2011 August-September Issue of 850 Business Magazine

The angels in our midst who are investing in northwest florida HOW CAN bartering help offset expenses for your business?

THERE’S An economic boon coming down the stretch in Gretna PLUS: The 2011-2012 WALTON COUNTY Business OUTLOOK $4.95

AUG-SEP 2011

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A product of Rowland Publishing, Inc.

GOING GLOBAL Several Northwest Florida businesses are thriving by selling to overseas clients.

How can you position your company to take advantage of the new marketplace?

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850 Magazine August – September 2011

IN THIS ISSUE

28 850 FEATURES

ending Goods to 22 SForeign Markets

International trade is considered the healthiest sector of the Florida economy, growing by double digits even during the Great Recession. So where does Northwest Florida fit in the picture? About 4.5 percent of the exports leaving the U.S. come from Florida — and the state’s technology exports are growing faster than the rest of the country. Northwest Florida hasn’t been that big a player, but changes are on the horizon as the region’s new international airport and changes at its seaports affect the Panhandle’s export hopes.

By Linda Kleindienst

Photos by Scott Holstein

re There Angels Among Us? 28 AThere is no doubt that the number of venture and angel investors in an area is directly proportional to the number of successful start-up companies. Areas like Silicon Valley, Boston, San Francisco, Austin and Seattle are flush with investors willing to sink their money into the next big thing, and as a result have become popular places to launch a business. One big criticism of Northwest Florida is that it doesn’t have enough venture and angel investors to support a thriving business community.

By Lilly Rockwell On the Cover: More than 2 million tons of cargo moves through Port Panama City each year, much of it in imports and exports. Photo by Scott Holstein

54 In This Issue 07 From the Publisher 51 Sound Bytes 58 The Last Word from the Editor

Departments THE (850) LIFE

08

08 From Alvin’s to Ripley’s, Gary Walsingham has been promoting business in Panama City Beach for 50 years.

Corridors

GUEST COLUMN

CAPITAL

52 Gadsden County’s economy — and local horse breeders — will realize big benefits from a new quarter horse racetrack under construction in Gretna and set to open this winter.

BAY

10 Ed Moore shares his insight on how private universities and colleges are helping to prepare Northwest Florida for an expected explosion in international trade.

MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES

54 Out of a forgotten storage shed and back into the sunlight, the amusement rides from the old Miracle Strip Amusement Park come to life again.

13 Goal-setting can be a key technique to guard against disappointment and missed opportunities in business. Here are tips from three top executives.

By Kimberley Yablonski

I-10

THE BOTTOM LINE

56 Business and community leaders join together to get Marianna a much-needed facelift and help jumpstart the town’s sluggish economy.

18 In today’s economy, businesses are looking at every possible way to conserve cash — and that includes bartering with other businesses to offset their expenses. By Jon Burstein

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850 THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE OF NORTHWEST FLORIDA

AUGUST – SEPTEMBER 2011

Vol. 3, No. 6

Publisher Brian E. Rowland Editor Linda Kleindienst designer Saige Roberts Contributing Writers Jon Burstein, Jason Dehart, Wendy O. Dixon, Linda Kleindienst, Lilly Rockwell, Zandra Wolfgram, Kimberley Yablonski staff Writer Jason Dehart STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Scott Holstein Editorial Interns Alexia McKay, Desiree Stennett traffic coordinator Marjorie Stone Sales Executives Mary Beth Lovingood, Lori Magee, Linda Powell, Rhonda Simmons, Chuck Simpson, Chris St. John online 850businessmagazine.com facebook.com/850bizmag twitter.com/850bizmag

President Brian E. Rowland

DIRECTOR OF Tim Fordyce PUBLISHING OPERATIONS

DIRECTOR OF Linda Kleindienst EDITORIAL SERVICES

Creative Director Lawrence Davidson ProDUCTION director Melinda Lanigan

Manager of finance Angela Cundiff HR/Administration manager OF Dan Parisi INTEGRATED SALES

CLIENT SERVICE Caroline Conway REPRESENTATIVE

assistant Saige Roberts creative director ADMINISTRATOR OF McKenzie Burleigh

SALES and EVENTS TRAFFIC coordinators Marjorie Stone

graphic designers Jennifer Ekrut, Laura Patrick, Marc Thomas, Daniel Vitter Magazine Ad Builder Patrick Patterson

Network Administrator Daniel Vitter RECEPTIONIST Amy Lewis

Web Site rowlandpublishing.com

850 Magazine is published bi-monthly by Rowland Publishing, Inc. 1932 Miccosukee Road, Tallahassee, FL 32308. 850/878-0554. 850 Magazine and Rowland Publishing, Inc. are not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts, photography or artwork. Editorial contributions are welcomed and encouraged but will not be returned. 850 Magazine reserves the right to publish any letters to the editor. Copyright August 2011 850 Magazine, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part without written permission is prohibited. Member, Florida Magazine Association and seven Chambers of Commerce throughout the region. one-year Subscription $30 (SIX issues) 850businessmagazine.com 850 Magazine can be purchased at Books-A-Million and Barnes and Noble in Tallahassee, Destin, Ft. Walton Beach, Pensacola and Panama City and at our Tallahassee office.

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From the Publisher

If You Have Made It This Far …

Banks are begging to lend money to those who can demonstrate they are able to handle the loan and repay it. Real estate values have never been better for those with cash on hand or borrowing power.

It truly is a buyer’s market, from a commercial as well as a residential perspective.

And the employment pool is flush with motivated and qualified individuals who want a job and will give a 150 percent effort to a new employer to become part of a successful team. This labor pool is available at a fair and reasonable cost. Prospective employees know that this is not the time to play hardball with a good job offer. That may have worked to a job applicant’s advantage five years ago, but today it is those who are willing to take a half-step back in order to capture an opportunity that will let them take three steps forward during the upcoming recovery who will secure their success in the long run.

I embrace the economic pendulum as it swings back up to its zenith and returns Northwest Florida to a period of renewed economic prosperity. They say that experience is the best teacher — and I for one will never forget the lessons learned during the Great Recession of 2008-2011.

It is unfortunate that the greed of several Wall Street firms set into motion a practice that allowed people who could not meet the standard qualifications to buy a house — because they simply could not afford it — to get loans and purchase homes, leaving them financially over their heads. When the bubble burst, those who didn’t walk away from their loan obligation are now left upside down in a property that may never be worth what they paid for it. There was greed on both sides — from those pushing the loans to make a buck and from the consumers who obviously couldn’t afford what they were buying.

Put this all together and add a war on top of it. Presto! America is in a financial position that will probably take decades to get right, if it ever does.

My hope is that the financial industry and our government leadership will also hold that memory close so that they and we don’t repeat the mistakes of the past but instead carry those lessons well into the future.

Brian Rowland browland@rowlandpublishing.com

Photo by scott holstein

Over the past couple of weeks, I have been speaking with my counselors, mentors and business friends as I work through the process of hiring new workers for four positions, training a couple of new employees and wrestling with the ongoing challenges of navigating a company through one of the most stressful economic times of the past 50 years.

Has it been difficult? Yes. Have I learned more about corporate leadership in the past three years than I have in the past 20? Yes. Am I ready to get back to the problems of dealing with double-digit growth that I didn’t appreciate as much from 2003 to 2007 as I do now? Yes. Please.

During a recent conversation with a business friend who has run numerous firms, founded several start-ups and sold several companies quite successfully, he said something that has given my entrepreneurial spirit a boost of adrenaline that will carry me for at least the next six to nine months.

This, he said, is his favorite time of the economic business cycle. Why? Simple, he explained. This is the fourth quarter of a recession and the predecessor to an economic upswing in Northwest Florida. I said, “Tell me more.”

Bottom line, he said, is that all the weak businesses have closed over the past three years — or are so economically ravaged they are unprepared to be an active participant on the front line of the recovery. Opportunities abound for those companies that have successfully maneuvered through this economic minefield and are financially sound. These are the companies strategically positioned to lead the charge as business begins to ramp up in the recovery.

As I now stand back from the forest and look at the trees, I realize he is right on point.

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Executive Mindset

( ) The 850 Life

s urvive and thrive

Beach Business Baron Gary Walsingham, Panama City Beach CEO Walsingham Investments

G

ary Walsingham, who earned a business marketing degree from Florida State University, foresaw the tourists coming to Panama City Beach long before Simon Property Group’s Pier Park came to town, decades before the Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport was built.

For his vision, the 68-year-old won the 2011 Panama City Beach Chamber of Commerce Pioneer of the Year award for bringing business to Panama City Beach more than 50 years ago. Though it’s nearly impossible to estimate how many millions of dollars his businesses have contributed to the local economy, his chain of Alvin’s Island Tropical Department Stores, specializing in beach clothing, gifts and souvenirs, has employed more than 25,000 people over the last half century.

After the success of the first Alvin’s Island, built on Front Beach Road in 1957, he set his sights on expansion, opening 13 stores throughout the Emerald Coast and Alabama. He has since sold them all. And after an unsatisfactory six-week retirement, Walsingham decided the beach community needed more family-oriented entertainment.

He opened Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Museum, now run by daughter Sherri Walsingham, and WonderWorks, a science-themed attraction, which his son, Mike Walsingham, runs.

— Wendy O. Dixon

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3

1. First job: My father started Five and Dime stores in 1950 when I was in second grade.

I worked even then, mostly sweeping floors.

2. Retail savvy: When strip-

shopping centers started popping up, businesses started leaving downtown areas. My father (Alvin Walsingham) looked for a place on the beach.

He opened a Five and Dime, and then we opened a gift shop and clothing store. I finally convinced him to open one store and sell everything there.

3. On hiring 500 people every summer for 50 years:

We needed that many just to keep up every season. I run into people all over the country who say to me, “I got my first job at Alvin’s Island.”

850businessmagazine.com

4. Surprising: I hated

Christmas as a kid. People would put toys on layaway for Christmas back then. They’d pay 50 cents this week and a dollar next week. Then they wanted to pick up the assembled toys on Christmas Eve. I had to do all the assembling.

5. Hobbies? I’m an avid golfer,

but I haven’t played since the slow recovery from foot surgery.

I also like fishing and traveling.

6. Musical instrument: The radio.

7. Surprised at the award?

When I got to the awards dinner and saw my mother and grandkids there, I knew something was up.

8. Alma maters: I have been on the foundation with Gulf Coast but now I concentrate on FSU. I was the national chairman of Seminole Boosters, and I still enjoy going to all the home football games and some of the away games. The whole family goes. It’s a big part of our lives.

9. Ripley’s and WonderWorks: We’ve always needed things for people to do here. I was concerned when they sold Miracle Strip Amusement Park because it was our main attraction. I’ve been encouraging people to bring things everyone could enjoy — country music, theaters, racetracks. The more we have to appeal to the masses, the better it is for us.

Photo by SCOTT HOLSTEIN

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Executive Mindset

Business Speak I

nnovative strategies are a critical component to achieve long-term economic success for Florida’s future.

This is true whether in times of prosperity or financial hardship. Enhancing our state’s efforts in international trade will diversify our economy by attracting new businesses and industries and will help create quality jobs for Florida’s workers.

Florida is ideally situated as a global trading hub. Billions of dollars in goods come through our airports and seaports annually. The pending widening of the Panama Canal and growing global competition in the marketplace serve to focus our lawmakers and business community on the need for Florida to further pursue international business development in our state. Gov. Rick Scott has stepped up our efforts to ensure Florida remains a leader in the global marketplace. We can and must do better.

Northwest Florida, in particular, is making international trade a priority, since foreign investments and a strong trading market can make significant contributions toward the economic success of our region. In addition to having wonderful natural resources and a deep talent pool, Northwest Florida is ideally located with strong infrastructure systems that make it a prime area for investment and trade. There are multiple airports, railways and seaports to foster import and export activities. The region is home to two Foreign Trade Zones and important international manufacturing plants. There are also important ongoing efforts at the region’s seaports to expand current capacity to increase trading activities.

This enhanced Northwest Florida focus on international trade adds to the continued need for a strong, educated workforce. The Independent Colleges and Universities of Florida (ICUF) represents 29 not-for-profit colleges and universities in Florida. Our members serve more than 130,000 students and annually produce a third of all degrees at the bachelor level or above in Florida. More than half of our graduates stay in Florida

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D r . E d M oore is president and CEO of the Independent Colleges and Universities of Florida (ICUF).

He has been involved in the political and public policy process throughout Florida and the United States for more than 35 years. Prior to his current role at ICUF, he served as the head of a Florida-based public policy research organization and as a senior policy advisor for the state’s legislative leadership. For more information on ICUF, please visit www.icuf.org.

following graduation, adding greatly to the talented workforce Florida needed to meet the growing demand for highly skilled workers as international trade begins to expand and flourish. More will stay here as opportunities develop.

Educational opportunities can be delivered in many ways, not always requiring brick and mortar buildings. ICUF member schools continue to develop creative ways to serve students, workers and businesses in Northwest Florida, while also helping meet the region’s need for educated employees. Many of our member institutions have developed partnerships with community-state colleges in the area, offering degree programs for students in the Panhandle.

Tallahassee Community College is a great example of this important partnership approach, offering degree programs from four ICUF institutions.

This enables students in the Tallahassee region to have accessibility to obtain degrees from Flagler University, Barry

University, St. Leo University and Embry Riddle University — without moving to main campuses. This is also a relatively low cost option to obtain a four year degree. With more than 100 sites, ICUF offers an array of options for students to attend our classes, preventing work and home situations from being obstacles to degree achievement.

ICUF continues to explore innovative learning opportunities to ensure all types of students from all parts of the state can have access to the degree options our institutions provide. ICUF institutions have taken advantage of the technological advancements of the digital age and now offer a wide variety of online courses and degree programs.

Eleven of our universities offer more than 180 full degree programs. Currently, more than 32,000 students are taking advantage of these virtual classrooms.

Where you live is no longer an obstacle to what you can learn.

The online programs offered by ICUF institutions provide an additional private college presence in the Northwest Florida region while attracting students who fall outside the “traditional” student model.

This includes older students, parents raising children and those with full-time jobs who do not have the flexibility to attend scheduled classes on campus. It is critical we continue to expand opportunities for these types of students because they are important components in sustaining and expanding Florida’s workforce.

Our online programs allow residents to obtain a degree and expert training which ultimately helps many local businesses find qualified employees. By offering popular online degree programs like international business administration, entrepreneurship, global business management and MBA programs, we are ensuring our students have access to the fields critical to attracting foreign investments in Northwest Florida. The learning opportunities ICUF offers will also ultimately help students and our local communities succeed in a constantly changing, globalized marketplace. n

PHOTO COURTESY Kira Derryberry Photography

International Trade

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Executive Mindset

Strategic Thinking Goal Setting

Setting Your Sights

One- o n-O ne When company execs sit down with employees to set goals, it is mutually beneficial, says Gulf Power’s Bentina Terry.

The importance of goals for a business and its employees By Kimberley K. Yablonski

“To me, there is only one form of human depravity — the man without a purpose.” —Ayn Rand in “Atlas Shrugged”

I

n the classic 1957 novel on the power of free markets, Ayn Rand expressed her philosophy of individualism and how it drives business when one goes about setting and attaining goals. In the nonfiction world, goal-setting is a key technique to guard against missed opportunities and cultivate business growth. But the act of setting goals can also seem abstract and overwhelming. Here, some top executives in Northwest Florida share how they set, and then go about achieving, their business goals.

Bentina C. Terry Vice President External Affairs and Corporate Services Gulf Power Company, Pensacola

Bentina Terry obviously knows something about setting goals. In her career, she quickly moved up though the ranks of Southern

Photo by SCOTT HOLSTEIN

Company. At the age of 41, she has a law degree from University of Michigan Law School under her belt, is involved in Leadership Florida and serves on the board of the American Association of Blacks in Energy. For several years in a row, she has been ranked on Pensacola’s Independent News “IN Power List,” which recognizes the 50 most powerful and influential people in greater Pensacola. Terry was also one of the “Twelve Young Professionals Under 40” picked by the Pensacola Business Journal.

In her current position she has to balance a multitude of responsibilities, from regulatory affairs and labor relations to economic and nuclear development. Gulf Power serves 435,000 customers in eight counties in Northwest Florida.

850: With so many different aspects of the company under your command, what is your underlying premise for achievement?

Terry: Our top line goal is to provide the best

internal service to the customer we can. We

start with the initial premise that we are here to serve our customers. I have a very diverse subset, from overseeing lobbyists to the employees who maintain the building, so we have to use a feedback process to determine how achievable the goals are for those within my area. I work with the managers to make sure we provide support to make employees and the company successful.

850: How do you stay motivated and keep employees motivated to reach goals?

Terry: I’m fairly self-motivated. I enjoy it when

I do a good job. I feel a sense of satisfaction of a job well done. For employees, we provide feedback. Sometimes, we can get all caught up in the daily work and don’t take a step back to recognize and motivate employees ... and it is easy for them to get lost. We have to help them fully realize their value to the company.

850: How do you prioritize the goals?

Terry: In the beginning we set high-level

goals. I get my entire management team, six

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strategic thinking

high level managers and a budget person, in a room and talk about what we need to achieve as a group and how they relate to one another. This gets everyone thinking as a team so they recognize how certain goals can be reliant on another division or how they need to work in conjunction with another division. Sometimes, it feels a little bit like making sausage; it can be messy.

We decide what goals are paramount for the next six months and then those that need to be met within the next year.

I also sit down with my employees individually and we set their goals and talk about how that relates to our larger goals. They have to know what is important to you and the company or, often, it can result in failure. The employee may not accomplish any goal because they are spreading themselves too thin.

Karen B. Moore

Founder, CEO Moore Consulting Group, Tallahassee

Karen Moore knows a thing or two about personal and professional growth. When launching her public relations business almost 20 years ago, she took a big leap of faith. She opened a one-woman shop that now employs 25 people, has clients in 25 states and has offices in Tallahassee and Miami and an affiliate in Washington, D.C. At 52 years of age, she has seen a lot of her goals realized, but that doesn’t stop her from constantly stretching to reach the next one. The firm was recognized as one of the 100 best businesses to work for by Florida Trend, an honor Moore says stemmed from good communications within the company.

850: Explain the technique you use to set and achieve goals.

Moore: We are very committed to setting goals

for the company — and not just achieving those goals, but exceeding them. We have a host of goals, from financial to employee professional goals to marketing. What I find most helpful is we put them all on a strategic goal sheet and share them with everyone in the company. We analyze them weekly, monthly, quarterly and annually and benchmark against those goals. We examine how we are doing, if we are on target. In order to achieve our goals, all the employees ought to know what the goals are.

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strategic thinking 850: Experts say goals are only good if they are your own. How do you get employees to buy into the goals?

Moore: All employees know the goals. Every-

one in the company has the opportunity to participate in setting the goals that apply to their area. The core leadership team — the CEO, the COO, CFO and senior VP — establishes the 30,000-foot goals. These are our three-year overarching goals. After that, the whole staff participates in the goal setting.

They have buy-in at the beginning of the process, and we regularly communicate to every member in the company that if they have an idea, suggestion or comment, we want to hear about it.

850: Do you shift your goals to react to the business marketplace?

Moore: If we are not reaching them, we just keep

ourselves against our competitors, both regionally and nationally.

Steve Riggs

CPA, Co-Founder Carr, Riggs & Ingram, LLC, Miramar Beach

As a founding partner of one of the top 34 accounting firms in the country, Steve Riggs has 30 years experience in the field, including work as an Internal Revenue Service field agent handling complex corporate transactions. Riggs, 57, serves on the firm’s executive committee and heads its Miramar Beach office on the Emerald Coast. Since its small beginnings in 1986, Carr, Riggs & Ingram has grown to a 600-employee firm with offices in seven states.

trying. We don’t keep changing the finish line.

850: Why is it important to set goals?

Moore: If you haven’t got a goal set, you don’t

know if you have met it or exceeded it. When we are looking at goals, we also benchmark

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850: What is unique about how you set goals?

Riggs: In CPA firms, we all have a framework.

Accountants fill out daily time sheets and we have to account for our time down to the sixth of an hour. We must account for our

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time daily, weekly and monthly. With this data, we can see how people work — how much billable versus administrative time they have in their work day. I am in a profession where everything is measured. At the end of the year, we know exactly how efficient an employee is. We meet with each accountant and set numeric goals at the beginning of the year. In this profession, we do set goals. If you meet them or exceed them you are rewarded, and if you don’t keep up with the pace we set then you are fired.

850: How do you prioritize the goals?

Riggs: It’s like a football team. It takes many

different players to make it successful. Some people are good at certain aspects of a business. For example, someone may do really well with training people, so we have them cultivate new employees. Some of our star employees today took a while to get going.

You just have to keep your eyes open and see how employees are doing. It takes a lot of talent, and that’s why in business we need people to do various things — and they all have to do them well. n

Jim Burtoft and Paul Watts, COO Electronet Broadband Communications

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We have used Electronet for internet access in all of our health clubs exclusively. Once we heard that they had a voice and long distance solution we decided to check into it. Electronet was able to bundle our services which enabled us to improve our performance and reduce our costs. If you’re looking for great service, great reliability and great value then Electronet is definitely your choice.

Jim Burtoft

3 4 1 1 C a p i t a l M e d i c a l B l v d . Ta l l a h a s s e e , F L | 2 2 2 . 0 2 2 9 | w w w. e l e c t r o n e t . n e t 850 Business Magazine

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Executive Mindset

The Bottom Line Alternative currency

B2B Bartering Trading goods and services makes good business sense

By Jon Burstein

M

odern twists on the ancient practice of bartering can help businesses conserve cash while fulfilling their potential in a tight economy.

What might have otherwise been an empty room at a bed-and-breakfast could be bartered for carpet cleaning. A dentist with a few free hours could fill that time seeing patients in exchange for much-needed auto repairs by a local mechanic.

Bartering, though, is now a bit more complex than the days when a farmer would walk over to a neighbor’s house and trade eggs for wheat. There are bartering groups, like the Gulf Coast Trade Exchange in Pensacola, that create networks of businesses trading their goods and services. There are Internet websites such as Craigslist that offer bartering opportunities that range from the serious to the strange. But just because cash isn’t involved doesn’t mean the transaction isn’t reported to the Internal Revenue Service come tax time.

“Bartering has increased tremendously the last three years, with business owners looking at barter exchanges to provide them an alternate way to get new business,” said Ron Whitney, executive director of the International Reciprocal Trade Association, a Virginia-based organization that promotes bartering.

The goal of bartering is not to displace cash business, but maximize unused business capacity, said Whitney, whose association counts more than 90 barter exchanges as members.

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While there are no firm numbers on the volume of bartering that goes on in the United States each year, Whitney estimates that as much as $12 billion of goods and services are traded annually through barter exchanges across the globe.

A barter exchange acts almost like a bank, with what’s known as “trade dollars” serving as currency. For example, a florist may join a barter exchange, and a restaurant may want $200 worth of floral arrangements. If the florist agrees to perform the work, it then has $200 in trade dollars in its account.

Those trade dollars then can be used to get services or goods provided by other members of the barter exchange.

“The strength and value of a barter exchange is a function of the number of businesses it has and the scope (of services and goods offered),” Whitney said.

Barter brokers typically charge a transaction fee, and there also may be monthly maintenance charges.

The Gulf Coast Trade Exchange, founded in 1977, now has more than 500 members stretching from Gulf Shores, Ala., to Destin, with businesses ranging from accountants to print shops.

Fran Crumpton, who helped organize the trade exchange with her late husband Bob, said there’s a renewed thirst for bartering reminiscent of the early 1980s when the economy dipped.

“In the last couple of years, there seems to be another surge,” Crumpton said.

Barter exchanges provide a good venue for businesses to make new contacts. She estimates that about 95 percent of Gulf Coast Trade Exchange’s growth has come from member referrals.

In addition, background checks are done on each business applying for membership.

In the Exchange’s 35 years, there have only been two disputes that needed to go through the group’s three-step mediation process.

Barter exchanges also network with similar groups across the country. For example, members of the Gulf Coast Trade Exchange do a great deal of trading with a New Orleans barter group, primarily for hotel rooms and restaurant meals.

The array of goods and services available through bartering networks can be surprising. Crumpton once fielded a request from a business owner who wanted to use the barter exchange to get a hair transplant. She was able to refer him to an out-of-state exchange and he got a $7,000 procedure done and walked away with a full head of hair. And he didn’t spend a single dollar.

“If you can imagine it, you can trade for it,” Crumpton said.

Stuart Bainter, station manager of the BLAB Television Network in Pensacola, said that over the course of two decades as a member of the Gulf Coast Trade Exchange, he has traded for printing, clothing, food, computers, T-shirts, painting, building supplies and auto repair. BLAB produces television

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The Bottom Line

programming from Mobile to Destin, reaching 550,000 homes.

Bartering enabled Bainter to finance one of his childhood dreams: He went on a two-week, first-class railroad trek across Canada. He estimates that bartering composes about 5 percent of his business.

But not all bartering exchanges experience success. While the Gulf Coast Trade Exchange has proven popular, at least two attempts to set up similar barter organizations in Tallahassee have fizzled within the past decade.

Such problems in setting up barter exchanges are not unique. Florida Barter, a trade exchange company with more than 1,600 clients in the

Keeping it Legal Even though cash may not be trading hands, bartering income still must be reported to the Internal Revenue Service.

>> I f a business barters in excess of $600 in services with another business, those payments need to be reported on Form 1099-MISC.

>> I f you are bartering your services through a barter exchange, you should receive a Form 1099-B, Proceeds from Broker and Barter Exchange Transactions.

>> T he IRS recommends you treat barter income as you would any other business activity, keeping good records and consulting with the IRS or a tax professional if you have any questions.

Tampa and Orlando areas, has seen about 20 competing networks come and go over the years, said Dominic Berardi, Florida Barter’s vice president of business development.

“Bad businesses come in for the quick buck,” Berardi said.

Tony Miller, the licensee for a bartering group that recently tried to enter the Tallahassee market, said it’s difficult to sell the concept of a trade exchange to businesses unfamiliar with such networks. Many businesses will take a wait-andsee approach when it comes to getting involved in a bartering exchange.

In recent years, bartering websites have sprung up, along with forums such as Craigslist, that offer a spot for people to trade their services.

The barter classified ads on Craigslist for the Tallahassee area recently included a photographer offering picture-taking sessions in exchange for manicures, and a tattoo artist willing to ink people for guns, jewelry, cars and water skis. n

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A ll A b o a r d ! Under the watchful eye of Wayne Stubbs, executive director of Port Panama City, ships are loaded with goods and products that are transported to foreign markets.

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Northwest Florida businesses thrive on their international connections

By Linda Kleindienst

During the Great Recession, a small Panama City business called DeTect never had a layoff. Its sales grew by 30 percent in 2010. Sales for 2011 are up 200 percent and the company expects to break the $30 million sales mark by the end of this year.

What brought about this phenomenal growth during these gloomy economic times?

Foreign trade.

“It hasn’t been the easiest economy,” concedes Gary Andrews, DeTect’s general manager and CEO. “The business has been doing well, but it’s not because of the U.S. It’s all foreign.”

Photos by SCOTT HOLSTEIN

Indeed, during the toughest economic years since the Depression of the 1930s, international trade was the only segment of Florida’s economy to enjoy robust growth — double digits’ worth.

Florida is the fourth largest exporter of stateorigin goods and services in the U.S. — totaling more than $81 billion a year — and the third largest exporter of high-tech goods. Its location has helped establish the state as a pre-eminent global hub with especially easy access to emerging economies in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Florida’s top 10 markets in 2010 were Switzerland, Brazil, Canada, Venezuela, Colombia,

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Mexico, Chile, Dominican Republic, Paraguay and Peru. And the impact of international business was evident by the fact that: • International business accounted for almost one-sixth of Florida’s economy.

• One of every six jobs in Florida was dependent on international business (1.3 million).

• More than 50,000 Florida companies export (second-largest cluster in the nation).

• International companies pay 18 percent higher wages in Florida.

“All business is global. I don’t think it can be overstated,” says Wayne Stubbs, executive director of Port Panama City. “The world has gotten smaller and smaller, shrinking into a single, huge marketplace. International trade is the future for all business.”

Through March of this year, Florida’s growth in exports was outpacing the U.S., boosted in part by double-digit gains in exports of medical instruments, telecommunications equipment and integrated circuits.

In late May, Florida companies that attended Hospitalar, Latin America’s premier heath care tradeshow held this year in Brazil, collectively generated a record sales total of $1.26 million, more than double the 2010 tally.

“Over the next five to 10 years, the developing economies will drive growth,” says Manny Mencia, senior vice president of International Trade and Business Development for Enterprise Florida. “An international footprint will be essential to growing a company.”

While Northwest Florida lags behind other regions of the state, accounting for about $1 billion worth of foreign exports a year, Mencia said a significant number of local companies are now pursuing an international marketing plan. And, during a recent international trade session sponsored by the Bay County Economic Development Alliance, Enterprise Florida, Port Panama City and the U.S. Department of Commerce, Mencia told local business owners that an expansion of the Panama Canal to accommodate super freighters will be a “game changer” for Florida, opening the door to an unprecedented era of Asian investment in the state and its products.

Ideas Go Global Throughout Northwest Florida, there are businesses that are thriving on selling goods and services to overseas clients. Their products range from bird detection radar systems to humane

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S o ar in g Gl obal l y Gary Andrews, general manager and CEO of DeTect in Panama City, says worldwide sales of the company’s bird radar system have soared.

traps used to collect small mammals for research to computer security technology.

Founded in 2003, DeTect began by manufacturing and selling bird radar systems to protect aircraft from damaging bird strikes that can result in crashes and fatalities. The company’s first customer was the U.S. Air Force, which purchased eight systems that have saved more than $4 million in damage costs. Even NASA has used the system during shuttle launches. The same technology is being used to protect birds flying into wind farms (by shutting down the turbines when flocks arrive and restarting them when the birds leave) and warning birds away from toxic industrial waste ponds (a system being used in Canada). Other products developed by DeTect include security and surveillance radars and wind speed measurement technology.

Its headquarters and 14,000-square-foot main manufacturing plant are located in Panama City, where there are about 65 employees. The average wage is $45,000 and the company is now looking to add another 20,000 square feet of space.

Despite contracts with U.S. government agencies, including the National Weather Service, DeTect has begun to rely more on trade with foreign governments and companies as its line of offerings has expanded and Washington’s budget crunch leaves federal clients unsure of what

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they can afford. As an example, DeTect invested $2 million in a wind speed measurement system for the weather service, which was supposed to purchase 28 units for $50 million — but now, Andrews says, “the agency is trying to figure out what they can afford.”

In contrast, the company recently delivered a weather radar system to Mexico City, got an order for an airport in Nigeria, is waiting on word about a $60 million contract with India, has an office in Mumbai and by the end of the year will open an office in the United Kingdom.

“We’ve got agents selling for us in 80 different countries. That was the smartest thing we ever did,” Andrews said. “In the past six weeks, orders have come in from Nigeria, Portugal, Spain, India, Canada and American Samoa.”

An Import/Export Hub State, federal and business leaders agree Florida is perfectly positioned to access the ever-growing international market. According to a recent Florida Chamber Foundation study, the state’s pluses include the fact it is located in the fastest growing U.S. business and consumer market — the arc of southern states from Texas to Virginia — and is at the crossroads of growing north-south and east-west trade lanes, with access to more than 1.1 billion consumers in the Western Hemisphere by 2035.

PHOTO COURTESY JP King

“Florida has the 20th largest economy in the world, and we’re playing on a global stage now,” says Mark Wilson, president and CEO of the Florida Chamber of Commerce. “Our goal is to double Florida exports over the next five years and then double them again over the following five years.”

Gov. Rick Scott envisions Florida becoming the import-export capital for at least the eastern U.S. “We have 14 ports, and with our location we should be a big shipping capital. We’re looking to build relationships across the world because people want to do business here,” he says.

Northwest Florida may be particularly well situated. Port Panama City in Bay County is the closest, in terms of distance, to the Panama Canal.

When the canal expansion is finished in 2014, the super freighters will begin sailing through and head to the larger U.S ports, where they’ll displace smaller vessels. Those smaller ships will be looking for new berths, like Port Panama City and the Port of Pensacola, which provide direct air, rail and road access to the southeastern U.S. as well as the Midwest.

“Our geography from the standpoint of domestic distribution is good,” said Don Kirkman, president of Florida’s Great Northwest, which is working to diversify the region’s economic base.

“We’re within a one-day truck haul of major cities in the southeast. Our airports are continuing to evolve, and our port directors have done an excellent job of identifying markets in Latin America for notch opportunities.”

Port Panama City has 100 acres of land, about half of it for cargo, and 36 feet of water, enough to handle most ships in the world. It is one of the primary U.S. ports for copper imports, and it is the port used to transport a half-million tons of energy-providing wood pellets (made from the region’s pine trees) to Europe each year. It also has another big plus — the headquarters of Linea Peninsular, a container ship company.

Linea Peninsular moved to Panama City in 2005, after Hurricane Katrina destroyed its former home at Port Bienville in Mississippi. It has five company-owned vessels that make four weekly voyages to Progreso, Mexico. The port is only 30 miles from the provincial capital of Merida, which has a population of 1 million consumers and provides fairly easy access to the rest of Central America.

“For the last five years, our port has enjoyed the most active, direct shipping to Mexico,” says Stubbs, the port director. “In many cases,

it is cheaper to ship to Mexico than to truck to Memphis. That is the low-hanging fruit for our community.”

Goods and Services For Sale The explosion of modern communication technology, and the growth of the global market have been two big pluses for AppRiver, founded in Gulf Breeze in 2002. It has more than 140 employees and 45,000 customers — and protects about 6 million email boxes around the world.

In 2010, it was named by Inc. magazine as one of the nation’s 5,000 fastest growing companies and won the Reader’s Choice Award from MSExchange.org. In 2010, the company’s revenues were $28 million, and this year’s projection is to hit $35 million.

Se r vin g t h e Worl d Pensacola’s AppRiver provides security for 6 million email boxes around the world, says CEO and co-founder Michael Murdoch.

“The market is worldwide because you’re delivering services,” explains AppRiver CEO Michael Murdoch, who co-founded the company with Joel Smith. “This day and age, most companies are connected to the Net. Everyone has email and Web access. But in this day and age you’ve also got to have security.”

The meat of the company’s business is smallto-medium businesses, a big market Murdoch believes has been overlooked and underserved.

About 15 percent of AppRiver’s clients are

overseas. Several of its clients are multinational corporations.

Explained simply, AppRiver protects its clients by routing all their email through the company’s system. Systems are updated 24 hours a day. The goal is to soon have a physical presence in Europe and then in Asia.

“We’re able to deliver applications via the Net, so we’re not restricted by geography,” Murdoch says. “We serve every continent except Antarctica. These services are needed globally, because there are black hats worldwide, sophisticated cyber criminals.”

While AppRiver focuses on modern technology, in Tallahassee H.B. Sherman Traps is using machines with origins that go back decades, to the original inventor, Harley Sherman. But, like AppRiver, Sherman Traps has a worldwide reach, with its products showing up in places like Nicaragua, Australia, Mexico and South Africa — in all, 89 different countries. About 38 percent of the business involves export.

Sherman Traps are used for research by universities, governments and groups like the World Health Organization. They’re designed to humanely trap small animals, mainly rats.

In some cases the traps have been used to catch animals thought to carry deadly viruses, like the hantavirus, Ebola and Bubonic Plague.

In California, if a construction or renovation project is occurring where the endangered Kangaroo Rat lives, a Sherman Trap must be used to catch the especially long-tailed critters so they can be relocated. In South Africa, the government has mandated that each university use humane traps, which pretty much limits them to Sherman traps.

“We’ve had more orders than ever this year,” says Sandra Screws, director of overseas operations and Sherman’s granddaughter. In April, 9,500 orders were taken. On average, the company ships out 4,000 traps a month, most of them in specially made wood containers that protect the traps in shipping.

Harley Sherman, a mammalogist who invented his product to do his own research and then sold some to the U.S. Navy in the 1940s, began exporting to Hohtoshoji, Japan, in 1961. Since then, the overseas business has grown by word of mouth and the Internet.

“This is just a little place,” says Gerald Phillips, owner of the company as well as Sherman’s sonin-law and Screws’ father. “But last year our total export sales were $499,000.”

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His advice for others thinking about getting into foreign trade? Have the buyer pay in U.S. dollars.

“We used to let them pay in other currencies.

What a disaster,” he says. “The Japanese, for instance, are very honorable. But they’d wait for a favorable exchange rate. Now we require they all pay in U.S. dollars.”

Yet another popular Florida export is its agricultural products. From citrus to tomatoes to peanuts, the state is marketing its fruits and vegetables to 120 markets worldwide, including more than 42 grocery chains and 11,000 stores.

“With tourism and construction struggling, agriculture is the strongest pillar of our economy,” says Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam. “Florida exported $3 billion in agriculture products last year — a 48 percent

increase since 2005. ‘Fresh from Florida’ is an international brand.”

You Don’t Have To Go It Alone When Enterprise Florida organized a trade mission to Panama, AppRiver’s Murdoch had his “feet on the street” during three days of appointments arranged by the U.S. Department of Commerce. He brought home thousands of dollars in business.

When an Australian distributor of professional trapping supplies contacted Mike Higgins, director of the U.S. Export Assistance Center of the U.S. Commercial Service, U.S. Department of Commerce, Higgins told him about Sherman Traps. (Higgins happens to work out of Tallahassee.)

In short, state and federal agencies are more

The U.S. Department of Commerce’s 2010 trade statistics rank Florida as the nation’s fourth largest export state. With nearly an 18 percent increase in exports above 2009’s level, Florida moved into the fourth spot. Only New York, California and Texas are higher. Florida consistently has maintained a top 10 ranking during the past few years and has remained among the top five since 2008.

Northwest Florida’s primary agricultural exports* account for:

U.S. Origin Exports

by State

in annual estimated economic impact on the region

2,250 Jobs * Fruits, vegetables and field crops Source: Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services

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State

Annual 2010

% 2008–2009

% 2009–2010

$158.4 Million

Rank

Annual 2009

in annual estimated exports

Annual 2008

$66.5 Million

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than willing to help businesses expand their global footprint by organizing trade missions to countries around the world and setting up meetings with businesses interested in making a deal.

But exporting isn’t a business anyone can just walk into. It takes time to plan and research, including what is already being exported.

“The first question is, do you have the capacity for exporting? It’s a lot easier to open a market in the Midwest than in Mexico or China,” says Higgins of the U.S. Department of Commerce.

“Are your products exportable? Do you have the funding for manufacturing, warehousing?”

If a business is willing to give it a go, Higgins jokes, “I have one of the world’s greatest Rolodexes on my desk.” The U.S. Department of Commerce has a presence in 80 countries. For between $350 and $700, Commerce employees

Total All States

1,287,441,996,730

1,056,042,963,028

1,277,503,931,887

-18.0

21.0

192,221,780,916

162,994,740,450

206,643,433,085

-15.2

26.8

1 Texas

2

California

144,805,748,349

120,079,965,765

143,268,864,273

-17.1

19.3

3

New York

81,385,735,231

58,743,030,056

67,686,037,936

-27.8

15.2

4

Florida

54,238,239,529

46,888,006,761

55,226,964,749

-13.6

17.8

5

Washington

54,498,049,919

51,850,856,743

53,243,845,556

-4.9

2.7

6 Illinois

53,677,477,963

41,626,110,699

49,767,013,300

-22.5

19.6

7

45,135,506,345

32,655,333,884

44,504,081,029

-27.7

36.3

8 Ohio

45,627,982,845

34,104,484,238

41,436,943,865

-25.3

21.5

9

41,908,136,496

32,616,451,452

41,347,735,230

-22.2

26.8

34,648,502,042

28,381,102,168

34,826,239,944

-18.1

22.7

Michigan

Louisiana

10 Pennsylvania

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A B e tte r Tr ap (L to R) Sandra Screws, Rebecca Phillips and Gerald Phillips in the Tallahassee workshop where Sherman’s Traps are manufactured and then prepared for shipment across the globe.

in those countries can do market research for American companies looking to expand globally and set up contacts for one-on-one meetings.

“We do the research, but you have to go meet with the people,” Higgins says.

The meetings can be arranged during trade missions organized by Enterprise Florida, which has 14 international offices and produces the Florida Export Directory, designed to bring buyers together with Florida providers of goods and services. The next big trip is scheduled in October to Brazil, which will host the World Cup in 2014 and the summer Olympics in 2016 and which Mencia likes to call “Florida’s China.”

“Brazil is the seventh largest economy in the world and by 2020 could surpass Germany to become the fourth largest,” Mencia says. “Forty million people in Brazil have joined the middle class and, when Brazil thinks of the U.S., it thinks of Florida. Brazilians are buying everything that isn’t nailed to the wall.”

But while expanding a business into foreign trade is often do-able, Mencia cautions that it will take commitment and developing a marketing plan. “You have to make the effort,” he tells local businesses.

It’s also important to know the risk involved in cross-border sales, says Cynthia Flores, vice president of Global Trade Solutions for SunTrust Bank, which was recently named Export Lender

of the Year by the U.S. Small Business Administration for the second consecutive year.

“You need to analyze the commercial risks — can your buyer pay you? — and the political risks,” she suggests. “A lot of companies end up exporting pretty much by accident. They get a hit on their website and someone in another country wants to buy their product. Soon they’re

exporting and they’re not aware of all of the risks.”

For instance, getting payment for a product isn’t as easy as it may sound.

The biggest question to answer is, can your business afford the loss if you’re not paid?

Despite the risks, however, interest in foreign trade is growing.

David Mann, chairman, president and CEO of SunTrust Bank North Florida, points out that there was a 20 percent increase in U.S. exports in 2010 — and the bank has seen a big jump in North Florida clients seeking Small Business Administration export loans.

“We know about the need to be ready for the expansion of the Panama Canal … and we know it’s an important aspect of our future economic growth in North Florida. I’m no port expert,” he says, “but our customers are very excited about that factor.”

Perhaps most importantly, foreign clients still like the idea of buying goods made in the U.S. “We assumed that India would want some part of the equipment we’re selling to them to be built in their own country,” said DeTect’s Andrews.

“But when the Indian Air Force was here and inspected our units, they said they want everything built in the U.S. because they like our quality.” n

Here’s Where To Get Help >> Trade Information Center, a U.S. Commercial Service resource: export.gov >> Enterprise Florida, Inc.: eflorida.com >> Florida Export Directory: floridaexportdirectory.com >> Office of International Trade, Small Business Administration: sba.gov/oit >> O fficial Export Promotion Magazine, U.S. Department of Commerce: thinkglobal.com

Some Financial Tips >> Before you decide to export your goods or services, consider payment terms. >> Can you afford the loss if you are not paid? >> How long have the buyers been operating and what is their credit history? >> Are there reasonable alternatives for collecting if the buyer doesn’t pay? >> If shipment is made but not accepted, can alternative buyers be found? >> How will the payment terms affect your cash flow?

Source: SunTrust Bank

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Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained Why Northwest Florida has lagged behind in offering investment opportunities to start-ups and what some people are doing to make the region more entrepreneur friendly.

By Lilly Rockwell

S o wi n g S u c c e ss As founder of a Tallahassee private equity firm, Rick Kearney has helped nurture the ideas and dreams of local entrepreneurs. In the first quarter of 2011 Florida ranked 10th nationally in the amount of venture capital invested in home grown companies.

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Zero.

That’s how many Fortune 500 companies lay claim to Northwest Florida.

Contrast that to nearby Jacksonville, which is home to a respectable four Fortune 500 companies, such as the Winn Dixie grocery stores, and has a smaller population than the 1.3 million people that live between Tallahassee and Pensacola.

So what’s missing in Northwest Florida? Business experts say the clues to the success of many major companies are access to cash and experienced mentors early on.

Jacksonville also happens to be home to several venture firms and angel funds that specialize in making investments in businesses early in their corporate life.

Many of Florida’s most successful businesses started out as an idea that an investor believed in, supplying the necessary cash and mentoring at a crucial time to allow that burgeoning company to blossom into an economic powerhouse.

Especially in tough economic times, when banks are reluctant to loan money to companies that don’t have rock-solid balance sheets, private investment companies such as venture capital firms and wealthy “angel” investors fulfill a crucial need.

Not all businesses are able to “bootstrap,” a term for a business that relies on its own revenue and profits for growth, rather than loans or investors.

Like placing a risky bet, investors hope they will see a healthy return down the road.

Many of the most talked-about business success stories today, such as Google and Facebook, relied upon venture capitalists early on to fuel their growth.

“There is no question it is extremely important that a community recognizes that a vibrant entrepreneurial sector is an important long-term element to economic development,” said Alan Rossiter, the chairman and fund administrator of Jacksonville-based Springboard Capital, an angel fund. “Back in ’95 when I was working with business incubation … it became apparent from day one that without access to early stage equity capital the entire effort would be stillborn. The magnitude of an entrepreneur’s problem of accessing sources of equity capital cannot be overstated.”

But there is hope for Florida’s Panhandle. Quietly over the last few years, a small handful of private equity, angel funds and business incubators have emerged that want to help build a Northwest Florida that is a hive of entrepreneurial activity.

Just like real estate, it’s location, location, location Experts in start-up financing say it’s important to have venture firms and angel investors physically located in a given region to attract the type of entrepreneurial activity and corporate growth that is common in regions such as California’s Silicon Valley.

Historically, investors have been reluctant to travel to Northwest Florida to preview the small handful of

Photos by SCOTT HOLSTEIN

start-ups worthy of a closer look. Increasingly, business boosters are pushing for those types of investment opportunities to be available locally, where investors have a real stake in the community and want to see companies be successful.

“One of the recognized deficiencies in the area is we don’t have a platform where investors can look at lots of opportunities at one time,” said Tim Holcomb, executive director of the Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship at Florida State University. “Things like Innovation Park in Tallahassee are an effort to bring together lots of different start-ups and young companies in a way that might be attractive. But we haven’t reached a critical mass in this area.”

Northwest Florida has at least one essential ingredient that has fueled so much entrepreneurial activity in areas like Silicon Valley: a research university. Business boosters are hopeful that the inventions that come from universities such as Florida A&M and Florida State will help ignite more local businesses.

Many of Florida’s most successful businesses started out as an idea that an investor believed in, supplying the necessary cash and mentoring at a crucial time to allow that burgeoning company to blossom into an economic powerhouse.

“There is a natural disconnect between inventors and people with professional business experience,” said Mainline Information Systems CEO Rick Kearney, who helped found a private equity firm in Tallahassee. “Inventors tend to live in a world of ideas and physics and mechanics of their invention, whether it is software or hardware. But they don’t have connections to big business … they don’t have money to see their dreams through.”

Though Northwest Florida has lagged behind the rest of the state in fostering a nurturing environment for start-ups, the state at large struggles to compete with the big dogs of private equity investing, states like California and Massachusetts.

Last year, Florida ranked 15th among states in the amount of venture capital invested in Florida companies, according to the St. Petersburg Times.

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In the first quarter of 2011, Florida rose to No. 10 in venture investments, with $114 million pumped into Florida companies. But in that same time period, there were only six deals completed by Florida-based venture capital firms. Meanwhile, just the Silicon Valley area alone raked in $2.5 billion in venture capital investments.

Some of the more popular areas for venture capital firms and angel investors in Florida are South Florida and the Tampa Bay area. Collectively, they are home to a large majority of the state’s venture capital firms. These urban areas are popular locations for venture firms or other investment groups, because they have the right mix of wealthy individuals and large companies that often spawn retired executives with money to burn.

“This investment market has been underserved for a very long time,” Kearney said, referring to Northwest Florida. “Banks are not in the business of taking risks. Yet there are so many good ideas coming out of the universities and local entrepreneurs that went to Florida State and Florida A&M that have been toughing it out for years and need someone to get them across the goal line.”

It takes a special kind of investor to want to get involved in funding start-ups. There is no way of knowing whether the company you invest in will go bankrupt in a few years, or be wildly successful and double or triple the money you put into it.

It’s a high-stake lottery that some wealthy individuals thrive on.

“Participating in angel investment is an extremely risky proposition,” Rossiter said. “It’s almost like walking up to the plate where the only thing that counts is a home run.”

The draw for a lot of investors is a mixture of a purely financial incentive and a genuine interest in helping start-ups, with many investors being successful businessmen or women themselves who want to impart their knowledge to the next generation.

Rossiter said some investors are drawn to the potential for a “very large return.” But that is “balanced by a very, very large risk,” he added.

“There is a question of suitability for investors to participate in angel investment and therefore angel investment is typically done only by accredited investors and people with sufficient net worth that they can afford to allocate some small portion to a high risk investment,” Rossiter said. “It’s certainly not for everyone.”

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Even Rossiter’s Springboard Capital has taken its lumps. It was founded in 2001 in Jacksonville and in its first fund “we had significantly more losers than winners,” he said.

But lessons were learned and applied to the second fund, which Rossiter reports is doing well. He said there have been no exits yet, a term for when a company is either sold or goes public, yielding a return for investors.

“These companies are growing, there is cash flowing, we would expect within the next 12 to 24 months to have one or two exits,” he said.

Investors say a typical rule of thumb for most venture or angel investors is that 20 percent of the investments will fail, 60 percent will break even and 20 percent will do very well.

In Pensacola, white sand means more than beaches In Pensacola, Rus Howard has found success running a three-year-old angel fund called Whitesand Investments. Howard could have run his fund anywhere, but chose Pensacola because of its climate and proximity to one of the companies he wanted to invest in.

Howard said he was familiar with Northwest Florida through an early investment in New York-based Pyhton Inc., which was involved in the wildly successful anti-cancer drug Taxol, an invention that came out of Florida State University.

“Taxol is the best anti-cancer drug in the last 30 years,” he said. After that early success, Howard started to consult with other start-ups.

“I started helping people, I saw an opportunity to invest,” he said. “When I first started doing it, I didn’t have money to invest. Then I did.” Suddenly, Howard was an angel.

One company he was investing in, Silver Bullet Technology, moved to Pensacola because his “wife wanted to lay out on the beach,” Howard said. Silver Bullet makes software for the payment processing industry, with several large banks as clients.

“He moved his business down here and kept trying to get me to move down here, and I said ‘No, no, no,’ ” Howard said. “One day, I learned if lived in Florida, I’d save enough on taxes to buy a new house.” Howard relocated to Pensacola in 2003.

He continued investing on his own and started an angel fund three years ago. That means he raised money from several wealthy individuals to go into one fund together.

Howard soon discovered why there weren’t any venture or angel funds there

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What do venture firms and angels look for?

Tips on how to pitch your business to an investor >> Experience. First and foremost, most investors look at the experience and leadership of the company. How knowledgeable is the founder or CEO? Have they founded a successful company before? Have they brought on experienced people? Even if an entrepreneur has started a company before and failed, investors say that is better than one that has never started a company. >> A good elevator pitch and business plan.

Learn how to perfect a short “elevator pitch,” either in writing or in person. Sometimes you only have a few minutes to impress an investor. Learn how to explain in short, concise terms why your company is worth investing in and whether there is a good exit strategy down the road. >> Do your research and prepare for full disclosure. Know your market and have statistics ready. If you already have a product, explain in detail how much money you are spending and earning and what those projected earnings are. If you don’t have your product or service on the market, have projections. One question a lot of investors ask is, “Who are your competitors and what is to stop them from copying you?” Don’t say you have no competitors and be truthful about your strengths and weaknesses.

Disclose why you need money, what you will use it for and how far it will get you.

“This area definitely needs improvement. If we restrict our investments to just this area it’s going to be very, very difficult. We’ve looked at a lot of local (businesses) and rejected almost all of them, though we have a few.” —Rus Howard

Funding Innovation Rus Howard began his investment career with a company involved in Taxol, the wildly successful anti-cancer drug invented at Florida State University. Now he runs an angel fund called Whitesand Investments out of Pensacola.

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before he came around. Finding investors is “never easy,” Howard said, adding that discovering good local start-ups to invest in is just as much of a challenge.

“This area definitely needs improvement,” he said. “If we restrict our investments to just this area it’s going to be very, very difficult.

We’ve looked at a lot of local (businesses) and rejected almost all of them, though we have a few.”

One drawback, Howard said, is that the University of West Florida is “a great teaching university, but it doesn’t do a lot of research.”

Whitesand doesn’t have a particular industry specialty and generally sees more interest from Florida-based companies than out-ofstate start-ups. Howard said Whitesand does not get deeply involved in the management of a company it invests in, trying instead to be “passive investors.”

One example of a company Whitesand thought was worth investing in is Houstonbased Deep Gulf, which makes an underwater pipeline that is larger and can go deeper than existing pipes. But his investors will have to be patient before seeing many returns, it usually takes 10 years to see a return on investment.

A push to diversify Tallahassee’s government-driven economy One of the reasons Northwest Florida has historically lagged behind in investor activity is it didn’t need it. Its business base was largely tourism and the small businesses, such as retailers and restaurateurs, associated with that.

In cities like Tallahassee and in rural communities, the economy relied upon farms and government and university workers.

But increasingly the business community in cities like Tallahassee want to see more of the Fortune 500-type companies that bring hundreds of jobs so they can wean themselves off the perceived over-reliance on government and university jobs.

In Tallahassee, Adam Kaye has founded Silicon Tally, a hybrid business incubator and software lab formed to throw together smart, creative people in one physical space, using them collectively to work on ideas that could blossom into a company.

Kaye said the idea stemmed from a desire to see Tallahassee be more welcoming to a generation of tech-savvy 20-somethings who often leave the city for jobs elsewhere.

He believes in the “if you build it, they will come” philosophy — if the right encouragement is given to start-ups, investors will flock to the area.

The idea behind Silicon Tally is to put people of different strengths together, from programmers to designers to business minds, and have them work on individual freelance projects near one another. But if one programmer, for instance, has an idea for new software, all could work on it and share in the work and rewards.

“A common criticism (of Tallahassee) is the lack of venture capital and angel investment,” Kaye said. “I don’t think it’s necessarily the lack of high net worth individuals. As I go around my network and explore the different pockets of potential resources, I am surprised at the amount of high net worth individuals in North Florida.”

Kearney is one of those “high net worth” individuals that Kaye is talking about.

Florida lags behind in venture investments Every quarter PricewaterhouseCoopers releases data on venture capital activity in each region of the country.

Florida lags behind other less populous states.

First quarter of 2011: 1. California 299 companies, $3.2 billion in investments 2. Massachusetts 79 companies, $605 million in investments 3. New York 49 companies, $416 million in investments 4. Texas 35 companies, $263 million in investments 5. Illinois 29 companies, $173 million in investments 6. New Jersey 15 companies, $165 million in investments 7. Georgia 13 companies, $154 million in investments 8. Pennsylvania 30 companies, $153 million in investments 9. Washington 28 companies, $131 million in investments 10. Florida 14 companies, $114 million in investments Source: NVCA/PricewaterhouseCoopers MoneyTree Report with data from Thomson Reuters.

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Ventures, angels, private equity.

What does it all mean?

I

n the popular ABC reality show called Shark Tank, entrepreneurs pitch ideas to rich investors called “sharks,” such as the colorful Dallas Mavericks basketball owner and billionaire Mark Cuban. The ideas tend to be consumer-friendly, from magnetic buttondown collars to premium wine by the glass and a dance company for children.

If the sharks don’t like the idea, it is flat-out rejected. But if at least one of the investors wants to sink his or her money into it, a negotiation round begins and the investors compete for who can bring the most generous offer.

The show is not too far off from how entrepreneurs secure investments in the “real world.” There are hundreds of investment firms in the United States that specialize in providing funding for unproven start-ups and well over a dozen in Florida alone.

Venture Capital Firms Venture capital firms are partnerships that raise money to invest in companies. These investors can be wealthy individuals, investment banks and other financial institutions — or even pensions and endowments.

Typically these firms raise money that is put into a fund, with up to several hundreds of millions of dollars in it. That fund is used to invest in companies.

The partners of the venture capital firm select what companies to invest in and are highly selective because they are looking for a good rate of return.

Typically, venture capital firms invest in startups, which can just be an idea, early-stage companies and even established businesses that need help with expansion. Many tend to focus on a specific geographical area.

When accepting an investment from a venture firm, a company is usually agreeing to sell a certain percentage ownership of the company in the form of shares.

Venture firms usually take an active role in the company by putting some of the firm’s partners on the board, for instance. They also act as business mentors. The firm itself makes money from management fees and sometimes a portion of the profits of the company.

Like all investors, venture firms seek companies to invest in that will bring back more money than was put in. This is usually done

through a “liquidity event,” such as the sale of the company, a merger, or initial public offering in which shares are sold to the public.

D reams Become Real Adam Kaye founded Silicon Tally in Tallahassee to throw together smart, creative people and get them to collectively work on ideas that could grow into a company.

Angel Funds An angel fund is similar to a venture capital firm in that each raises money for a fund that is used to invest in companies. The main difference is that the angel fund functions more like a cooperative, with all the members making decisions on what to invest in.

The individual angels don’t get to pick and choose what companies to invest in, but rather reach an agreement as to what the fund should invest in as a whole. All of the angels, through investments made by the fund, have a stake in a company.

What type of companies angel funds want to invest in varies widely. Angel funds, like venture capital firms, tend to focus on a certain geographical area. They also are similar to venture firms in that they act as business mentors and dispense advice.

Angel Groups An angel group has the least formal arrangement. These tend to be loose coalitions of angels in a given geographic area that hear pitches from start-ups looking for cash.

These angels are wealthy individuals who may choose to invest in a company on their own, or with a handful of people in the angel group. Unlike an angel fund, however, there is no requirement that everyone in the group invest.

Private Equity Firms Technically, any firm that invests in private companies is considered a private equity, with venture capital and angel funds falling under the umbrella of the “private equity” label. But there are private equity firms that are not venture or angel funds that help fund early-stage companies and nurture product development or expansion.

The main difference between a private equity firm and a venture firm is the private equity firm often takes a smaller ownership stake and is less involved in the operation of the company. But they share much in common with venture firms in that they diligently screen potential companies to invest in and are selective in their investments.

Source: Rick Kearney, Alan Rossiter, Rus Howard

“As I go around my network and explore the different pockets of potential resources, I am surprised at the amount of high net worth individuals in North Florida.”

—Adam Kaye He started his own private equity firm in 2006 with the intention of investing in companies within a 150-mile radius of Tallahassee.

His firm, Vision 2020, was started with the county’s help in footing the bill. In an ironic twist, it seems even the investors themselves sometimes need help with start-up costs.

“The Leon County Commission gave us an administrative jump start with $750,000 to help us overcome some of the hurdles, which is the cost of a start-up,” Kearney said. “It will take that kind of money before the investor feels comfortable.”

Only about two years ago did Vision 2020’s first $5 million private equity fund start investing. It was completely seeded with money from local investors, Kearney said.

“Our investments range from small, like $10,000, up to $200,000. If more money is needed, we partner with other private equity firms,” Kearney said.

Unlike a venture capital firm, Kearney said Vision 2020’s approach is hands-off. “All of our investments are pretty much run by the entrepreneurs. We provide oversight and guidance and auditing.” He said they look for companies that are early in their business life cycle but still have a lot of room for growth.

One investment Kearney is hopeful about is Tallahassee-based Verdicorp, which is working on a new way of developing power, based on converting heat into energy.

Though Kearney “boot-strapped” his own information technology company, Mainline, he sees the value in offering a helping hand early in a company’s life. And he is largely running Vision 2020 as a hobby, along with his day job as CEO of Mainline.

“We are thankful for our success and would love to see other local Tallahassee business people and entrepreneurs be successful as well, so there is a certain amount of community spirit behind our motivation,” Kearney said. n

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Walton County

The Natural Advantage 20 1 1 -12

B U S I N E S S

O UTLO O K

/ 2011–12 SP E CC O I AULN TRY E—P O estate outlook 2011 2 /2 W|A LT ON T HRETN|AT850 U R Acommercial L A D VA N TA G E real BUSINESS OUTLOOK

Photo by SCOTT HOLSTEIN

This is Walton County Ideally located in Northwest Florida and close to everything

W

alton County is located in Northwest Florida and is bordered on the south by the Gulf of Mexico, the north by Alabama, the west

by Okaloosa County and the Fort Walton Beach area and on the east by Bay County and the Panama City area. It is home to the highest point in Florida, Britton Hill, which is 345 feet above sea level.

The county is 1,238 square miles and includes 180 square miles of water. More than 20 percent of Walton County’s land area is part of Eglin Air Force Base.

The Choctawhatchee River is a vitally important water body to the ecological

Climate Average temperatures January. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . High 63, Low 40 July. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . High 92, Low 71 In Walton County, the sun shines an average of 230 days a year.

Population, 2010 Total. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55,043 Percent change in population from April 1, 2000–April 1, 2010. . . . . . . . 35.6% Population by Race/Ethnicity Non-Hispanic White. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85.1% Non-Hispanic Black. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.7% Hispanic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.3% American Indian. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.8% Asian. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.9% Two or more races. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.9%

45 to 54 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.8% 55 to 59 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.2% 60 to 64 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.0% 65 to 74 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.9% 75 to 84 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.7% 85 +. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.6%

Employment Top Industries, 2009 Leisure and Hospitality. . . . . . . . . . . . 23.4% Trade, Transportation, Utilities. . . . 20.3% Construction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.0% Education and Health Services. . . . . . 9.7%

Public Administration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.6% Professional and Business Services.7.6% Financial Activities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.4% Labor Force, 2010 Total. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31,064 Private Wage and Salary. . . . . . . . . . . . . 71% Federal, state, local government. . . . 17% Self-employed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12% Income Median household. . . . . . . . . . . . . . $46,159 Per capita personal, 2009. . . . . . . . $27,125

FLYING HIGH Local bases provide opportunities for military contractors and local businesses.

Avg. Annual Wage, 2009 . . . . . . . $28,590

Education Education Level of Population High School graduate or higher. . .83.6% Bachelor’s degree or higher. . . . . . . 24.9% High School Graduation Rate 2009-2010 school year. . . . . . . . . . . . 85.1% Florida graduation rate. . . . . . . . . . . . 80.7%

Home Sales Housing choices range from new urbanism communities on the Gulf to small town neighborhoods to private country retreats.

DeFuniak Springs Avg. Listing, May 2011. . . . . . . . . $177,689 Median Sale, Feb–Apr, 2011. . . . . $92,500

Households & Families, 2010

Freeport Avg. Listing, May 2011. . . . . . . . . $245,483 Median Sale, Feb–Apr, 2011. . . $102,050

Types of Households Families. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65.1% Non-family households. . . . . . . . . . . 34.9% PHOTO COURTESY EGLIN AFB; COVER PHOTO COURTESY SOUTH WALTON TDC

and economic health of Walton County.

The river is the third largest river in the state in terms of discharge and opens into the Choctawhatchee Bay. The bay covers 52,000 acres and is a brackish water body. The bay is an important resource for county residents, as it is used for recreational purposes such as fishing and boating as well as commercial fishing. It is common to see large barges traveling through the bay carrying cargo through the Intracoastal Waterway.

Other freshwater bodies account for approximately 5,320 acres in Walton County. n

Santa Rosa Beach Avg. Listing, May 2011. . . . . . . . . $861,454 Median Sale, Feb–Apr, 2011. . . $218,000

Age Distribution of People Birth to 14. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17.1% 15 to 19 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.7% 20 to 24 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.4% 25 to 34 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.6% 35 to 44 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.9%

Sources: U.S. Census, Enterprise Florida, City-data. com, Florida’s Great Northwest, Trulia.com and Walton County Economic Development Alliance

Walton County Economic Development Alliance Scarlett Phaneuf, Managing Director

76 North Sixth Street DeFuniak Springs, FL 32433 www.wcedafl.com 850.892.4859

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Publication design and management by Rowland Publishing © Rowland Publishing Inc., Aug. 2011

2011–12 BUSINESS OUTLOOK / W A LT O N C O U N T Y — T H E N AT U R A L A D VA N TA G E / 3

Formula For Success

I

n three decades, Florida Transformer has gone from a small business with just a handful of workers to a regional company that services customers across the country and the globe.

Today, with 123 employees, it’s in the midst of a major expansion program and stands as a shining example of a Walton County success story.

“We’ve grown by leaps and bounds,” says Ron Shaw, the general manager who joined the DeFuniak Springs company two decades ago, when he was 20.

“We have a major development plan — this expansion is just the first phase.”

Shaw credits Walton County and the city of DeFuniak Springs, as well as the state of Florida, with being active partners in the success of the business, which services and repairs power distribution equipment. Clients now include Gulf Power, military bases, industrial customers and an international paper company — and the company’s products and services are available to a growing range of clients because of its close proximity to Bay County’s new Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport and a network of major highways.

“We’ve got all kinds of options for getting buyers in here and distributing our goods,” Shaw says. “We also do a lot of training here — and it’s quite a draw to tell people to come stay on the beach.”

of government leaders to aid in the growth of new business with making this a good location for economic development.

Communities across the country are competing for new business, and they’re getting more aggressive and creative in how they position their areas to attract outside companies. In Walton County, officials are using WELCOME HOME Walton business leaders say the area’s natural beauty and its strong sense of community make this a good location for economic development.

local and state incentives to help businesses grow and get what they need to succeed.

“Every locally elected official in office today has made job creation a priority,” says Scarlett Phaneuf, managing director of the Walton County Economic Development Alliance.

A major plus: Florida is one of only nine states in the nation that does not have a personal income tax. Overall, Florida is considered a low-tax state and Walton County in particular has historically kept property taxes low.

A welcoming business climate Walton business leaders credit the area’s natural beauty, its strong sense of community, its educational opportunities, a motivated and educated workforce and the willingness

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2011–12 BUSINESS OUTLOOK

City officials in DeFuniak Springs enacted a one-year moratorium on impact and tap fees normally charged to new construction. And the city and county have the power to grant property tax abatement for new businesses.

“We’re working aggressively to create competitive advantages,” Phaneuf says.

“And we’re creating shovel ready sites in Freeport and Mossy Head … taking industrial property green fields and improving with infrastructure. We’re offering free, fully-improved industrial land in exchange for jobs.”

During the 2011 legislative session, state lawmakers approved $210 million in property tax relief to help business statewide, reorganized state agencies “with an eye toward economic development” and changed the corporate income tax to drop about half the businesses (15,000) from the tax rolls.

“We’re on the path to turning the economy around … to making this the state where people want to start their business, grow their business or move their business to,” says Gov. Rick Scott.

New businesses will find plenty of available land in Walton County that is reasonably priced. There are local and regional incentives to help new businesses set up shop — or help existing businesses expand. And the area workforce board provides incentives and on-the-job experience that can help with the training of employees.

“If it wasn’t enough to have the ability and tools to grow and develop our business community, we get to do so where opportunity surrounds us,” says Kitty Whitney, president and CEO of the Walton Area Chamber

PHOTOS COURTESY SOUTH WALTON TDC

Tax incentives, shovel-ready sites and a welcoming community

of Commerce. “People come from all over the world to get a glimpse of a lifestyle we experience everyday … we live where many would love to live. We work where many would love to work.”

It Takes A Community Recognizing the importance of having access to quality health care, the Walton community rallied to make Sacred Heart Hospital on the Emerald Coast a reality in 2003 by raising $20 million to help get construction underway.

“Before the first brick was even laid, we had support from the Chamber of Commerce and the community,” says Roger Hall, president of the Miramar Beach hospital. “We identified our needs at $54 million and we raised $20 million from the community. From there, it’s been one success story after another.”

With 560 associates employed, the hospital sees nearly 8,000 patients a month. It continues to add new services, including the Olson Women’s Diagnostic Center, the Family Birth Place and an emergency room that has already doubled in size, servicing more than 2,000 patients a month. The hospital has won several national awards, including one for patient satisfaction.

As one of the area’s largest employers, the hospital relies on a well-educated and trained work force. While most health care organizations are constantly in need of trained professionals, Sacred Heart has been able to quickly fill positions with highly skilled staff.

“Our local colleges produce fine talent, and we have a tremendous work force from which to access the best employees,” says Hall. “Because of this, we can consistently provide quality care to the community.”

As for the business decision by Pensacola-based Sacred Heart Health System to open a hospital in Walton County, Hall says, “You always measure quality health care by the quality of the community. We’ve grown by more than 10 percent every year. We feel Walton County and this part of Florida is paradise, and it is poised for substantial economic expansion.”

Tourism Remains Strong The tourism industry has been and remains an economic anchor for Walton

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Formula For Success County. An estimated 2 million visitors flock to South Walton’s coast each year, and that’s reflected in the fact that some of Walton County’s largest employers are resorts and rental management companies.

The hospitality industry leads the labor force at 23.4 percent.

Access to the region has been made even easier through expanded flight service at both the Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport in nearby Bay County as well as neighboring Okaloosa County’s Northwest Florida Regional Airport. New hotels are opening and visitor numbers are growing.

“We’re starting to see new businesses pop up and that’s a strong sign,” says Dawn Moliterno, executive director of the South Walton Tourist Development Council.

“The quality of life and the people — the caliber of assets and the diversity of the options — are second to none,” adds Moliterno. “These options, the people, the Southern hospitality, a county that supports and welcomes business and industries … there is always a balance, ensuring quality of life while not over-restricting business.”

Focus On Diversification While they agree it’s important for the county to protect a key economic strength — tourism — area business leaders have been focusing more on diversification.

“Walton County has done an incredible job on improving its education system, which is a catalyst to bringing in new business,” says Sacred Heart’s Hall.

The Economic Development Alliance has been reaching out to industries that provide high skill, high wage jobs and has been a major factor in the push to diversify, say local business leaders.

“I’ve seen tremendous change,” says Shaw. “We have an open environment for people to present new ideas. We need jobs that cover the spectrum, and we’re doing more and more to bring new business in.

This is a wonderful place to stay and raise a family. There are a lot of opportunities.”

Adds Phaneuf, “Walton County can give your business a natural advantage. The area’s unrivaled quality of life and pro-business environment are just the beginning.

We encourage your business to discover its own success story in Walton County.” n

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Incentives Available For Expanding or New Businesses

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alton County offers tax credits, training assistance and, in some cases, grant assistance to encourage economic development. In addition, the state of Florida partners with Walton County to provide incentive packages specifically crafted to meet the needs of new and expanding companies.

LOCAL INCENTIVES Rural Enterprise Zones Walton County is designated as a “rural county” because of its population and is one of only a few counties in Florida with three designated Rural Enterprise Zones. Companies that establish operations within these zones benefit from increased tax exemptions and credits.

Ad Valorem Property Tax As an additional benefit to encourage job creation and development, the Walton County Board of Commissioners and the City Council of DeFuniak Springs each has the ability to consider ad valorem tax abatements on a case-by-case basis for new or expanding businesses.

Land Grants Industrial and distribution projects with significant job creation are highly desired in Walton County. The Walton County Economic Development Alliance can offer land grants for projects located at the Walton County Industrial Park in Freeport that meet certain job creation requirements and economic development criteria. Other land grant opportunities may be evaluated on an individual project basis at the Northwest Florida Commerce Park at Mossy Head.

STATE INCENTIVES Qualified Target Industry Tax Refund (QTI) This incentive is available for companies that create high wage jobs in targeted high value-added industries and includes refunds on corporate income, sales, ad valorem, intangible personal property,

insurance premium and certain other taxes. Pre-approved applicants who create jobs in Florida paying 115 percent of the average annual wage receive tax refunds of $3,000 per net new Florida full-time equivalent job created; $6,000 per job within an Enterprise Zone or rural county. New or expanding businesses in selected targeted industries or corporate headquarters are eligible.

High Impact Performance Incentive Grant (HIPI) This is used to attract and grow major high impact businesses in Florida. Grants are provided to pre-approved applicants in certain high-impact sectors designated by the Department of Economic Development Opportunity. The project must operate within designated high-impact portions of the following sectors: biomedical technology, financial services, silicon technology and transportation equipment manufacturing or be a corporate headquarters facility supporting international, national or regional operations. The project must create at least 100 new full-time equivalent jobs (if a research and development facility, at least 75) in Florida in a three-year period, and make a cumulative investment in the state of at least $100 million (if a research and development facility, at least $75 million) in a three-year period.

Capital Investment Tax Credit (CITC) The tax credit is used to attract and grow capital-intensive industries in Florida. It is an annual credit, provided for up to 20 years, against the corporate income tax.

Projects must create a minimum of 100 jobs and invest at least $25 million in eligible capital costs.

Qualified Defense Contractor Tax Refund (QDC) To preserve and grow its high technology employment base, the state gives Florida defense/homeland security contractors a competitive edge in consolidating contracts or subcontracts, acquiring new contracts or converting contracts to commercial production. This refund may be up to $5,000 per

job created or saved in Florida through: the conversion of defense jobs to civilian production, the acquisition of a new defense contract or the consolidation of a defense contract which results in at least a 25 percent increase in Florida employment or a minimum of 80 jobs.

Quick Response Training Program (QRT) Designed as an inducement to secure new value-added businesses and provide existing Florida businesses the necessary training for expansion. Reimbursable training expenses include: instructors’/trainers’ salaries, curriculum development, textbooks/ manuals and materials/supplies.

Incumbent Worker Training Program (IWT) Provides training to currently employed workers to keep Florida’s work force competitive in a global economy and to retain existing businesses. The program is available to all Florida businesses that have been in operation for at least one year prior to application and require skills upgrade training for existing employees.

Economic Development Transportation Fund (Road Fund) An incentive tool designed to alleviate transportation problems that hinder a specific company’s location or expansion decision. The award amount is based on the number of new and retained jobs and the eligible transportation project costs, up to $3 million.

Walton County is serious about business attraction, retention and expansion. Incentives represent just one way Walton County demonstrates its natural advantage when it comes to your business.

For further information, contact the Walton County Economic Development Alliance.

(850) 892-4859 or wcedafl.com n

2011–12 BUSINESS OUTLOOK / W A LT O N C O U N T Y — T H E N AT U R A L A D VA N TA G E / 7

Assets and Opportunities Tax incentives, shovel-ready sites and a welcoming community

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ong famous for the unique upscale beach resorts found along its Emerald Coast, Walton County has made a name for itself in tourism and resort circles.

But that’s not to say the Walton County business environment isn’t diverse. Trade, transportation, utilities and construction combine to form more than 34 percent of the county’s employment. Education, healthcare services and public administration round out the top five industry sectors as ranked by employment.

Local economic development professionals point out that a strong, well-educated workforce with a pro-business ethic and one of the state’s lowest property tax rates, makes Walton County’s pro-business credentials clear.

“Walton County … strives to create a favorable business climate for current and prospective employers,” said Walton County Economic Development Alliance Managing Director Scarlett Phaneuf in a welcome letter to potential new businesses.

To achieve that goal, economic development officials have begun improving two publicly owned industrial parcels to create “shovel-ready” sites with flexible lot sizes that can accommodate an individual tenant’s need for acreage.

The Walton County Industrial Park on Business Highway 331 in Freeport and the Northwest Florida Commerce Park at the intersection of Highway 285 and Interstate 10 are prime for a wide array of businesses and industry.

The Economic Development Alliance is currently working to install infrastructure in Phase II of the Walton County Industrial Park at Freeport. The property is ideally located 12 miles from I-10, less than three miles from State Road 20 and 13 miles from U.S. Highway 98. It is 34 miles from the new Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport in Bay County and the Northwest Florida Regional Airport in Okaloosa County is 31 miles away.

The first phase of the development, which

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was initially owned by the Economic Development Alliance, is now in private hands and hosts Larry Batchelor Mechanical, Designer Kitchen and Bath, Mills Heating and Air, a Community Coffee distribution center, Okaloosa Gas District and other industrial companies. Southern Wine & Spirits of Florida closed on the last remaining parcel in Phase I during the summer of 2010. The company plans to construct a 20,000 square foot re-distribution center and employ 60.

When asked about the decision to locate in Freeport, Laurence Chaplin, administrative vice president of Southern Wine & Spirits commented, “We believe that by locating

Open for Business Flexible lot sizes plus easy access to major highways make Walton County Industrial Park Phase II an attractive business site.

a re-distribution center in Freeport, we will be able to provide a higher level of service that will benefit all of our trading partners, including our customers and suppliers.”

Phase II, a 44-acre site with 26 acres available for development, is currently a greenfield site but is being actively marketed to potential clients. The Walton County Economic Development Alliance and its partners are in the process of evaluating funding options to install necessary infrastructure, including an industrial access road, water, sewer and other improvements.

The 315-acre Northwest Florida Commerce Park at Mossy Head (west of DeFuniak Springs) consists of two parcels

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bisected by State Road 285 and is owned by the Walton County Board of County Commissioners. The park offers flexible lot sizes and is adjacent to superior transportation corridors — I-10 forms its southern border and a CSX rail line creates the northern boundary. The park is located 52 miles from the Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport and is accessible to U.S. Highway 331, the county’s main north-south artery.

The plan is to attract businesses hoping to take advantage of the park’s close proximity to the interstate, CSX rail and U.S. Highway 90, a location particularly valuable to distribution centers. The site might also include some limited retail and restaurant businesses, particularly along State Road 285.

Overall, Walton County hopes to attract targeted industries that will bring high quality, stable jobs to the county and provide opportunities to grow and diversify the local base economy. Those targeted industries include manufacturing, corporate headquarters, “clean tech” (biomass, biofuels and solar energy), life sciences (pharmaceuticals, surgical equipment and biotech), “infotech” (software, telecommunications, electronics and digital media); aviation and aerospace, homeland security and defense; finance, banking, insurance, engineering, accounting and consulting.

Boosting Walton County’s attraction is its three Rural Enterprise Zones, located in the Mossy Head community in unincorporated Walton County, as well as the cities of DeFuniak Springs and Freeport. Combined, these three zones offer business owners the chance to obtain tax refunds and credits for new jobs created as well as capital investments such as purchases of machinery and equipment, building materials and more. n

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Highways and Airways of Commerce Walton County poised to compete regionally and globally

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estled in the heart of Northwest Florida’s Emerald Coast, Walton County stretches from the Gulf of Mexico to the Alabama state line and is perfectly poised to distribute goods all over the world.

There are excellent east-west roadways, such as Interstate 10, U.S. Highway 90, U.S. 98 and State Road 20. If you’re looking to move products to the eastern seaboard or the Midwest, you can make a short connection to I-75 or I-65. Within Walton County, U.S. 331 is the primary north-south artery, enabling companies to easily reach into Alabama and beyond. Walton County’s ready connection to major hub cities throughout the South gives the county a natural advantage in transportation.

Rail access is an assett in moving goods and products to ports in Panama City, Pensacola and Jacksonville. CSX manages more than 1,650 miles of rail in Florida and handled more than 929,500 cars of freight in 2009.

Port Panama City in neighboring Bay County is noted for being the closest U.S. port to the Panama Canal, which is going through a period of expansion. The port’s primary cargo consists of copper, linerboard, wood pulp, steel plate and pipe, steel coils and flexible pipe. The amount, or tonnage, of cargo handled by the port is expected to increase as the facility continues to improve, with projections that over the next five years it will grow from 2.1 million to 2.4 million tons of cargo a year.

Walton County businesses have long had the ability to ship and receive cargo from ports in Panama City and Pensacola. According to the Walton County Economic Development Alliance, barges make deliveries to the city of Freeport from Four Mile Creek, where industrial structures and vacant land with waterway access are available Florida Transformer, which specializes in power distribution equipment service and repair, is just one example of a company

thriving in Walton County. Located just north of DeFuniak Springs on State Road 83, the company is only minutes away from U.S. 331 and Interstate 10. DeFuniak Springs is an ideal location for a company that has customers throughout much of the Southeast, especially Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee and the Carolinas.

Connected Access to air, sea and land routes give Walton County a natural advantage in moving goods and people.

“We actually travel as far north as Dayton, Ohio and Maryland, and some in Indiana,” said Ron Shaw, general manager.

Shaw said the company’s primary mode of shipping is its fleet of seven companyowned trucks and numerous contractors.

They make extensive use of I-10, U.S. 331, U.S. 231, I-65, I-85 and I-75, all within easy reach of Walton County.

Meanwhile, air travel is also playing a large role in the company’s progress.

“In recent years, the advances of local airports in Panama City and Fort Walton Beach have helped us because we have a lot of international export customers and corporate travel,” he said. “Our corporate office is in Indianapolis, so our corporate travel has improved.”

In addition to international and regional airports, the DeFuniak Springs Municipal Airport along U.S. Highway 90 is poised for growth in the near future, according to Kelly Schultz, airport services supervisor. Between December 2010, when the city took over operations, and April 2011, there was a 92 percent increase in business.

“This was mostly attributed to the fact that we have the cheapest aviation fuel prices in Northwest Florida,” she said.

The city is working to update its airport master plan and recently bought a “considerable amount of land” west of the airport, which will allow the east-west asphalt runway to be lengthened to 5,000 feet, then 6,000 feet. The first phase will enable the airport to serve small jets, and the later phase will allow larger corporate jets to utilize the facility. The runways will be widened to accomodate larger traffic.

Also, “We will be given the ability to build more hangars. We have had many requests for more hangars,” Shultz said.

The airport currently has 16 “T hangars” and six corporate hangars, all of which are occupied.

Shultz said other improvements are in the works aside from new hangars. Plans call for a new terminal building, runway markers, fuel farm, additional tie-downs and improved “turf” for the north-south runway.

“This being the only airport in Walton County, we can provide a catalyst for pilots to land in Walton County and not have to go out of the county. We also plan on having additional facilities for aviation-related industrial development at the airfield.”

Shultz said. n

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Walton’s Educated Work Force An investment in education contributes to economic growth

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n educated workforce is imperative to economic growth. There is a clear understanding that education enhances productivity. Without affordable, local training opportunities, many displaced workers who have lost their jobs as a result of the current recession will face long-term unemployment.

“Work force and economic development are locked in step,” says Mary Lou Reed, executive director of the Workforce Development Board of Okaloosa and Walton counties. “Employers and potential new businesses place great value on a trained and educated work force with excellent ‘soft skills’ that include a good work ethic and acceptance of responsibility.”

Businesses are making decisions on locating and expanding based in large measure on the quality and quantity of the workforce, according to Reed, and if a good education is a predictor of such a workforce, Walton County is ripe for growth.

The county is home to top-ranked public schools. Nearby colleges and state universities provide higher education opportunities and training. A high concentration of military trained workers contributes to the attractiveness of the local work force.

Work Ready A commitment to education gives business access to a productive and talented work force.

“Walton County School District is acutely aware of its relationship in economic development, which is two-fold,” says Walton County School Superintendent Carlene Anderson. “We must provide an excellent education as we are developing the future workforce for our business community, and economic development is dependent on an excellent educational system to draw employees to their business development.”

In addition to providing high-quality education to the area, the school district is one of the largest employers in the county.

“The education system not only impacts the economy of our county by providing quality jobs for residents, but also has a hand in shaping our future economy,” says Scarlett Phaneuf, managing director of the Walton County Economic Development Alliance. “One of the most critical roles that our educators play in economic development is preparing tomorrow’s work force.

The more skilled our work force, the higher wages they can command, which improves the quality of life for all of us.”

A Stellar School District When families and businesses contemplate moving to a new location, local education is one of the most critical factors for consideration. Walton County’s school district is one of the best in the state.

The county is one of the 13 districts across the state to meet all the criteria for the designation of an academically high performing school district, according to a Florida Department of Education report released in May 2011. In order to qualify for the designation, the district must earn an A-grade from the state for academics, have a clean audit and comply with Florida’s constitutionally mandated small class sizes.

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The Walton Career Development Center, part of the highly rated Walton County School District, prepares high school students and adults for the higher education opportunities and the world of work. Classes are available in twelve courses of study.

Walton County’s education systems have also employed public and private partnerships to develop creative curriculum to develop critical skills, adds Phaneuf. “Both our workforce board and schools have been very responsive in filling the gaps of the skill sets of our work force that have been identified by our local businesses.”

Colleges Because of the recession, displaced workers have enrolled in Florida colleges in unprecedented numbers over the past three years.

Walton County is home to two separate centers operated by Northwest Florida State College (NWFSC) — the Chautauqua Center in DeFuniak Springs and the new South Walton Center in Santa Rosa Beach. Traditional and non-traditional students benefit

from diverse course offerings with the opportunity to complete a four-year degree at the Northwest Florida State College Main Campus in Niceville.

“Northwest Florida State College is known for its outreach to businesses and the community,” says Phaneuf. “The college conducts customized business and industry training. Additionally, the Northwest Florida State College Leadership Institute provides professional development for senior and middle management personnel through training opportunities for business, professional, government, military and nonprofit organizations.”

The college offers associate of science and associate of applied science degrees, an associate of arts degree and five bachelor degree programs, as well as certificates and applied technology diplomas — short-term programs designed to prepare students for immediate job entry in selected professional, technical and occupational skill areas. “(The programs result) in economic growth associated with job advancements,” says Julie Terrell, South Walton Center director. “National studies show that eight out of every ten jobs now require training beyond high school, but not necessarily a four-year degree.”

A NWFSC graduate will realize average annual earnings that are $10,900 to $26,700 more than that of a high school graduate.

“Of course, an educated and productive workforce also benefits the community by attracting and retaining businesses, reducing the need for social services and generally improving the area’s quality of life,” says Arthur (Tom) Tomerlin, assistant professor of economics at the college.

The Leadership Institute at NWFSC offers programs specifically designed to support the economic and work force development of Northwest Florida and its vital role in the state and global economy.

“Our strategic partnerships with the Chamber of Commerce, Walton County Economic Development Alliance and other community agencies continue to support the economic and work force development of our region,” says Julie Cotton, director of the Leadership Institute.

Nearby in Bay County, Florida State University Panama City serves Walton County and offers the same nationally ranked

Educational resources within 60 miles of Walton County: » Gulf Coast State College, Panama City » Florida State University, Panama City » Northwest Florida State College South Walton » Northwest Florida State College, Niceville » Troy University, Tyndall Air Force Base » Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Tyndall Air Force Base » University of West Florida, Emerald Coast Campus » Chipola College, Marianna

degree programs as the main campus in Tallahassee. One certificate program, though, is unique to the Panama City Campus. The Underwater Crime Scene Investigation (UCSI) program, offered through the School of Criminology, is the only one of its kind in the country, recruiting students from all over the world. The UCSI program offers advanced training in crime scene investigation techniques for aquatic environments.

“Until now, most (investigations) have been handled by public safety divers who are essentially recovery or salvage divers who have been asked to do a difficult job under difficult situations using snatch and grab techniques,” says Tom Kelley, UCSI program director. “We teach UCSI team members how to document underwater crime scenes like none other.”

Work Force Development The Workforce Development Board of Okaloosa and Walton counties oversees employment and training services to employers, workers and job seekers through the JobsPlus One-Stop Career Centers.

“Currently, the greatest demand for skilled workers is in the medical fields and information technology,” says Reed of the Workforce Development Board. “Information Technology Industry certifications for adults have proven to be in demand across all industries.”

The Workforce Board awards scholarships in training programs for occupations in demand and provides on-the-job training for local businesses through a contract that reimburses the business for a negotiated percentage of the worker’s wage rate

for a period of up to six months.

The youth program encourages attainment of industry certifications, which are then awarded along with diplomas to area high school graduates. Customized on-the-job training has assisted new start-up companies with specific needs. And, based on shortages in nursing and other medically related fields, the Workforce Board has set a priority to award scholarships for medical training.

Military Training Education is the primary recruitment and retention benefit for U. S. military branches of service. The Education Center at Eglin Air Force Base provides military tuition assistance, counseling and grant opportunities to educate and prepare the Eglin community for successful careers while on active duty and after separation or retirement.

“To date this fiscal year, we have spent $2.2 million on military tuition assistance for members in pursuit of civilian degree programs,” says Eglin Education Services Officer David Conner.

The center also counsels Eglin personnel and their dependents on educational benefits and opportunities on financial aid, study guides, tutorial services, time management, defining educational goals, testing tips, veteran education benefits, and scholarship and grant programs. The center houses Northwest Florida State College, the University of West Florida, Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University, Troy University and Saint Leo University.

One of the opportunities offered to wounded military and transitioning active duty personnel is a course given by Auburn University professors in digital forensics for crime scene investigation. Funded by a grant, it is free to those who attend.

Eglin encourages all airmen to achieve their Community College of the Air Force degree, the largest regionally accredited community college in the nation.

“The Air Force has invested in the member and wants an educated force,” says Conner. “There comes a point when every active duty member takes off their uniform and rejoins the civilian workforce. Our goal here is to ensure that those members have the education piece to combine with their military service to make them valuable assets to their communities.” n

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Force Fields The Military’s Positive Impact On the Economy

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he military pervades nearly every fiber of Northwest Florida’s economic engine, steadfastly weathers rough economic times and pumps billions of defense dollars into the local economy each year.

Eglin Air Force Base is the largest facility of its kind in the world, covering 41 percent of Okaloosa County, 23 percent of Walton County and 10 percent of Santa Rosa County.

“Walton County is the perfect location for defense-related businesses due to its proximity to Eglin,” said Scarlett Phaneuf, managing director of the Walton County Economic Development Alliance.

Studies show that defense-related spending directly and indirectly represents about 35 percent of the region’s economic activity, approximately $5.8 billion for just procurement,

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pensions, transfer payments and salaries.

As this money is used again for purchases and services, it winds its way through other businesses in the region and generates more economic activity. Defense-related industries that have sprung up around the bases have added billions more to the mix.

There are 123 companies in Northwest Florida that received direct defense contracts in 2010, according to Joe Marino, president of the Florida League of Defense Contractors. And that number doesn’t include subcontractors and suppliers.

The arrival of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter at Eglin, along with the Army 7th Special Forces Group’s move to the base near Duke Field, is expected to bring more than 10,000 new residents to the area over the

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next couple of years.

The county is home to the 20th Space Control Squadron, which operates a large, sophisticated radar to detect, track, identify and report space objects in earth’s orbit. Nearby, there are six aviation-related and one naval military installation. To the county’s immediate east lies Naval Support Activity Panama City and Tyndall Air Force Base. To the west are Eglin, Duke Field, Hurlburt Field, Whiting Field and Pensacola Naval Air Station.

Florida’s political leaders work aggressively to protect the military’s presence from congressional budget cuts and the 2011 Legislature created and funded the Florida Defense Support Task Force to help promote defense economic development. n

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www.magnoliagrillfwb.com 2011–12 BUSINESS OUTLOOK / W A LT O N C O U N T Y — T H E N AT U R A L A D VA N TA G E / 15

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BUSINESS NEWS

SoundByteS

Bay

as the top SBA lender by dollar volume for FY 2010 in its North Florida District.

>> Lovelace Interiors has expanded its professional team of Interior Designers with the addition of Joey LaSalle.

Local Honors >> Laurie Olshefski, owner of four local businesses, was recently named the “2011 Retailer of the Year For Leadership” by the Florida Retail Federation.

>> The 2011 Greater Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce Small Business Excellence Awards went to: Crump & Associates; A.M.W.A.T. Moving & Storage; Hotel Duval; Florida Bankers Association; Good Friends Group Fitness; Phoenix Painting & Design; Big Bend Homeless Coalition; and MCCi.

>> Electronic Display Networks, a Pensacola firm specializing in custom digital signage for businesses, recently expanded into a new location with 2,195 square feet of office space at 3014 East Cervantes Street.

>> The U.S. Small Business AdminisOlshefski tration has awarded Brenda Bryson of Coastal Printing Services, Inc., Panama City Beach, the Perseverance Award for recovering from a significant disaster-related loss and retaining a majority of employees. >> State Rep. Jimmy Patronis, R-Panama City, has been honored by the Florida Chamber of Commerce and Associated Industries of Florida for his pro-business advocacy in the 2011 legislative session.

Appointed by Gov. Scott >> Allan G. Bense, 59, of Panama City, president and chief executive officer of Bense Enterprises Inc., to the Board of Trustees, Florida State University. >> DeAnn M. Mullins, 45, of Lynn Haven, owner of Mullins Pharmacy, to the Board of Pharmacy. >> Thomas E. Vaughn, 61, of Panama City Beach, owner of Bay Barber and Style Shop, to the Barber’s Board. >> Jennifer M. Vigil, 37, of Panama City, a Bay County Assessment Coordinator, to the Florida Real Estate Appraisal Board. >> Debra Edinger, 55, of Panama City, a dental hygienist for Kennon S. Shea and Associates, to the Board of Dentistry.

Capital New Beginnings >> David Coburn, Alan Johansen, Joseph Brigham and Richard Herring, with more than 120 years combined experience in Florida government, have formed Capital Analytics, a new consulting company in Tallahassee. >> Former Attorney General and Secretary of State Jim Smith is moving from one powerful lobbying firm to another. Smith left his partnership with Brian Ballard to join Southern Strategy Group. Ballard Partners meanwhile has opened its fourth office location in Miami and has added John Johnston to the Tallahassee office.

>> Kim Williams, chairman of the Economic Development Council of Tallahassee/Leon County, received the 2011 Richard L. McLaughlin Economic Development of the Year Award for the Northwest Florida region from the Florida Economic Development Council. >> Ed H. Moore, president and CEO of the Independent Colleges and Universities of Florida, has been named as a trustee to the Florida House in Washington, D.C. >> Several local attorneys have been included in Florida Super Lawyers 2011. Carlton Fields: Super Lawyers — Nancy G. Linnan and Robert W. Pass; Rising Star — Christine Davis Graves. Messer, Caparello & Self, P.A.: Super Lawyers — Dominic Caparello, William Dillon and Mark Herron; Rising Stars — Robert J. Telfer III and Monica Evans. >> Do! Design, a healthcare marketing agency based in Tallahassee, took home top honors at the 2011 Georgia Healthcare Association annual marketing awards, winning the Best of Show award for work with Henry Medical Center.

Appointed by Gov. Scott >> Christopher Kise, 46, of Tallahassee, an attorney at Foley and Lardner, to Board of Directors, Enterprise Florida. >> Cari Roth, 53, a shareholder at Bryant Miller Olive P.A., to the Environmental Regulation Commission.

Kise

>> Dennis J. Carpenter, 45, of Tallahassee, an owner of Tropical Smoothie Café franchises, and Fred R. Dudley, 66, of Havana, an attorney with Holland and Knight, to the Building Code Administrators and Inspectors Board. >> Warren A. Emo, 58, of Tallahassee, president of Emo/ Architects, to Board of Architecture and Interior Design. >> Robert P. Morris, 79, of Tallahassee, a retired Army officer, to Board of Podiatry.

>> Carrie Ann Tellefsen and Denise Vogelgesang have opened The Rosemary Tree Restaurant in Monticello.

>> Dean H. Aufderheide, 56, of Tallahassee, director of mental health services for the Florida Department of Corrections, to the Board of Psychology.

>> Peter D. Webster, a former judge with the Florida 1st District Court of Appeal, has joined the Tallahassee law offices of Carlton Fields.

>> Barbara MacArthur, 58, of Tallahassee, vice president and chief nursing officer with Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare, to Florida Endowment Foundation for Vocational Rehabilitation.

>> David Faulkenberry has been appointed president of FBMC Benefits Management, Inc.

Webster

Local Honors >> Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare President & CEO Mark O’Bryant was named an Executive of the Year in the 9th Annual American Business Awards. >> Barry Richard, a shareholder in Greenberg Traurig’s Tallahassee office, has been awarded the Florida Bar’s highest award for humanitarianism. >> Tom Crow, senior project manager with Ajax Building Corporation in Midway, has earned the designation of Certified Healthcare Constructor from the American Hospital Association Certification Center. >> The Small Business Administration has recognized Florida First Capital Finance Corporation of Tallahassee

Emerald Coast

Honors >> Stephen R. Moorhead of McDonald Fleming Moorhead LLP in Pensacola has obtained the “AV® Preeminent” rating from Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory and been recognized as one of Florida’s “Super Lawyers” in the June 2011 edition of Super Lawyers magazine. >> STEMflorida has recognized Gulf Power and West Florida High School’s Gulf Power Academy with the 2011 Best Practices Award. >> Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Destin, and Rep. Clay Ingram, R-Pensacola, were honored by the Florida Chamber of Commerce for their pro-business agenda in the 2011 legislative session. >> Amy A. Perry, of the Pleat & Perry, P.A., Destin law firm, has been selected to serve a threeyear term on The Florida Bar Grievance Committee. >> The League of Southeastern Credit Unions has awarded Pen Air Federal Credit Union the 2011 Louise Herring Perry Philosophy-in-Action Member Service Award for credit unions with more than $1 billion in assets, in part because of its outreach to local businesses after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. >> Allison McCowan, a designer for Linn’s Prestige Kitchens and Baths in Miramar Beach, won the “Best Kitchen – Budget Friendly” category at the National Kitchen & Bath Association 2011 Design Competition. >> Three members of the Fort Walton Beach Medical Center were recently awarded the Frist Humanitarian Award, the highest award given by HCA, the medical center’s parent company. Honors go to: Jeanine Robinson, a respiratory therapist; Dr. Joseph Siefker, an ENT physician and surgeon; and Carol Koch, a member of the hospital auxiliary.

Appointed by Gov. Scott >> Erik C. Nilssen, 37, of Gulf Breeze, an orthopedic surgeon for the Andrews Institute, to the Board of Orthotists and Prosthetists. >> Clint E. Lohr, 39, of Pensacola, a physical therapist for Baptist Healthcare, to the Board of Physical Therapy.

Forgotten Coast >> Sacred Heart Hospital on the Gulf in Port St. Joe has promoted Cheryl Traylor, R.N., to patient care manager of the operating room.

Appointed by Gov. Scott >> William “Brian” Cathey, 33, of Port St. Joe, president of Cathey Construction, to the Construction Industry Licensing Board.

New Beginnings >> Leslie Stricklin is the new the Private Banking Relationship Manager for Regions Bank in the Destin market.

I-10

>> Navarre Properties has named Les Nichols as its new CEO and general Stricklin manager and Jodi Nichols as chief operating officer. >> Bill Perkins is the new vice president of operations for Baptist Hospital in Pensacola. >> Kelly L. Liberman, AFC®, has joined the office of Arbor Wealth Management in Miramar Beach. >> Matthew D. Altier has been named as the University of West Florida’s vice president for administrative services.

>> Rep. Brad Drake, R-DeFuniak Springs, was honored by the Florida Chamber of Commerce and Associated Industries of Florida for his work during the 2011 legislative session. >> A 33,000-square-foot aircraft hangar has been completed in Okaloosa County’s new technology airpark at Bob Sikes Airport. The hangar is the first one built at the 20-acre airpark and will be leased by Sunshine Aero Flight Test, a high-tech aircraft systems and flight-testing company.

Compiled by Linda Kleindienst

850 Business Magazine

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Capital Corridor

Gadsden, Jefferson + Leon Counties

Placing A $10 Million Bet On Gretna Alabama Tribe gambles on Northwest Florida embracing Quarter Horse racetrack By Linda Kleindienst

I

n the movie “Secretariat,” five horses portrayed the Triple Crown champion.

Four were thoroughbreds.

The fifth was an American Quarter Horse named Copper Locks, best remembered for his scene-stealing work on the track, where he kicks in with a quick burst of speed to pass the field and win a heart-stopping race.

Quarter Horses are natural sprinters, able to outrun their thoroughbred cousins only on a short course or in the movies.

But North Florida will soon get the chance to watch them show off their quick-paced talents at a new racetrack in Gretna. The project — a partnership that includes Alabama’s Poarch Band of Creek Indians — is expected to be a boon to the local horse industry and economic developBreeding Hope Rica Barrett, owner of Windfall Farm in Tallahassee, and David Romanik, president and CEO of Gretna Racing, ment efforts in Gadsden County, believe a Quarter Horse racetrack in Gretna will be a boon for the region’s economy and equestrian community, especially local breeders. where the median income is $25,000 and more than 30 perof PCI Gaming Authority, the gaming arm of the and we felt we could get a good return on what cent of the population lives below the federal Poarch Band of Creek Indians based in Atmore, we put into this project,” he said. “We feel there poverty line.

Ala., and Equestrian Land Holdings. PCI Gamis an untapped market of people out there that Ultimately, local leaders hope the track — and ing already operates three casinos in central and would like to come and see horse-type events.” its poker room — will generate up to $6 million a southern Alabama and acquired the Mobile and While PCI, the managing partner and majority year for the area’s economy.

Pensacola Greyhound Parks in 2009. owner, handles the poker operation, the horse racConstruction has been underway for months, “The more we looked into it, the more people ing end of the business will be overseen by David with a projected opening this winter. More than we found interested in horses and the more the Romanik, an Ocala-based developer and horse200 workers are already on the job building the area seemed underserved,” Jay Dorris, president man who worked 20 years as a lawyer for Gulfnew facility. Another 200 will be hired to operate and CEO of PCI Gaming, said of the Tribe’s decistream Park in South Florida and served a year as it after it opens. Poker will come first, then racing. sion to get involved with the Gretna project. “We president of the thoroughbred track in 2000.

“This is really the catalyst for our entire ecosee this as a good business opportunity. I think it “My family was involved in Gulfstream since nomic development strategy,” said Antonio Jefwill really blossom.”

1944,” said Romanik, president and CEO of ferson, Gretna’s city manager. “This is more than This is the Tribe’s first foray into horse racing, Gretna Racing LLC. “But I had a lot of interest in just a track. It’s more than gaming. Ultimately it an effort to diversify, explained Keith Martin, running my own track. I owned a bunch of thorwill be a world-class equestrian facility, and we chairman of the PCI Gaming Authority. oughbreds, but I’m just attracted to the speed of hope it will attract other events.”

“We’ve talked about this for two or three years, Quarter Horses.”

Creek Entertainment Gretna is a partnership

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Jefferson’s loss, Gadsden’s gain It’s been a four-year journey to this point. Jefferson County was the first choice for the track’s location. But after some contentious hearings, where hundreds showed up to protest, it became clear the community didn’t want it. The Jefferson County Commission killed the project in January 2008.

Sitting in the audience that night was someone from Gadsden County who saw potential — and passed the word on. Gadsden and Gretna officials were more than willing to step up to the plate.

“It’s been years since a new business opened here. We only have two stores in the city limits,” said Gretna Mayor Clarence Johnson. “One of the few things Gretna has to offer is land, so we want to use the natural resources we have to bring income to the city.”

He said the city, which offered some easements and tax breaks, plans to help promote and brand the entertainment venue that the track will offer, hoping to lure in locals, tourists and Interstate travelers with concerts and other events.

“Snowbirds come to Panama City each year, and we’re only an hour away. We believe we will have a large appeal,” Johnson said. And an estimated 500,000 adults over the age of 18 live within an hour’s drive of the facility.

The track site is located about three miles from downtown Gretna, just off the Interstate 10 interchange at State Road 12 on what was once a 100-plus-acre cotton field. The city has been given 10 acres to set up a public safety station and will hire an additional four police officers. And city officials hope to see the area become the site of a hotel, restaurants, a sports village and perhaps even new housing developed nearby.

“Our ultimate goal is to make that interchange a destination,” said Jefferson, the city manager.

“This is about building Gretna one brick at a time.

This brings Gretna to the attention of people and will ultimately bring in investment. We’re looking at it as an economic engine, and we believe spinoffs will happen as a result.”

One of the major selling points for the project was the notion that it will be an experience with variety, something families will be able to enjoy.

“One of the things that really impressed us is that we’re dealing with people who are interested in investing in and creating an experience for people that they won’t be able to get otherwise,” Jefferson said.

Florida’s Horse Industry Rica Barrett, owner of Windfall Farm, has been breeding Quarter Horses in Tallahassee since 1991, when she bought a thoroughbred stallion from a trainer and matched him with a Quarter

Photos by SCOTT HOLSTEIN

Horse mare — trying to “get the mind of a Quarter Horse into a thoroughbred’s body.”

She’s one of many such horse breeders who dot the North Florida landscape, shipping their horses across the world to race in places as varied as Louisiana, Brazil and Canada.

“It’s a big industry, and I enjoy it,” she said, pointing out that recent national reports show Quarter Horse tracks are increasing their racing dates — and the size of winning purses — because the sport’s popularity is growing.

The excitement is there, naturally. Imagine a horse running 400 yards in 19 seconds. “That’s four football fields, 40 yards short of a quarter mile, in 19 seconds. That’s the record,” said Barrett, who likes to call Quarter Horses “the workingman’s horse” because their sale prices usually number in the thousands, not the millions that thoroughbreds can go for.

The Gadsden track will not only be a boon to breeders like herself, but Barrett said she can see the domino economic effect the track will have, helping local farriers, hay and feed stores, and veterinarians.

“Think of how many industries feed into horse activity, especially something that regularly draws people from out of town,” she said.

“Think of the jobs.”

on the state’s economy — and that doesn’t include off-site spending by spectators at hotels, restaurants and other businesses surrounding equine facilities and events. The state currently has five horse tracks. Three offer thoroughbred racing (Calder Race Course in Miami Gardens, Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach and Tampa Bay Downs), while Isle Casino Racing Pompano Park in Pompano Beach showcases harness racing and Hialeah Park runs Quarter Horse meets.

“Horse racing is an integral and popular part of Florida’s equine culture that has thus far been limited to South and Central Florida. Despite the popularity of horses and equestrian activities among residents in North Florida, the region lacks a state-of-the-art equestrian facility or horse track,” said Romanik, who is an attorney and gaming consultant specializing in horse racing. “We saw an unmet need in North Florida and wanted to use our expertise and passion for horse racing and equestrian activities to create a gateway community that will become a regional destination in the Red Hills and Big Bend region.”

That’s welcome news to Barrett, who now races in Louisiana but shuns Hialeah because it’s too far away.

Dorris, who owns nine horses, said the Tribe might try to eventually change the Pensacola dog

Wall o f Honor The tackroom wall at Windfall Farm, owned and operated by Dave and Rica Barrett and Shannon Schiller, is a testament to the operation’s success on the racetrack. Babies born at Windfall stay at home for the first year or so until they are ready to go to racing school. Famous residents have included a daughter of Seattle Slew.

With 500,000 horses — 70 percent of them used for competition and recreation — Florida has the third largest horse population in the U.S., behind California (1 million) and Texas (700,000).

The state has 600 horse farms. In North Florida and South Georgia alone there are an estimated 50,000 –75,000 horses.

The horse industry has a $5.2 billion impact

permit to a horse-racing permit in hopes of creating a Quarter Horse racing circuit that covers North Florida, Alabama and maybe Georgia.

“We hope to grow this into a circuit, establish points, have a champion,” he said. “It’s in our heads right now, mostly. Our first step is in Gadsden County. Hopefully it will be successful and we can keep on going.” n

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N osta lg i a Rid e Teddy and Jenny Meeks have brought the spirit of Panama City Beach’s Miracle Strip Amusement Park back to life, rescuing the remnants of rides from an unlocked warehouse and setting them up in Pier Park.

A Miracle Revived Unlocked storage unit provides foundation for the new version of an old favorite By Wendy O. Dixon

F

or 41 years, more than 20 million visitors spent many a day at Miracle Strip Amusement Park in Panama City Beach, an iconic treasure for local families and tourists alike.

The original Miracle Strip, located on Front Beach Road, closed in 2004 when owner Billy Lark, after experiencing a decline in ticket sales and an increase in expenses, sold the land to developers who wanted to build condominiums on the site.

The condos were never built, the lot is still empty and many of the rides had been sitting in storage since the last day they operated in 2004.

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Four years later, while enjoying lunch outside the newly opened Pier Park just a few miles west on Front Beach Road, Teddy and Jenny Meeks, a couple in their early 40s who own a jewelry and handbag manufacturing business in Griffin, Ga., saw an unmet need and got a business idea.

“I thought they needed something out here for kids,” Teddy Meeks explains. “My first thought was a Ferris wheel or carousel or something of that sort.” He started doing the necessary research and found a broker out of Tennessee. After searching the country through the broker,

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he discovered that the perfect carousel was just down the street, in storage at the old Miracle Strip Amusement Park site.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Meeks laughed at the broker. “It was in an old beat up semi trailer, not even locked. Everything over there had been destroyed. Every building had been vandalized.

Every window was broken. Wiring had been stolen. But every single piece of the carousel was still there. The horses were just sitting on the wall.

Anyone could have come in and taken them, but every nut and bolt was still there.”

Photo by SCOTT HOLSTEIN

Panama City, Panama City Beach + Bay County

In March of 2010, the Meeks opened Miracle Strip’s original carousel as a lone ride across from the Grand Theatre in Pier Park, which is owned by Simon Property Group, the largest shopping mall owner in the U.S. The ride was an immediate and huge success. Simon Property Group officials liked the idea, and in the coming months the Meeks added a Ferris wheel, Tilt-a-Whirl, Balloon Racer, Scrambler, Red Baron plane ride and, most recently, a butterfly pavilion.

“Our first year was beyond belief,” Meeks says.

“Everyone — locals, tourists, Pier Park — said it was great.”

The Meeks found more rides in the same storage area on the old Miracle Strip site. “At first I thought I didn’t have any place for them,” he says.

“We just wanted to do the one carousel, but they kept lowering the price so I felt I could at least do something with them.”

The Meeks brought back to life four original Miracle Strip rides. The Balloon Race and some other rides had been sold to other parks in the country, so the Meeks bought the remaining rides from the same manufacturer that built the original ones, keeping with the same nostalgic carnival look. “They’ve been making them the same way for 100 years so it was easy to duplicate them,” Meeks says.

The family refurbished the rides, which are freshly painted in bright, cheerful hues. Now they are adding yellow and white daffodils, pink and purple petunias and animal-shaped topiaries, along with benches and canopies for families who want to escape from the hot sun.

Also new, the butterfly pavilion houses around 700 butterflies and moths representing 30 Florida native species. “We’ve got the whole life cycle here,” Meeks says as he points out a monarch caterpillar munching on tropical milkweed, then the cocoon house which nurtures cocoons in various stages of development. A zebra longwing butterfly, so called because of its white stripes on black wings, flits daintily from flower to flower.

“My goal is for it to be a park with amusements, not an amusement park.”

Love blooms at Miracle Strip While most of the visitors to the new Miracle Strip at Pier Park are families, adult couples find romance atop the Ferris wheel or while riding on the carousel.

“One night when it was about time to close, a

“Miracle Strip has been an iconic addition to Pier Park. We’ve captured the nostalgia of what Miracle Strip was to generations of families who visited the beach.”

David Lee

couple in their mid-40s bought their tickets and rode the carousel,” Meeks recalls. “They were both sobbing, then they told us they had both worked at this same carousel at Miracle Strip, and even got engaged on the carousel, so it was a special time for them.”

One couple has exchanged wedding vows on the carousel. Prom goers include riding the Tilt-a-Whirl or Ferris wheel as part of their fun night. New Year’s Eve in Panama City Beach now includes a midnight ride on the carousel for Miracle Strip fans.

“We’ve had three generations take a ride on the carousel together,” Meeks says. “People post their photos on our Facebook page all the time.”

Simon Support When Jenny and Teddy Meeks first approached Simon Property Group about the prospect of adding a carousel, and eventually a miniature amusement park, Pier Park General Manager David Lee was a welcome ally.

“It’s been a sell on our part because Simon is in the mall business, not the amusement park business,” Teddy Meeks says. “David Lee has done a great job of communicating (our vision) to Simon. It was well received by the public, especially the locals. And Simon really liked it.”

Lee says the Miracle Strip rides are the most talked about feature at the park.

“Pier Park is unique in Simon’s portfolio because of its location, we have only a few tourist properties,” Lee says. “Miracle Strip has been an

BAY Corridor

iconic addition to Pier Park. We’ve captured the nostalgia of what Miracle Strip was to generations of families who visited the beach.”

A Family Affair Jenny and Teddy Meeks, along with their three children, moved from Griffin, Ga., eight years ago to enjoy life at the beach. They still run the handbag and jewelry manufacturing business through monthly in-person meetings, otherwise using technology to run the business from their home in Panama City Beach.

The Meeks’ three kids are teens now (daughter Morgan, 19, is a sophomore at Troy University and sons Hudson, a rising high school senior, and Davis, a freshman, both attend Arnold High School).

“With our jobs being done online, our kids basically thought we just sat at the computer all day,” Teddy Meeks says. “They didn’t understand the business aspect of it. We started the carousel so they could learn how to do business.”

Everyone in the Meeks family works shifts at the park. Teddy Meeks comes in every morning to start the two-hour-a-day preparation to open the park, including inspecting and maintaining each ride and watering and fertilizing the dozens of plants. Jenny Meeks works the afternoon shift, managing the kids, who provide customer service.

“They’ve learned how to deal with customers and money, my sons can change out the mechanical parts,” Teddy Meeks says. “Most of the time, they’re good kids. They don’t mind working, and they’ve learned a tremendous amount. They get to see us in action, because Jenny and I talk about the business and paying the bills. It’s been really good for the whole family.”

The park closes for three weeks in January to do heavy maintenance and repairs on the rides, which stay on site during that time. Otherwise, the park is open. Tickets are $3.50 per ride or $18 for an unlimited ride armband. The Meeks pay a ground lease and rental fee, like all the other stores and restaurants at Pier Park.

Future plans include the addition of concessions, restrooms and more rides. The new, miniature version of Miracle Strip in the prime location at Pier Park started with an idea during lunch and turned into an entrepreneurial success story.

Teddy Meeks says, “The rest is pure luck.” n

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I-10 Corridor

Northern Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa + Walton Counties and Holmes, Washington, Calhoun, Jackson + Liberty Counties

It Takes A Town

Fr u its of Labor Marianna City Manager Jim Dean shows off the wares at a new farmer’s market that is an integral part of the city’s revitalization efforts.

Marianna pulls together to win recognition as Florida’s Rural Community of the Year and to jumpstart the local economy

By Kimberley K. Yablonski

A

t first glance, Marianna may seem like so many other small, rural towns that dot the I-10 corridor of Northwest Florida. Except for one thing: Marianna’s Southern charm — and the community’s efforts to make it a better place for residents and business — last year led to its recognition by the U. S. Department of Agriculture as Florida’s “Rural Community of the Year.”

Hit hard by the Great Recession, this is a town that pulled itself up by the bootstraps, found ways to improve its image and provided jobs for area residents. While the public works projects the city has embarked on may not be glamorous, they’re the type of improvements needed to attract more business to the area.

Marianna, population 6,000, was selected for the honor after beating out 16 other Florida towns that had applied. It won because of its emphasis on improving the town’s infrastructure and success in leveraging funds to maximize those efforts, which include everything from roadway resurfacing and water quality improvements to the creation of a new farmers’ market.

Crossing the Chipola River and entering Marianna, those efforts are evident as construction crews work on repaving roads and building a “seating wall” around the Jackson County courthouse. A painter brushes the finishing coat on the new, hilltop Farmers’ Market, an open-air structure that is set to provide local area farmers with a more central location to sell their produce. Not only is the new pavilion visible from the main road, it’s easy to access, unlike the old market that was tucked away on a side street, explained City Manager Jim Dean, a leader in making change happen.

The city’s wide-ranging improvements include the revamping of the water and gas lines, resurfacing of roads and the creation of sidewalks

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— all large scale improvements that have created jobs for the community.

Founded in 1827, Marianna has a rich past.

During the Civil War, the Battle of Marianna was fought in her streets. That local clash between North and South has been referred to as Florida’s Alamo because of the fierce and deadly fighting that took place. The town is interspersed with historic Victorian and Antebellum homes that still stand as witness to that era.

Natural resources also add to the town’s draw.

The Florida Caverns State Park brings hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. The springfed Chipola River, once used to transport bales of cotton downstream to the Gulf of Mexico, now draws outdoor enthusiasts for kayaking and tubing.

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But all this wasn’t enough to keep Marianna from the harsh realities that have caused so many other small towns to become economically depressed. In the 1920s, the area was home to a large commercial industry that harvested a small orange citrus fruit called Satsuma, only to have the entire industry wiped out by cold weather a decade later. More recently, Marianna has faced the closing of many industrial businesses that left area workers unemployed.

How did Marianna lift herself up and make big changes during a struggling economy when many other towns could not? Like so many good recipes, it was a mix of ingredients.

Dean attributes much of the success to his team of city employees who all had a hand in making the changes happen. They joined with

Photo by SCOTT HOLSTEIN

Marianna Fast Facts from the 2010 U.S. Census: virtually every state or federal agency they could to get the funding for improvements.

Sewer, water, sidewalks and street lights are not glamorous projects, but the city recognized the need to overhaul the aging infrastructure to improve services for the residents as well as attract large companies. Some parts of the sewer system dated back to 1910 and showed problems that any century-old system would.

Marianna partnered with the Governor’s Office to hire an engineering firm to help the city create a master plan. To complete all the projects, the city partnered with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the Florida Department of Transportation, saved gas tax dollars over a five-year period and secured federal funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to help pay for the improvements.

“It’s not a beauty pageant,” said Art Kimbrough, president and CEO of the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce. “It’s not about being the prettiest town. The award is recognition of the achievements of the City of Marianna that have helped the community. Jim and his team really did their push-ups in order to have Marianna named a top performing rural community. They are very savvy in terms of planning and working all the different sources to get funding.”

One of the area’s largest employers, the Family Dollar, which employs more than 500 area residents, built its 907,000 square-foot distribution center in Marianna partly because of the availability of utility services which the city and county teamed up to offer.

The Ice River Springs water bottling company also located its plant in Marianna because of the infrastructure improvements the city and county offered to provide, including better water and waste water facilities, a regional storm-water retention area and a new four-lane road out of the Marianna industrial park that gives large trucks easy access to I-10.

Other area employers include the Arizona Chemical Company, the Old Castle Concrete Company, the Federal Correction Institution, several state prisons and Walmart, which employs more than 200 residents. The state-run Sunland Center, a facility for the developmentally disabled, employs 800 people and has a $33 million payroll.

Many of the city’s changes have been years in the making. In the early 1990s, the historic downtown’s main street was made up mostly of pawn shops and tattoo parlors. Like many small, declining towns, the downtown had no draw. As part of an effort to invigorate the downtown, which

Population — 6,102 Male — 47.2 percent Female — 52.8 percent Median Age — 35.8 years Average Family Size — 2.95 Total Housing Units — 3,038 Source: U.S. Census Bureau, April 2011

Marianna is: >> The county seat of Jackson County. >> 8.1 square miles. >> Is known as “The City of Southern Charm.”

has buildings dating back to the 1860s, Charlotte Brunner, director of the Main Street Marianna program, helped develop a detailed economic restructuring plan.

Since 1992, $15.5 million has been poured into the downtown revitalization. That funding was a mix of private and public dollars for construction and rehabilitation. This ongoing project has helped Marianna’s downtown historic district transform. About 20 restaurants, shops and services now call the downtown home.

The Main Street program is part of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which has been hard hit by budget cuts. However, the city obtained funding through Community Development Block Grants, Community Redevelopment Area funds, the Florida Recreation Development Assistance Program, USDA Rural Development, Florida Communities Trust and the Jackson County Tourist Development Council.

The Facade Improvement Grant provided for 32 downtown businesses to spruce up their storefronts with fresh paint, new awnings and other exterior improvements. The city used a matching grant program, which provides up to $7,500 or one half of the improvement costs (whichever is less) per business located within the community redevelopment area. The program has put $300,000 in improvements back into Marianna’s downtown.

“Our attitude is you can’t wait, you need to make it happen,” Dean said. “Whenever people see something good happening in the city, it generates other activity. It feeds on itself.”

The Farmer’s Market Pavilion is located in the new Madison Street Park. In addition to being a new venue for the Jackson County Growers’ Association, the city has plans to add a children’s playground and walking paths. The pavilion is

also available for rent by the public.

Marianna stood out from the pool of applicants for the USDA award because of its vast infrastructure improvements and its leadership, said USDA Rural Development Area Director Joseph Fritz.

“The leaders are the biggest thing here. The people have to get behind the idea or it won’t move forward,” Fritz said. “You need people with a vision for the town.”

The USDA award does not come with any monetary prize, however, the status as “Rural Community of the Year” helps the city obtain other funding sources by showing they “have their act together” Kimbrough said.

“The City of Marianna has been very active with projects to improve their community, including infrastructure and economic development,” said USDA Rural Development State Director Richard A. Machek. “City leaders have also been very successful in finding and securing alternative funding for their projects. The residents and leaders of the City of Marianna should be proud of their accomplishments.”

Fifth generation Marianna resident John Milton offers historical perspective. His ancestors include Gov. John Milton, who served as governor of Florida during the Civil War and led the military headquarters for Southern troops in Marianna. Milton is chairman of the board of Daffin Foodservice, a family-owned independent food distributor that has been in operation in the Panhandle since 1870.

“I feel like politically they know what it takes to get things done in Marianna. You need a leader like Jim Dean to guide people. Somebody has to be in charge of things, and everyone has to come together. It takes vision,” said Milton, who is also chairman of the board for the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce.

Milton also credits the cooperation between the city and county to attract businesses.

“The city and the county have to work together to make things happen,” Milton said. “Everybody is focused on the same thing so there is no inter-squabbling.

“The USDA award is just another feather in your cap,” he added. “It is recognition that the city is doing something that is noticeable, and it shows the leaders are doing the right things. It’s laying the groundwork for the right growth for the community.”

All these efforts are for one goal. “We want to create an environment in Marianna that shows it is a wonderful place to live and a great place to do business,” Dean said. n

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The Last Word

Of course, many of the complaints come from people who have no idea what these workers do day-in and day-out, many of whom have gone without pay raises for years.

But there are some unsung heroes in that cast of thousands of government workers in Florida who have become a driving force in the success of an untold number of Sunshine State businesses.

Among them are people like Manny Mencia and Andrea Moore from Enterprise Florida and Mike Higgins from the U.S. Department of Commerce. Their work has been crucial in helping fuel the international trade dreams of countless businesses across Florida, including many that make their home in Northwest Florida. In doing their jobs, they have organized international trade missions, opening the door to unlimited opportunities for Florida businesses, and helped pave the way for local business owners to meet one-on-one with potential clients across the globe.

Higgins likes to joke that he has one of the world’s greatest Rolodexes on his desk. It’s true — and his office is in Tallahassee, easy access for a Northwest Florida business looking to expand its horizons overseas. (His message: Use the people who have the international expertise. Not to mention that Commerce employees can also steer you clear of committing a faux pas on the international stage, like

using a color or number in your product that may be considered taboo in some countries.) Need his help? Call him at (850) 942-9635 or email him at Michael.Higgins@trade.gov.

Feeling down about the economy and unsure of the future? You’ll get an incredible boost just listening to Manny Mencia, who loves to spread the good news that international trade was the only bright spot in Florida’s economy the last couple of years, showing doubledigit growth. And, by the way, did you know 30 percent of the real estate transactions in Florida are being made with foreign money?

Mencia, who is senior vice president of International Trade and Business Development for Enterprise Florida and sometimes calls himself the “good news guy,” likes to point out that, according to the National Association of Manufacturers, 100 percent of that sector’s growth since 2003 has come from international business.

“The international sector is the great incubator of small business in Florida,” Mencia says. “Sixty-two percent of everything Florida exports is done by small and medium (sized) companies.”

Some of those companies were highlighted in our cover story on international trade. But there are many more providing goods and services to clients overseas we didn’t get a chance to include. That includes King Arthur’s Tools, Tallahassee-based family business run by Arthur Aveling that has customers worldwide. And, Around The Globe Translations founded by Silvina Jover-Cirillo has clients across the globe.

In the interviews for this feature, I loved hearing optimism in the voices of those who have successfully engaged in foreign trade.

But maybe Gary Andrews, CEO of DeTect in Panama City, best portrayed the can-do attitude of those worldly entrepreneurs.

“We wanted to create high-wage jobs and prove that America can still manufacture high quality products … If you build it, they will come.”

And, believe it or not, a state or federal employee may be the one to help you figure out how to build it and grow your business.

LINDA KLEINDIENST, EDITOR lkleindienst@rowlandpublishing.com

Many thanks to those of you who “like” our Facebook page — 850 — The Business Magazine of Northwest Florida (Facebook.com/850bizmag). Several of you across the region have told us you like what we’re doing — including Marilue Mitchell Maris of Seagrove Beach, Mary Ellen Mirkinson Cassidy of Bay County and Mary Baggett of Tallahassee — and we appreciate your comments. If you haven’t clicked the “Like” on our page yet, please join our growing group. And, if you have suggestions for stories, give me a call at (850) 878-0554 or email me at lkleindienst@ rowlandpublishing.com.

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photo by Kay Meyer

People love to gripe about government workers. Heaven knows, I’ve heard plenty of grousing throughout my three decades of writing about local and state government.

(Remember when the phrase “lard bricks” was popularly used to describe state workers?) And federal employees are always ripe for attack, especially when it comes to budget-cutting time.