region during 2021, compared with $6.9 trillion nationwide. Orlando’s total is now $283 billion.

Source: Zillow

#1

Kissimmee-St. Cloud’s ranking among top growth cities in America based on U-Haul truck moves throughout 2021. Palm Bay-Melbourne was ranked #3 among doit-yourself movers. Other cities in the top five: RaleighDurham, North Carolina; North Port, Florida; and Madison, Wisconsin.

Sources: CBRE Group, Orlando Business Journal

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$25 million Hotel taxes collected in Orange County in November 2021 — the second-highest November on record, surpassed only by prepandemic 2019.

Source: Orlando Sentinel and Orange County Comptroller’s Office

“Give Kids The World is a slice of heaven on Earth. I’ve never seen so many genuinely happy and caring volunteers pour their hearts into making our family feel special. It renewed my faith in humanity.”

— Kristina Harshman, who brought her son, Eli, to Give Kids the World Village in Kissimmee after he was diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumor.

115,000

Number of guests who visited Give Kids The World Village in December for its second annual Night of a Million Lights festivities, implemented during the pandemic to help raise funds for the charity.

Girl Scout Cookie Booth Buyout Girl Scouts everywhere are embarking on a fun, skill-building adventure through the Girl Scout Cookie Program!

New this year…

We’d like to invite you to take part in the Girl Scout Cookie Booth Buyout campaign to help the awesome entrepreneurs in our community power new experiences.

Supporting her success through the Girl Scout Cookie Program® and simultaneously fueling the flames for entrepreneurship and leadership in the next generation.

Other Ways to Support Girl Scouts ⚬ Place an order through a Girl Scout’s online store. ⚬ Visit a local Girl Scout booth.

Scan the QR code or visit Citrus-GS.org/cookies

⚬ Donate to our Care to Share Program (Girl Scout Cookies will be sent to the military overseas and local food pantries).

“IT’S BAD MANNERS TO KEEP A VAC ATION WAITING” With nearly 150 destinations worldwide, the opportunity to escape is now. From 95+ Domestic destinations and 45+ International destinations, Orlando International Airport provides access to unique travel experiences that you seek and deserve. Why wait? The time for adventure is now.

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