TAKING ‘FLIGHT’ Blue Angels build trust among corporate execs
LEFT IN LIMBO
Gaming industry awaits legislative action
WINNING WOMEN
Pinnacle Award honorees make a big difference
BANDING TOGETHER Tourism officials, community combine to enhance Panama City Beach’s reputation as year-round destination
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850 Magazine October – November 2017
IN THIS ISSUE
PINNACLE AWARD WINNERS FOR 2017
850 FEATURES 26
asic (Business) B Training For military
33
Models of Success This
veterans desiring to go into business, the Veterans Florida Entrepreneurship Program offers tuition-free online and on-campus instruction. The program, which extends to seven partner campuses in Florida, feels to some participants like another boot camp.
year’s Pinnacle Award winners represent fields ranging from broadcast journalism and motivational speaking to economic development and corporate communications. The awards, presented by 850 Business Magazine, honor women who have distinguished themselves professionally and as community servants.
By Karen Murphy
By Steve Bornhoft
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Landing a Whale Bay County, Florida, turned economic development heads when it was selected to host GKN Aerospace’s latest manufacturing project. Its plant, located in an industrial park near the county’s airport at West Bay, will employ 170 and is expected to stimulate interest among other prospects. By Steve Bornhoft and Erin Hoover
On the Cover: Sam Hunt held the crowd in thrall at Frank Brown Park in Panama City Beach during the 2015 Pepsi Gulf Coast Jam. By emphasizing events and family visitation, the home of the “World’s Most Beautiful Beaches” has decreased its reliance on Spring Break. Photo by Kansas Pitts Photography
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850 Magazine October – November 2017
IN THIS ISSUE
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In This Issue 10 From the Publisher 70 Sound Bytes 82 The Last Word from the Editor
Departments
Corridors
THE 850 LIFE
I-10
15 Debbie Ritchie, president of the Studer Group, discusses how the organization helps health-care service providers get healthy and improve patient experiences.
72 North Florida gaming interests are going to have to hold ’em. The 2017 Florida Legislature played things close to the chest, failing to pass a comprehensive gambling bill. Slot machines favored by the Senate were a major sticking point.
IT’S THE LAW 16 The 2017 legislative session resulted in limited lawmaking affecting businesses, but funding was preserved for tourism promotion and economic development.
WI-FILES 20 The demand for certain high-tech skills has grown much faster than the supply. Computer code schools are emerging to groom candidates to fill IT jobs.
Special Section
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DEAL ESTATE 22 Wondering what’s selling and what’s on the market in the 850 region? We supply some answers.
Debbie Ritchie, president of the Studer Group
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CAPITAL 76 For 17 years, PATLive has provided call-center services for automotive and e-commerce companies, health-care providers, home services contractors, law and other professional services firms, insurance and real-estate companies, small businesses and utility companies. Not just any operator will do.
EMERALD COAST 80 It’s not your usual leadership training delivered to an audience in banquet chairs. The Blue Angels Foundation issues executives flight suits with squadron patches and informs them that, for 48 hours, they will be living aboard a simulated aircraft carrier at the National Flight Academy.
PHOTOS BY BRUCE PALMER (76), KGRIF / ISTOCK EDITORIAL / GETTY IMAGES PLUS (80) AND COURTESY OF THE STUDER GROUP (15))
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When it comes to business, it’s best to...
850 THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE OF NORTHWEST FLORIDA
October – November 2017
Vol. 10, No. 1
PRESIDENT/PUBLISHER BRIAN E. ROWLAND EDITORIAL DIRECTOR OF EDITORIAL SERVICES Steve Bornhoft MANAGING EDITOR Laura Cassels STAFF WRITERS Hannah Burke, Erin Hoover ASSISTANT TO DIRECTOR OF EDITORIAL SERVICES Kim Harris Thacker CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Lazaro Aleman, Rosanne Dunkelberger, Nick Farrell, Tisha Crews Keller, Rochelle Koff, Karen Murphy EDITORIAL INTERN Sara Santora CREATIVE CHIEF CONTENT OFFICER Lawrence Davidson DIRECTOR OF PRODUCTION AND TECHNOLOGY Daniel Vitter SENIOR ART DIRECTOR Saige Roberts DESIGN DIRECTOR Jennifer Ekrut PUBLICATION DESIGNERS Charles Bakofsky, Shruti Shah GRAPHIC DESIGNERS Meredith Brooks, Sarah Mitchell CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Laura Bogan, Steve Bornhoft, Lawrence Davidson, Mark Foley, Kansas Pitts Photography, Bruce Palmer, Courtland William Richards, Johnston Roberts, Saige Roberts, Zandra Wolfgram SALES, MARKETING & EVENTS VICE PRESIDENT/CORPORATE DEVELOPMENT McKenzie Burleigh Lohbeck DIRECTOR OF NEW BUSINESS Daniel Parisi AD SERVICES COORDINATORS Tracy Mulligan, Lisa Sostre ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Makenna Curtis, Julie Door, Darla Harrison, Anthony Lopez, Rhonda Lynn Murray, Dan Parker, Linda Powell, Sarah Scott, Lori Magee Yeaton EVENTS AND SPECIAL PROJECTS COORDINATOR Mandy Chapman INTEGRATED MARKETING MANAGER Rachel Smith CLIENT SERVICES COORDINATOR Joslym Alcala SALES AND EVENTS ASSOCIATE Mackenzie Ligas
Keep It Simple Somehow That’s what we’ve been doing for 15 years! We “keep it simple” by having subject matter experts on staff to support your business. When people know what they’re doing. Life gets A LOT simpler. How can we make things Simple for you? Email: KeepItSimple@SimpleHR.com or call (850) 650-9935
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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 October 2017 850 Magazine, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part without written permission is prohibited. Member of three Chambers of Commerce throughout the region.
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From the Publisher
PREPARING TOMORROW’S WORKFORCE Mentorship programs are making a difference
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UNITED, in recognition of UWBB’s 75th anniversary, will host an inaugural breakfast celebrating women in leadership roles and business. The speaker for this inaugural event will be Claire Diaz-Ortiz, a former chief innovation officer at Twitter. Diaz-Ortiz was named one of the “100 Most Creative People in Business” by Fast Company and has authored eight books including Twitter for Good. (I know what some of you are thinking seeing that title.) Diaz-Ortiz has written much about how we assess ourselves in a social-media crazed world and, in that connection, offers advice we all can use. “In any life, it’s easy to feel pressure to measure ourselves against others,” Diaz-Ortiz has written. “In 2017, when we live so much of our lives out loud and online, it’s easier than ever. “When we get scared of measuring ourselves, and of comparing and despairing, we don’t talk about improvement. We equate measuring and improving, but they’re not the same thing. Talking about how to get better and how to succeed more often is not a dirty thing. It’s a good thing that many of us secretly want to learn more about.” Let those remarks serve as a prelude to Diaz-Ortiz’s appearance at the breakfast. I recognize, certainly, that the efforts of the United Way of the Big Bend are multiplied in our area by the number of United Way organizations in the 850 region. All are engaged in programs like the ones I described here and all deserve our support. The United Way, throughout the region, matches people who want to volunteer with many different community-action groups, programs and events. If you are looking to get involved, they will make it easy for you. Best,
BRIAN ROWLAND browland@rowlandpublishing.com
PHOTO BY SCOTT HOLSTEIN
I learned a lot during a recent conversation with Katrina Rolle, the president and CEO of the United Way of the Big Bend. For a long while, I had viewed the United Way as an organization dedicated strictly to raising and disbursing funds and, along the way, engaging familiar people to chair its annual campaigns. Turns out, the United Way in our town and throughout the 850 region is up to much more than that. Courtesy of Katrina’s visit, I learned that UW is doing much to unite adults and their knowledge and experience with students via mentorship programs. We talked about ReadingPals, a program that works to help children achieve reading readiness and proficiency. Adult volunteers are matched with students who find reading difficult. The adults employ a proven curriculum in meeting with their mentees for one hour per week during the school year, reading to them and enhancing their literacy skills. As an incentive and a reward, each participating student receives a new book to take home each week. MathPals is a program that works similarly. The initiative recognizes that, as the UWBB’s website points out, “studies show that students who do not succeed in math are less likely to graduate on time with their peers. Helping students understand math concepts in visual and symbolic ways involves different parts of the brain which deepens their learning.” MathPals mentors and mentees meet after school for an hour a week during the school year. Mentors use curriculum which is created by UWBB and educators and is tailored to students’ mathematical needs. I mention these efforts in the context of 850 Business Magazine because they contribute to giving young people the foundations they will need to succeed in tomorrow’s workplace, no matter which career path they choose. Any business person who has been frustrated by the modest written communication or math skills among young people seeking employment at his or her place of business can relate to what I am saying here and can appreciate the value of these mentor/ student relationships. Also, by way of harnessing the sensibilities, strengths and, frankly, the power of women in our community, UWBB maintains a women’s leadership council, Women UNITED, that is made up of philanthropic females who volunteer time, talent and financial support to improve the lives of women and children throughout the Big Bend region. On Nov. 7 at the Turnbull Center in Tallahassee, Women
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P RO M OT I O N
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PINNACLE AWARDS RECAP Visit our website for more photo’s from the Pinnacle Awards Luncheon
Matthews & Jones serves clients throughout Northwest Florida and in Georgia and Alabama. Founding partner Dana Matthews works with developers on projects from concept to completion, assisting them with everything from land acquisition to closings with end users. To stay informed, go to: 850businessmagazine.com/Legal-Insights
LET’S GET SOCIAL! Find and follow Rowland Publishing’s business page on LinkedIn for updates from each of our publications, business tips, and information on and about Northwest Florida businesses. You can also join the LinkedIn 850 Business Group for deeper interactions with fellow 850 business leaders. No matter what device or social medium, we want to be a top-of-mind resource for business professionals. Follow, like, and share with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and even Instagram. LinkedIn: 850 Business Magazine; Twitter: @850BizMag; Facebook: 850 – The Business Magazine of Northwest Florida; Instagram: 850bizmag
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» Flip Books: View issues in a digital book format. » Archived Stories: Peruse our entire archive of articles. » Blog: Read about local business events, happenings and gatherings through our up-to-date blog section. » Deal Estate: Browse the latest real estate deals and listings.
SETTING IT STRAIGHT A story in the April/May edition of 850 Business Magazine mistakenly reported that the E.F. San Juan Co., located in Youngstown in Bay County, had ceased manufacturing in favor of selling finished products. The business continues manufacturing as a custom molding and millwork business. We regret the error.
PHOTO BY LAWRENCE DAVIDSON
GAINING INSIGHTS THROUGH EXPERIENCE
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Executive Mindset
The (850) Life AMID TURBULENCE, STUDER KEEPS STEADYING HAND ON HEALTH CARE
FOCUS ON THE GOOD DEBBIE RITCHIE, President, Studer Group
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE STUDER GROUP
I
t turns out, health-care organizations across the country look to Northwest Florida when they need to improve clinical outcomes and financial results. For the last 17 years, Studer Group, founded by former Baptist Hospital executive Quint Studer, has partnered with hospitals and other care providers to help them build workplace cultures that promote accountability, foster innovation and consistently deliver optimal patient experiences and high-quality outcomes. Studer Group has been a company of Huron Consulting Group since 2015 and is based in Pensacola. Debbie Ritchie, formerly the company’s chief operating officer, stepped into the role of president in 2016. A decade earlier, Ritchie had joined Studer Group because she felt that its mission aligned with her own personal calling to make a difference. “Everyone, regardless of who you are or who you know, deserves quality care,” Ritchie said. In her role as chief operating officer, Ritchie worked to sharpen and streamline Studer Group’s own processes, culminating in the company’s recognition as a Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award recipient. Now, as Studer Group’s president, she faces the challenge of working with providers who face a great deal of uncertainty. — Erin Hoover
Q&A WITH DEBBIE RITCHIE
How do you explain Studer Group’s mission to a layperson? I value the simplicity and direct approach of our mission, which, simply put, is to make health care better across three stakeholder groups: for employees to work, physicians to practice medicine and patients to receive care. Our coaching methodology has, at its core, connecting to purposeful work that makes a difference. When leaders and employees are passionate about what they do and are given the training, tools and tactics to perform better, they’ll see better results. That, in turn, only makes them more passionate about continuing to improve. What has the last year been like for you? The role of president has afforded me the opportunity to lead the organization in a different way. We have talented individuals on our team who align their work to our mission and values. That was true when Quint was leading the organization, and it’s true today. That said, this past year has been challenging because this is a challenging time to be in health care. There is a lot of disruption in the industry—a lot of regulatory change and significant financial pressure. Working directly with health-care leaders, we feel the pressure they’re under. While the current environment is challenging, it’s rewarding to help those we serve to achieve a better outcome. That’s the part of the work I love: the part where we make such a positive difference.
encourage others to find individuals who model the leadership characteristics and qualities they respect and want to emulate, and to seek input, guidance and direction from those people. Learn from them. Sometimes mentorship can be with one person for a long period of time, or it can be a meeting over a cup of coffee or lunch with someone you want to learn from at the moment. I personally think that everyone should have a mentor; mentoring and mentorship is something everyone should challenge themselves to do and find. What do you wish more people knew about health care? I wish people really understood the correlation between the engagement of health-care providers and the quality of care provided to the patient. Research shows that those in health care are challenged with work/life balance; it’s really hard to work in health care today. And yet, we all want better quality and more affordable care. The more we can focus on our people — acknowledging when work has been done well and when someone has made a positive difference, as well as supporting health-care workers by providing the training they need to be successful — the more engaged those people will be in their work. As a result, better care will be provided to all. I just wish more people focused on what’s right in health care.
Tell us about your typical day. My work varies, from helping to develop our leadership team, to working directly with leaders and teams at Studer Group to improve our organizational performance, to working directly with those we serve — CEOs or other health-care leaders. Said differently, I’m either working in our Pensacola office to advance our organizational goals, or I’m traveling across the country to help the health-care leaders and the organizations we serve to achieve their goals. What is your mentorship philosophy? No matter who you are or what role you’re in, we all have the opportunity to continuously improve. I
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Executive Mindset
It’s the Law 2017 LEGISLATION
FUNDING BATTLE Speaker-Pro Tempore Jeanette M. Nunez, R-Miami, guides debate on the Economic Programs bill last March.
Unfinished Business Lobbyists look to 2018 for greater yield
W
BY ROCHELLE KOFF
hen the Florida Legislature convenes in January 2018, the North Florida business community will be eager to tackle workers’ compensation, insurance claims, economic development and a broad spectrum of other issues. Many are hopeful the next legislative go-round will be more fruitful than the last. The 2017 session “was more about missed opportunities,” said Frank Walker, vice president of government affairs for the Florida Chamber of Commerce. “We didn’t see an overwhelming amount of legislation pass.” Business advocates do tout some successes, including the restored WALKER funding of Visit Florida, the state’s
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tourism marketing organization; at least $85 million in targeted economic development, passed during the threeday special session; a slight reduction in the commercial business rent tax and a boost for wireless technology. Space Florida escaped budget cuts, especially beneficial for Pensacola, “which is up and coming” in its business relationship with the state’s aerospace economic development agency, said Agustin Corbella, senior director of government law and policy for the law firm GreenbergTraurig. Space Florida received $19.5 million for the budget year, which started July 1. Yet business interests caution there is a lot of “unfinished business” to address next year. Workers’ compensation reform was considered the “biggest single issue” of 2017, said Tom Feeney, president and chief operating officer of the business lobbying group Associated Industries of Florida. Except for a public records
PHOTOS BY MARK FOLEY AND HEADSHOTS COURTESY OF INDIVIDUALS
change, the legislature failed to do anything substantive about doubledigit rate increases, he said. The quandary stems from two 2016 Florida Supreme Court decisions that declared several provisions FEENEY of the state’s workers’ compensation statutes unconstitutional. Business leaders said those decisions weakened legislative reforms approved in 1994 and 2003 meant to curb the system’s growing costs and rising premiums for employers and businesses. Florida’s rates had been among the highest in the country. Following the court decisions in 2016, state regulators approved a 14.5 percent increase in workers’ compensation rates (for policies written after Dec. 1, 2016). “As a result, by Dec. 1 of this year, each business (requiring workers’ comp) in Florida will end up seeing see a rate increase because of these court cases and because the legislature did not reach a decision this session,” said Lance Lozano, CEO of the Florida United Businesses Association, which represents 6,800 small businesses statewide. State law requires non-construction industries with four or more employees and construction firms with one or more employees to provide workman’s compensation coverage, he said. The 14.5 percent hike “won’t be the last increase if we don’t get some meaningful workers’ comp reform across the finish line,” cautioned Walker. The legislature did approve one workers’ comp issue — House Bill 1107, which protects private information on workers’ compensation claims from public records. Business groups praised this measure as a way to keep attorneys from flooding injured workers with offers to sue their employers, said Lozano. Workers’ comp and the business rent tax will again be among prime business issues for 2018, along with controversial Assignment of Benefit insurance arrangements (prevalent in water and roof claims across the state), health-care issues, gambling, retirement plans and economic development, including initiatives for rural “areas of opportunities.” Aside from legislative action in 2018, “expect to see bold ideas from the Constitution Revision Commission,” said Hayden Dempsey, chair of Government Law and Policy Practice for GreenbergTraurig. The Constitution Revision Commission convenes every 20 years to review Florida’s Constitution and recommend changes to Florida voters. “These should be big items with big impact. Businesses ought to look at that,” said Dempsey. Here’s a look at some of the bills now in effect that could be impacting your business.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT (HB 1A) This bill, passed during the special session, spared Visit Florida a deep budget cut and restored funding to $76 million for tourism marketing. “Better late than never,” said Walker, who chided lawmakers for not passing the funding during the regular session. The Chamber hailed HB 1A for providing “proven, high-yield tourism marketing efforts with necessary protections for taxpayers.” These efforts are essential, said Corbella, because Florida not only has to compete with the rest of the country for tourism dollars but “with countless countries around the world.” Enterprise Florida lost most of its money for job incentives, but legislation provided $85 million for public infrastructure and job-training projects during the special session. “It does basically support a public need while helping a company make a decision” about coming to Florida, Feeney said. “It’s a lot better than doing away with it.” The bill also allocated $50 million (a lot less than Gov. Rick Scott requested) for the overdue repair of the Herbert Hoover dike surrounding Lake Okeechobee to solve issues causing toxic algae blooms in estuaries and coastal waters. MEDICAL MARIJUANA (SB 8A) This bill created guidelines for the Florida Department of Health to implement Amendment 2 or the Florida Medical Marijuana Legalization Initiative. Business groups were relieved that the section does not require accommodating any on-site medical use of marijuana in the workplace. Walker applauded “Florida Chamber-backed language” that “preserves employers’ right to insist on a Drug-Free Workplace.” “It was one of the few wins for the business community,” he said. BUSINESS RENT TAX (HB 7109) As part of a bill including a wide range of tax reductions and modifications, the tax
AGENCIES SCRUTINIZED Rep. Paul Renner, R-Palm Coast, takes questions from House members about eliminating the state’s public-private Enterprise Florida. The agency survived with funding cuts.
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on rent for commercial properties was slashed from 6 percent to 5.8 percent. “Florida is the only state in the nation that charges a business rent tax,” said Lozano. “This issue has been talked about for the last four sessions and there’s been no activity on it until this.” LOZANO The tax is harmful to small businesses and businesses that need space for limited contract work, Feeney said. He noted that aerospace companies and defense contractors in Northwest Florida that receive short-term federal contracts, for example, are more likely to rent a building than to buy a space. At GreenbergTraurig, Dempsey said business leaders see this slight reduction in tax as “symbolic” but “a good first step.” “While it’s a small cut, it’s important to the business community,” agreed Feeney. “We would like to see the tax ultimately eliminated, but in terms of budgetary impact, we realize that’s probably not practical.” House Bill 7109 also includes exemptions from sales taxes for the purchase of building materials used in new structures constructed in rural areas of opportunity; health products for livestock, poultry and aquaculture; and property used to construct and equip a large capacity data center, among other provisions. The bill allows for a three-day “back to school” sales-tax holiday and a three-day disaster preparedness tax holiday, which took place over the summer. These tax holidays come up for reauthorization each year. WIRELESS TECHNOLOGY (HOUSE BILL 687) The Advanced Wireless Infrastructure Act prohibits the Florida Department of Transportation and local government bodies from regulating or charging carriers who want to place “small wireless facilities” on public rights-of-way, primarily certain types of utility poles. The aim is to increase the availability of 5G wireless technology throughout Florida. Local government leaders contend the legislation removed regulatory control from their towns and cities, but it was applauded by most business groups. “It will be one more quantum leap in facilitating wireless communications,” said Feeney. RIDESHARING (HB 221) The bill prevents local governments from regulating ridesharing companies such as Uber and Lyft and sets statewide requirements for insurance and driver background checks for those companies. SOLAR AMENDMENT (SB 90) The legislation enacts Amendment 4, a constitutional amendment exempting homeowners and businesses from property-tax increases if they install solar panels. It also set up a framework for being able to sell back excess power, said Dempsey. In 2016, 73 percent of Florida voters supported Amendment 4. ALCOHOL (HB 689) The bill reduces annual craft distillery licensing fees from $4,000 to $1,000; allows minors to work in stores that sell alcohol as long as they are supervised by an adult; and also changes the definition of wine to include sake, the Japanese alcoholic drink made from fermented rice. Sake will be taxed as a wine, not a beer. 18
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PHOTO COURTESY OF LANCE LOZANO
IT’S THE LAW
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Executive Mindset
Wi-Files TAPPING LOCAL TALENT
WRITING CODE Programming bootcamps equip people for IT jobs BY NICK FARRELL
I
n Tallahassee, the demand for talent is high. This is the case across a variety of industries. Restaurants and retail shops battle high turnover and the cyclical nature of student employment. Communications and marketing firms snatch up interns as fast as they can. In technology, though, the demand for certain skills has grown much faster than the supply. As a result, Tallahassee is experiencing an acute IT talent shortage. Whether it’s developers, cybersecurity experts, or IT managers, businesses struggle to fill positions in tech-related fields. At the time this column is being written, there are just under 500 IT job openings in Leon County (that we know of). These are high-skill, high-wage positions sitting vacant. The impact that these empty seats could be having on the local economy is enormous. Five hundred people working, shopping, eating, and living locally would be a big boost for many other local businesses. These would also be year-round positions, not just active during the school year or the legislative session. With Tallahassee unemployment floating at around 3.6%, to say nothing of underemployment, there are likely folks in town who would love to fill these seats. They just don’t have the right skills. This is a problem, because according to the latest data available, IT is heavily outpacing other industries in terms of job growth. The number of software-related jobs is projected to grow by 17% from 2014 to 2024, adding around 180,000 new jobs to the U.S. market. That’s more than double the overall job growth average. Demand for software is higher than ever, and there aren’t enough new IT professionals entering the field, resulting in a shortage. This shortage disproportionately affects smaller cities like Tallahassee where the ecosystem around technology
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isn’t as well developed. This is due, in part, to competition. It’s difficult for small businesses to compete for talent from larger tech hubs where salaries are inflated by venture capital. This situation creates a “Catch 22” for businesses. Companies need skilled individuals to build products which generate revenue. But if you don’t have revenue to begin with, how are you going to hire the team? The problem is amplified by the limited pool of venture capital investors in the region. Many tech start-ups rely on seed investments to get off of the ground. Then, they can build their product and achieve revenue on their own. Thus, the lack of maturity in Tallahassee’s venture capital ecosystem holds back many aspiring entrepreneurs. It’s also become quite clear that local businesses can’t rely on recruiting from campus alone. Even larger, more established businesses in Tallahassee have to get creative to solve recruiting issues. Many firms outsource software development to other parts of the country, or “offshore” to other parts of the world. Businesses also sometimes look internally for candidates who could be trained to fill open positions. These are all ways that a business can circumvent
PHOTO BY SCYTHER5 / ISTOCK / GETTY IMAGES PLUS
a talent shortage, but they aren’t the most sustainable solutions. Retraining is expensive and time consuming. Outsourcing development comes with its own slew of problems. Neither of these solutions does much to boost the local economy, either. Some companies have gone as far as to open up branches in other cities where there is a better supply of talent. Cuttlesoft, a custom software agency (whom I work for), opened up a second branch in Denver, Colorado, partly to capitalize on the tech talent in the city. Why Denver? One reason is that the city has taken concrete and impressive steps towards building a sustainable IT talent pool. Rather than growing existing computer science programs at universities, Denver, has taken a nontraditional route to building up its IT workforce. Adult-focused “coding schools” are popping up all over the country, and Denver is no exception. These “programming bootcamps” have proven a successful avenue for training people and placing them in IT jobs all over the nation. The same could happen here in Tallahassee. The ultimate value that these coding schools provide
is a sustainable solution to building a tech workforce in a city. Instead of having to go “back to school,” people can simply apply to the code school of their choice. Code bootcamps are usually much less expensive than a degree and offer a condensed curriculum, allowing students to graduate sooner. They also teach the latest web technologies that universities often have trouble keeping up with. Tallahassee could become one of the best cities in America for code education, but that’s only if each of the necessary parties gets on board. The city’s government, nonprofit sector, colleges, and businesses will need to work closely together to help solve the talent crisis in Tallahassee. By leveraging public dollars (like those meant to accompany the city’s TechHire designation) and by partnering with local businesses who need talent, the city could expand the opportunity for people looking to learn tech skills. One such partnership between the Mayor’s Office, FAMU, and local incubator Domi Station has already produced one coding bootcamp: I/O Avenue. The program, founded in part by local developer Ryan Kopinksy, hopes to train Tallahassee’s next class of programmers. I/O Avenue is certainly a great start, and will hopefully inspire other schools to open their doors. Programs could also be developed at TCC, FAMU, and FSU (separate from degree-track programs) to start training Tallahassee’s native population to fill these tech positions (TCC’s Computer Programming Specialist Certificate is a great example of an existing program that could be expanded). Tallahassee could also greatly benefit from a program like UCF’s Coding Bootcamp in Orlando. Geared towards people with full-time jobs, the program is meant to help people train for new careers while keeping their day jobs. The message here is that while urban development and new building projects are fantastic, Tallahassee also needs to invest in its people if the city is going to continue to grow. The fact remains, that if enough college students were interested in staying here for long-term jobs, there wouldn’t be a talent vacuum. Therefore, it’s vital that the city start investing in its native population to build a skilled, diverse, and sustainable IT workforce. Once that happens, Tallahassee will be one big step closer to achieving the economic diversification and entrepreneurial focus that is slowly, but surely, growing.
Nick Farrell is Communications Manager at Cuttlesoft, an IT consulting agency with offices in Tallahassee and Denver.
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DEAL ESTATE Just Listed
Prime Restaurant and Retail Space Units for lease in Village of Baytowne Wharf
The Village of Baytowne Wharf is nestled between the Gulf of Mexico and Choctawhatchee Bay on the Emerald Coast, within the renowned Sandestin Beach and Golf Resort. Sandestin is a 2,400acre planned community with a 113-slip, full-service marina, 65,000 square feet of conference meeting space, and 30 different village neighborhoods with homes, condominiums and hotels. Baytowne Wharf is a pedestrian-friendly, interactive retail and dining village, with an estimated 1.5 million visitors enjoying the active lifestyle shopping experience. It includes approximately 57,000 square feet of resort specialty retail designed to appeal to all tastes, styles and ages, with a focus on the hospitality and casual coastal lifestyle of the Emerald Coast. One of several specific units available for lease is the site of a two-story restaurant with scenic Gulf views from two sides.
Address: 140 Fisherman’s Cove, Sandestin | Lease price: $30/square foot | Square footage: 4,400 Contact: Tom Watson, Thomas.watson@cbre.com, (850) 527-3524
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PHOTOS COURTESY OF CBRE AND BAYTOWNE OWNER’S ASSOCIATION
By Rachel Smith
Celebrating 35 years!
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CELEBRATING ONE MORE WIN — announcing our newest principal and shareholder. Congratulations to our President Terrie Ard, APR, CPRC.
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DEAL ESTATE Second Home
Sweet Dreams in Seaside Stunning Gulf-front retreat has unrivaled views By Rachel Smith
Enjoy magnificent, unsurpassed beach views and westerly views in this splendid home from three huge (20x28’) porches, one on each level. No expense was spared in the design, construction and furnishing of this Gulf-front retreat, which affords serene privacy yet is steps away from picturesque Seaside Square.
List Price: $5,950,000 Address: 2288 E. Co. Hwy. 30A, Santa Rosa Beach Square Footage: 2,772 Bedrooms: 4 Features: Two master suites, elevator access, vaulted ceilings, solid plank wood flooring throughout, marble baths, chef’s kitchen with SubZero, Thermador and Bosch appliances, three HVAC units, security system with video monitoring, plantation shutters and built-in bookcases. Built in 2005. Realtor says: “This is a rare opportunity to own directly on the Gulf in Seaside.” Contact: Brett Bianca, ResortQuest Real Estate, (850) 460-4380 mobile, (850) 267-9191 office. BrettInDestin@gmail.com, BrettSellsDestin.com
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PHOTOS COURTESY OF PATRICIA NORRELL PHOTOGRAPHY/RESORTQUEST
Bathrooms: 4.5
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In Jail for the Right Reasons When Roger Matthews (rmatthews@universalengineering.com), business development representative for Universal Engineering Sciences’ Panhandle offices, isn’t promoting the geotechnical firm’s services, he’s giving back to the community. Matthews concedes, however, his dedication to “paying it forward” was not always his passion. Raised in a missionary family in Mexico before settling in Northwest Florida, Roger admits he was unabashedly careerminded, not a “do-gooder.” “I spoke Spanish fluently, but didn’t practice it much,” Matthews acknowledges. All that changed eight years ago. Driving past the Santa Rosa County Jail one evening, Matthews said he experienced “this impulse to start a Spanish-speaking Bible class at the jail, where I knew a lot of Hispanic prisoners were housed.” Matthews went behind the walls, teaching weekly Bible studies to non-English speaking inmates of various faiths. “At first, I just spoke to them in Spanish about life,” he recalls. Now boasting 70-plus “students,” Matthews’ Bible class is taught in English to all comers and is one of the jail’s best attended meetings. He still gets letters of thanks from former inmates. “I tell the guys this class is as much for me as for them,” Matthews says. “It’s made me a better person.”
Roger Matthews
Pensacola: 850-944-5555 | Panama City: 850-215-2060 universalengineering.com
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VETERAN ENTREPRENEURS VICTORIOUS IN FLORIDA VETERANS FLORIDA HELPS VETS TRANSFER MILITARY SKILLS TO CIVILIAN BUSINESSES BY KAREN MURPHY
R
etired Marine Lt. Col. David Glassman says he was a kid who hadn’t grown up. He spent 22 years going to work in what he calls pajamas but what others would call a flight suit. He strapped himself into a gigantic 100foot, heavy-lift helicopter and flew into dangerous places like Kosovo and Iraq to carry out combat support operations and training missions. Erick Moody played football at Wakulla High School before enlisting
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in the military. He wanted to see the world, and he says he was fortunate to travel to many beautiful foreign countries while deployed as an Army Private to Baumholder, Germany. Retired Navy Commander Christine Yerkes put in 14 years active duty and nine in the Naval reserves. As a civil engineer, she built bridges for use in Somalia, rebuilt after destructive hurricanes, and “hardened” military bases after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Even with their vast military experience, all three agree that starting
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their own businesses as civilians was one of their toughest challenges. All three credit Veterans Florida with providing valuable assistance in getting their businesses off the ground. Veterans Florida is a non-profit corporation created by the state of Florida to help veterans fully transition into civilian life in the Sunshine State. It connects veterans to employers, grants funds to employers to hire and train veterans, and educates veterans on how to open their own businesses.
PHOTO BY WELCOMIA / ISTOCK / GETTY IMAGES PLUS
Basic Training All Over Again Moody says the Veterans Florida Entrepreneurship Program was “intense” and was like being in basic training all over again. “But I loved that,” he says. “That’s how you know it will hold water.” The Veterans Florida Entrepreneurship Program offers tuition-free online and on-campus instruction in the nationally recognized Lean Startup method to any Florida resident who is an honorably discharged veteran, is of active-duty status with one year left before discharge or is a current or former member of the National Guard or Reserves. The program networks with seven partner campuses across Florida with established small business programs and expert instructors. In the Panhandle, the partner campuses are the University of West Florida in Pensacola and Florida A&M University in Tallahassee. The program also provides access to local resources such as business leaders, mentors and much more. “Entrepreneurship is a great employment option for veterans,” says Bobby Carbonell, the executive director of Veterans Florida. “Their military service makes them uniquely suited to owning
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and running their own business. Military service requires you to complete a mission with limited information, and that’s pretty much the gist of entrepreneurship, too. The Veterans Florida Entrepreneurship Program teaches veterans the important aspects of business and helps them get started the right way.” Moody is very thankful for that help. A certified chef, Moody started Mae’s Southern Delights, a catering business in Crawfordville, in November 2016. He calls the business an homage to his mother, and, as such, serves Latin food with a Southern twist. He wanted to expand with a food truck business: Mae’s Mobile Kitchen. “I wrote a five-page business plan,” he remembers with a little chuckle. “Once I was in the Entrepreneurship Program (Class of 2016–17), that plan was expanded to 50 pages, complete with financial assumptions and detailed market research.” He says he met with his class every two weeks and went home with homework. He had to research his business and his specific markets in Tallahassee and Crawfordville. “I learned very fast that ‘everybody’
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is not your market,” he says. “This program really helped me and my wife grow as business people.” Much like boot camp, the entrepreneurship program taught Moody to stand on his own, set goals, push past obstacles and keep going. “It was a very, very, big deal for me,” he says. He hopes that as his business grows, he will be able to pull other veterans and
PHOTO BY JOHNSTON ROBERTS
Erick Moody, Army veteran, gained business savvy through the Entrepreneurship Program. His catering business is Mae’s Southern Delights, based in Crawfordville. He plans to employ other veterans as his business grows.
the homeless “up by their bootstraps” by creating jobs for them. “The more success I have, the more I can help others. It will be very awesome to be a veteran-owned business creating jobs for other veterans,” he says. Yerkes also went through the Veterans Florida Entrepreneurship Program. She wishes she had found it earlier. Yerkes is the CEO of Yerkes South
Inc., a very successful Pensacola-based contracting company, specializing in federal, military and state government construction. In the military, she gained decades of experience managing multimilliondollar construction projects. After retiring, she worked for URS Corporation, one of the country’s largest architect and engineering firms.
She was confident in her qualifications and experience, but striking off on her own and building her own business still presented a minefield of overwhelming challenges.
Transitioning Skills “When I started, I got led off in so many different directions, I almost gave up,” she confesses. “When I got to the Small
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Business Development Center and Veterans Florida at UWF, I was able to focus on what was going to make a difference rather than on who was going to try to take advantage of me and my business. Veterans Florida helped me stay away from the shysters. If veterans follow this program, they’re not going to have trouble with being scammed or going off in the wrong direction or wasting a lot of time. Mentors tailor the program specifically to what you are doing. It kept me out of trouble. It kept me focused and heading in the right direction. “I wish I had found Veterans Florida earlier,” she continues. “I already had a business plan and was already working a little. The basic stuff was a nice confirmation that I had done things right. Overall, it was the connections I made with the professors, other teachers and other students that were so valuable.” She said there were a lot of people still on active duty in the program, and in her opinion, that’s the best time to start. “I wish I had found it before I had decided to leave my job, while I was still developing my business ideas and structure and looking for vendors and legally recording the company,” she says. But even starting late, she found the program was invaluable in helping to set up the structure for her business. Glassman says lack of structure in a new business is one of the biggest differences between military life and entrepreneurship. He describes the Marine Corp as very structured, with a lot of discipline. “There’s a high expectation for the level of performance, and there’s a lot of infrastructure support,” he says. “Starting a new business, there is no infrastructure.
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Christine Yerkes, retired Navy commander, applies skills she learned in service to her private contracting company, Yerkes South, based in Pensacola. She engaged the Entrepreneurship Program to help her start the company.
It doesn’t exist. There are no policies, no standard operating procedures.” Once the structure was in place, though, Glassman found that running his business, DigiPro Media LLC, a Pensacola-based technology company, was not that different from being in the Marines. “Aside from strapping into a gigantic helicopter, with 14,000 horse power, flying at night into scary places, yeah, I don’t get to do that anymore, but pretty much everything else is very similar,” he says. “In terms of team building, in terms of a squadron versus a business, the people in the unit versus people in the company, yeah, it’s similar and vastly different at the same time. But back in the day, I’d put my flight suit on one leg at a time and go to work and do the best I could. It’s the same thing here. I’m the CRO (Chief Relations Officer) and partner/owner; it’s all about people, and I don’t think that has ever really changed.” DigiPro Media specializes in multiple forms of digital media, including proprietary software development, web design, IT support, eCommerce,
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processing, target marketing and fundraising. To many, his journey from the Marine Corps to running this high-tech business might seem like flying in the dark, but to him, when looking back, it all seems fairly logical. Glassman admits he had a tough transition to civilian life. “I struggled with the interview process. I did a little bit of interviewing, but I had a bad experience and never went back. I took full advantage of the military retirement and just kind of went into patience mode.” He said he stumbled upon some really talented musicians, which led him to become involved in live production management and bookings activities along the Gulf Coast. He started a musician-artist development and music-management company that handled, at one point, about 47 bands and 180 musicians. Glassman was one of the two first managers for the Revivalists, a popular alternative rock band based out of New Orleans. “It wasn’t very lucrative, but it certainly was engaging, and I had a great time doing it,” Glassman says.
PHOTOS BY COURTLAND WILLIAM RICHARDS
In the process, of them very highSCHOOL-BASED he met his current end, senior developer RESOURCES In addition to the seven partner, Steve Barshov, types. Hiring these state-funded Veterans at Hangout Festival individuals was an Florida Entrepreneurship 2012. Glassman says investment. programs, many colleges and universities across the Barshov showed him a “Keep in mind state offer Veteran Resource phone app he had built that we’re not just Centers, including these in Northwest Florida: for the Revivalists that building websites,” took all the content Glassman said. “We’re Chipola College, from the band’s website developing our own Marianna and put it into one app proprietary platforms, Florida A&M University, container. like WordPress or Tallahassee “I could manage the GoDaddy. We have the Florida State University, band, all of its events, same thing, just easier Tallahassee all of its social media and more powerful. So, Gulf Coast State College, and calendar stuff all in bringing these folks on, Panama City a single app,” Glassman we were paying them says. “I could do it for 14 immediately, but they Northwest Florida State College, bands. Then it grew to weren’t productive for a Niceville 47 bands being managed good long time. The onPensacola State College, on a single phone app.” the-job-training (OJT) Pensacola He became enamored aspect of their training with the technology, was incredibly critical.” Tallahassee Community College, and with the time he Fortunately, OJT Tallahassee had on his hands — fell within the paramthanks to the app — he eters of the Veterans hung out with Barshov for the next Florida Business Training Grant. This nine months, learning the technology grant program is designed to increase and then selling the app to others on the competitiveness of Florida busiBarshov’s behalf. nesses by providing a trained, skilled The Gulf Coast Entertainment app workforce drawing on Florida’s miligrew to 400 clients over the next year. In tary veteran population. 2013, Barshov and Glassman separated The state-funded program provides from the technology company and crebusinesses in Florida’s targeted highated their own, web-based business. growth and high-wage industries with Today, DigiPro Media has more than grant monies for customized, skills1,000 clients, most of them businesses based curriculum development. Qualin the tourism industry — restaurants, ifying businesses can then train their bars, etc. DigiPro also works with Pennew, full-time veteran employees. sacola International Airport and other “We were the first or second comairports. pany in Florida to get the grant,” says In two years, DigiPro Media went Glassman. from a company of six employees to DigiPro Media hired five to seven a company of 65 employees, many new employees and was compensated
through the grant at 50 percent, which capped out at $8,000 per employee. “That was a big help. It basically offset the costs of the manpower for one to three months. It helped us monetarily in a very big way,” Glassman says. Carbonell says that helping veterans is the essential goal of Veterans Florida. “Veterans have all the character traits to succeed in business: initiative, attention to detail, tenacity.” Whether it’s providing training for veterans or helping them launch a business, he says, Veterans Florida brings veterans together with the resources and skills they need to live successful, highly productive lives in Florida. Businesses and veterans can learn more about Veterans Florida at veteransflorida.org. Its next entrepreneurship program begins in January 2018.
David Glassman, retired Marine lieutenant colonel, said entrepreneurial training helped him create infrastructure for his business, DigiPro Media, a Pensacola-based technology company.
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PINNACLE AWARDS
2017
PINNACLE AWARDS AD
Program honors community-leading ladies
STORY BY STEVE BORNHOFT PHOTOGRAPHY BY LAWRENCE DAVIDSON
PINNACLE AWARDS
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and talent to organizations including the United Way of Northwest Florida and the Bay County Chamber of Commerce, was killed at her home on Jan. 17 of this year. She was remembered for “her elegance, her eloquence, her competence and for the many ways in which she made life better for her coworkers, friends, family and the community at large.” The Pinnacle Awards presentation was sponsored by host FSU-PC and by Gulf Power; ResortQuest by Wyndham Vacation Rentals; Sacred Heart Health System; Demont Insurance Agency & Financial Services; and Matthews & Jones, attorneys at law. ALISA KINSAUL A salon, project:STYLE, proShe made her vided hair and makeup sercommunity better. vices to the honorees. Madcap modeling coach and agency owner Marsha Doll helped them take great pictures. The meal was catered by Cabin Creek Catering. Karen Moore, in her book, Behind the Red Door: Unlock Your Advocacy, Influence and Success, quotes anthropologist Margaret Mead, who once said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” The 2017 Pinnacle honorees, in particular, could accomplish incredible things, working as a group. The pinnacle would be a mere step to the sky. They are profiled on the following pages.
PHOTO COURTESY OF APPLIED RESEARCH ASSOCIATES (KINSAUL)
K
aren Moore awakened early in her great lake house, left her husband and his parents behind and, after completing a milk run of a flight itinerary, touched down in Panama City, Florida, 19 hours after departing Traverse City, Michigan. It would all be worth it to the president and founder of Moore Communications Group for the morrow would bring an event that Karen considered highly important. “There was no way I was going to miss this,” she said, shortly before Rowland Publishing’s fourth annual Pinnacle Awards presentation was about to begin on Aug. 15 in the St. Joe Community Foundation Lecture Hall at the Holley Academic Center on the Panama City campus of Florida State University. “Mercy, I am so honored to be a part of this group.” The Pinnacle Award is reserved for women who have distinguished themselves both professionally and as community servants. Moore readily qualifies, given her record of service to numerous nonprofit and public entities, and as someone who has built a business once confined to a cottage on Lake Ella in Tallahassee into one of the largest independently owned communications firms in the United States. Members of Rowland Publishing’s management team introduced the 2017 Pinnacle winners to an audience of about 150 persons. For the first time, a woman was honored with a Pinnacle Award posthumously. Alisa Kinsaul, who worked in Panama City as a communications professional for FSU and for Applied Research Associates Inc., and volunteered time
KAREN B. MOORE CEO/Founder, Moore Communications Group (An appreciation by Steve Bornhoft)
It would be fitting, if in Karen Moore’s case, the “B” stood for beneficent. I am fortunate to have her as a friend. Karen graciously agreed to serve as a guest speaker at a class I teach in the Strategic Communications Department at Flagler College in Tallahassee. As students arrived that night, I watched Karen as she approached each of them, shook his or her hand and introduced herself. These were second-semester seniors, most all of them engaged in job searches. I told them to regard Karen’s visit as an opportunity to meet someone who is supremely well connected in the communications field and beyond. They dressed for class that night as I had never seen them dress before. We had a spirited conversation about a scenario involving a man who needed to reinvent himself because circumstances had evolved to invalidate his business model. At the end of class, Karen turned to my students and said she had something she needed to tell them. “Remember when you first got here tonight, I shook your hand,” Karen said. “Well, based on your handshakes alone, there is not a student here that I would hire.” The oxygen briefly went out of the room as Karen admonished the students to make sure their handshakes are “firm, but not punishing, and to look the person you are meeting right in the eye.” Later, as I walked Karen to her car, I had the temerity to ask her how she had found my handshake when she first met me. “Oh, it was just perfect,” she said, and I Iearned at that moment that Karen has a sharp personal politics acumen, too. Karen authored a book last year titled Behind the Red Door. Yes, it sounds slightly illicit. But the connotations of red door are not the same as red light. A red door, traditionally, signifies welcome, whereas a red light signifies, yes, welcome, but of a different sort. Behind the red door, Karen comes to understand her clients’ needs and goals and dreams and, on strategic and tactical levels, leads people to success. She has been a driving force behind many advances at Tallahassee Community College and has always made service to nonprofit organizations a big part of her thriving business. Many are in her debt.
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PINNACLE AWARDS
SUSAN DAVIS
Courts awarded custody of Susan Davis to her father when she was 4. And, while he scrambled to make a living for many years doing odd jobs before he became a junior high math teacher, Dad was a chief influence in her life. Davis credits him with teaching her about courage, care, compassion and values. He escorted her to mother-daughter events and tried to become a Brownies leader, but, says Davis, the Girl Scout Council wasn’t quite ready for him in the early 1960s. “My dad taught me that no matter how hard something appears to be, you have to try,” Davis recalls, and she has tried many hard things. Her most gratifying work has been in the area of patient safety. In 2007, she had the opportunity to work with a nuclear engineer and became familiar with principles of high reliability used by that industry to minimize the chance for safety events. They are principles that travel well. Susan came to Sacred Heart in Pensacola from a hospital in Connecticut, where she served as the chair of the statewide hospital safety committee in that state. “Our employees try always to do the right thing, but when you are talking about 8,000 of them and hundreds of patients, there are a lot of things that can fall through the cracks,” Davis says. “There can be unintended consequences arising from the best of intentions. Sometimes, there are procedures and processes that complicate efforts to positively affect the life of a patient and we may need to simplify things so that our people can reliably be successful.” Along with her father, Davis has been profoundly influenced by health-care consultant Quint Studer, whom she views as a “gift” and whom she credits with devising tools and systems that have improved the patient experience at the hospitals he has worked with. “He’s creative, he takes risks and if there is something he believes in, there is no stopping him,” Davis says about Studer. Among women, Davis grudgingly admired Miss Kischak, her first teacher in nursing school. Kischak was retired Army and she was tough. Students knew to try to avoid her, but Davis registered late for her first term and had no choice. At the end of the term, Susan had an 89.7 average and appealed to Kischak to round the score up to a 90 so that she would receive an A. She may as well have put her shoulder into a skyscraper. Kischak didn’t budge. “She told me that if I had tried just a little bit harder, I would have had an A, and that patients deserve nothing less than our best efforts,” Davis recalls. Says Davis, “The best lesson I have learned is to fail forward and to fail often. If you don’t take a risk, you won’t fail and you won’t learn from your failures. And I’ve learned a lot.” For Davis’s many failures, Sacred Heart Hospital, organizations including Covenant Hospice, the Pensacola Chamber of Commerce, and Gulf Coast Kids’ House as well as countless individuals are most grateful. 36
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PHOTO BY TODD DOUGLAS PHOTOGRAPHY
CEO/President, Sacred Heart Health System
KRISTINE RUSHING Chief Operating Officer, Beck Partners Holdings Kristine Rushing is a student of leadership whose role involves evaluating processes and helping each of her team members grow in areas including workplace skills, best practices, goal setting and community development. In August, one of Rushing’s favorite authors, John C. Maxell, tweeted, “People are your most appreciable asset; the more people you develop, the greater the extent of your dreams.” Rushing would say “amen” to all of that. The best advice she ever received, she says, came from her husband, Reid, with whom she owned a property and casualty insurance agency that merged with what was then Beck Properties in 2014. Reid has steadily advised Kristine that, in order to become a great leader, you need to slow down and develop the people around you. Even sales, Rushing has found, is a team sport. You may have individual goals, but you benefit by surrounding yourself with good people. Rushing is the product of a military family that moved to Pensacola when she was 3. She went to work at age 16, first at a Little Caesar’s pizzeria and ever since then, she has not known life without work and she has never stopped working on her own professional development. She counts Quint Studer as the mentor who has influenced her more greatly than any other. She met him while a member of Pensacola Young Professionals, which was working with the Studer Group to create a professional development institute. Pensacola, she says, is home to many impressive women including three she greatly admires: Carol Carlan, the president of the Sacred Heart Foundation; Bettina Terry, currently with Georgia Power and formerly with Gulf Power; and Kathy Anthony, the operations director at IMS Expert Services, which provides expert witnesses to law firms. Like the people she regards highly, Rushing is committed to giving back to the community. She is on the board at Career Source Escarosa and works with the Global Connections to Employment program of the Lakeview Center in Pensacola. The latter program provides employment to people living with disabilities and imbues them with a sense of purpose and value. No one need impress upon Rushing the value of work. Or of drive and initiative. They have carried her a long way. 850 Business Magazine
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PINNACLE AWARDS
JEANNE DAILEY CEO/Founder, Newman-Dailey Resort Properties
Jeanne Dailey grew up in a small town near Toledo, Ohio, and went to an art school in Adrian, Michigan, but she wasn’t content to remain a struggling creative for long. She joined a friend at East Carolina University and earned a business degree. Both moved to Destin following graduation in 1983. There, the friend arranged job interviews for her including one with Randy Newman — a developer, not the musician— for whom she went to work. Dailey moved quickly to get her real estate license and then set up a rental management company in connection with Newman’s Woodland Shores Townhomes development. In 1985, she and Newman established Newman-Dailey Resort Properties and, three years later, Dailey purchased his interest in the business. “No one had heard of Destin when I moved there,” Dailey says. “We had one traffic light and one grocery store. I had the opportunity to raise my children in a small-town environment and my business and the community grew up together.” Dailey’s parents, Bob and Phyllis, were big believers in community service and, once her kids were in middle and high school, Dailey became involved in community organizations, motivated in part by self-interest. Two issues were of great importance to her: beach nourishment and proposed limits on short-term vacations rentals. The Destin Chamber of Commerce favored the former and opposed the latter and Dailey became a member of the chamber’s board of directors. The Chamber worked to identify and educate people who wanted to run for office. In so doing, it overcame a disinformation campaign that led beachfront property owners to believe that they would lose property to the government if a beach nourishment project were approved. Ultimately, the nourishment project was approved and the limits on short-term rentals were not imposed. Dailey admires women including educator Alexis Tibbetts, at one time the principal at Destin Middle School and a woman, Jeanne says, “who really showed me how to appreciate, admire and respect others.” And she has long heeded advice she received from a CPA who prepared her tax return for a year in which her company’s revenues had grown by 30 percent. Dailey was alarmed at the growth in her tax bill. “Never,” said the accountant, “give up making money to avoid paying taxes.”
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PATRICIA B. MCCRAY CEO/Founder, Butterfly Life Journeys, Inc.
If, in Patricia McCray’s case, her middle initial were to stand for “beatitude,” or certainly “butterfly,” it would be fitting. McCray is unique among all Pinnacle Award winners in the four-year history of the program in that she spent three years in federal prison. Alcohol dissolved her marriage to the father of her children and, struggling as a single parent, she lost a battle with temptation and stole from her employer federal funds that she intended to repay. She never got the chance. But, in the words of songwriter Fred Rose, McCray “got herself together, looked for the sign and waited for the sun to shine” and, when it did, she stepped into the light and made herself whole again. “In some ways, those three years in prison were the best years of my life,” McCray says. “They were transformational. I had the opportunity to focus on myself, and I had a chance to work on my relationship with God.” Upon her release from prison, McCray found work as a typist at a print shop. One day, a customer picking up an order noticed her typing speed and later supplied her with a City of Tallahassee employment application. McCray was granted an interview, and her typing test score was the best among a pool of applicants. She would work for the city for 19 years until her job was eliminated in July. Butterfly Life Journeys is McCray’s platform for her work as a motivational speaker. She talks to audiences about her own metamorphosis, leading people to discover
the “strength that lies within.” She is at work on two books, a memoir and a book about achieving success not of a superficial kind. She is a valued volunteer at the federal women’s prison in Tallahassee. With regard to her work there, President Barack Obama once wrote her a note of encouragement: “I can tell you care deeply about making sure people who have made mistakes in their past have opportunities to earn a second chance and turn their lives around,” he began. “I care a lot about that, too. Your determination to serve your fellow Floridians is inspiring, and the women you work with in Tallahassee are lucky to have a mentor like you to look up to.” In addition, McCray serves with the Emergency Care Help Organization (ECHO) board, the Big Bend After Reentry Coalition, the Tallahassee Leon County Commission on the Status of Women and Girls and the Tallahassee Federal Correctional Institution Community Relations Board. Asked to name a woman whom she has found influential in her own life, McCray didn’t hesitate. “I had a desire to meet her because she had taken risks and started her own business, and that was something that I wanted to do,” McCray recalls. A mutual friend arranged a meeting at the Red Eye Coffee Shop in Tallahassee. Says McCray, “This lady whom I had admired from a distance put her hand on my cheek and told me that, ‘With God, all things are possible.’ “It’s the best advice I ever received. That lady was Karen Moore.”
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PINNACLE AWARDS
VIRGINIA GLASS Realtor, Coldwell Banker Hartung and Noblin, Inc.
Beyond dispute, Virginia Glass is the grande dame of Realtors in Tallahassee and a woman that has been reminded countless times that buying a home or a commercial property frequently is among the most stressful experiences in a person’s life. “It brings out the best in people and the worst in people,” said Glass, who has found a career in real estate that has spanned 52 years. “But if you can be the calm during the storm for people, that’s one of the most rewarding parts of being in real estate and one you wouldn’t think about right away.” Glass was a stay-at-home mother of two in 1965 when her best friend talked her into joining the workforce. “She was the secretary at Symon, Tulley and Booth, the largest commercial real estate firm in Tallahassee at that time,” Glass recalls. “She wanted to get into sales and asked me to fill in for her for a week while she went to Orlando to prepare for and take her exam. I answered the phones for a week and then, after six weeks, my friend learned that she had passed her test and asked me to take over permanently.” So Glass did. She worked as an administrative assistant for years until the office manager and bookkeeper sustained a heart attack and retired. Glass was promoted to that job. Over time, she learned all that there was to know about closing deals. “Sometimes, when the path to getting a deal done was blocked, you just had to find a different path,” Glass says. “And that’s pretty good advice for life. Don’t ever quit. Find a new path.”
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In 1978, the Symon firm had become Crossland Realty, Inc., following the death of Mr. Tulley. Jack Buford, who had joined Crossland as a partner, approached Glass one day and told her she was wasting her time behind a desk. “But I was afraid to go into sales,” Glass says. “I had two kids and I needed a regular paycheck.” Buford convinced Glass to try sales for 90 days and promised to return her to the office manager job if she didn’t like it. “Jack Buford saw in me something that I couldn’t see in myself,” Virginia says. “He was the best mentor I ever had. After a year in sales, I had doubled my earnings from the previous year. I never went back.” Over many years, Glass has steadily given back to the community that has supported her. She has served a total of 25 years on the Tallahassee Chamber’s board of directors. Since 1988, she has been a member of the Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare Foundation board. She is on the board of the United Way in Tallahassee and served as campaign chair in 2014. She isn’t afraid to ask for money, provided the cause is good. In two years, she has personally raised $23,000 for Second Harvest, a Tallahassee food bank. “I will never forget my sixth grade principal, Mr. Jones, at the Lafayette School in Mayo, Florida,” Virginia smiles. “I asked him to sign my yearbook and he wrote, ‘To thine own self be true.’ I have always tried to live up to that, to be transparent and honest with everyone I meet.”
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MYRA WILLIAMS Vice President/Marketing, Howard Group
If it were possible to create a canopy road out of sabal palms, Myra Williams would be a great candidate to get the job done. She grew up in rural Louisiana in the shadow of majestic live oaks and brought a fondness for trees to Florida. Her greenhouse is home to more than 200 species of plants. She begins most every day by walking about her neighborhood and renewing her appreciation for the beautiful environment where she lives. Williams concedes that the Gulf of Mexico is the predominant natural feature of Northwest Florida, but away from the beach, she is committed to preserving the area’s magnificent heritage trees and to providing for mitigation plans whenever trees are removed. She is a member of the City of Destin’s Environment, Parks, Recreation and Trees Committee and, in that capacity, is working to develop Tree Preservation and Protection regulations that she hopes will be made part of city codes one day. That’s not the kind of effort that takes root quickly, but Williams is patient. How does she reconcile her love of trees with her employment for more than 20 years as a marketer for a developer? Keith Howard, she says, makes that easy. Williams says Mr. Howard, president and CEO of the Howard Group, has a conscientious vision for building and managing sustainable projects. “Part of the beauty of my job,” she says, “is getting to embrace and enhance those shopping centers and town centers from a public relations perspective.” The other big part is interfacing with nonprofit organizations working to make Destin and Okaloosa County a better and healthier place. She is intimately involved in developing the Howard Group’s annual contributions budgets and, in so doing, interacts with more than 40 charities. On a recent day, she was fresh from a meeting with Habitat for Humanity. She is on the marketing committee for the Emerald Coast Children’s Advocacy Center, and not surprisingly, she is on the board at Trees for the Coast, a nonprofit committed to planting trees in Walton and Okaloosa counties. She admires the commitments and contributions of women including public relations professional Kaye Phelan; Julie Hurst, the executive director at the Children’s Advocacy Center; and Marcia Hull, the executive director at the Mattie Kelly Arts Foundation. She lists as mentors God, her mother and her boss in that order. But the best advice she ever received, she says, came from her husband, Michael, who always has advised her to “be yourself, affect positive change and give back becase we have been given such a blessed life.”
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PINNACLE AWARDS
JENNIFER CONOLEY Senior Economic Development Representative, Gulf Power Co. Growing up, Jennifer Conoley and her parents and her brother were profoundly affected when the paper mill in Port St. Joe was shuttered. Her father had worked as an electrician at the mill and there would be no way for him to replace his income in that small town. Relocation was inevitable. Conoley could not know as much at the time, but that experience would one day fuel her passion for economic development. “There is no greater feeling than creating high-paying jobs for people so that they can do well without having to leave their communities,” she says. Conoley graduated from Port St. Joe High School and Florida State University in Tallahassee before moving to Panama City, where Dr. Ed Wright proved to be her champion in significant ways. “God has a way of putting the right people in your path at the right times,” Conoley says. Wright served as the dean of the FSU-PC campus before moving on to become interim executive director at Early Education and Care in Panama City. “He saw something in me that he liked and gave me a job at EEC, and then he became interim executive director at the Bay County Economic Development Alliance, and he hired me as marketing director there,” Conoley recounts her career. At the EDA, Conoley learned a great deal from Neal Wade, now with the University of Alabama, during his turn as executive director there. Wade supported her when she applied for an economic development position at Gulf Power. These days, she may find herself at the International Air Show in Paris one week and meeting with site selectors in Atlanta the next, all the while working to make Northwest Florida top of mind among corporate decision-makers. Conoley is vice chair of the Career Source Gulf Coast board, co-chair of the Alliance Bay County operations board, and co-chair of the Business Vitality Council created by Florida’s Great Northwest. The best advice she ever received, she says, came from her parents, Nancy and James Craig, who encouraged her to respect herself, respect others and know that the way in which you treat people will come back around. That is advice that she and her husband, Kevin, are working to instill in their boys, Braxton and Chase. 42
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SUE STRAUGHN News Anchor/Senior Editor, WEAR-TV
There was a time when Sue Straughn was disappointed in herself for going into the television news business. She had wanted to be a social worker, but accepted an entry-level clerk-typist position at WEAR while a student and, she says, the promotions kept coming. “I lamented not following my inclination to become a social worker,” Straughn says, “but over time I came to realize that I could do more social work, more work to benefit society, in my role at the TV station than I could as a case worker for a government agency.” While a news anchor and editor, Straughn continues to do reporting for the station. She is responsible for two recurring features on WEAR: “Angels in Our Midst” profiles unselfish people doing outstanding things to benefit the community, and “Nobody’s Child” profiles children who have been in foster care for extended periods in an effort to find them permanent homes. “Any time I can do something to have a positive impact on somebody’s life, well, that’s my mission every day,” Straughn says. “I have been blessed to have been able to help some children along the way and to see them make it. I am slow to quit on people. And people were slow to quit on me. I had a lot of help myself.” Straughn’s passion for others was inspired by her parents, Zenobia and Joe Knight. He served 30 years in the Army, in World War II, in Korea and in Vietnam. Zenobia was a fulltime homemaker who raised six children. Her parents were among the most compassionate and helpful people Straughn has known. “I don’t care how many sets of feet were beneath our table,” Straughn recalls. “Everyone was welcome and everyone got fed.” The most enduring piece of advice Straughn ever received came from her grandmother, Susie, who impressed upon her that “pretty ways make pretty girls. It’s not the exterior that matters. It’s how you treat people.” Thirty-nine years ago, Sue became the first on-air person of color in the Pensacola market. She would become the first female news anchor in the region. Still, there are those startling days in the newsroom that change in an instant from predictable to pandemonium. Like the time earlier this year when WEAR was ready to lead the 5 p.m. newscast with a County Commission meeting and then report a few school-based events. At 4:55, a triple-murder suspect from Alabama who had been the subject of a multi-state manhunt committed suicide outside Navy Federal Credit Union headquarters in Escambia County. Sometimes, social work means providing people with information they need to know. 850 Business Magazine
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Corporate Development McKenzie Lohbeck, left, and publisher Brian Rowland thanked recently retired Linda Kleindienst for her years of service to RPI as director of editorial services and editor of 850 Business Magazine. Brian spoke to Linda’s dedication to her craft and her impeccable reputation as a journalist and cited some of the many accolades she has received from prominent Floridians.
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Local Research. Global Impact. Florida State University faculty and students are changing the world—right here in Tallahassee. Every day across campus, cutting-edge research is conducted, creativity is explored and supportive learning environments are encouraged. From finding treatments for Zika, Alzheimer’s and cancer, to helping children with autism through music or art therapy, FSU is propelling our society forward. As we tackle some of the world’s toughest challenges, Raise the Torch: The Campaign for Florida State will help us reach even greater heights. This $1 billion campaign will allow the University to improve the academic experiences of our students and inspire the next generation of leaders and thinkers. Together, with your support, we can pursue even bigger ideas. Join us today at raisethetorch.fsu.edu.
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| DEMOG RAP H I CS
BAY COUNTY, FLORIDA WORKFORCE DATA TOTAL EMPLOYEES BY MAJOR STANDARD INDUSTRIAL CLASSIFICATION Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing.. ........................................ 736 Mining . . ....................................................................................... 15 Construction..................................................................... 5,334 Manufacturing. . ................................................................3,565 Transportation, Communication. . ..............................3,550 Wholesale Trade. . .............................................................. 1,921 Retail Trade.. .....................................................................24,961 Finance, Insurance, Real Estate................................ 8,337 Services . . .......................................................................... 36,041 Public Administration. . ..................................................6,906 Unclassified. . ........................................................................335
TOTAL ESTABLISHMENTS BY NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES 1-4. . ........................................................................................ 5,828 5-9 . . .........................................................................................1,756 10-19....................................................................................... 1,010 20-49.......................................................................................585 50-99...................................................................................... 175 100-249..................................................................................... 98 250-499. . .................................................................................. 23 500-999. . .....................................................................................5 1,000+........................................................................................... 2
ON THE COVER: The redevelopment of the Downtown Marina area pursuant to a private-public partnership is a top priority for Panama City Mayor Greg Brudnicki (rendering at top of page). Meanwhile, Bay County has landed GKN Aerospace as a new employer; FSU Panama City is simulating the interest of students in math and science; new retail and restaurant space is being developed in Panama City; and Bay County is a hotbed for cinematography (inset photos). PHOTOS BY STEVE BORNHOFT (STEM CAMP) AND COURTESY OF CITY OF PANAMA CITY (MARINA), BAY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ALLIANCE (AERIAL SHOT OF VENTURECROSSINGS), GKN AND FORWARD MOTION (FILM)
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PHOTO BY HANSSLEGERS / ISTOCK / GETTY IMAGES PLUS
Source: Applied Geographic Solutions, 2017
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| EC ON OMI C OV ERV IEW
THE FIRST DOMINO A chance meeting led Bay County to a ‘whale,’ and its harpoon hit the mark BY STEVE BORNHOFT
W
hen Neal Wade was executive director of the Bay County Economic Development Alliance, he kept track of every job that was added to the local economy with an outsized thermometer — like those that the United Way once used in connection with community fundraising campaigns. It was his way of saying, in the manner of Gov. Rick Scott, that every job is important. At the same time, Wade talked about the importance of that first big domino that, once landed, would put Bay County on the economic-development map and stimulate interest by many other companies. When Wade accepted a position at the University of Alabama, he brought in as his successor Becca Hardin, a one-time broadcast journalist who had served for 13 years as the executive vice president of the Greater Columbus Georgia Chamber of Commerce. “Neal did a great job of getting the foundation of the Bay EDA stabilized, so when I got down here, I was ready to blow and go,” Hardin said. Good thing. Developments were about to unfold quickly. Hardin and her husband were brand new to Bay County when a neighboring couple arrived at their townhouse door with a cake as a welcoming gesture. Hardin struck up a conversation with the guy next door — a man in his 60s and with a British accent — and learned that he had moved to Bay County from Alabama following his retirement. 50
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“Where did you work?” Hardin was curious to know. “You probably never heard of it,” said Paul Cocker. “GKN Aerospace.” Hardin, as it happened, was thoroughly familiar with GKN, owing to her industrial recruitment experience in Columbus. Cocker had retired from the job of CEO of Londonbased GKN’s North American operations. Presently, Hardin asked Cocker to travel with her to the biennial Paris Air Show in 2015. He accepted. In Paris, Cocker proved to be a “rock
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star at the exhibition halls and the chalets,” Hardin said. “Aerospace is a big industry, but it’s a small network. He knew everybody.” The temptation here is to refer to Cocker as Hardin’s wing man. Indeed, he served her as a door-opener. Hardin was introduced by Cocker to his successor and learned that GKN had a project it was looking to site. Bay County was about to bag a whale. In May, the governor and GKN officials gathered at the VentureCrossings industrial park adjoining Bay County’s Northwest Florida Beaches Airport in West Bay and
PHOTO COURTESY OF BAY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ALLIANCE
GKN Aerospace has completed construction of its 135,000-squarefoot manufacturing facility in VentureCrossings. Landing the company is a milestone for the Bay County Economic Development Alliance.
took part in an official and much heralded announcement of the aerospace company’s commitment to Bay County: a $50 million investment and 170 jobs with an average salary of $65,000, with operations to commence in November 2017. At this writing, the 135,000-square-foot building is up, the product of an aggressive construction schedule driven by commitments to customers. (Construction of the building actually began before the announcement event was held.) A few Bay County jobs have been offered internally at GKN to
established employees, and GKN may have to look outside the region to find the specialized mechanical engineers they require, but the vast majority of jobs — technicians and manufacturing front-line workers — will be filled from the local labor pool. While every job may be important, some jobs are better than others and, as Hardin said, “For Bay County, $65,000 is very competitive.” “We’re working very hard to help GKN recruit and hire people and get them in training,” Hardin said. “We had a career fair in Bay County in April and 300 people
showed up. The fair didn’t start until 10 and we had a line around the block at 8.” Until loaded trucks are seen leaving GKN’s new plant, few people will know exactly what GKN, a manufacturer of aircraft structural and engine components, will be making at VentureCrossings. And Hardin, frankly, doesn’t give a damn. “As long as they create jobs and are building in our area, it doesn’t matter what the product is,” Hardin said. Bay County’s large military presence — Tyndall Air Force Base and Naval Support
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“We have tremendous momentum and we are just trying to make sure that we keep all the balls in the air. GKN is an anchor project and we are starting to talk to GKN suppliers and MRO (maintenance, repair and overhaul) companies that need to be at an airport. The GKN success is going to breed more success. GKN is going to help convince companies to visit Bay County, and when that happens, Bay County sells itself. We’ve already garnered international attention.” – Becca Hardin, President of the Bay County Economic Development Alliance
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going to help convince companies to visit Bay County, and when that happens, Bay County sells itself. We’ve already garnered international attention.” Hardin is quick to acknowledge the chapters in the GKN success story written by the St. Joe Company, developer of VentureCrossings, and by Bay County community leaders. “St. Joe has been a critical partner,” Hardin said. “We never could have done the deal without them at the table with us. I should write a case study on what we had to do to win this project. There were times when it was in the ditch, but leadership in this community stepped up to the plate and pledged to make it happen. Never was there a time when I said I needed help that people didn’t jump in with both feet. They never tired of me calling them on their cell phones.” Hardin is confident that the economic activity at the airport will extend to include other assets in Bay County. The Bay County EDA is hawking a certified site with existing warehouse space located on 54 acres owned by Port Panama City off U.S. Highway 231, north of Panama City. The site is served by rail that
connects it with the port, a situation, Hardin said, that is “almost impossible to find.” And there is more to come at the airport, way more. “We have multiple sites with access to the 10,000-foot runway,” Hardin said, “and three active projects are looking at them. We will fill them within a year or two, there’s no doubt in my mind. And, right now, we’re applying for permits to develop another 350 acres with access to the runway.” And, wait, there’s still more. BP is sending $300 million in oil spill recovery money to Florida, and Bay is among eight counties that will receive a share of the settlement. Hardin and Glen McDonald, recently installed as a Gulf Coast State College vice president, have hinted that Bay will be seeking BP money for an advanced manufacturing (3-D printing) project that will revolve around the Advanced Technology Center at GCSC. “There is a lot of energy with AM and our community right now,” Hardin said, referring to the cutting-edge manufacturing process. “It’s a great time to be in Bay County.”
VentureCrossings Enterprise Centre, developed by the St. Joe Company to promote economic development, and Bay County’s large military presence were instrumental in GKN Aerospace’s decision to site their new facility in Bay County.
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PHOTOS COURTESY OF BAY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ALLIANCE (HARDIN) AND THE ST JOE COMPANY (VENTURECROSSINGS)
Activity Panama City — was an attractant to GKN, Hardin said. A number of its employees will require security clearances, leading GKN to focus recruiting efforts on personnel exiting the military and members of the military contractor community. For a person without a security clearance, the process can consume two years, time that GKN doesn’t have. Hardin is highly encouraged by GKN’s corporate culture. “When they invest in a community, they are there for the long haul,” she said. “And they are very philanthropic. They get involved in the community. They aren’t going to be the kind of company that comes to town and just takes, takes, takes. They are already involved in our schools, from K-12 to Gulf Coast State College and FSU PC. “Already, they are working with (GCSC president) John Holdnak to develop specific curriculum that will relate to their workforce of the future. They will be developing internships and mentorships at the high school level. And they are talking up Bay County to companies they have relationships with. GKN is that first domino we have been waiting on.” Earlier this year, Hardin and a Bay County delegation that included Jennifer Conoley, the Panama City-based senior economic development representative for Gulf Power Co., were back in Paris, and GKN’s Bay County project was the talk of the show. Dominoes, it seems, may be falling. Hardin met with 20 companies during the weeklong show and left with eight solid leads. At previous shows, one solid lead would have been considered a success. “We have tremendous momentum and we are just trying to make sure that we keep all the balls in the air,” Hardin said. “GKN is an anchor project and we are starting to talk to GKN suppliers and MRO (maintenance, repair and overhaul) companies that need to be at an airport. The GKN success is going to breed more success. GKN is
summit.bank
SB0198 850 Magazine Full Page Ad Oct/Nov.indd 1
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| GK N AE ROS PACE
GKN Aerospace, operating in 15 countries, selected Bay County for its new manufacturing facility based on local infrastructure designed to supply education and training, a skilled workforce, transportation assets and a project-ready site.
A SPIRIT OF COLLABORATION Partnerships with local stakeholders attract GKN Aerospace to Bay County BY ERIN HOOVER
I
n 2016, GKN Aerospace was seeking a new site to build its products. “We’re always considering the right future locations,” said Sue Barnes, GKN Aerospace vice president and general manager of strategic projects. She visited Bay County at the invitation of Becca Hardin, the president of Bay County Economic Development Alliance. The company had a specific project in mind, and Barnes and a group of senior GKN employees traveled to Bay County in April 2016 to assess potential sites. She remembered that they met with representatives from Gulf Coast State College, FSU Panama City, Gulf Power, the local school 54
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district and other stakeholders. “Many different groups were open to explaining the area to us.” A global company serving the world’s leading aircraft manufacturers, GKN Aerospace operates in 15 countries and employs more than 17,000 highly skilled workers. The company works closely with universities, knowledge institutes, suppliers and customers and leads the industry in developing new technology. Less than a year later, in February 2017, Bay EDA announced that GKN planned to make a capital investment of approximately $50 million and to create 170 highly skilled jobs in Bay County.
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According to Barnes, Northwest Florida’s educational resources factored into the decision to locate in Bay County. Several workforce development programs are now in the planning stages. “GKN plans to partner with CareerSource Florida and GCSC on focused training programs, and we’re talking to FSU about the degree programs that will supply workers in the long term,” Barnes said, adding that CareerSource Florida is working to promote GKN in the area. Partnerships to increase the talent pipeline in Bay County are also underway. “We’re working with the school district on STEM subjects,” Barnes continued, referring to
PHOTO COURTESY OF GKN
North Florida’s Premier Google AdWords Agency the academic disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. “GKN wants to engage and support activities to make sure people consider us for their career 15 years from now.” Land and air transportation assets also drew GKN to Bay County, Barnes said, referring to Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport (ECP) and I-10, as well as the opportunity to build the new facility according to the company’s specifications. The building site at VentureCrossings Enterprise Centre, owned and managed by St. Joe, is a project-ready Florida First Site. “We’re working with St. Joe to build the building according to our requirements,” Barnes continued. “It was important to us to have the right building.” Construction has involved close coordination with local authorities around permit requirements, in a process Barnes called “very efficient.” GKN Aerospace, one of three divisions of the larger global engineering group GKN, operates 55 manufacturing locations across North America, South America, Europe, and Asia. Asked how operations in Bay County will differ from those already established in Missouri, for instance, or in Nagoya, Japan, Barnes responded, “GKN has a branding, a culture— the GKN way. There are certain things that we want to make sure are in the DNA of our sites.” At the same time, the company recognizes that every area has different talents and skills, she continued. In fact, GKN Aerospace will make a long-term investment in Bay County. The training programs now under development will improve the skills of the local workforce in general, as will GKN’s efforts to promote STEM subjects in the school system. Barnes also looks forward to the impact the company’s corporate citizenship program, Hearts of Gold, will have in the community. Over the years, GKN employees have supported their communities, donated time to good causes, and raised millions of dollars for various charitable projects around the world. Meanwhile, there are immediate benefits of GKN’s presence in Bay County — jobs. “GKN Aerospace will need the direct support of people who would like to join the workforce,” Barnes said. “We’ve had phenomenal support from FSU and GCSC, and we continue to work to define the training programs. The recruitment that CareerSource Florida is doing is key for us.” The new facility will also turn to the Bay County community for supplies and services on an ongoing basis. Barnes continued, “We’re really looking forward to day one of operations.” GKN Aerospace anticipates that the new facility will be up and running by the end of the year. Ultimately, the potential for collaboration is what lured GKN to Bay County. With recruitment and construction underway, the results of the collaboration Barnes and her colleagues imagined at the new site are beginning to materialize. “I’d say that spirit of collaboration has come across from the first meeting when we went to look at the area. It’s continued all the way through our decision making process and through the start of construction,” Barnes said.
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| DOW N TOW N P CB
A VISION COMING TO FRUITION City of Panama City works to maximize its assets BY STEVE BORNHOFT
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hen Greg Brudnicki, now in his third term as mayor of Panama City, first sought the office, he pledged to bring about climate change. Supporters believed that Brudnicki, a successful accountant and businessman himself, could create an environment so conducive to commerce that the city’s many empty storefronts would be reoccupied, new enterprises would come calling, downtown would live again and vagrancy would give way to vibrancy. There are signs that he may be succeeding at all of that. “We certainly have more businesses that are coming to town than are closing or leaving town,” Brudnicki said. R.H. Ledbetter Properties, LLC, a developer out of Rome, Georgia, is creating restaurant and retail space on a parcel across State Road 77 from the geriatric Panama City Mall. Cracker Barrel, whose eateries are usually located at interstate highway exits, is departing from form and will be one of the tenants. The developer, in working with prospects, has landed some and inadvertently
led others to move to town — but in other Panama City locations. Lucky’s Market is moving into an old Albertson’s grocery store location that is virtually across 23rd Street from the Ledbetter project. HomeGoods also has plans to move into the neighborhood. The arrival of such new businesses will benefit the city in the form of increased revenue from the city’s one-percent merchant fee, a consumption tax that helps the city keep property tax millage rates low. The historic St. Andrews neighborhood is no longer just Hunt’s Oyster Bar and a collection of kitschy shops. A hotelier has purchased the Shrimp Boat restaurant, located at the Smith Yacht Basin, and Brudnicki is optimistic that the new owner will add new places to stay to the St. Andrews mix. The Los Antojitos restaurant, whose previous location was razed to make way for a U.S. 98 flyover, is “blowing and going,” the mayor said. Neighborhood activity had the effect of increasing property values to the point where the Tan Fannies topless club finally overcame its inhibitions about selling; the new owner of the property is exploring options. Central to the mayor’s efforts to reinvent Panama City are plans to redevelop the Downtown Marina and the Marina Civic Center and surrounding parcels. In May, the city entered into an agreement with Sonnenblick Development, a Los Angeles firm whose previous work has included the Boca Raton Resort. Per the agreement, the developer will determine what improvements, falling within publicinterest parameters dictated by the city, it
would be willing to build at the marina. A mixed-use approach is being contemplated. The agreement, in fact, waxes almost philosophical in the midst of its “Whereas” paragraphs: “The time is now to build a consensus that downtown Panama City can become a vibrant mixture of office, commercial, governmental, cultural and tourismrelated activities, a place where people can come together, meet and exchange ideas in the professions, in commerce, in government, in the arts, in recreation. In so doing, they will form a tapestry of human interaction. Variety and richness of activity is essential to a vision of downtown. Anything less misses the potential of downtown entirely.” “We want to be able to attract a variety of people for a variety of reasons,” Brudnicki said. “The developer is at a point where he has been meeting with representatives of the hotel, restaurant and retail sectors. They’ve also met with people who specialize in movie theaters and civic centers.” Brudnicki hopes that a feasibility analysis will support expanding the Civic Center so that it can serve as a convention center. The retail component likely will comprise “upscale outlet stores,” a model that Brudnicki says is continuing to succeed despite the impact of e-commerce on brick-and-mortar operations. He cited the continuing success of the Silver Sands outlet mall in south Walton County. Constituent reaction to the proposed marina development has been almost universally positive, the mayor said. “We do have a few people who are dead set against us doing anything with the marina,” Brudnicki acknowledged. “They
Central to Mayor Greg Brudnicki’s efforts to reinvent Panama City are plans to redevelop the Downtown Marina, the Marina Civic Center and surrounding parcels. 56
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PHOTOS COURTESY OF CITY OF PANAMA CITY
R.H. Ledbetter Properties Inc. of Rome, Georgia, is developing a retail/restaurant complex, Bay City Point, at State 77 and 23rd Street in Panama City. Tenants will include Cracker Barrel restaurant and the Which Wich sandwich shop. Mayor Greg Brudnicki is confident that the new development will stimulate activity at established businesses nearby.
are convinced that we are going to destroy the marina, and they have the attitude that they don’t want anything to change. “Others seem to think that the city should do the work itself and not rely on a developer. But if that were possible, why didn’t somebody get off his butt in the last 40 years and do something?” (From the developer agreement: “Do too little and nothing happens. But do enough to pass the critical mass threshold and downtown seems to take off.”) “In the marina, we have a $30 million non-performing, non-revenue-producing asset,” Brudnicki said. “It hasn’t evolved into anything because we haven’t taken steps to make that happen.” The city purchased the former Trustmark bank building on Harrison Avenue in the heart of downtown as the future home for City Hall; it will replace today’s waterfront municipal offices at the marina. The vacated City Hall building may become a juvenile justice center for a time, because the federal courthouse located near City Hall will be moving to the juvenile center’s current location, 11 blocks inland. Brudnicki credited U.S. senators Marco Rubio and Bill Nelson and U.S. Rep. Neal Dunn with helping to ensure that Panama
City did not lose the federal courthouse to Marianna, as was proposed. The mayor anticipates that new residential development will be part of the overall marina district re-do. “We know we need to have people living downtown,” Brudnicki said. “We will have a residential component that will be home to people who can bicycle, walk or canoe to work if they want to, and be part of what’s here.” People have long hoped that a full-fledged grocery store would locate downtown, and an increased resident population may make that possible. Visitation, meanwhile, will be critical to the success of the overall marina project. “Without visitors, we don’t have enough people here to support the kind of development that Sonnenblick has in mind,” the mayor said. “We live in a county where 60 percent of public school students qualify for free or reduced lunch. Those families cannot afford to spend at the level of the average ticket that restaurants need to succeed.” Even today, businesses in St. Andrews, for example, rely heavily on tourist traffic. Brudnicki said that businesses there report that 70 percent of their revenue comes from visitors. Already, the city has taken steps to let the region — and beyond — know what
Panama City has to offer. A five-percent bed tax, passed by 24 percentage points in September 2014 and applicable to the city’s approximately 2,400 motel/hotel rooms, has been generating about $1.5 million in revenue a year. The levy was endorsed by the Bay County Chamber of Commerce and supported by hoteliers throughout town, Brudnicki said. “Nobody wants to spend general tax dollars on marketing,” the mayor recognized. “You have to have it, but you can’t put a hand on it and it’s difficult to measure. But now we have an alternative, dedicated source of dollars for that purpose.” The developer’s financial analysis of its proposed project will be subjected to public hearings, and the agreement anticipates that it will be finalized and approved by the City Commission as of Feb. 1, 2018. A month later, the city expects to receive all lease proposals and related agreements authorizing private uses of the marina. “We know that visitors to the area will have an interest in both Panama City and Panama City Beach,” Brudnicki said. “We have no problem with people making side trips to the beach. We just intend that they stay here, in Panama City.”
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| R AN DY H AN N A AN D FS U P C B
A TWO-FOLD PURPOSE Dean Randy Hanna wants FSU PC to serve students in ways that benefit the community BY STEVE BORNHOFT
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he powerful stench of formaldehyde has overtaken the Larry Bland Center on the campus of Florida State University-Panama City. This is shark day at a summer STEM camp hosted by the campus and coordinated by Ginger Littleton, a Bay County School Board member who serves as the FSU PC Foundation’s STEM Liaison. The students are so consumed by the notion of inspecting the innards of dogfish that they are oblivious to the aroma that forces Littleton to step outside, where she speaks to a writer about the importance of making young people aware of science, technology, education and math careers. And there is another byproduct of the STEM camp, one of real importance to Randy Hanna, the dean at FSU PC. Hanna introduces himself to the campers, fully aware that while they were likely not to remember his name and may not know what a dean does, they will never forget the day at FSU PC when they learned that male sharks have claspers and females do not. FSU PC admitted freshmen for the first time in August 2013. Just four years before that, the Panama City campus had survived a death threat issued from Tallahassee. Then-FSU president T.K. Wetherell and an FSU budget crisis committee had issued recommendations that included one calling for the closure of the Panama City campus. FSU PC would survive, of course. It sustained cuts, but not to the quick. It had to shed 20 jobs, and it agreed to grow enrollment so as to become financially self-sufficient. Dean Ken Shaw spearheaded stepped-up recruiting efforts and capitalized on 58
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community partnerships, and enrollment grew 29 percent in three years to reach 1,270 students. In the fall of 2015, enrollment stood at 961, and freshmen and sophomores comprised just 5 percent of that total. Attracting more four-year students is a key to the vitality of the campus and doing so, Hanna says, requires that FSU PC establish relationships with students well before they enter high school. At this writing, he anticipated that enrollment, including the number of freshmen, in particular, would be up for the fall 2017 semester. “I am a firm believer that as soon as you put a baseball cap or a t-shirt on a kid,” Hanna said, “he begins to expect that he is going to go to college. In this
area, we want to make sure that such imprinting involves an FSU logo and the STEM camps are a big part of that.” Hanna said hundreds of elementary, middle and high school students became familiar with FSU PC during the summer via their participation in camps devoted to subjects ranging from engineering to computer coding and crime scene investigation. There was even a camp, “The Physics of Dance,” taught by a former Rockette. “The earlier we can get students interested in the sciences, the more successful they will be,” Hanna said. FSU had much to do with Hanna’s success. He attended FSU in Tallahassee as an undergraduate and went on to the FSU
FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITYPANAMA CITY
By the Numbers
ENROLLMENT FALL 2014 Headcount.. .........................................................................856 Undergraduate Degrees Awarded. . ............................ 293 Graduate Degrees Awarded. . ............................................77 Students Receiving Financial Aid. . ........................ 76.5% Students with Disabilities.. .............................................. 67 ENROLLMENT FALL 2015 Headcount.. .......................................................................... 961 Undergraduate Degrees Awarded. . ............................ 295 Graduate Degrees Awarded. . ...........................................34 Students Receiving Financial Aid. . ........................... 69% Students with Disabilities.. ..............................................48
PHOTO BY STEVE BORNHOFT
A summertime STEM camp hosted by FSU PC introduced students to sharks and dogfish to spark their interest in biology and other sciences. STEM curriculum aims to launch early academic pursuit of science, technology, engineering and math.
School of Law. The time he spent in law school, Hanna said, was “transformational” and impressed upon him the importance of lifelong learning. Hanna practiced law for almost 30 years and became the managing partner of a multi-state firm with six offices. Much of his work had to do with financing public improvements. His clients included the City of Panama City Beach, Bay Medical Center in Panama City and the Bay County School Board. So, he was no stranger to Bay County when he was named dean of the FSU PC campus in November 2016 after serving four months as interim dean. He started in higher education as a trustee at Tallahassee Community College. He moved on to the state Board
of Community Colleges, and boards at Florida A&M University and the University of West Florida before becoming chancellor of the state college system. He has settled in at FSU PC and plans to stay for a good while. “I’m enjoying it,” he said. “It’s great. I told someone recently that I haven’t had a bad day here since I started.” He arrived on Day 1 at his office in the Holley Academic Center overlooking St. Andrew Bay to find on his desk the strategic plans for 2009-2014. He sought first to take advantage of planning work that had been completed by predecessors. That work fell into three phases. The first involved strengthening the campus’s business and accounting programs by adding faculty, and also
ENROLLMENT BY CLASS YEAR Freshman..............................................................................2% Sophomore...........................................................................3% Junior................................................................................... 23% Seniors. . .............................................................................. 56% Graduate............................................................................... 11% Unclassified. . .......................................................................5% WHERE FSU PC STUDENTS ARE FROM Bay County . . ....................................................................... 52% Florida.. ................................................................................ 92% Out of State. . ......................................................................... 7% Out of Country.. .....................................................................1% WHERE FSU PC ALUMNI RESIDE Bay County . . ........................................................................47% Outside Service Area..................................................... 29% Jackson County . . ................................................................ 3% Okaloosa County.. ...............................................................3% Walton County. . ...................................................................3% Washington County. . .........................................................3% Gulf County. . .........................................................................2% Holmes County. . ..................................................................2% Escambia County................................................................1% Santa Rosa County.............................................................1% Source: 2016 Annual Report
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adding bachelor’s degree programs in hospitality and entrepreneurship. Both of the new programs were set to begin in fall 2017. Phase two involves adding engineering programs related to the needs of Tyndall Air Force Base, Naval Support Activity Panama City (the Navy base on Thomas Drive in Bay County’s beaches area) and new employers who are coming to town. New engineering degree programs will be added in fall 2018, including, Hanna said, a biomedical engineering program that will afford students an opportunity to move from FSU PC to medical school. Phase three will look at adding new programs related to the sciences.
for our students and for student success?’ We want our students to graduate from here with a degree and a job. And we want them to have great critical thinking skills and to become active members of their community. The effort here has to be about much more than just walking out of Florida State University with a degree. It’s about being a productive member of our society and our community.” Hanna has been surprised by the number of first-generation college students FSU PC attracts, especially from rural areas of the region. Higher education, he said, “can help break the bonds of generational poverty. Whether it’s a one-year certificate
“Enrollment is dependent upon a lot of things and one of them is having the right programs. That is something that we have clearly focused on. It is my goal for this campus to meet the needs of students in ways that benefit the community.” — Randy Hanna, dean at FSU PC “Enrollment is dependent upon a lot of things and one of them is having the right programs,” Hanna said. “That is something that we have clearly focused on. It is my goal for this campus to meet the needs of students in ways that benefit the community. If you are going to have a hospitality program anywhere, this is surely the place to have it.” He added, “We have a huge need for engineers.” “I want to see to it that everything we do is an answer to the question, ‘What is best 60
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from Haney Technical Center or a certificate or associate’s degree from Gulf Coast or a bachelor’s or master’s degree from Florida State, everyone needs some post-secondary education in one form or another.” Hanna was a first-generation college student, himself, and the son of a miller. His father owned and operated the last waterpowered grist mill in Florida, located a mile outside of Greensboro on Highway 12. Hanna grew up in a white house next to “Shepherd’s
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Mill” and says he could still grind corn into meal if he had to. Growing numbers of students are arriving at FSU PC after graduating Chipola State College (Marianna) and Northwest Florida State College (Niceville). But fully 52 percent of FSU PC students come from Bay County, and the bulk of them from Gulf Coast State College. The relationship between GCSC and FSU PC is great, said Hanna, who knew GCSC president John Holdnak when both men worked for the Florida College System. FSU PC has professors who cross Collegiate Drive to teach classes at GCSC and vice versa. Articulation agreements in the works will provide for an increased complement of FSU PC advisors on the GCSC campus and will unite the two-year hospitality and entrepreneurship programs at GCSC with the four-year programs at FSU PC. But the proximity of GCSC doesn’t guarantee the enrollment that Hanna seeks and that FSU PC needs. Hence, FSU PC has committed to what Hanna called a “new and enhanced focus on recruitment.” Four full-time recruiters spend time on both high school and community college campuses. FSU PC faculty members get involved in recruitment. And Hanna does his part. “I spent last Thanksgiving afternoon calling prospective students to let them know they had been admitted,” Hanna said. “It’s a good feeling to be able to do that. It’s good to connect with students, whether they wind up coming to our campus or not, at such an exciting time in their life.”
PHOTO BY SCOTT HOLSTEIN / FILE PHOTO (HANNAH) AND COURTESY OF FSU PC (EXTERIOR)
Florida State University’s Panama City campus bolstered its faculty, expanded tracks in business and accounting, and is adding engineering and science offerings, including a biomedical engineering program.
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| TO URI S M The New Year’s Eve Beach Ball Drop, an event launched in 2008, grew nearly seven-fold in attendance, to more than 50,000 revelers last year.
BRIGHT FUTURE
Diversification strengthens Panama City Beach’s tourism economy BY STEVE BORNHOFT
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D
an Rowe’s 10 years as Bay County’s top tourism official has coincided with the most difficult period in Panama City Beach’s bed-tax era. There was the matter of the Great Recession. And the disruption caused by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Thirdly, bad behavior strained the community’s relationship with the annual bacchanal known as Spring Break to the breaking point, leading the Bay County Commission and the Panama City Beach City Council to adopt ordinances curtailing alcohol consumption on the sand.
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Only twice in the history of the bed tax, known more formally as the Tourist Development Tax, have collections in Bay County’s western beaches area dropped from year to year. Both of those dips occurred on Rowe’s watch, but both were beyond tourism officials’ control. “We’ve been through the wringer,” said Rowe, the president and CEO of Visit Panama City Beach and the longest tenured top dog in the history of the Bay County Tourist Development Council (TDC). “But Panama City Beach has been exceedingly resilient and the most
TOURIST DEVELOPMENT TAX COLLECTIONS PANAMA CITY BEACH
PHOTO COURTESY OF VISIT PANAMA CITY
PANAMA CITY BEACH - CALENDAR YEAR
fundamental reason for that is simple: We are a great destination.” Some predicted that the alcohol ordinances would prove calamitous for Panama City Beach, where tourism, as a component of the local economy, is as great as it is anywhere in the state and where March, traditionally, had been the third strongest tourism month of the year. Briefly, it appeared the doomsayers might be right. Bed tax collections dropped 41 percent for the month of March in 2016, the first year in which the ordinances were in force. But March collections rebounded this year by
TDT COLLECTIONS
2014
2015
2016
2017
JANUARY
$390,029
$446,108
$475,340
$495,113
FEBRUARY
$580,225
$683,922
$662,056
$728,369
MARCH
$1,913,476
$2,012,955
$1,192,962
$1,421,784
APRIL
$1,305,434
$1,532,803
$1,437,883
$1,625,317
MAY
$1,600,954
$1,842,628
$1,883,810
$2,148,364
JUNE
$3,171,751
$3,379,852
$3,491,951
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JULY
$3,463,580
$3,960,944
$4,362,155
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AUGUST
$1,871,889
$1,745,766
$1,671,868
----
SEPTEMBER
$1,046,274
$1,323,646
$1,422,161
----
OCTOBER
$968,998
$1,043,773
$1,312,781
----
NOVEMBER
$367,917
$480,391
$523,191
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DECEMBER
$342,313
$354,270
$393,263
----
TOTAL
$17,022,839
$18,807,058
$18,829,421
$6,418,947
19 percent and, meanwhile, efforts to make Panama City Beach a 12-month destination are paying off. In 2009, the TDC, Rowe recalled, committed strategically to giving people more reasons to come to the beach … at all times of the year. To do so, Rowe and his team have introduced new special events, including a wildly successful Beach Ball Drop on New Year’s Eve, and they have leveraged the power of the news media, social media and especially video to promote awareness of them. “We were working to diversify our tourism economy years before the alcohol ordinances were put in place and that effort was continuing,” Rowe said. “Even the 100 days of summer were under attack with school resuming earlier and earlier. Standardized testing has not been our friend. And we had learned that even June and July are not immune from unforeseen impacts. The oil spill occurred in April, but its effects were felt in the middle of our summer season.”
Diversification has made Panama City Beach harder for the media to pigeonhole, a development that Rowe has much welcomed. “We’re not just that place where a certain Spring Break episode happened,” he said. “We’re a family destination that happens to be visited by college students a few weeks each year. We share with the media photos and video of kids taken at our Pirate’s Festival (held in October) and that point is made.” The story of the provenance of the Beach Ball Drop is a favorite one for Rowe. The idea was first expressed by Richard Sanders, the sports marketing director for Visit Panama City Beach. Rowe repeated the idea as part of his president’s report at a meeting of the TDC on May 13, 2008. (He’s never forgotten the date.) A day later, the Panama City News Herald published a headline promising a Beach Ball Drop at newly opened Pier Park on New Year’s Eve. “I read that and said to myself, ‘Now we’re
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Visit Panama City Beach replaced its Spring Break reputation with familyvacation branding that has local businesses and visitors all smiles.
committed,’ ” Rowe said, recalling a moment he can now laugh about. “I was deadly afraid that we would throw a party and no one would show up. I begged people to turn out. I did early-morning television, I talked up the event at Kiwanis Club meetings, whatever I could think of.” The event drew 7,500 people in Year 1, thanks in part to the support of Pier Park marketing director Felicia Cook. Last year, it attracted an estimated 50,000 revelers and Rowe now says confidently that “we have one of the greatest New Year’s Eve events on the planet.” 64
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Rowe is pleased, with good reason, with the way Panama City Beach tourism numbers are trending. Visitation is up, the average income of a visitor is up, the average daily spend is increasing and tourists are coming from a greatly enlarged footprint, given the arrival of more direct flights at Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport. “When plans for a new direct flight to Panama City Beach are announced, we’re in the originating city telling our story before the first such flight leaves the ground,” Rowe said. Earlier this year, Jayna Leach, vice president/marketing for Visit Panama City Beach,
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was in Chicago, where Southwest Airlines was introducing a seasonal direct flight to the “World’s Most Beautiful Beaches.” Leach met with media including the editors of Chicago Parent magazine and “they were saying that they had heard that Panama City Beach was the place to go on summer vacation.” Gone, perhaps forever, are the days when Panama City Beach was saddled with the moniker “Redneck Riviera,” at whose mention Leach snarls. But, for Rowe, for whom the sun is always shining, even that handle wasn’t all that bad.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF VISIT PANAMA CITY
The Pirates of the High Seas Fest and the Pirate Parade at Pier Park help send the tourism message that Panama City Beach is, above all, a family-friendly destination.
“You have to break it down into components,” Rowe offered. “You hear ‘Riviera’ and you think Monaco and the most desired, aspirational beach in the world. And ‘Redneck’ is just a geographical reference that signifies that, by the grace of God, you were fortunate enough to be born in the agrarian Southeast, just a couple of hours from our fabulous beaches.” Rowe sees the future of tourism in Panama City Beach as bright. He believes that advances in technology will intensify in people the need to take a vacation and “disconnect.” He noted a book, Megatrends,
authored by John Nesbitt and first published in 1983. “One of the themes Nesbitt emphasized,” Rowe said, “was high-tech, high-touch. High tech is a depersonalization of the world. Some of what it has had to offer we like, ATMs, for example. But we need texture in our lives, things like plants … and beaches. We need to replenish and we’re at our most free when we’re on vacation.” Rowe noted that after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, which he described as a “gut punch to America’s psyche and all of its sectors,” business travel dropped off dramatically, but leisure travel spiked. “We weren’t going to let anyone rob us of activities that we hold dear and going on vacation is one of them,” Rowe said. “It’s almost as if we view it as a right.” Maybe that is something that Gideon Thomas sensed when he decided to build a motel on Panama City Beach in 1936. People thought him a fool, but Thomas countered, “I am not going to grow vegetables, I am going to grow people.” He had shells hauled in from Apalachicola to build a road bed to his project. Rowe counts Thomas and J.E. Churchwell, who established the Petticoat Junction
Amusement Park in the 1960s, as “icons” who saw potential in Panama City Beach that others could not see. Today, Rowe is satisfied that Panama City Beach is, far from resting on its laurels, striving to “stay relevant and cutting edge. We’re not staid and stuck with tumbleweeds rolling down the streets.” He is excited that Florida State University-Panama City is adding a four-year hospitality degree in conjunction with the Dedman School of Hospitality on the main campus. He sings the praises of the culinary program at Gulf Coast State College. “People are coming to recognize that the tourism industry is in fact an industry that does more than provide jobs that many have dismissed as entry-level, throwaway employment,” Rowe said. “The tourism industry in Bay County employs professionals who legitimately view tourism as a profession. (GCSC president) John Holdnak and (FSU PC dean) Randy Hanna are looking over the horizon.” So, too, is Rowe when he is not blinded by another brilliant Panama City Beach sunset. And he likes what he sees. “The best is yet to come.”
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| BAY COU N TY F I LM O UT LO O K
Chicago-based Forward Motion sets up a shoot for Destination Panama City’s marketing campaign.
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COMMISSIONER GORDON Film chief shines spotlight on Bay County BY HANNAH BURKE
PHOTO COURTESY OF FORWARD MOTION
B
ay County Film Commissioner Julie Gordon operates under a single mission: to market Bay County, Florida, to the film industry worldwide. For Gordon, the film industry encompasses print, television, music video, motion picture and essentially anything that involves a camera. Since 2001, Gordon has been the liaison between production companies and all resources required to shoot, from providing locations, casts and crew to securing craft services and transportation. In conjunction with the Tourist Development Council (TDC), which Gordon refers to as her “lifeblood,” Bay County’s Florida Film Office sustains itself on an annual budget of $30,000 from the county. In its course, the company has suffered its share of budget cuts, through both the Deepwater Horizon/BP oil spill and the cutbacks in state tax incentives for film in 2016. “The loss of incentives has made my job twofold,” Gordon said. “Now that the State has switched its position, we (film offices under the Florida Office of Film and Entertainment) are totally under the Office of Economic Development. My goal is to bring in more than a million dollars per quarter in economic impact, and we definitely surpass that every quarter.”
Last year alone, the Florida Film Office produced 19 television series, five music videos and six commercials of note in Bay County. Gordon estimates that she shoots 225 to 250 days per year. This year, the projects have grown even bigger. “There are many projects that haven’t been shown yet — that have been shot and wrapped and are in the can, ready to go,” Gordon said. “One of our best friends and partners is Home & Garden Television — HGTV — and we have a couple of new series and a pilot airing with them.” One of these television programs is called Sweet Beach Renovations, showcasing the refurbishment of beach homes. Additional HGTV shows in that vein, including House Hunters” and Beachfront Bargain Hunt, can shoot anywhere from Mexico Beach to Camp Helen to the Grand Lagoon Waterfront Farmers Market. Gordon believes that each time these shows air, it’s a chance to create a new impression of Panama City Beach and Bay County for tourism and future film prospects. This fall, several shows from other parties — which Gordon cannot name due to non-disclosure agreements — will air that have been filmed in Bay County in their entirety. According to Commissioner Gordon, one of these was a behemoth of a project, demanding a crew of 100.
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“We had 50-person crews, each working 12-hour shifts per day over several months,” Gordon recalled. “It was a lot of heads in beds, hired local crews, caterers. I can’t describe how many people we put to work, how many jobs it supplied. That’s going to be a doozy, because it’s literally generated millions of dollars of economic impact.” Despite the burgeoning production of television, Florida remains overshadowed by its feature-film-site neighbors: Georgia, Louisiana and even Alabama. The culprit? A lack of film incentives, again. “We just don’t have state reimbursements like we used to,” Gordon remarked. “For a long time, we felt like everyone else was eating our lunch, but Bay County has never survived on feature films. However, Bay County and Northwest Florida are really on the brink of being something great. If we were to get the film incentive from the state office, we could see that, instead of pondering what could be.” A healthy hint of “what could be” was most recently demonstrated by Moonlight, the 2016 winner of the Academy Award for best picture. Directed by Florida State University 68
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Film School graduate Berry Jenkins and shot almost entirely in the Miami area, the film stands as a symbol of hope for the future of Florida’s film industry. “A lot of the Moonlight crew was from Florida, so that was a huge deal,” Gordon said. “Yet, it almost backfires on us when we point that out: The government asks why they should give us an incentive if something like Moonlight can be made without state funding. There’s a big difference between a $300,000 TV show, and a $30 million film; but those films are what keep people in production houses and on sound stages in larger areas working steady, and we need those to keep people from leaving and going up to Atlanta.”
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Fortunately, this also means that the Film Office in Bay County catches most of the runoff from Atlanta. Whenever a beach scene needs to be filmed, it’s common for crews to load up and head to Panama City Beach. Although Gordon couldn’t be happier with the success garnered from the trickle-down and the profit from TV and music videos, she has a vision for an even bigger future. “We need a grip house, a production house, a sound stage … there’s nothing like that in this region,” Gordon said. “If we had something like that, then we’d be the biggest draw. For now, marketing Bay County may not be all glitz and glam, but I love what I do and I love where I do it.”
“We had 50-person crews, each working 12-hour shifts per day over several months. It was a lot of heads in beds, hired local crews, caterers. … It’s literally generated millions of dollars of economic impact.” — Film Commissioner Julie Gordon, on a new show shot in Bay County
PHOTO BY CHASE LAUER (“A LITTLE MORE LOVE”) AND JULIE GORDON
Jerrod Niemann (left) and Lee Brice shot the music video for their song “A Little More Love” in Bay County. The video includes local sites such as Johnny’s Tint Station, Bay Cycle & Fitness and Sharky’s. FInd it on YouTube. Niemann will perform at the Florida Seafood Festival in Apalachicola on Nov. 4.
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STATEWIDE STATEWIDE HAPPENINGS
» Florida insurance companies
are providing a record level of support for the Florida Insurance Industry Scholarship Program, helping low-income families across the state send their children to schools best suited to their needs. To date in 2017, Florida insurance companies have committed $61.2 million to fund 9,380 scholarships. Peter Corrigan, president of Florida Family Insurance Co. and chairman of the Florida Insurance Industry Scholarship Program, said the industry is on track to double its contributions to the program this year. Step Up for Students is the nonprofit organization that manages the scholarship program, which in turn helps manage the needs-based Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program. Step Up For Students recently enrolled the program’s 100,000th student.
CAPITAL APPOINTED BY THE GOVERNOR
» Danielle Alvarez of Crawfordville was appointed to the state’s Technology Advisory Council, and Peter Butler of Tallahassee was reappointed. Alvarez is the cyber security strategist for Hayes e-Government Resources and is the Technology Advisory Council’s former chief information security officer. She succeeds Kenneth Fountain. Butler is the director of the technology sector for National Strategies, LLC. Butler and Alvarez are scheduled to serve through June 30, 2020.
» Tallahassee resident Mark Kruse and four others were appointed to the state Task Force on Affordable Housing. Kruse, the policy coordinator for the Governor’s Office of Policy and Budget, received his juris doctorate from the Florida State University College of Law. He fills a vacant seat for a term ending Jan. 1. former Deputy General Counsel in the Executive Office of the
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» Casey Reed, of Tallahas-
see, Florida state director of legislative affairs for AT&T, was appointed Aug. 4 to fill a vacant seat on the E911 Board for a term ending Oct. 28.
LOCAL HAPPENINGS
» In celebration of its 10
th anniversary in Tallahassee, OliverSperry Renovation & Construction, an active supporter of regional nonprofit campaigns and programs, recently committed to donating $40,000 to more than 30 local organizations in 2018.
LOCAL HONORS
» Scott Asher, M.D. has become
a Diplomat of the American Board of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. Asher is the director of The Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Center, a division of Tallahassee Ear, Nose and Throat, and is the only ABFPRS certified physician in the Big Bend area.
» Inc. Magazine’s annual recognition of the 5,000 fastestgrowing private companies in America includes these companies in the Tallahassee metro area: Auto Data Direct (ranked 1,314), Mad Dog Construction (3,615), Advanced Systems Design (3,807), MCCi (3,839), Altrua Global Solutions (4,103), Tal Search Group (4,153), Asker Distributors (4,293), Bowstern (4,485), Moore Communications Group (4,744) and Diverse Computing (4,902). » Aaron Calhoun was recently named local owner and operator of the Tallahassee Chuy’s, an AustinCALHOUN based Tex-Mex restaurant, located at 904 E. Lafayette St. During his five years with Chuy’s, Calhoun served as a bar manager, kitchen manager, assistant general manager and now local owner and operator.
» Ben Gibson, of Tallahassee,
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Governor and currently an attorney at Benjamin J. Gibson, P.A., has been appointed to the State Board of Education. Gibson succeeds John Padget and is appointed for a term that began July 14, 2017 and will end December 31, 2020.
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Accepting an award to the Florida Dental Association are (from left) Carrie Millar, director of insurance operations; Brooke Martin, Florida Dental Convention meeting coordinator; Kerry Gomez-Rios, director of member relations; Crissy Tallman, director of conventions and continuing education; and Drew Eason, executive director and CEO.
The Florida Society of Association Executives recently honored the Florida Dental Association, headquartered in Tallahassee, with the 2017 Association of the Year Award. The award, given in recognition of the FDA’s efforts to support the dental profession and advocate for Florida’s oral health, was presented at the FSAE’s annual conference in West Palm Beach.
» In its fifth year of operation, FL Aviation Center is now among the limited number of flight schools nationally certified by the FAA under Title 14 Part 141 to provide a structured flighttraining curriculum endorsed by the Federal Aviation Administration. Earlier this year, the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) placed the flight school on the Flight Training Excellence Awards Honor Roll. » The Florida Association of the American Institute of Architects (AIA Florida) recently presented Patrick E. Hoy and James “Monty” Stark III, the founders of Hoy + Stark, with the Firm of the Year award at the 2017 AIA Florida Annual Convention in Naples. » Inside Public Accounting named James Moore & Co., a tax accounting, wealth management and consulting firm with offices in Daytona Beach, Gainesville and Tallahassee, among the nation’s top 200 accounting firms. The annual IPA rankings are considered a gold standard for assessing the state of the accounting profession today.
» Thomas Howell Ferguson P.A. CPAs, a professional accounting, assurance and tax services firm, recently announced that CPA Brian Walgamott was named one of CPA Practice Advisor’s “40 Under 40.” » Jay Morgan-Schleuning, outgoing president of the Florida Public Relations Association (FPRA) Capital Chapter, was named Chapter President of the Year by the association. The award was announced at the FPRA’s annual conference in Orlando. Under Morgan-Schleuning’s leadership, the FPRA Capital Chapter membership grew to 140 individuals, making it the largest chapter in the state.
Terri Behling, FPRA president, presents an award to Jay MorganSchleuning, named FPRA chapter president of the year.
EMERALD COAST LOCAL HAPPENINGS
» Members of the community, disguised as celebrities from the arts and entertainment industry, gathered with the public at Bonefish Grill for a special event benefitting the Mattie Kelly Arts Foundation’s (MKAF) community
BUSINESS NEWS outreach program. The “celebrities” raised more than $8,000. Participants included Dion Moniz (Harrison Sale McCloy/Emerald Coast Title Services), Mindy Moniz (Premier Property Group), Leslie Sullivan and Jacqui Luberto (Century 21/Blue Marlin Realty), Brian and Jessi Beauchamp (Beauchamp Commercial), Lisa K. and Chris Kellogg (Coast 93.3 Morning Show), Caroline Majure and Ron Todd (Deja’ Vu Band), Tracy Wood (NextHome Cornerstone Realty) and Alan Wood (CCB Community Bank).
» Local orthodontist Casi Stubbs recently presented Chelsea Fox of Emerald Coast Children’s Advocacy Center a check for $1,425. The funds were the proceeds of a recent raffle for a BOTE Board. » Volunteer Florida recently coordinated with Pensacola business Two Men and a Truck on a nonperishable item drive for victims of Hurricane Harvey, which wreaked havoc on east Texas and Louisiana in late August and early September. The business volunteered its own storage facility to assemble donations until was possible to make the trip to the damaged areas, and drivers volunteered to use their trucks and donate their time to make the trip.
BAY BEGINNINGS
PHOTO PROVIDED BY PROFILED INDIVIDUALS, PHOTO BY ZANDRA WOLFGRAM (ECTC) AND COURTESY OF FLORIDA PUBLIC RELATIONS ASSOCIATION (FPRA)
Todd D. Reeves (left) and Jorge I. Saiz (right) present a $10,000 check from isidro dunbar Modern Interiors to Nathanael Fisher (center) for Emerald Coast Theater Company.
» For its fifth anniversary, Emerald Coast Theatre Company (ECTC) received its largest donation ever — a sum of $10,000 — from isidro dunbar Modern Interiors (idMI), a Miramar Beach business that specializes in modern interior design and furnishings. Presenting the donation were idMI owners Todd D. Reeves and Jorge I. Saiz. Reeves also serves on the ECTC Board of Directors. » Several Keller Williams Emerald Coast Realty (KWEC) agents were recently named to the 2017 REAL Trends America’s Best Real Estate Agents national rankings. These agents include Cindy Cole and Tosha Corrigan, the At The Beach Team led by John Moran, Heather Blatz, Rima Cole and the Meghan Hall Team. The KWEC franchise was also ranked in the top 500 for buyer/seller transactions. » Britt Landrum Jr. , former CEO of LandrumHR, has announced that his son, H. Britt Landrum III, is the new CEO of the Pensacola company, which provides professional employer services.
» Bay Medical Sacred Heart Primary Care welcomes geriatric specialist Dr. Alan Woolery as a new primary care doctor at the facility, located next to the ER at 11111 Panama City Beach Parkway. » The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) is widening and improving State Road 390 (St. Andrews Boulevard) from Baldwin Road to Jenks Avenue in Panama City. The project, estimated to cost $17.1 million, will transform the road from two lanes to six lanes with bike lanes and sidewalks. The project should be finished by early 2020. Road closures, when necessary, will occur between 8:30 p.m. and 6 a.m. » Instacart, a new grocery delivery service, recently launched in Bay County. The service has partnered with Publix, ABC Fine Wine & Spirits and Whole Foods to supply fresh fruits, vegetables, meats and more. » Panama City Beach businesses that have opened their doors since July include New York Pizza & Grill, Back Beach Barbecue, Teleperformance PCB, Softub, The Arc of the Bay, Shrimp Boat Restaurant, Active Healing Massage & Wellness, Emerald Coast Dental Spa & Sleep Medicine, Girls Inc.
SOUNDBYTES
of Bay County–PCB, Bayside Design & Photography and Diego’s Burrito Factory.
LOCAL HONORS
» The Bay County Chamber of Commerce recently honored their president/CEO Carol Roberts for 40 years of service to the Chamber and to Bay County in general.
FORGOTTEN COAST BEGINNINGS
» PanCare’s newest clinic, located in Marianna, is now open to schedule new patients. This location offers medical, dental and behavioral health services. LOCAL HAPPENINGS
» The Gulf County Chamber of Commerce recently hosted six-time New York Times’ bestselling author Michael Lister to speak at a Chamber event. Lister discussed how he used social media to promote his work.
» For the third year in a row, Golf Advisor named the golf course at St. James Bay Golf Club, in Carrabelle, a Top 20 Public Golf Course in Florida. The award stems from positive customer reviews of Florida golf courses.
I-10 APPOINTED BY THE GOVERNOR
» James “Jim” Dean, City Manager of Marianna, was appointed to the Chipola College District Board of Trustees. Dean, who previously served in the U.S. Marine Corps, succeeds Virginia Stuart and is appointed for a term ending May 31, 2021. » James Jefferson Goodman Jr., of Bonifay, was appointed to the 14th Judicial Circuit Court. Goodman previously served as an Assistant State Attorney for the circuit and was a litigation associate for Balch & Bingham, LLP. He fills the vacancy created by the resignation of Judge Hentz McClellan. LOCAL HAPPENINGS
» The Haughty Heron, in Port
» Whiskey Bravo owners Skip and Victoria Moore announced that their restaurant raised more than $28,000 for the Emerald Coast Children’s Advocacy Center’s (ECCAC) Pierce Family Children’s Center in Defuniak Springs.
» In October 2015, the City of Carrabelle was awarded a Florida Recreation Development Assistance Program (FRDAP) grant for improvement phases 2 and 3 at Sands Park on U.S. 98. The project includes the completion of an asphalt multi-modal path and a new parking lot.
LOCAL HONORS
St. Joe, hosted a benefit event for the victims of Hurricane Harvey. All donations, whether monetary or of non-perishable goods, were donated directly to those who were affected by the late August hurricane.
LOCAL HONORS
» Ameris Bank was recently named Title Sponsor of the 2017 Wakulla County Chamber of Commerce Business Excellence Awards. Ameris Bank headquarters are in Moultrie, Ga., and the bank has branches in Tallahassee and Crawfordville. » Natasha Pennycuff, a firstgrade teacher at the Franklin County School, was recently named Franklin County Teacher of the Year and was honored with the Governor’s Shine Award.
850 Business Magazine
» The Cottondale FFA Chapter recently received the highest rating from the National FFA Organization: the Three-Star National Chapter Award. Only 144 chapters out of 7,859 received the award; in Florida, only 16 chapters were awarded out of 325 FFA chapters in the state. » The Jackson County Chamber of Commerce’s ninth annual ANCHOR Awards were held Aug. 9 at Pelican Landing Conference Center in Moss Point. The ANCHOR Awards honor the achievements of outstanding small businesses and non-profit organizations in the community. The 2017 recipients are Compton Engineering Inc., Community Bank, Whimsy Books & Toys LLC and Feeding the Gulf Coast. —COMPILED BY KIM HARRIS THACKER
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Northern Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa + Walton Counties and Holmes, Washington, Calhoun, Jackson + Liberty Counties
State of Play Florida gambling laws at crossroads By Lazaro Aleman
F
lorida lawmakers’ failure to pass a comprehensive gambling bill this past spring left the gaming industry in a holding pattern — neither better nor worse than before. Or, put differently, it left the industry in limbo. “Limbo’s pretty much correct,” says Attorney Marc Dunbar, part owner of Gretna Racing in Gadsden County and one of the state’s leading gaming attorneys. “We’ll need to operate under the status quo for a while.” Gaming versus gambling: Although synonymous, the terms connote different meanings. The first — preferred by the industry — conveys the idea of fun and entertainment; the second — preferred by critics — conveys the idea of addiction and vice. Going into the 2017 legislative session, enactment of comprehensive gambling legislation was both the industry’s hope and legislators’ intent, for reasons that included changing social norms and a stated desire to bring clarity and coherence to Florida’s gambling laws. “In the last 25 or 30 years, we’ve had significant changes not only in our attitudes toward gaming but also in terms of the law,” says Senator Bill Montford, whose District 3 encompasses 11 counties, including Gadsden. “We need a comprehensive gaming bill that pulls all the pieces together and puts us all on the same page so there’s a clear understanding of what’s legal and where the proceeds go — so we have gaming under control.” Whatever their intentions, however, the two chambers were unable to agree on a common bill by the session’s end. The major sticking point, Montford confirms, was the Senate’s desire to authorize slot machines in eight counties where local referendums had approved them (including Gadsden and Washington counties in Northwest Florida) and the House’s determination to limit slot machines to Broward and Miami-Dade counties, where statewide referendums had approved them.
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PHOTO BY KARL WEATHERLY / ROYALTY-FREE
and Madison + Taylor Counties
Underlying the impasse, Montford acknowledges, was the issue’s complexity, compounded by its lucrative nature and competing interests. “Simply put, there’s a tremendous amount of money at stake,” Montford says. “Not only for individuals, but for the government, as well.” The latter point is borne out by the 2016 State of the States, a survey of the casino industry compiled by the Washington D.C.-based American Gaming Association (AGA). In 2015, the AGA reports, “Commercial gaming revenues set an all-time high, eclipsing the previous record set in 2013.” Consumers in 2015 spent $38.54 billion on casino gaming and contributed $8.85 billion in taxes to the 24 states where commercial casinos are allowed. And these figures do not reflect the billions more that the industry paid in corporate, payroll, sales and various other taxes, nor the revenues and taxes generated by casinos owned and operated by sovereign tribal governments. In Florida in 2015, the gaming market grew for the sixth straight year, with its eight operating casinos (excluding those owned by the Seminole Tribe of Florida) producing a total gross annual gaming revenue of $530.66 million (4.57 percent more than 2014), paying $185.73 million in taxes (a 4.5 percent increase) and employing 3,948 persons. In the same report, the AGA underscores that electronic gaming machines, such as slot machines and video lottery terminals, were the “most popular forms of gaming entertainment,” with 900,000 machines nationwide and 21,397 in GROWTH INDUSTRY Florida was home to Florida, Seminole casinos more than 21,000 slot included. machines in 2015, the sixth straight year of Given the popularity growth in the state’s of slot machines, it’s no gaming market. Lawmakers, lobbyists wonder that many pariand voters face another mutuels have set their year of regulatory wrangling in 2018. sights on obtaining them, including the three in the 850 area: Gretna, Ebro Greyhound Park in Washington County and Pensacola Greyhound Track in Escambia County. (A fourth, the JC Kennel Club in Jefferson County, closed about two years ago.) Presently, these three pari-mutuels offer live races — quarter horses at Gretna and greyhounds at Ebro and Pensacola — plus poker and simulcast races. Slots machines, however, are the goal.
Last year, Gretna filed a lawsuit seeking to get slots approved and arguing that pari-mutuels in counties where local voter referendums had approved them should be able to install them. Had the Senate’s bill or Gretna’s case succeeded, Ebro planned to build a gaming resort. Shortly following the legislative session, however, the Florida Supreme Court affirmed a lower court’s ruling against Gretna — which gambling opponents hailed as a victory, holding that had Gretna won or the Senate bill prevailed, it would have represented the state’s single biggest gambling expansion. Notwithstanding the legislative and judicial setbacks, Dunbar — who argued the Gretna case in both the lower and higher courts — remains hopeful. “There are other cases working their way through the process that could offer potential alternative pathways,” he says. Gretna, meanwhile, is faring well. “Revenues have continued growing as we’ve come out of the recession,” Dunbar says, “and I’m optimistic that this trend will continue.” It’s a sentiment the other two racetracks share. Why, then, the push for slot machines? Figures from the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation (FDBPR) Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering, suggest the reason: In the agency’s 85th Annual Report for Fiscal Year 2015–2016, it’s noted that in the last decade, “Pari-mutuel wagering (on dogs, horses and jai alai) has experienced a 49.9 percent decline in handle (bets), and total state revenue has decreased 60.8 percent.” Consider: In 2006/2007, paid attendance at pari-mutuels was 2,351,126, bets totaled $1,480,427,370, and state revenues were $30,214,151. In 2015/2016, by comparison, attendance dropped to 348,081, bets to $740,622,948 and state revenues to $11,832,484. During the same 10-year period, however, cardroom gross receipts increased from $54,208,544 to $147,298,438 and state tax revenues from $5,746,355 to $15,503,654. Steve Andris, owner of the shuttered JCKC, acknowledges that during the kennel club’s last years, the cardroom largely kept the facility afloat. “Over the years, the cardroom became more profitable than the dogs,” he says.
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William Vineyard, assistant property manager at the Pensacola racetrack, echoes the sentiment. “Over the years, the trend has been in favor of cardrooms,” he says. Greyhound racing, in particular, is seen as a dying sport, for reasons that include competing gambling/entertainment options, disinterest among younger people and growing concern for the animals’ welfare. Today in the United States, Florida is an outlier, having 12 of the country’s 19 remaining dog tracks. And the 12, the Washington Post reports, “collectively lose about $30 million each year on dog racing,” based on financial records filed with the state. The reason many racetracks continue racing greyhounds despite the losses is a Florida law that “couples” live racing to cardrooms: In Florida, cardroom licenses may only be obtained by pari-mutuels that race horses or dogs or feature jai alai. Not surprisingly, bills keep being introduced to “decouple” live racing from slots, most recently in the 2017 session. Were “decoupling” to occur, it’s generally believed that most, if not all, dog tracks would reduce or cease live races. Montford expects that gaming will resurface in the 2018 session. “We really need to put this issue to rest,” he says. “And I’m confident that the Senate and House will get together next year, hopefully.”
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Dunbar agrees on the necessity for legislative action but is skeptical of success next year. “Comprehensive legislation to address regulatory deficiencies has been needed for more than a decade,” he says. “Unfortunately, term limits make it difficult, as new members cycle in with little or no knowledge of the practical problems facing the regulator and industry, and parochial fights detract from a focused piece of legislation that can address these practical problems. I don’t have high expectations for success in an election year.” Adding to the uncertainty is a proposed constitutional amendment that will appear on the 2018 ballot. Sponsored by the organization Voters in Charge, the amendment, if successful, would allow Florida voters, not lawmakers, to approve any gambling expansion. “The recent history of gambling policy in Florida shows why this amendment is needed,” says John Sowinski, chairman of Voters in Charge. “Every time the Legislature or regulators approve even modest expansions of gambling, a cottage industry of gambling lawyers and lobbyists is there to sew into law or rule, then later exploit, huge loopholes that allow more gambling.” For decades, Sowinski argues, Florida
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voters, not lawmakers, decided gambling issues via statewide referendums. Such was the case when voters rejected full-scale casino gambling in 1978, 1986 and 1994, approved the Lottery in 1986 and allowed slot machines in Broward and Miami-Dade pari-mutuels in 2004. “Only in the last few years has there been the notion that the Legislature could approve casino gambling through statute,” Sowinski says. “Since then, every so-called ‘comprehensive gambling reform’ measure has … dramatically expanded gambling. That’s why we must return to the timehonored policy of having Florida voters, not Tallahassee politicians, be the final say on casino gambling.” Montford, however, remains invested in the legislative process. “Many people — me included — don’t want Florida to look like a big Las Vegas,” he says. “But we have a great potential to do it right. As long as we move judiciously, move cautiously and listen to the people we represent, we should be able to have a gaming system that produces good revenues for the citizens, keeps taxes low and retains Florida’s family-friendly position.” Gambling, it seems, stands at a crossroads in Florida, with 2018 shaping up to be a potentially decisive year.
PHOTOS BY SCOTT HOLSTEIN / ROWLAND PUBLISHING FILE PHOTO
GOING TO THE DOGS Florida has 12 of the nation’s 19 dog-racing tracks. Races continue despite waning interest and plummeting revenue because pari-mutuels are required to have them in order to host cardrooms, which are the moneymakers.
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Call Brian Rowland at (850) 878-0554 to learn more. // Visit 850Tix.com for more information. 850 Business Magazine
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CAPITAL CORRIDOR
Gadsden, Jefferson + Leon Counties
How Can I Help You? “G Day and night, PATLive answers the call By Rosanne Dunkelberger
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ood afternoon, XYZ Real Estate. This is Pat; how can I help you today?” You’re probably envisioning “Pat” at the reception desk of a bustling office filled with agents and printers spewing out closing paperwork. But it may surprise you to learn the person you’re speaking to is one of 50 sitting in a cubicle in front of pair of monitors with a script that allows them to pleasantly handle whatever your query might be. And when your call has concluded, that agent will pick up the phone and answer the calls of any one of 2,400 businesses and government agencies in the
RINGING OFF THE HOOK (Left) PATLive President and CEO Austin Davidson says the center doubled its call volume in 18 months. (Above) Kellcee Jacklin is one of the 130 phone agents who field more than 150,000 calls monthly.
U.S. and Canada who contract for the services of Tallahassee-based PATLive. For 17 of the 27 years it has been in business, PATLive has provided 24/7, live answering and call-center services for a growing roster of customers such as automotive and e-commerce companies, healthcare providers, home services contractors,
Photos by BRUCE PALMER
law and other professional services firms, insurance and real-estate companies, small businesses and utility companies. After years of word-of-mouth, organic growth, in 2016 the company decided to “market the service explicitly and put the advertising behind it,” says PATLive President and CEO Austin Davidson. “We’ve actually doubled our call volume over the last 18 months, taking in about 150,000 to 160,000 calls every month.” Located in a 20,000-square-foot facility, PATLive employs about 160 people, most of them part-time phone agents who attend one of the area’s three higher education institutions — Florida State University, Florida A&M University and Tallahassee Community College. It’s an attractive option for students who enjoy the flexible scheduling, a $10 per hour starting salary and food — lots of food. While answering the phone seems a simple enough task, only 1 percent of those
who apply to be an agent are hired. They then undergo two weeks of training in the classroom and shadowing before answering the first call. Newbies are tasked with answering simpler calls, but can move up the ranks with additional training and coaching to use more involved scripts and software. “It’s harder than you would think to find people that have the right level of professionalism and etiquette, typing speed, spelling and grammar, and availability,” he said. “We really do not compromise our standards. We have a full-time recruiter and her job is to continually keep finding the best agents.” The one-on-one “human touch” service is backed up by a sophisticated array of proprietary technology and software developers as well as a data center that’s double and triple redundant for uninterrupted service. Plans are in the works to migrate the data center to a cloud-based one over the next year or so. In addition to eliminating
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PATLIVE BY THE NUMBERS » 27 years in business, 17 of them providing answering and call-center services » 2,400 customers in the U.S. and Canada » 44 percent growth in customer count and revenues between 2016 and 2017 » 150,000 to 160,000 calls answered each month » 160 employees, including 130 phone agents » 24/7 English-speaking operators available » 51 agents taking calls at peak times
the need for onsite servers, the cloud would allow PATLive to hire agents to work from home. “What would be great for us are things like microshifts,” Davidson said. “Think about a stay-at-home mom who … can say ‘hey, I’m available for two or three hours.’ It wouldn’t be worth it to come all the way in to the call center, but it’s a great thing if you can just pop on your headset and go online at home.” While prices vary based on the amount of usage and the complexity of service, the average PATLive customer pays around $200 monthly. And the company offers a free two-week trial. “You can get our services for as little as $99 a month,” Davidson explained. “In many lines of business, a single call that (otherwise) is missed pays for the service many times over.” In addition to traditional phone answering and message taking, PATLive agents can provide an array of services using scripts developed in-house that allow them to transfer calls, share offers, capture caller information, schedule appointments, process orders, collect leads, register for events, provide after-hours support and serve as a help desk. English-language operators are available all
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day, every day, and Spanish-speaking agents are available during limited hours. PATLive also can provide support during emergencies; for example, when Tropical Storm Hermine and Hurricane Matthew affected northern Florida in the fall of 2016. Talquin Electric was already a customer when Hermine passed through the electric cooperative’s four-county service area. Used to taking outage calls for Talquin, PATLive was able to staff up during and after the storm to handle the increased volume. Based on the Hermine experience, the state’s Division of Emergency Management reached out to PATLive to provide services when Matthew threatened Florida’s Atlantic coast. The company ramped up a 70-person Florida Emergency Information Line staff within 72 hours, in addition to their daily call volume. PATLive’s services include an initial consultation to develop a “script” personalized to a client’s needs. “On the phone, it takes 10 or 15 minutes. We have a team and all they do is create the scripts with our software. They really get to know the business that we’re working with,” Davidson said. “They’re complete subject-matter experts on how little tweaks and settings can make a difference.”
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» 1 percent of applicants hired » 11 seconds on average before call is answered » 90 percent of calls answered in less than 20 seconds » 75 percent of callers hang up if they get sent to a business’ voicemail.
Is Davidson worried rapid advancements in technology could ultimately automate the process and put PATLive out of business? “We have some great technology that enables us to do our jobs, but for our customers, technology is not a significant part at all of how they perceive our PATLive services,” he answered. “They’re buying agents that are always available, that are well-trained, that are friendly, that are professional. It’s really a people business more than a technology business.” He continued: “When AI or machine learning begins to pop up, there are still going to be just as many businesses that want the human touch. No matter how good a computer gets at understanding, it cannot empathize and cannot provide the real, live experience that a person can.”
PHOTO BY BRUCE PALMER
SELECTIVE HIRING Ryan Meier and other phone agents answer calls on behalf of 2,400 clients in the United States and Canada. PATLive’s CEO says only 1 percent of applicants are hired.
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EMERALD COAST CORRIDOR
Coastal Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa + Walton Counties
Brief, Execute, Debrief Blue Angels train executives at full throttle By Erin Hoover
T
he senior leadership of a Fortune 100 company showed up for a corporate training in Pensacola in February. Some had put in decades at the company and now held top positions, and they may have questioned what they could learn about leadership in a matter of days. The 37 executives assumed they would unpack their business attire in comfortable hotel rooms and listen to two days’ worth of presentations on leadership. The Blue Angels Foundation had something else in mind. They issued the executives flight suits with squadron patches, informing the group that for the next 48 hours, they’d be living aboard a simulated aircraft carrier at the National Flight Academy. The executives would listen to presentations, but they’d also work together to reproduce flight missions just like those performed by Navy fighter pilots. “They went through the National Flight Academy syllabus, which is really a teamwork and communication drill,” said Mike Campbell, president of the Blue Angels Foundation (BAF). In small groups, two executives flew a jet flight simulator, while two others provided navigation assistance over the radios from the ship’s command center. The first day didn’t go very well.
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THE MISSION: TEAMWORK Elite pilots of the U.S. Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron, or Blue Angels, practice precision teamwork in flight. Likewise, the Blue Angels Foundation immerses executives in intense training to hone their ability to operate as a unit in corporate environments.
The second day went better, with executives learning to apply the Blue Angels’ ideas about mission planning, preflight briefing, and candid, honest reflection and accountability in post-flight debriefs after their simulated missions. By the end of the training, leaders were able to faithfully abide by the procedure followed by the Blue Angels for any operation: brief, execute, and debrief. “If you follow that model, you are guaranteed to improve, no matter what the execution,” Campbell said, noting that often companies skip debriefing and move on to the next project. “It was interesting to see all of these senior executives say, to a person, ‘We need to slow down.’”
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Getting it right is a lesson that the Blue Angels know well, with lives on the line every time they fly.
Mission Over Ego This is why Blue Angels debrief after every single flight, said George Dom, who spoke at the Pensacola training along with fellow BAF board members Rob Ffield and Cliff Skelton. He acknowledged it can be challenging to debrief in an environment where egos are involved. “We put [the executives] on an aircraft carrier and conducted missions where there was no ego attached to it,” Dom said. “The key was to have them experience something and then evaluate their own
Wounded Veterans
PHOTO BY KGRIF / ISTOCK EDITORIAL / GETTY IMAGES PLUS AND LAURA BOGAN (LEADERSHIP SERIES FACILITATORS)
TOP FLIGHT Leadership Series Facilitators are (from left) Mike Campbell, president of the Blue Angels Foundation; Bernie Willet, foundation director; Cliff Skelton; National Flight Academy Program Director Chip Yarbrough; George Dom; Rob Ffield and Bill Campbell.
performance and experience what that feels like, that level of honesty with each other. They can take that skill back to the office and develop it with their teams.” Campbell remembered the head of the Fortune 100 company acknowledging three or four things that he had to work on while leading the debrief at the conclusion of the Pensacola event. “That was pretty powerful,” he said. “They were working on some tough things. The leader put his ego aside and asked people for their support. That showed us he got it.” “I believe (this experience) will materially change the course and trajectory of our team for the positive,” the senior executive present in Pensacola said following the program, noting that the lessons learned by his team were “foundational to achieving sustained success.” The idea of immersive leadership training is not new. “A lot of programs are oriented around team building, and this program does that for leaders, but it also stretches their comfort level and accelerates their learning curve,” said Ffield. “Immersion training achieves a concentrated return on investment.” Dom added, “The typical assignment for a Blue Angel is only two years; there’s 50 percent
turnover every year in the six-jet formation. With that velocity of personnel change, we’ve figured out how to bring people together quickly and develop teamwork.” For active Blue Angels, that means heading to winter training in Southern California to focus on the mission. Immersion training mirrors this approach by eliminating distractions so that participants can concentrate on improving their culture. “One of the fundamental ingredients in the Blue Angels’ culture is an extraordinary level of trust in each other. That doesn’t happen by itself. We talk to companies about what it takes to develop that level of cohesiveness,” Dom said. “The two-day immersion program gives them a chance to really look at their culture. There’s quite a bit of facing the truth, where they have to look at how they treat each other and what their culture is about.” According to Ffield, the immersion program is an opportunity to share with the business world what team members learned from the Blue Angels about organizational culture and leadership. Both he and Dom are former flight leaders and commanding officers of the Blue Angels and now run companies involved in corporate leadership training.
The Blue Angels Foundation’s immersion program also doubles as a way to fund programs for wounded veterans, the foundation’s mission. “Since 9/11 we’ve lost about 6,200 service men and women in the battlefield. There were 52,000 that were wounded. We’re losing 8,000 a year to wounded veteran suicide. A half-million veterans suffer from PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder). The point is that the line is long and the need is great,” said Campbell. Several veterans were put through PTSD protocol as a result of the February training, Campbell noted. The foundation also supports programs for transition housing, education, and employment for wounded veterans. Bernie Willett, board member and honorary Blue Angel, said the foundation’s leadership program has evolved over the past year, from Dom and Ffield visiting companies to provide keynote addresses to longer opportunities in which trainings are held offsite. Last October, the Blue Angels Foundation organized a one-day event for 100 participants hosted by the USS Midway Museum in San Diego. The USS Midway program led to an inquiry from an audience member, part of the senior team at the company that later booked the two-day program at the National Flight Academy. “We put together a 48-hour syllabus, and they covered their costs and also made a donation to the foundation,” said Campbell. He acknowledges that the Blue Angels Foundation’s immersion program is young, but it’s clear that interest is there. “Every single day of the year, companies invite people like George [Dom] and Rob [Ffield] to talk about leadership. I don’t know how it will evolve, but corporate America is hungry for the content we deliver.” Campbell added, “I think that when companies hear about our mission, they want to help. We are all volunteers. One hundred percent of what we earn, we turn around and help the wounded veteran community. The sky’s the limit.”
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81
The Last Word
In a Lifetime, Several Crossroads We live in a land, mostly free, where choices abound A few days a week, you can find me running along a triangle that carries me from Tallahassee’s Merchants Row Boulevard to Tram Road to Capital Circle SE and back to Merchants Row and the point of beginning.
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“I have survived the age of invincibility,” I began. “I think you know what I mean. I am more aware of my mortality today than I used to be. Sometimes, I am involved in an activity and it occurs to me that I may be doing it for the last time.” “Are you married? What was it like getting married?” “I didn’t rush into it. I knew my wife for five years before we married. And the marriage has lasted, 39 years so far.” “And children? Do you have children? What was that like?” “We have a son who lives in North Carolina. He is a CPA and he has been the joy of our lives. He is married and has two sons of his own and I like to wonder about what my grandsons will become.” “I am wondering what I will become.” We had arrived at the nexus of his existential angst. “All I do is work. I am not sure if I want to get married. And I am trying to figure out what I want to do.” “Know yourself,” I advised, ripping off Socrates. “Know where joy comes from for you. Always keep something in front of you, no matter how old you are. Keep moving. If you can accomplish goals of importance to you and have a good time doing so, you will be in a good place. I think right now that you recognize that one phase of your life is coming to an end and it is time to figure out what’s next. You have important decisions to make.” “Yes, my brother said much the same thing to me. So, you must be right.” I continued north and he turned and headed south.
Maybe I was helpful to him. For sure, he was helpful to me by leading me to engage in some healthy introspection, to recount joys experienced, to recall the time when I committed to a career path and to list in my mind the employers who have befriended me with opportunities. I spoke not long ago with Randy Hanna, dean of the Panama City campus of Florida State University. He talked about how he loves to connect with prospective students making post-secondary plans because, he said, it’s such an exciting time in their lives. Exciting, yes, and difficult and pivotal. In this life and in this land, we have lots of options. Recall these lyrics written by Cat Stevens … Well, if you want to sing out, sing out, And if you want to be free, be free ‘Cause there’s a million things to be You know that there are. In America, things aren’t quite that good, but they’re close. Sing out,
STEVE BORNHOFT, DIRECTOR OF EDITORIAL SERVICES sbornhoft@rowlandpublishing.com
PHOTO BY SAIGE ROBERTS
Routinely, I encounter crows and rabbits and employees of the state Department of Revenue who get walks in before settling in at their desks. Occasionally, I am pleased to hear and then see a pileated woodpecker. In the spring, mostly, I spy bluebirds among the planted trees along the boulevard and, in the fall and winter, I find myself sharing sidewalks with Canadian geese, but I have been fortunate not to have encountered the vicious strain of honker that seems wont to harass employees of the state Department of Health, elsewhere in SouthWood. Recently, trotting north along Capital Circle, I overtook a pedestrian. He was a young man, Hispanic, early 20s maybe, and well-dressed: royal blue shirt, black pants, sneakers in mint condition, designer shades that may have set him back a week’s take-home pay from an entrylevel job. Had I been Sheriff Joe Arpaio, I suppose I would have rounded him up on suspicion of being a non-Anglo. We exchanged “Good morning” greetings as I passed him and then a few strides later, he hailed me. “Sir, can I talk to you for just a minute?” he asked, removing his glasses and revealing clear eyes. “Sure, what’s up?” “I just wanted to ask you, I am young and I wonder if you can tell me what it is like to be older, like you?” At this, I was momentarily taken aback and could not imagine similarly approaching a senior citizen when I was young. Still, I sought to answer the question.
GKN Aerospace lands in Northwest Florida Gulf Power is proud to be part of the regional effort alongside Bay Economic Development Alliance and the St. Joe Company to bring GKN Aerospace to Panama City in Northwest Florida. The aerospace facility is located on a Florida First Site, a unique program developed by
Photograph above: Wayne Stubbs, Chairman of the Bay Economic Development Alliance joins Gulf Power to welcome GKN to Northwest Florida.
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