inweekly POWER LIST 2023

By Rick Outzen

What started on a cocktail napkin over happy hour at the Atlas Oyster House in June 2007 has grown into an annual issue in which we rank the area's greatest movers and shakers. Little did we know that the first issue would take off as it has, and similar lists have popped up in other media around the state over the past decade.

Trial attorney Fred Levin was an easy pick for the town's most influential person in 2007. The other top 10 included Judge Lacey Collier, car dealer Ted Ciano, attorney Jim Reeves, beer distributor Lewis Bear Jr., Clerk of Courts Ernie Lee Magaha, developer and restauranteur Collier Merrill, Studer Group founder Quint Studer, general contractor Jim Cronley and O'Sullivan Creel managing partner Mort O'Sullivan.

The rankings were based on a straightforward question—who could get something done in Pensacola with only a few phone calls? We didn't know how our readers would take the Power List, but our phones began ringing almost as soon as the issue hit the stands. People wanted to know why they weren't on the list, and some were upset with their ranking. We quickly learned that we had a hit on our hands.

Over the past 16 years, we used this annual exercise to examine, evolve and expand the definition of "power." The initial Power List had only 50 names.

Four of them later moved to the top of the list— Collier Merrill, Lewis Bear Jr., Quint Studer and Jim Reeves. Only two from 2007 made this year's list— DeeDee Davis and Ken Ford.

Since the first issue, we have pushed beyond the easy choices and included all types of change agents in our community that might not have high name recognition but are making a difference. Activists who organize and use their voices to inspire others are influential. So are small-business owners, educators and pastors.

Putting together the list each spring is challenging. We ask community leaders for their input and go through several draft lists, adding, deleting and mov- ing names around. It's an inexact process, but we feel it eventually hammers out the top 100.

David Bear heads the 2023 Power List, becoming the first offspring of a No. 1 to top the list. When he is involved in an organization or project, good things happen. He has served in several significant leadership roles in economic development, including Triumph Gulf Coast chair, Escambia County Tourist Development Council chair and FloridaWest vice chair.

David has served as board president for the Arts Council of Northwest Florida, Pensacola Museum of Art, Creative Learning Academy and Pensacola MESS Hall. As the founder, president and trustee emeritus of Art, Culture and Entertainment, Inc., Bear started and chaired both Foo Foo Festival and Vacation Artfully, two of Escambia County's cultural tourism campaigns. He has played a major role in our area's growth and development and will continue to do so.

We hope you enjoy the 2023 Inweekly Power List.

Exactly three weeks after the death of his illustrious father, David Bear grasps for the right words to describe his grieving process. He sits in his spacious Lewis Bear Company office and freely admits he is still trying to wrap his mind around losing his father. Then his mind shifts to reflecting on the last few years, and the words suddenly pour out.

"Emotionally, watching him get sicker and sicker and sicker was unbelievably painful," said 52-year-old David. "They say nothing can