850 Business Magazine Winter 2020 by Rowland Publishing, Inc.

JOB SOURCE

Retired developer helps stabilize lives of rebounding people in transition

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TALLAHASSEE BUSINESS JOURNAL

Doing Business Doing Business In Tallahassee In Tallahassee “I love that Tallahassee is the home base for my

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reasons to grow a business — great cost of living, large labor force, it’s located near the top of the state and

employees butbut also my business.” employees also my business.”

the laws lawsfor forbusinesses businesses are very favorable in Florida.” the are very favorable in Florida.”

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“Since we’ve been here, OEV “Since we’ve been here, OEV Task established the Magnetics established the Magnetics Taskas Force to promote Tallahassee Force to promote Tallahassee a critical location globally inas the a critical location globally world of magnetics. Thereinisthe no other place where you can findissuch a world of magnetics. There no other concentration knowledge, place where youof can find suchtalent, a research laboratories and companies concentration of knowledge, talent, all doing magnetic science.” research laboratories and companies Ricardo Schneider, President of all doing magnetic science.” Danfoss Turbocor

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IN THIS ISSUE

TRIM 8.375 x 10.875 COLOR 4C

The planned SoMo Walls is a development that will be central to the revitalization and reinvention of the South Monroe area. It will provide commercial space for lease and a provision for public art.

SPECIAL REPORT

RENDERING COURTESY OF SOMO WALLS

Tallahassee Business Journal The City of 17 Tallahassee is advancing on several fronts. A multi-

use development by North American Properties at Cascades Park figures to further cement that area as a center of town. A federal grant combined with local investment is bringing about a new business incubation facility at Innovation Park. Revitalization is taking hold at communities, including South Monroe and Frenchtown. A Talent Pipeline Management initiative at the Greater Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce seeks to identify employers’ needs and to bring about a pipeline of people capable of filling the jobs of the future. And an H3LP program associated with the Kearney Center is making it possible for people seeking a second chance to re-enter the world of work.

FEATURE

innacle Award Winners For the seventh year, 50 PRowland Publishing and 850 Business Magazine

presented Pinnacle Awards to outstanding professional women with remarkable records of public service. The 12 honorees, representing communities throughout the 850 region, were selected based on nominations submitted by 850 readers. The 2021 class is a diverse group, including as it does a university president, a former legislator, an economic developer, a defender of the region’s military presence, the president of a marketing agency, a small-town mayor, a promoter of nonprofits, an attorney specializing in immigration law, the founder of an LGBTQ Center and the president of Pensacola Bay Area IMPACT 100. Plus, a new award was established this year to honor an upcoming woman of promise. By Steve Bornhoft and Hannah Burke

On the Cover: Marjorie Turnbull, a leading lady of Tallahassee, was among 12 women honored with Rowland Publishing/850 Magazine Pinnacle Awards this year. A former county commissioner, state legislator and community college administrator, she maintains close ties to Tallahassee’s business community, public institutions and cultural affairs. A newly established Turnbull Award has been made part of the Pinnacle Awards program. Photo by Alex Workman

850 Business Magazine

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850 Magazine Winter 2020

IN THIS ISSUE

PROMOTIONS CONTRACTOR MEETUP

14 Bill Loiry and his Defense Leadership Forum are looking forward to their Air Force Contracting Summit in February. Historic military spending ensures that the conference will be a meaty one.

15 á INTERNAL MARKETING

In This Issue 10 From the Publisher 77 Sound Bytes 82 The Last Word from the Editor

Special Sections DEAL ESTATE

68 Office space advantageously located in historic downtown Tallahassee within walking distance of the state Capitol is available for lease. The space, totaling more than 4,600 square feet, is located within a building that is newly remodeled. Also in Tallahassee, an estate home on Lake Bradford awaits new waterloving owners.

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Corridors BAY + GULF 72 Wewa Films, a Panama City-based startup, is gaining traction and attracting attention with documentaries profiling artists and artisans in and around Bay County. The business has been invited by a Los Angeles producer of content for cable networks to submit proposals for programming that may have people around the country asking just what “Wewa” is. Co-founder Kevin Elliott first encountered his now business partner Courtney Gaskin when she was a student of his at FSU Panama City.

EMERALD COAST 74 The producers of “Behind the Grind,” a podcast that originates in Pensacola, tap into the minds of the city’s most successful businessmen, businesswomen and thought leaders. Their body of work adds up to a howto-succeed-in-business class taught by an entrepreneurial think tank.

HAPPY CUSTOMER

66 Guy Harvey Magazine has brought Rowland Publishing on board as its custom publishing partner, and the relationship is coming along swimmingly. RPI is helping the magazine deliver an important message about marine conservation.

TOP BUILDER

70 ReliantSouth, a commercial general contractor and construction management firm, has established a stellar reputation in completing projects throughout Northwest Florida.

PLAN TO WIN

76 Team meetings held to set goals and establish long-term plans can have a welcome byproduct. Ryan Giles of Traction Strong finds that team members often get to know one another better and set aside individual differences.

ON THE REBOUND

81 Beck Partners recognizes that 2020 has made for a lot of uncertainty in the commercial real estate business. In the fourth quarter, however, people have become more comfortable leasing and selling property.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF WEWA FILMS AND ILLUSTRATION COURTESY OF COMPASS MARKETING

32 Businesses should be mindful of the need to bring about buy-in from their employees regarding their mission and values. Only then can they become effective brand ambassadors.

manufacturing cut red tape experience zoning connection location implementation liaison perm aviation skill population aviation incentives development expediting water site selection access tr personnel gas acreage ownership logistics workforce cut red tape location industry transpor electricity results certification labor water distribution manufacturing zoning connection lo experience logistics implementation telecom liaison tax development permitting skill ince population transportation development expediting access site selection access trained certificatio acreage owner water site selection access training personnel results industry owner logistics lo distribution cut red tape acreage electricity aviation transportation results implementation wor manufacturing zoning connection certification industry location distribution electricity certifi results workforce manufacturing experience zoning connection site selection cut red tape ind skill transportation electricity development tax positioned personnel water acreage owner lo Santa Rosa County inresults Northwest Florida isaccess uniquely to offer population location distribution skill industry workforce electricity transportation local, state, and regional benefits to help land flight-based companies. certification r manufacturing cut red tape experience zoning connection location implementation liaison av permitting skill population aviation incentives development expediting water access site selection tr personnel gas acreage ownership logistics workforce cut red tape location industry transpor results labor certification water distribution manufacturing electricity connection location z Triumph Gulf Coast telecom permitting development skill population transpor experience aviation implementation ncentives expediting access liaison personnel gas acreage owner logistics electricity work Over the next decade-plus, $1.5 manufacturing zoning logistics population location distribution Spaceindustry Floridatransportation elec billion will be directed to Northwest results certification workforce manufacturing cut red tape experience zoning connection lo Florida for economic development Space Florida is uniquely mplementation liaisonThese permitting aviation skill population aviation incentives development expe enhancements. funds, from empowered by the State of water sitea selection access trained personnel gas acreage ownership logistics workforce cut red settlement related to the Florida with robust tools to aid ocation industry transportation labor water distribution Deepwater Horizon oil spill, electricity results certification companies in aerospace and manufac zoning connection location experience logistics implementation telecom liaison tax develop represent an unprecedented related industries, permitting skill incentives population transportation developmentincluding expediting access site sele opportunity for Northwest facility and access trained certification gas acreage owner water site selection access training personnel r Florida. 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There are alsozoning breaks on sales and use taxes forexperience logistics implementation te iaison taxequipment development permitting skill incentives population transportation development expe and electricity. access site selection access trained certification gas acreage owner water site selection access tr personnel results industry owner logistics location distribution cut red tape acreage electricity av transportation results implementation workforce manufacturing zoning connection certific ndustry location distribution electricity certification results workforce manufacturing expe Find out how Rosacut County can industry sweeten skill transportation electricity results develop zoning connection siteSanta selection red tape access tax personnel water your bottom line. Giveacreage us a call owner today. logistics population location distribution skill ind workforce electricity transportation certification results manufacturing cut red tape experience z connection location implementation liaison aviation permitting skill population aviation ince Contact Shannon Ogletree today. development expediting water access site selection trained personnel gas acreage ownership lo (850) 623-0174 â&#x20AC;˘ shannon@santarosa.fl.gov workforce cut red tape location industry transportation results labor certification water distrib or visit SantaRosaEDO.com manufacturing electricity connection location zoning experience aviation implementation te 850 Business Magazine | WINTER 2020 | 7 permitting development skill population transportation incentives expediting access liaison pers

Santa Rosa County hits the incentive sweet spot for aviation and aerospace companies.

Winter 2020

850 THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE OF NORTHWEST FLORIDA

Vol. 13, No. 2

PRESIDENT/PUBLISHER BRIAN E. ROWLAND EDITORIAL EXECUTIVE EDITOR Steve Bornhoft MANAGING EDITOR Jeff Price CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Marina Brown, Hannah Burke, Bob Ferrante, Tim Linafelt, Rebecca Padgett, Audrey Post

BUSINESS MOVES WITH US

CREATIVE DIRECTOR OF PRODUCTION AND TECHNOLOGY Daniel Vitter CREATIVE DIRECTOR Jennifer Ekrut EDITORIAL DESIGNER Lindsey Masterson SENIOR PUBLICATION DESIGNER Shruti Shah PUBLICATION DESIGNERS Sarah Burger, Jordan Harrison GRAPHIC DESIGNER Sierra Thomas CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Aerial Tallahassee, Dave Barfield, Steven Gray, Scott Holstein, Saige Roberts, Wewa Films, Alex Workman SALES, MARKETING & EVENTS VICE PRESIDENT/CORPORATE DEVELOPMENT McKenzie Burleigh SALES MANAGER, EASTERN DIVISION Lori Magee Yeaton SALES MANAGER, WESTERN DIVISION Rhonda Lynn Murray DIRECTOR OF NEW BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT, EASTERN DIVISION Daniel Parisi DIRECTOR OF NEW BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT, WESTERN DIVISION Dan Parker AD SERVICES COORDINATOR Tracy Mulligan ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES David Doll, Julie Dorr, Darla Harrison MARKETING MANAGER Kate Pierson SALES AND MARKETING WRITER Rebecca Padgett SENIOR INTEGRATED MARKETING COORDINATOR Javis Ogden ADMINISTRATIVE & CUSTOMER SERVICE SPECIALIST Renee Johnson OPERATIONS CUSTOM PUBLISHING MANAGER Sara Goldfarb PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION SPECIALIST Melinda Lanigan ACCOUNTING ASSISTANT Amber Dennard

The Port of Pensacola is the most capable business logistics support hub in NW Florida. Big enough for any logistics requirement but small enough to know you. A deep water port that supports a variety of activities, the Port of Pensacola should be your first choice for business.

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DIGITAL SERVICES 850 BUSINESS MAGAZINE 850businessmagazine.com, facebook.com/850bizmag, twitter.com/850bizmag, linkedin.com/company/850-business-magazine ROWLAND PUBLISHING rowlandpublishing.com SUBSCRIPTIONS A one-year (4 issues) subscription is $20. To purchase, call (850) 878-0554 or go online to 850businessmagazine.com. Single copies are $4.95 and may be purchased at Barnes & Noble and Books-A-Million in Tallahassee, Fort Walton Beach, Destin, Pensacola, Panama City and at our Tallahassee office. Availability may change subject to COVID-19 restrictions.

850 Magazine is published quarterly 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 December 2020 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.

Count On Us With over 140 team members, count on us to make an impact in everything we do. Whether it’s our accessibility, our depth of resources, or our niche industry experience, we make an impact in the lives of our clients and the communities we serve.

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From the Publisher

In Our Attractive Region, Growth Overcomes Obstacles Eleven years ago, Rowland Publishing introduced 850 — The Business Magazine of Northwest Florida in an effort to fill a void. Downstate business publications gave scant coverage to our region, and business sections in our area’s daily newspapers were shrinking or disappearing and becoming more homogenous due to a consolidation trend that continues to this day.

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Florida’s development is proceeding in well-managed ways. The region is taking advantage of the opportunity not to repeat mistakes that occurred elsewhere in Florida. In Bay and Walton counties, The St. Joe Company is an economic stimulus package unto itself. Its diversified portfolio of projects will prove transformational. In the months ahead, we will bring you reporting on technology businesses in Tallahassee, many of them players on national and international stages. This issue contains our annual report on Leon County, which is on fire with development and change. In November ı989, Tallahassee and Leon County voters approved a local option one-cent sales tax to provide funding for transportation projects and law-enforcement facility improvements, and the county is seeing the benefits of that foresight. Also in this edition, we bring you profiles written by Steve Bornhoft and Hannah Burke of the women who make up our 2020 class of Pinnacle Award honorees. Each is a source of inspiration, given their professional successes, community leadership and stewardship. I and the entire Rowland Publishing team of publishing professionals are grateful for the support that 850 has enjoyed from the business community. It is the magazine’s lifeblood. We welcome, of course, all businesses to take advantage of 850’s platforms to showcase your brand, your progress and your contributions to improving life in Northwest Florida. It is a privilege for me to be part of an

extraordinary part of the world with incomparable natural assets, outstanding human resources, renowned institutions of higher learning and the capacity to grow in inclusive ways that will create opportunities for generations to come. It’s time to put 2020 in the rearview mirror. The best to you in the year ahead,

BRIAN ROWLAND browland@rowlandpublishing.com

PHOTO BY SCOTT HOLSTEIN

As a resident of North Florida since ı978, I knew that the region was home to a strong entrepreneurial spirit, enterprising business leaders and virtually unlimited potential. I had seen the region grow exponentially and felt strongly that this was history that should be documented. At the magazine, we often see the region as home to five distinct regions: the capital, Bay County, Walton/Okaloosa, inland counties along I-ı0 and Escambia/ Santa Rosa. All have outstanding assets to promote, and all are growing, each in its unique and impressive way. At the same time, as executive editor Steve Bornhoft touches upon in his Last Word column on page 82, Florida’s Great Northwest and Florida’s Great Northwest Foundation are working to create a regional identity and bring about collaboration that will serve to give our area the political clout it deserves. Our area has demonstrated unrelenting resolve and resilience despite hurricanes, oil spills, economic downturns and a pandemic. A robust military presence and a burgeoning tourism industry remain keys to Northwest Florida’s economic health, but the region, especially following the impacts of the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster, has strategically worked to become more diversified. The technology sector is growing in Tallahassee and elsewhere, Pensacola is becoming a nationwide leader in cybersecurity and schools of entrepreneurship and business incubators dot the region. It is gratifying to find that Northwest

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Automotive Service Technology 1 & 2 Applied Cybersecurity Building Trades and Construction Design Carpentry Cosmetology Electrician Heating, Ventilations, Air-conditioning / Refrigeration Professional Culinary Arts and Hospitality Practical Nursing Marine Service Technologies Solar Photovoltaic System Design Technology Support Services Welding Technology

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P RO M OT I O N

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Lisa Walters, senior vice president and general counsel at The St. Joe Company, delivered the keynote address at the 2020 Pinnacle Awards presentation. Walters received a Pinnacle Award in 2015.

PINNACLE AWARDS RECAP Thank you to everyone who attended our first virtual Pinnacle Awards ceremony. If you missed it, head to 850BusinessMagazine.com/ pinnacle-awards-2020 to view the recorded webinar and check out our recipient profiles, which also appear on pages 50–64 of this edition of 850.

ONLINE EXCLUSIVES

BUILDING BETTER WEBSITES Websites are coming to be a lot like opinions: Most everybody has one. But whereas opinions are subjective, it’s possible to objectively assess websites and their effectiveness on the basis of analytics that don’t lie. Visit 850BusinessMagazine.com/ marketing-insights for five musthaves for any website.

» Deal Estate

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Find stories and reports about local business events, happenings and gatherings. Just click on “The 850 Business Blog” on the home page or visit 850businessmagazine.com/Blog.

» Legal Insights

Stay aware of new industry issues and legal updates with these online exclusive articles, sponsored by Matthews & Jones, LLP.

» Flip Books View 850 issues and Business Journals in a digital book format. » Archived Stories Peruse our entire archive of articles at no charge.

LET’S NETWORK! Find 850 Business Magazine on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. You’ll also find Rowland Publishing on LinkedIn, where you can join the 850 Business Group for conversations with fellow readers. LinkedIn: Rowland Publishing and 850 Business Magazine pages, and the 850 Business Magazine Group Twitter: @850BizMag

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Historic Defense Spending Impacts Northwest Florida

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lorida consistently ranks among the top five states in the nation in the receipt of U.S. Department of Defense contract awards. Known as one of the most active air traffic zones in the world, Northwest Florida is home to six military bases, including three Air Force bases and three Navy bases. Defense activity funding in the area has totaled more than $22 billion, shown in an article in Floridaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Great Northwest, and it is considered one of the nationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest defense and homeland security locations. In addition to the 56,000-plus active-duty military members and 30,000 defense professionals working in the Northwest Florida region, it is a popular location for retired military, according to Enterprise Florida. All of this plays a major role when it comes to the area being ranked as one of the nationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest defense and homeland security industry areas. The U.S. Department of Defense budget for Fiscal Year 2021 is approximately $725 billion, including more than $200 billion for the Air Force, which includes more than $96 billion for acquisition. The 2021 defense budget includes almost $20 billion for aircraft procurement, including 24 F/A-18E/F Super Hornet aircraft; growing the F-35A, KC-46A and F-15EX fleets; continuing development of the B-21 bomber program; and updates to B-2 bomber maintenance. More than $33

CUSTOM CONTENT

billion will be spent on Air Force operation and maintenance; $600 million on Air Force ammunition; and $35 billion for the Air Force’s research, development, test and evaluation programs. The new Space Force will receive more than $15 billion. And much more will be spent on small business contracts. This historic amount of defense spending this year will have a major impact on Northwest Florida. To understand the specific impact of these funds, the 2021 Air Force Contracting Summit is scheduled for Feb. 8–9, 2021 at the Hilton Sandestin Beach Golf Resort & Spa. In its eighth year, the Summit is not only the top defense business conference for Northwest Florida, but it is also one of the top annual defense forums nationwide. More than 650 prime contractors, subcontractors, military officials, financing experts and defense agencies from throughout the country registered for the 2020 Summit. Congressman Matt Gaetz (FL-01), a member of the House Armed Services Committee, was a keynote speaker. The Summit’s moderator is Howard Snow, the former Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy. Snow has more than 35 years of military, business, energy and government experience. “One of the great strengths of this Summit is the networking,” stated Snow. “In addition to getting the latest information on defense budgets, missions and contracting, it’s important to be able to meet key military leaders and prime defense contractors.” The 2021 Air Force Contracting Summit will provide defense contractors, subcontractors, small

businesses, military officials and community leaders with the latest information on: ■

Historic Budget Defense Spending — FY2021 & 2022

■

Air Force Base Mission, Operations & Contracting Priorities

■

Federal Rapid Innovation Programs & Acquisition Strategies

■

Government Contract Financing

■

Military Construction & Reconstruction Contracting Priorities

■

Air Warfare & Armaments Mission & Contracting Priorities

■

Electronic Warfare & Cyber Capabilities

■

U.S. Space Force Mission & Contracting Priorities

■

Resilient Bases & Community Partnerships

■

Subcontracting Opportunities with Prime Defense Contractors

■

Teaming, Joint-Venture & Mentor-Protégé Arrangements

■

Government Small Business Contracting Resources

The Summit’s Program Director is Charles Sills, who has served in national security positions in the Pentagon, the Defense Intelligence Agency, the U.S. Middle East Force Command, and the Supreme Allied Command, NATO/Atlantic. “We have worked hard to again bring our audience a powerful program with presentations which will help companies of all sizes secure new military contracts, thus expanding the workforce in Northwest Florida and nationally,” stated Sills.

Howard Snow, the former Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy

Charles Sills, who has served in national security positions in the Pentagon, the Defense Intelligence Agency, the U.S. Middle East Force Command, and the Supreme Allied Command, NATO/Atlantic

The 2021 Air Force Contracting Summit is now designed as a hybrid event. Attendees may participate in-person or through virtual attendance. To register for the 2021 Air Force Contracting Summit, visit usdlf. org/airforcecontractingsummit.

» DEFENSE LEADERSHIP FORUM

(202) 552-0179 info@defenseleadershipforum.org

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NORTHWEST FLORIDA MILITARY REPORT

PEOPLE ON THE MOVE

n June of 2020, Col. Jocelyn J. Schermerhorn became the first woman to take command of the 1st Special Operations Wing at Hurlburt Field, which is headquarters for the Air Force Special Operations Command. She is responsible for preparing Air Force special operations forces for worldwide missions in support of joint and coalition special operations. Col. Schermerhorn is also the Installation Commander and oversees Hurlburt Field’s base support for the wing’s four groups and 26 squadrons, as well as over 40 tenant units. In July of 2020, the crew of the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Diligence arrived at their new homeport at Naval Air Station (NAS) Pensacola. The Diligence’s primary missions consist of counter-drug, migrant interdiction, enforcing federal fishery laws, and

search and rescue in support of Coast Guard operations throughout the Western Hemisphere. “It’s exciting to be mooring up to Pensacola for the first time and to be able to call it our home,” said Cmdr. Luke Slivinski, commanding officer of the Diligence. “We’re really excited about having the Diligence and its crew here,” said Capt. Tim Kinsella, commanding officer of NAS Pensacola. The Diligence joins the Coast Guard cutters Decisive, Dauntless and Cypress at NAS Pensacola. Scott Davidson is Capt. Nate Nelson’s successor as the new Director of Military Affairs for Congressman Matt Gaetz (FL-01). Davidson served for 15 years in the U.S. Army and retired as a lieutenant colonel. His extensive military background includes military transportation, distribution, supply chain management and personnel management. Davidson can be reached at Scott.Davidson@mail.house.gov.

BY WILLIAM LOIRY

Nelson has moved on to create GIAPG, the Government, Industry, Academia Performance Group. GIAPG will focus on COL. JOCELYN J. the development of a SCHERMERHORN Futures Park, a concept that emerged from 2018 roundtable discussions that Gaetz held with military contractors in Northwest Florida. “We want to shine a great big spotlight on Northwest Florida,” Nelson told the 2020 Air Force Contracting Summit. The Futures Park is envisioned as a facility outside the gate at Eglin Air Force Base, facilitating cooperation between the military, defense contractor and educational communities. The proposed initial funding for the Futures Park is $400 million. Nelson can be reached at nelson@giapg.com.

William Loiry is an American business leader, defense and security facilitator, and philanthropist. More than 100,000 government, military and business leaders have attended his conferences on defense, homeland and global security, and disaster reconstruction. For more information, visit WilliamLoiry.com.

WILLIAM LOIRY

Northwest Florida State College

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SPECIAL REPORT

2020 Tallahassee Business Journal AN 850 BUSINESS MAGAZINE SPECIAL REPORT

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ENLIVENING DOWNTOWN Cascades project adds critical residential component

hen the Tallahassee Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) floated a lofty proposal for a mixed-use, ı8-hour, downtownstyle redevelopment of two city blocks bordering Cascades Park, a 24-acre green space in the heart of Florida’s capital, it didn’t surprise Shawn McIntyre that he was the first and only developer to express interest. The proposal, said McIntyre, reflected the CRA’s desire for a residential component, a boutique-style hotel and retail and office space, and left out many developers unable to assemble the required financial package and collection of tenants. But North American Properties, where McIntyre is a partner and senior vice president, already had successfully invested in Tallahassee over $220 million across six projects, including a Gaines Street student housing development in 20ı3. “And, we’re firm believers that public

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infrastructure brings private investment,” McIntyre said. The Cascades Project, according to a CRA study, will be one of Tallahassee’s largest economic development initiatives in recent years, estimated to create around 700 permanent jobs and add $64 million annually to the local economy. Its first year in operation, said the CRA, will generate approximately $ı.29 million in new tax revenue. For McIntyre, the project has been a long time in the making. Negotiations and design discussions began in 20ı7 when the City of Tallahassee called for an “urban edge” to Cascades Park in the form of a concrete-and-steel, industrial-grade build. “We had over 80 different touches with the public, whether they were public hearings or meetings, and a full-blown public hearing with the TallahasseeLeon County Planning Commission, City Commission and the CRA,” said McIntyre.

“But, then, the fun began. We got to build the darn thing.” Phase I construction, including a public plaza, 44,000 square feet of office space, a ı54-room hotel, about 28,000 square feet of retail space, ı6ı apartments, 250 public parking spaces and another 600 spaces of internal parking is nearing completion. Next spring, Phase II will see the buildout of nine, three-story townhomes fronting Gaines Street, followed by another ı00 apartment units in the fall. A Marriott International AC Hotel, situated within walking distance of state agency offices, university attractions and downtown businesses, will begin receiving guests in March 202ı, McIntyre projected. He said the hotel will feature European styling, more than 5,000 square feet of meeting space, a rooftop bar and observation deck. Also in the spring, Phase I apartments will be available for lease, McIntyre said.

PHOTO BY AERIAL TALLAHASSEE

BY HANNAH BURKE

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Those apartments range in size from one to three bedrooms and come equipped with appliances, lots of closet space, and access to cable and internet. Tenants are entitled to use of a fitness center and pool. “We have one bedrooms that, for $ı,200 a month, you can live here with all the amenities and access to structured parking,” McIntyre said. “Our studio spaces, with full kitchens and stacked washers and driers, are perfect for single professionals who want to walk to work.” And, work could be just a building away. At this writing, Artia Solutions, a pharmaceutical consulting firm, has committed to becoming the first tenant at the Merestone office building at Cascades and will occupy about 7,500 square feet of space. Negotiations with other prospective tenants are underway. All tenants will have access to collaborative commons spaces, an elevator from covered parking directly to the tenant floor, ground-floor retail businesses and restaurants, as well as an on-site fitness center and the park’s outdoor trails for team-building exercises. But while offers may be pouring in for professional space, the same can’t be said for restaurateurs. “We had a couple of letters of intent for restaurants, but once the pandemic 22

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people working here each day. For that, became an issue in the spring, we were we were grateful, but we definitely began notified they could not proceed until practicing safe policies.” they better understood what their Workers practice social distancing, business model would look like postwear masks and must pass through a pandemic,” McIntyre said. “So, we’re nurse’s station where their temperature is continuing to build out the spaces, but taken. So far, no positive COVID-ı9 cases the interiors will not be complete until have been detected. a restaurant tenant steps back up.” While McIntyre wishes restaurants But with a beautiful location on the promcould open around the same time enade of the park and vaulted ceilings and the hotel and apartments debut, he is state-of-the-art design, McIntyre has no relieved that the pandemic has caused doubt that, once things settle down, resnothing more than a taurants will be chomping hiccup in progress. at the bit. “Ultimately, we’re going Too, the pandemic creto see ı,000–ı,200 people ated delays in materia day come through this als shipments. Windows development, creating this arrived late and created a urban environment that ripple effect on what could the city wanted,” McIntyre be completed, but workers said. “Soon, you will be simply attended to other able to live here, take a fivetasks until progress could During the March minute walk to work, and resume. shutdowns, then return home to enjoy “We can only play the construction was still seen as an essential a nice meal at one of our cards we’re dealt,” said business, so we continued restaurants without ever McIntyre. “During the spending about a million having to get in your vehiMarch shutdowns, condollars a week on payroll, cle. You don’t want a downstruction was still seen as materials and labor with about 180 to 200 people town where people drive in, an essential business, so we working here each day. work and drive away, that continued spending about For that, we were grateful, is if you want to revitalize a million dollars a week but we definitely began a downtown neighborhood; on payroll, materials and practicing safe policies.” — Shawn McIntyre labor with about ı80 to 200 it needs life.”

RENDERINGS AND PHOTO COURTESY OF NORTH AMERICAN PROPERTIES

Luxe units with extraordinary views and privileges at a clubhouse, including a billiards room, will add to the appeal and livability of apartments at The Cascades, a project of North American Properties.

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SOMO WALLS Redevelopment project will provide added arts venue BY AUDREY POST

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he revitalization of the South Monroe Street area has taken a number of twists and turns over the years, and the coronavirus pandemic shutdown slowed things a bit, but SoMo won’t back down. The bars and restaurants that led the south-side revival a few years ago were shuttered for months as part of the state’s effort to curb the spread of COVID-ı9. But, adversity begets creativity. “Proof (brewery) did a really good job of getting very creative with its drive-up business,” area businessman Jake Kiker said. “Now that it has reopened, you see the parking lot is slammed on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.” Just weeks before the lockdown, Lucky Goat coffee added a fourth Tallahassee location in the old Graphateria building on South Adams Street across from Happy Motoring. A plan for Catalina Café to partner with Red Eye Coffee and create a roasting and training

facility there didn’t work out, so the two companies parted ways, and Catalina teamed up with Lucky Goat instead. However, the biggest pivot in SoMo redevelopment wasn’t the result of the pandemic but of Hurricane Michael. Plans for Cascade Gardens — a proposed residential/retail mixed-use development — were shelved after the Category 5 storm hit the Florida Panhandle and drove up construction costs. Instead, the 2-plus-acre space on the east side of Monroe, between Oakland Avenue and Harrison Street, is slated to become SoMo Walls, a commercial space with public art panels. SoMo Walls was inspired by Miami’s Wynwood Walls, a former warehouse district that is now an outdoor display of graffiti and street art. Developer Demirel International, with offices in Marianna, will renovate the building currently housing Bahn Thai restaurant

RENDERINGS COURTESY OF SOMO WALLS

The revitalization of Tallahassee’s South Monroe neighborhood will include the development of SoMo Walls on two acres between Oakland Avenue and Harrison Street. The project will provide commercial space and a provision for public art.

and The New You fitness studio. A metal building on the property will be removed and a new, roughly 5,000-square-foot building will be constructed along with an outdoor gallery. According to the SoMo Walls website, “Our goal is to add a much-needed mixture of local-centric, family-oriented retail stores and food options” for people visiting “the walls,” which will be rotating public art panels. It also says 80 percent of the available spaces have already been reserved by local businesses. SoMo Walls’ Facebook page says Bahn Thai is among them. “By repurposing existing buildings, the project will maintain that same urban feel that SoMo is known for,” said Kiker, who represents Demirel. The “walls” will be ı0-foot-tall panels of varying widths. In addition to providing another art venue for Tallahassee, SoMo

Walls will create jobs and increase the property tax base. The Center for Economic Forecasting and Analysis at Florida State University, in partnership with the Tallahassee-Leon County Office of Economic Vitality, prepared an economic impact analysis of SoMo Walls. In the construction phase alone, it is estimated to create 63 jobs, more than $ı.8 million in income or wages and $ı5.2 million in economic output. Once operational, it is projected to create 67 jobs, $ı.ı million in income or wages and $5.2 million in sales and revenue annually. The Tallahassee Community Redevelopment Agency estimates SoMo Walls will generate an additional $706,000 in property tax revenues. In June, the CRA approved $560,000 in construction grant funds, an estimated ı2 percent of the total project costs, as well as $2ı6,000 to move the electric and data utilities underground. One aspect of the project the CRA particularly liked was the developer’s commitment to “keep it ı00 percent local.” The South Monroe Walls Facebook page gives a shout-out to Conn Architects and Southern Standard Construction for being part of the team, and to local activist Christic Henry for “planning and executing a proactive community engagement plan and public benefits

framework.” That framework includes a “Community Benefit Agreement” to provide opportunities for job training and minority participation in the project. The City of Tallahassee, Leon County and the CRA currently have a goal of ı0.5 percent minority contractors in construction projects that receive public funding. SoMo Walls set its goal at 35 percent and is working with the citycounty Office of Economic Vitality, Florida A&M University Small Business Development Center and the Big Bend Minority Chamber of Commerce to make sure minority contractors have the information they need to bid competitively. Once the project moves forward, developers will reach out to minority and disadvantaged businesses for opportunities associated with construction of the project. Payment of the CRA grants will be made annually over five years, subject to compliance with the terms of the agreement. The $5 million project is scheduled for completion in 202ı, if everything proceeds as planned. “This is the largest for-profit commercial redevelopment project south of the railroad tracks,” Kiker said. “It’s not on the scale of the North American Properties project (at Cascades Park), but it has significant impact.” 850 Business Magazine

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PLOTTING FRENCHTOWN’S FUTURE Commitment to renewing community remains strong BY MARINA BROWN

ayne Tedder, the assistant city manager in charge of development and economic vitality for the City of Tallahassee, understands that an adage like “Rome wasn’t built in a day” definitely applies when it comes to local building projects. During a career that has included service as the director of the TallahasseeLeon County Department of Planning, Land Management and Community Enhancement, and Blueprint 2000, Tedder has tracked numerous “visionary projects” on their long roads to completion. While many of them have materialized as planned, others have “shape changed,” morphing into a different project, contracting or expanding as economic or social forces dictated. Today, Tedder is involved in what

may be one of the most long-lived of Tallahassee’s visions: the revitalization of Frenchtown, a large predominantly Black community in the heart of Tallahassee. With unflinching tenacity and foresight, community leaders have pursued neighborhood preservation and enhancement since at least ı986, when Bethel Missionary Baptist Church’s pastor, Rev. R.B. Holmes, and his congregation committed to remaining in the center of what had become a blighted and underserved area. They vowed then to “not give up on one of Tallahassee’s most historic Black neighborhoods.” Holmes has led his church for nearly 35 years to acquire and consolidate land and make a $30 million commitment to the rebirth of a place they believe in. Originally, Frenchtown was named

Since 1986, neighborhood leaders and city officials have been working to preserve and enhance historic black neighborhoods in Tallahassee. 26

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after the French settlers who cleared the area as part of a land grant to the Marquis de Lafayette, a thank you for his help during the Revolutionary War. After the Civil War, African Americans moved in and began to establish neighborhoods — Lehigh Acres, Griffin Heights and Smokey Hollow among them. Vibrant, self-sustaining, filled with Black-owned businesses and churches and schools, the Frenchtown area of the ı930s, ’40s, and ’50s is now remembered by seniors who grew up there as an idyllic place where “everyone was your mama.” But neighborhoods have a way of changing. The city was expanding, and Frenchtown felt the impact of that sprawl. Also, with the end of segregation in the ı960s, many long-time residents were able to move to other neighborhoods and find other opportunities. Unfortunately, “opportunists” saw an opening. Frenchtown became a hub of illegal drug activity. Local businesses were shuttered, and the close-knit neighborhoods disintegrated. Holmes and his congregants named their mission “Vision 2000” and laid out plans for what the church would do. The Steele-Collins Charter School and Bethel

PHOTOS BY ALEX WORKMAN (FRENCHTOWN MARKET AND TEDDER), SAIGE ROBERTS (HISTORIC FRENCHTOWN SIGN), DAVE BARFIELD (HOLMES) AND COURTESY OF STATE ARCHIVES OF FLORIDA, FLORIDA MEMORY (SMOKEY HOLLOW) AND MIAISHA MITCHELL

The Frenchtown area is rich in history encapsulated on markers located off Georgia Street and elsewhere.

Christian Academy were built. Bethel Towers for seniors came next, and Carolina Oaks followed. Bethel invested in a restaurant, a mental health clinic and a small shopping strip for retail businesses. The city’s Community Redevelopment Agency brought about the offices of the Renaissance Center. Residents were taking back their neighborhood, but so much more was needed. Partnerships had to be formed. The CRA, established in ı998, whose mission would be layered and complicated, envisioned a total renewal of the area. Now, the City of Tallahassee, along with Bethel, Jacksonville developer Tony Brown, a Citizen’s Advisory Board, the Frenchtown Neighborhood Improvement Association, Frenchtown Redevelopment Partners, university interests, and residents, are working to actualize the scaled-down but ambitious plans currently on the drawing board. Though the initial vision included an amphitheater, a business incubator, a drug store, large grocery, urgent care facility, financial center, transportation hub and over 300 housing units, plans are currently proceeding at a deliberate pace. Imminent realities include a 3,500-squarefoot urgent care center and a ı0,000-squarefoot neighborhood health center. Brown said, however, that the pandemic and its effects on

the economy have made it hard to secure a grocery store. Instead, he is now contemplating the possibility of downsizing to a farmer’s market where fresh foods and meat can be purchased to address the food desert of Frenchtown. Keith Bowers, director of the Small Business Development Center at FAMU, said that the FSU and Envision credit unions occupied space in Bethel’s strip mall, but those operations have since become mobile due to the financial industry’s greater reliance on digital platforms. Miaisha Mitchell, executive director of the Greater Frenchtown Revitalization Council, knows that economic uncertainty has a lot of players thinking twice. “Timing has put us in an awkward position with tenants, investors and planners,” Mitchell said. And, she acknowledged that revitalization project costs have risen from an estimated $78 million to $ııı million. Still, stakeholders including Tallahassee Mayor John Dailey are optimistic. “Frenchtown is the oldest African American community in the state of Florida,” he said. “It is important to the entire city of Tallahassee. “Yes, there are many challenges and many interests involved, but that only strengthens my excitement that so many care about Frenchtown and want to be involved. We can bring it back. It can be done.”

Wayne Tedder

Assistant City Manager

Rev. R.B. Holmes

Bethel Missionary Baptist Church’s pastor

Miaisha Mitchell

Executive Director of the Greater Frenchtown Revitalization Council

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Innovation Park nears a new phase in its evolution BY TIM LINAFELT

t’s not always easy to stand out in a city that is the center of state government and home to two major universities and one of the region’s top community colleges. That has historically been true for Innovation Park, the research and development hub which, despite occupying its southwest Tallahassee location for more than 40 years, often turns away disappointed parents and children in search of swing sets and merry-go-rounds. No, it’s not that kind of park. Instead, Innovation Park offers more than 200 acres and ı million square feet of building space for research facilities, manufacturing and entrepreneurship.

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Innovation Park is working toward creating buzz immediately. “We’ve got this period of time to start building that demand,” said Ron Miller, executive director at Innovation Park. Miller said he wants to “start connecting people with the idea that, ‘Hey, I’ve got this idea. There’s this pathway to get there. If I start now, by the time this thing is open, maybe I’m far enough along that I can come through the door and they can help me make this idea a reality.’ ”

Drawings, top and above, depict the planned business incubator building at Innovation Park and the site plan for the facility, whose construction in large part will be funded by a federal grant.

RENDERINGS COURTESY OF INNOVATION PARK

CRITICAL MASS

It’s traditionally been best known as the home of the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, which arrived in ı994. But recent signs suggest that Innovation Park’s profile is on the rise. In September, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross presented the Leon County Research and Development Authority, which manages Innovation Park, with a $ı0.2 million grant intended to kick start a new, 40,000-square-foot business incubator that’s due to open in 2023. The incubator, designed to assist startup companies as they transition to further development and commercialization, will feature wet labs (which allow for handling chemicals and hazardous wet materials), space for prototype development and a host of other specialized workspaces. The goal behind the project is twofold: attract new, cutting-edge businesses to Tallahassee while also providing the sharpest minds in the local student population with opportunities to remain in the area upon graduation. Local leaders expect the project to bring hundreds of new jobs to the city. And while it may still be a few years until the incubator opens its doors,

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The business incubator isn’t the only development that will soon alter the landscape at Innovation Park. Florida State University, one of Innovation Park’s longtime and most prominent partners, announced in 20ı5 plans for its Interdisciplinary Research & Commercialization Building, a facility of approximately ı25,000 gross square feet that will primarily serve researchers in the fields of biomedical engineering, chemistry, chemical engineering, condensed-matter physics and device prototypes. FSU hopes that construction of the IRCB, an $88 million project that will foster innovation and collaboration in As an Innovation Park tenant, Danfoss Turbocor is like an anchor store at a shopping mall. It has established equal measure, will get started following at the park an Application Development Center and a Research & Development Competence Center. the state legislative session next spring. Dr. Gary Ostrander, Florida State’s vice president for research, said that the IRCB research and development personnel Danish company that created the world’s is “on the cusp” of becoming a reality. as the company continues to refine its first oil-free, magnetic bearing compressor When that happens, it will become yet homegrown technology. for the heating, ventilation and air-conanother example of one of Innovation Going forward, Danfoss Turbocor, ditioning industry, has had a presence in Park’s most cherished ideals: building Schneider said, is exploring how artifiInnovation Park since the mid-2000s. working partnerships and alliances cial intelligence and cloud-based services Although the MagLab initially attractamong the organizations, businesses and might relate to product enhancement. ed Danfoss Turbocor to Tallahassee, the people who call the park home. He described each compressor as “a company over the years has helped create The FSU Research Foundation, for computer that’s spinning a shaft at a very a burgeoning ecosystem in Innovation instance, has pledged $2.5 million toward high speed.” Park and beyond. the business incubator. And, the incuba“Danfoss Turbocor has been a phenom“It’s a dream that’s kind of evolved tor will have a close relationship with enal partner in the park and continues over the years,” said Ricardo Schneider, Florida A&M-Florida State College of to grow,” Miller said. “They’re sort of the president and CEO of Danfoss Turbocor. Engineering, which is located adjacent to example of what’s supposed to happen in “And today we have a tremendous colthe park. a research park. The private sector is suplaboration with the FSU/FAMU engiOstrander is perhaps posed to be in there and taking advantage neering school. And the most excited by the prosof the resources that the universities and professors bring a lot to pect of assembling many the research facilities can provide. And our pool of talent.” smart, talented people they’ve done that.” In return, Danfoss under one roof and seeing The hope, Miller said, is that Danfoss Turbocor has created a what comes of it. Turbocor represents the first of many place where that talent “One of the things that such collaborators. And he believes that can thrive — first with its we try to do in the research Innovation Park’s business incubator, Application Development park is connect the researchwhen combined with the FSU IRCB’s helpCenter that opened in ers to the private sector,” ing hand and Danfoss Turbocor’s example, 20ı7, and shortly thereafOne of the things Miller added. “And the will help make that a reality soon. ter with its 44,000-squarethat we try to do IRCB, I think, is going to do “We’ve been on the verge of great f oot Research and in the research exactly that. It’s sort of FSU things happening for a long time,” he Development Competence park is connect the taking the bull by the horns said. “And we’ve just been waiting for this Center, opened last year. researchers to the private sector. And the and making that happen.” last little bit to happen. And it’s not that Schneider said that the IRCB, I think, is going Miller doesn’t have to we’re done, but it feels like we can start center, which created ı20 to do exactly that.” look far to see the results of saying we’re close. high-paying jobs, enables — Ron Miller, that kind of dynamic. “It’s an exciting time at Innovation Danfoss Turbocor to attract Executive Director of Innovation Park Danfoss Turbocor, a more engineers and more Park.” 30

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RENDERING AND PHOTO COURTESY OF INNOVATION PARK

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PROMOTION

INTERNAL MARKETING Articulation of purpose and processes is key to effective employee engagement

nternal marketing is the means by which businesses achieve buy-in from employees regarding their mission and values and lead them to become brand ambassadors. It can be a significant element in a business’ success. Indeed, successful internal marketers provide their customers with an experience that may differ markedly from the attitude and approach that people encounter at the offices or establishments of their competitors. “Here’s a very tangible example of that difference,” said Daryl Green, the agency director at Compass Marketing & Consulting in Tallahassee. “People often compare McDonald’s and Chick-fil-A. I would submit to you that the employees of Chick-fil-A understand the company’s mission and core values, and that is very clear in the way they operate and the language they use. You don’t always get that at the golden arches.” Green is surprised at the percentage of businesses that do not have mission statements or may have statements that are too long to be effective. “If you are a business owner and cannot tell yourself why you spend your time selling a product or providing a service, how can you effectively explain it to an investor or a customer?” Green said. “And, likewise with employees. You want for them to be able to articulate a purpose for going to work other than making ‘X’ dollars an hour.” That purpose can be elusive if it is buried in a mission statement that is too complicated. Green has seen mission statements that are three pages long. “Your mission statement needs to be concise and easily remembered,” Green said. “Who you are, what you do, why you do it and maybe how you do it.” Owners and stakeholders should craft the mission statement

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because a business is ultimately theirs. Efforts to involve everyone, Green said, “can be messy because you have so many individual agendas in the room.” His agency does not write mission statements for businesses but facilitates small-group meetings that bring them about. Once a mission statement is established, it must be communicated. Management should discuss it with employees, build it into new employee orientations and put it on display. Like a mission statement, a business’ core values are critical to its identity. A mission statement may change or evolve over time — and many have been changed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Green believes — but core values do not. “They are set in stone,” said Green, who explained that core values provide a test when a business considers a new direction, new partnerships or new offerings: Is the new activity consistent with a company’s core values or not? “The values support the mission, and they are incredibly important,” Green stressed. “Employees need to know that they are part of a business’ mission, and they need to know what is expected of them,”

Green said. “Once those expectations are set, monitor and measure to make sure they are met. If you were to put internal marketing into a neat little package, it really boils down to having everyone on the same page.” Green has used an exercise where he asks people to list a few businesses who provide outstanding concierge service, some that provide middling service and some whose service is poor. The RitzCarlton will be top of mind for many people among the best service providers. Green then asks people to identify key similarities among businesses in each of the three categories. “The processes and practices that characterize the best

businesses are the ones you want to emulate,” he said. “It’s critical that businesses be process-oriented, that they make sure the ways in which they accomplish their work and the tasks that make up a job are literally written down,” Green said. “At any given time, an employee may leave or someone might be hit by a bus. A business needs to be able to carry on that employee’s function after they are gone.” Management needs to engage closely with employees in order to document exactly how they perform their jobs. “Place that documentation in a central binder, and revisit it from time to time

to make sure it remains valid,” Green advises. “Things do change.” That binder can be helpful when things go wrong or goals are not met. That is, if a problem occurred despite employees “going by the book,” the process may need to be changed. When appropriate, Green said, management should invite jobholders to suggest better ways of getting things done. “Few businesses have that binder,” Green said, “but I will tell you that the Ritz-Carltons of the world, they have it.” By communicating who they are, why they do what they do and how they succeed, business leaders can provide for a unified workplace that is both consistent and adaptable when it needs to be.

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FROM BLUEPRINT TO REALITY Intergovernmental agency projects moving forward BY AUDREY POST

A lot of creativity as businesses figured out how to adapt to the new normal. ■ A proactive decision made by the board of the intergovernmental agency that oversees ■

The gateway project designed to link Tallahassee International Airport, the southwest Tallahassee industrial complex, Florida State University and Florida A&M University to the city’s center is moving forward. 34

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Blueprint projects to issue $ıı2 million in bonds to get two key projects, the Airport Gateway and the Northeast Connector Corridor, moving faster. The Office of Economic Vitality has focused on assisting businesses and preserving payroll of nonprofits since the pandemic began and some Blueprint projects have been delayed, but Blueprint projects already underway have continued to progress.

Fairgrounds Project After years of lobbying to use the Leon County Fairgrounds as an economic engine to boost the south side of town, particularly by longtime County Commissioner Bill Proctor, the Blueprint board allocated an extra $ı2 million for Phase I, including a market analysis to determine the highest and best use of the property. Among the questions to be answered is what it will take to move the Fairgrounds Association off the property. There has been discussion about moving the North Florida Fair to another county.

A project to widen Bannerman Road is in the planning and design stage.

Northeast Gateway Welaunee Boulevard Project The Project Development and Environmental Study (PDE) on extending Welaunee Boulevard to Roberts Road, near where Roberts becomes Bradfordville Road at its intersection with Centerville Road, is scheduled for completion in February 202ı, Calder said. “Whenever you build a new transportation infrastructure, like a brand new road, there are going to be concerns,” she said. “We are working with landowners in the area, including an historic AME Church on the corner, to find the best solution.” Design work on the new intersection of Roberts Road and Welaunee Boulevard is scheduled to begin in 202ı. The plan also includes extending Shamrock Road east beyond Centerville Road to Welaunee Boulevard to lessen traffic on two of Leon

We were looking at a doomsday scenario in March and April. But the June tax revenue was higher than we thought it would be, and that trend has continued each month.” — Autumn Calder Blueprint Director

PHOTOS COURTESY OF BLUEPRINT INTERGOVERNMENTAL AGENCY

n March, as the strength and scope of the pandemic crisis became apparent and government leaders shut down the economy to try to slow the spread of the virus, the future looked grim for Blueprint Intergovernmental Agency projects. Financed by a special ı percent sales tax, Blueprint funds and oversees needed infrastructure improvements that tend to spur private development and economic growth. With non-essential businesses shuttered and people told to shelter at home, sales tax revenue projections for the fiscal year that began in October 20ı9 were looking more like wishful thinking. “We were looking at a doomsday scenario in March and April,” Blueprint director Autumn Calder said. “But the June tax revenue was higher than we thought it would be, and that trend has continued each month.” Blueprint officials estimate they’ll see a $20 million drop in tax revenues through 2025, but two things primarily have helped shift the “doomsday scenario” to a more manageable crisis:

County’s canopy roads: Centerville and Miccosukee. “Welaunee Boulevard will be a spine road for development north and south of the new I-ı0 interchange,” Calder said. “It is almost halfway between Thomasville Road and Mahan Drive.”

improvements to both Lake Bradford Road and Springhill Road, so there will be dual gateways to the downtown corridor. In addition, a new road will be built through FSU’s southwest campus, linking Orange Avenue to Stuckey Avenue.

Southwest Gateway Project

The current phase of Bannerman Road widening, from Quail Common Drive to Tekesta Drive, is in the planning and design stage, which is scheduled to be completed in early 2022. It includes a multi-use trail from Quail Common Drive to Meridian Road. Construction is projected to begin in 2023. A study on the feasibility of continuing the widening of Bannerman Road from Tekesta Drive to Meridian Road is scheduled to be completed in late 2020 or early 202ı.

This project connects Tallahassee International Airport, the southwest industrial complex, Florida State University and Florida A&M University to the city’s center, and includes additional sidewalks and street improvements to the southwestern part of Leon County. Bonds for the project will be sold in two phases, the first coming in fiscal year 2022 and the second in fiscal year 2024. The Southwest Area Transportation plan was completed in 20ı9. Planning and design services were expected to be advertised in 2020, but that date has been moved back to early 202ı. The Southwest Gateway includes

Northeast Corridor Project

Placemaking Projects The first round of community engagement for the Market District

Placemaking Project was held over the summer, and Calder said Blueprint staff got a lot of good ideas from participants for the ı0-acre park to be built off Maclay Commerce Boulevard. “We’re looking at park uses and compatibilities to attract more families, more couples and more individuals,” she said. Design work is scheduled to begin in 202ı. The Orange Avenue-South Meridian Street Placemaking Project is in the design stage, which is scheduled to be finished in fall 202ı. Construction should begin by the end of the year. It includes enclosing a drainage ditch on the south side of Orange Avenue with a box culvert, similar to what was done on Franklin Boulevard, and beautifying a stormwater pond at Orange and Meridian to make it a gathering place with trails and parking. Construction is projected to be completed in a year. 850 Business Magazine

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Erin Ennis, president of Residential Elevators Inc., finds that the residential housing market in Tallahassee is hot and likely to remain so through at least mid-2021.

ERIN ENNIS Business leader’s elevator seems only to go up BY TIM LINAFELT

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rin Ennis arrived in Tallahassee in ı984, never dreaming she would still be here more than 35 years later. An Orlando native who earned a bachelor’s degree in zoology at the University of Florida and then pivoted into dentistry, she traveled an unlikely path to the Florida State University College of Business. She was excited for the opportunity but expected her time in the capital city to be brief. “It was going to be two years and done,” Ennis remembers thinking. But, as she has learned multiple times throughout her career, things don’t always go as planned. And, in this case, Ennis is glad that they didn’t. What was originally intended to be a two-year rendezvous in Tallahassee has instead blossomed into a loving relationship with the city and the emergence of Ennis as one of the most prominent and dynamic business leaders in the region. Sue Dick, the president and CEO of the Greater Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce, said Ennis could thrive in any market. “But I think she’s continued to stay here because she loves this community and she has strong ties in it,” Dick said.

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Indeed, since beginning her business career with Mainline Information Systems in the midı990s, Ennis has worked almost exclusively with family owned and operated companies. That includes her current post at Residential Elevators Inc., where she has been since 2007 — including the last three years as president. “It’s been a great experience with a great company,” Ennis said of REI, which is the largest builder and seller of “turn-key” residential elevators in the country. “It’s a fabulous group of people.” Ennis also has devoted years to supporting her community. Since completing her MBA from the FSU College of Business in ı990, she has served on the college’s board, given the keynote address at the college’s commencement ceremonies, spent nine years on the board at Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare and is a past president of the Tallahassee Chamber. She also served with Leadership Tallahassee and Leadership Florida and, all the while, raised a son who was born in ı99ı. “I don’t know how she does it,” said Dick, who became fast friends with Ennis after meeting her through the Chamber. “Then again, I do know Photography by SAIGE ROBERTS

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time required its students to attend on a full-time basis, and Ennis couldn’t commit to that. So she applied to law school and turned in her resignation. That same day, Ennis’s boss, Bob Bryson, called her into his office for a conversation that would change the course of her professional life — not to mention the future of the Tallahassee business community. “He said, ‘Erin, you have a head for business,’ ” Ennis remembers. “ ‘You don’t even realize you have a head for business.’ ” Bryson offered to pay for Ennis’s MBA at Florida State. And when Ennis brought up her previous concerns about the college’s full-time requirement, he had news for her. It had just started a part-time program. So for the next four years, each hour of Ennis’s life was all but spoken for; she worked full time during the day, then attended classes at night. There were 40 students in her class at the outset of the program. Ennis was one of only six who saw it through to completion. “People would take off for the summer and they never came back,” she said. “There were six of us that said, ‘We’re not taking off for the summer. We’re going to go year-round.’ And we did. It was that group effort that got us all through.” After more than 30 years in the business world, Ennis has been described as a business “consigliere,” a trusted adviser within a family structure. (The word came to prominence in popular culture thanks to Robert Duvall’s character in The Godfather.) Perhaps it’s only appropriate, then, that she serves a company that provides a popular product to homeowners. Ennis said that demand for residential elevators, once considered a luxury, has dramatically increased in recent years for reasons that include baby boomers reaching their 70s.

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Residential Elevators’ product line includes the Shaker series, above, and the Estate series, lower left. As baby boomers have entered their 70s, the demand for elevators has risen.

A recent customer survey revealed that elevators are also helpful to aging pets. “We think we’re helping people, but we’re really helping elderly dogs,” Ennis laughed. She said that REI installs about 2,500 elevators per year, and new homes are now often built to be “elevator-ready.” “The market has changed,” she said. “Homeowners are definitely asking for them.” Although the COVID-ı9 pandemic has made forecasting difficult, it has also brought priorities into focus. “I think the fact that all of us have been spending so much time in our homes, we’ve come to realize what we value and what we would like to have,” Ennis said. “Right now, the residential market is red hot. I think it’s going to stay red hot at least through the second or third quarter of 202ı.” After investing her life and career in Tallahassee, Ennis is happy to see the city thrive. “Tallahassee,” she said, “has been really good to me.”

PHOTOS COURTESY OF RESIDENTIAL ELEVATORS, INC.

how she does it because I’ve been around her long enough. She’s one of those people who tends to take things on because they want to help.” Ennis passes that attitude on to everyone she comes across — especially to young, aspiring professionals. “I always try to talk to graduates about paying it forward,” she said. “The opportunities they’ve had with their education — they need to give back to their institution, their alma mater, and the company that supported them. And then they need to pay it forward by coaching, educating and grooming other young people.” Ennis can easily recall people who set her up for success, including the elderly owner of the department store in South Carolina where Ennis worked in her early 20s. Sensing her potential, the store pulled her off of the sales floor and made her the human resources manager. “I got thrown into the deep end of the pool,” Ennis said. “But I found that I loved it.” That allowed Ennis to dip her toes into the business world. Her first chance to fully dive in came thanks to another chance conversation. Working at Investors Realty of Tallahassee in the ı980s, Ennis was ready for a change of scene. She’d thought of pursuing an MBA at Florida State, but the college at the

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Proof Brewing founders Byron and Angela Burroughs found a way to meet a community need and keep their employees working during the COVID-19 pandemic.

PANDEMIC PIVOTS Businesses filled niches created by health crisis BY BOB FERRANTE

icture a business going full speed on a wide-open interstate. And then all of a sudden slamming on the brakes and coming to a complete stop. This was the scenario for many businesses around the country in midMarch. Doors were closed, no customers allowed. When would business resume? Forecasting was impossible. Proof Brewing Co. was among businesses that faced a long shutdown, one that began on March ı7 and lasted until

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early June. Then there was a second, shorter closure. Founders Byron and Angela Burroughs knew they needed to pivot, not an easy thing to accomplish when customers were accustomed to coming to the brewery on South Monroe Street. But the couple found a way to keep their employees at work while also filling a significant need in the community. “One of the true testaments to the team that has ridden out this whole COVID storm with us is their adaptability,” Byron

Burroughs said. “Being able to pivot quickly. We initially did it to help.” In the spring, the availability of everything from toilet paper to household cleaners to sanitizer was diminished. Go early and you might luck out, but many shoppers seeking necessities had to go from store to store or try again the next day. “We felt we could give back to the community because there was such a shortage of sanitizer at the time,” Burroughs said. “People were gouging or hoarding. Once we realized we could produce it in large capacity, if we got our distilling permit, we could adapt fairly quickly.” John Buck of Fast Signs was able to help with a variety of signs encouraging customers to wear masks at a business. But Fast Signs also saw a new need for clear, acrylic shields at stores and offices. Tallahassee’s City Hall and the Tallahassee Chamber were among the first to request the shields as a way to help protect employees in the workplace. Germ shields became a vital part of Fast Signs’ business in the summer months, Buck said. “I didn’t even know the term germ shield until six months ago,” Buck said. “It has been neat to see how proactive our franchise has been.” Fast Signs also produced custom window signs as well as outdoor A-frame signage to help businesses communicate Photography by ALEX WORKMAN

PHOTO BY JES2UFOTO / ISTOCK / GETTY IMAGES PLUS (OPEN SIGN)

to customers that they were open again. Also popular were floor graphics to remind customers to stay six feet apart as well as reminders that face masks or coverings were required. Buck said Fast Signs also filled the need for graduation signage, including car magnets and yard signs. With graduation events going from in-arena to drive-in ceremonies in Leon County, families wanted a way to honor their sons’ and daughters’

Fast Signs in Tallahassee mobilized quickly to meet the demand for signage related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

accomplishments. Buck estimates that ı0 percent of Fast Signs’ business in May was related to graduations. “COVID-ı9 has delivered unprecedented challenges for our community and region,” said Sue Dick, president and CEO of the Tallahassee Chamber. “Many of our local businesses and industry leaders have shown the ability to adapt, develop new market opportunities and redeploy their workforce in an attempt to weather the storm.” Proof went from a beer-focused business to one that was producing hand sanitizer, first with isopropyl alcohol. The staff had plenty on hand as a disinfectant. Or so they thought. Once it ran out, “it became very difficult, expensive and hard to get a hold of,” Burroughs said. Then the Proof staff realized they could process their own ethyl alcohol. It took about a month to get the approvals, which turned out to be the easy part. The hardest aspect was finding anything to put the sanitizer in.

“A lot of people started doing it nationwide,” Burroughs said. “There was a shortage of bottles. We could make more sanitizer than we had containers to put it in.” Burroughs estimated they produced about ı0,000 gallons of hand sanitizer. A big chunk was sold to individuals and businesses, but they also opted to donate a portion when schools reopened in August as well as to nonprofits and first responders. Burroughs said that hand sanitizer is now a relatively small part of Proof’s revenue. But for a time, it was a critical part of the business and helped the Tallahassee community in a crisis. “We laid off about 75 percent of our staff,” Burroughs said. “We were able to get some PPP (Paycheck Protection Program) money during that time. The combination of being able to move into sanitizer, being able to monetize that, and having very good local support for our to-go product and from our retail partners all helped.” 850 Business Magazine

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SHRINKING THE SKILLS GAP Tallahassee Chamber unites employers and educators

and how we can best assist,” said Corrie obs are available, and Tallahassee has a workforce that includes many Melton, vice president of membership and people looking for work. At times, talent development for the Tallahassee however, the needs of employers and Chamber. “And talent came up every time the capabilities of job seekers don’t sync up. — it didn’t matter which industry they The Greater Tallahassee Chamber of were in.” Commerce is working to close that skills Terrie Ard, president and chief operatgap. It has committed to work with its ing officer at Moore, a marketing and commember businesses and educational munications firm, estimates that Florida partners to create a pipeline of businesses will need ı.5 million skilled workers with marketmore skilled employees by able, in-demand skills. 2030 to remain competitive. The Talent Pipeline A company is only as good Management (TPM) was as the quality of its employdeveloped to create a strateees — as well as the ability to gic alignment between classretain those workers. room and career. Employers “Talent is the No. ı thing play an important up-front that keeps them up at night,” role, one that will pay diviArd said of prospective Corrie Melton, VP dends in years to come. employers. of Membership and “We’re constantly talking Melton estimates that 60 Talent Development to our members to determine percent of future jobs will for the Tallahassee what their greatest needs are Chamber require training after high

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school, ranging from a certificate program to a four-year degree. The TPM program is in the early stages in Tallahassee. But the seeds have been planted for what could be a successful initiative, focusing on these six points: ı. Educating the community and employers on the program. 2. Creating a collaborative group that organizes employers to identify the most promising opportunities around similar needs. 3. Creating a communication strategy and establishing hiring requirements . 4. Identifying where employers historically find their most qualified talent and the capacity of those sources as well as those sources that haven’t been tapped as frequently.

PHOTOS BY MONTY RAKUSEN GETTYIMAGES / ROYALTY-FREE (CONSTRUCTION WORKER) AND COURTESY OF CORRIE MELTON

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5. Building and managing the performance of talent supply chains to deliver a positive return on investment. 6. Using data from the supply chain to identify the most promising opportunities for a future return on investment. The Tallahassee Chamber is using a plan from the playbook that chambers in more than 25 states have successfully used. What has worked in other states has been replicated but also adapted to local employer needs. Among the economic sectors looking for specific skills are health care, information technology, software developers, business analysts, construction and customer service. Melton also underscored that even a new engineering firm will need more than just engineers, creating openings for someone in marketing and human resources. And the response has been overwhelmingly positive. In just a short amount of time, more than ı25 businesses have built their profile and listed 722 job opportunities on talchamber.com.

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The Greater Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce’s Talent Pipeline Management initiative is intended to ensure a ready supply of people capable of filling jobs in fields, including health care and computer technology.

“This is the Tallahassee Chamber’s opportunity not only to address the short-term gaps and solutions but also be working toward what is the future and how can we get ahead of that curve of what’s going to be coming nine years down the road so that we can remain competitive here as a region,” Ard said. The focus of the program extends from middle or high school students to people in their 50s. Perhaps someone is looking for a better paying job. Or a career change. Or maybe layoffs within an industry have created intense competition for fewer and fewer jobs. That’s where TPM will partner with Leon County Schools, Tallahassee Community College, Lively Tech and others to fill the needs of employers. “Businesses talking about the needs they have and working with education isn’t new,” Melton said. “That’s been going on. But this really gives it a very specific strategy.” Part of the strategy is the buy-in between employers and educators, facilitated by the chamber. “When we started thinking about talent in 2030 and what would be our goals and our initiatives, we pulled all of those entities together and really wanted to start the collaboration with sharing,” Ard said. “Each of you is doing tremendous work. But how much more powerful will it be if we all unify and we’re all rallied behind each other’s initiatives and messages?” Soon, guidance counselors at Leon County high schools will be able to advise juniors and seniors on jobs that are directly related to coursework. Ard recalled a conversation with a friend whose son is at Lincoln High School and likes math, so she suggested to his mom that they look into a variety of career options from finance to accounting to data science. “If they can’t see it, they can’t be it,” Melton said.

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Cary McCord, upon his release from prison, finished first in his class at a trucking school at Tallahassee Community College. He is saving up to start his own trucking business.

H3LP IS AT HAND Program helps clients get their feet back on the ground BY STEVE BORNHOFT

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s a boy, Cary McCord was fascinated by large truck, and as a teen, he had a desire to become a driver. “Unfortunately, I was bad about hangin’ around with the wrong people,” he said. At ı7, McCord was convicted on a charge of armed robbery. He would spend 20 years and six months in prison. “He got out and knew nothing about cell phones or computers, but he wanted to get something going,” said Chuck White, the founder and director of H3LP Florida Employment Services, which works in close association with the Kearney Center in Tallahassee. McCord received information about H3LP — the “3” in its name stands for “Educate, Employ, Empower” — upon

leaving prison. His mother had resided for a time at the Kearney Center, which works with homeless people, and knew White. McCord, himself, was living in a transitional housing facility and paying rent with money he earned on work release while in prison when he approached White. “I’m blessed and fortunate to have met a man like Mr. Chuck, who is not just doing a job, but really wants to help people,” McCord said. White, 70, was a co-founder of the Kearney Center and worked as an administrator there. He established the H3LP program, given a strong desire to work one on one with center clients and to establish relationships with them. Photography by ALEX WORKMAN

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“H3LP is a simple deal,” White said, explaining that it operates a lot like agencies such as Labor Finders or Action Labor that provide temporary workers. “The difference is that businesses are prohibited by contracts with those agencies from hiring temp workers unless they pay a large finder’s fee. We took that clause out of the contract. “If an employer wants to hire one of our guys full time, we call that a success.” White also uses connections he made as a real estate developer to assist H3LP program clients. “If I have a young man who wants to work in air conditioning, I know enough AC contractors that I can get one of them to take that guy and sponsor him while he goes to school,” White said. “Many businesses want to cooperate, want to help.” White’s projects as a developer included Mission San Miguel, Easton Glen, Pedrick Crossing, Pedrick Plantation, Sugar Mill Plantation and the Westgate Community. He was instrumental, too, in bringing about The Dwellings, an affordable tiny house development on the Blountstown Highway. White found McCord to be a perfect fit for the trucking program at Tallahassee Community College. Federal grant funds would be used to pay for his tuition there. “Cary got into that program and graduated at the top of his class,” White said. “He was driven to succeed. He went to work for Western Express as a driver and has since become a driver/trainer.” McCord remains goal-oriented. “I’m not going to say I love life on the road, but I like it, and I love to drive,” 48

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McCord said. “You have a source of help them along, work on their resumès, income, you’ve got someplace to lay supply them with bus passes so they can your head while you’re working, and get to their workplace.” it’s the means to achieving my goal of White said H3LP has a list of job owning my own truck and starting my availabilities that is three pages long. own business.” “If somebody wants a job and they are Prior to the pandemic’s arrival, H3LP willing to work for it, they can get it.” operated from an office at the Kearney White said there is a sense in which Center and worked with clients living the pandemic has been helpful to the there. Now, those clients have been homeless population in Tallahassee. dispersed to hotels around town, and “The experience of living in a hotel H3LP has been converted to a mobile instead of a homeless shelter has been resource center. very profound in their lives,” he said. “We have an outreach schedule, and “Just the fact that they can go to a room we set up tents at the hotels,” White with a bed, a bathroom and a TV has explained. There, H3LP is joined by been a motivator.” representatives of other programs White described a man who had related to health care, insurance, legal been living for months in the woods aid and mental health assessments. before seeking help at the Kearney White said about ı0 H3LP program Center. He was filthy, his hair was participants move into permanent jobs matted and he had a beard down to his each week. belly button. At one time, he had been H3LP charges employers $ı4.50 per a truck driver but let his commercial worker per hour, enough to pay the driver’s license lapse. worker $ı0, cover taxes and insurance “One morning, he came walking up to had have a $ı.50 “cushion” left over. H3LP our tents at a hotel site,” White recalled. places that buck and a half in a fund used “I could hardly recognize him. He was to purchase birth certificates and obtain clean and clear-eyed and wearing clean state-issued photo IDs for clients. clothes. He said he was feeling good “In working with people, the first and wanted to get his license restored, thing we determine is whether they and we helped him do that. The hotel have the documents they need to go environment really helped him, and he’s to work,” White said. “Do they have a working out of Nashville now.” Social Security card and a valid ID? A White readily conceded that H3LP couple of days a week, we run a bus to doesn’t always succeed. the Department of Motor Vehicles so “Some people don’t want to work, and people can get IDs. Not having one is an they are in front of us only because they impediment for a lot of people.” are required to be,” he said. “We see some The majority of people White contacts backsliding. But the best way to combat are highly motivated to improve their recidivism is to get people good work, circumstances. get them stabilized, build “Some people believe their self-esteem and let homelessness is the result them discover that they of drugs or alcohol, and can make it on their own. that is true in maybe 20 We don’t give up. Some percent of cases,” White cases might take someone said. “But the people I work falling a couple of times.” with are in homelessness Said McCord, “You for economic reasons. can lead a horse to the Something happened. pond, but you can’t make I’m blessed and fortunate to They lost a job or a relahim drink. Some people have met a man like tionship broke, and they are content not to help Mr. Chuck, who is not just are out on their own with themselves, but there are a doing a job, but really no place to go. They are lot of resources available to wants to help people.” typically go-getters, and we those who do.” — Cary McCord Photography by ALEX WORKMAN

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2020

Pinnacle Awards Program adds Turnbull Award honoring a rising star STORY BY STEVE BORNHOFT // PHOTOGRAPHY ALEX WORKMAN

arjorie Turnbull has been many things. A county commissioner, a state legislator, the executive director of a community college, a bank director and the kind of community servant whose name might fittingly be placed on a building or bridge. Still, Sept. 29 was a special day for her. It was then that Rowland Publishing and 850 — The Business Magazine of Northwest Florida unveiled a new honor as part of its Pinnacle Awards program, which was established in 20ı4. Pinnacle Awards are reserved for outstanding Northwest Florida women who have emerged over the course of distinguished careers as accomplished professionals and community assets. Effective this year, RPI decided to additionally recognize a young woman of obvious promise who has embarked on a trajectory sure to be impressive. Turnbull, herself, was recognized with a Pinnacle Award, and minutes later, it was divulged that the new honor would be known as the Turnbull Award. Turnbull was thrilled. “I am sitting here absolutely stunned,” she wrote in an email sent to RPI

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president Brian Rowland and two of his key employees, McKenzie Burleigh and Steve Bornhoft. “The Pinnacle Award is in itself a recognition that was so unexpected. But you have gone above and beyond what I deserve with the new award that you have chosen to put in my name that will recognize someone early in a life of service and accomplishment. Nothing could honor me more.” Under normal circumstances, Turnbull would have been present for the unveiling and would have had the chance to congratulate in person the first Turnbull Award winner, Adrienne Maygarden of Ascension Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola. But a certain pandemic made a virtual presentation necessary. That production originated at Tallahassee’s Downtown Community Church where Pinnacle Awards official photographer Alex Workman of The Workmans creative team helped ensure that a lot of moving parts came together. Silver Digital Media shot a video that figured in the proceedings. Rowland got the program started by talking about the history of the Pinnacle Awards and acknowledging the sponsors of this year’s event:

PINNACLE AWARDS

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» CLASS OF 2020

Rowland Publishing and 850 Magazine honored 12 accomplished women with Pinnacle Awards in October.

Presenting sponsor Bank of America/ Merrill Lynch Ascension Sacred Heart Gulf Power, which was instrumental in the initial creation of the Pinnacle Awards program COX Business, a supplier of high-speed internet and business phone services Counts Real Estate Group, based in Panama City Beach Project Style Salon, which coifs award winners in preparation for their photo sessions with Workman Pom Spiritual Poetics, whose online courses include “The Happy Rich Creative” Sarah Grace Meckelberg, a dietician and lifestyle coach VisionFirst Advisors, a regional economic development consultant

Burleigh, RPI’s vice president for corporate development, noted at least one advantage of going virtual — some 500 people were expected to view the presentation. She acknowledged winners from past years; noted plans to unite Pinnacle honorees in a brainstorming “Common Interest Retreat” in the spring; and introduced Tuesday’s keynote speaker, Lisa Walters. Walters is a senior vice president and general counsel at The St. Joe Company and was recognized in 20ı5 as a Pinnacle Award winner, given her extraordinary record of community service. She thanked her parents for providing her with a supportive nurturing environment, stressing the importance of education and allowing her to do whatever she wanted to do, save for two things: changing a tire and jumping out of a plane. Via video shot at his home, market manager Andy Harrison of Bank of America presented a posthumous award to Melissa Medley. The remaining honorees were introduced by Bornhoft. Medley, who died in January of this year, served as chief marketing officer for Enterprise Florida and later joined in establishing VisionFirst Advisors. Her lifelong friend, Dina Boucher, recalls her as a “big encourager of others, especially women.”

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She loved to grow people Honored posthumously

For more than 20 years, Melissa Medley built a successful career in marketing, facilitation and economic development, serving in leadership roles in the administrations of Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi and Florida Gov. Rick Scott to grow business investment, jobs and the economies in both states. As a Scott appointee, she was the chief marketing officer for Enterprise Florida. In 20ı5, Melissa joined her longtime business partners, Gray Swoope and Griff Salmon, to launch VisionFirst Advisors, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Butler Snow law firm, where she served as the executive director of the Aerospace Alliance and worked with communities and businesses across the South to successfully grow regional economies. She is remembered with enduring fondness by her longtime close friends Hazel Cole and Dina Boucher. Melissa Medley was a member of a triumvirate whose members called one another “Sister.” There was Sister Hazel, appropriately enough, and Sister Dina and Sister Melissa. The three women had Hattiesburg, Mississippi, in common. Dina Boucher met Medley when the women were teenagers working at the Hattiesburg Clinic. Hazel

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Cole and Medley became acquainted when both were members of the advertising federation in Hattiesburg. Cole, for a time, worked as the public relations director for a marketing agency that Medley founded. Prior to starting work for Enterprise Florida, Medley worked for the Mississippi Development Authority, where Boucher currently is employed. Together, they traveled the world and had a good time whenever and wherever they got together. “It didn’t matter if it was the Napa Valley or somebody’s backyard,” Boucher said. Cole recalls in particular a trip made by the trio to Rome. “That was one time when we wanted to kill her,” she said. “Melissa had scheduled us for three tours in one day — at the Coliseum, at the Forum and a walking tour of the city. Rome was experiencing a heat wave and we were drenched with sweat and out of breath by the time we dashed across several lanes of traffic to get to the Coliseum at 8:30 in the morning. During the walking tour, we found one shade tree and stood beneath it holding hands.” The sisters experienced similar heat waves during subsequent trips to Paris, London and Athens. “We asked ourselves, ‘Do we just bring the heat?’ ” Cole recalled. And it seems that in a less literal sense they probably did.

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE MEDLEY FAMILY

» Melissa Medley

“We talked every day for as long as I can remember,” Cole said of Medley. “We were very close, and we shared a lot. We played together, and we prayed together.” Medley, Cole said, was “bright, super intelligent, an intrepid explorer, a history lover — and she had a wicked sense of humor. She loved to laugh. In a lot of our pictures, you can see the backs of our throats.” Boucher and Cole agreed that Medley was the consummate organizer. “I like to be color coordinated, you know, as to office supplies,” said Cole, a concentration head in the Communication Department at the University of West Georgia. “But Melissa was organized on a whole ’nother level. Her junk drawer was organized.” Boucher was asked, “When the sisters got together to celebrate, what did that look like?” “That looked a lot like wine,” she said without hesitation. “During our first trip to Italy, we made a pact. We were going to have wine and gelato every day. Some days, we had gelato twice, and sometimes we had wine three or four times. We achieved our goal.” Professionally and otherwise, Medley was driven to succeed. “She was the most driven person I have ever known,” said Boucher, who is the events coordinator for the Mississippi Development Authority. “She was knowledgeable about subjects that were so unfamiliar to me that when she talked about them, I couldn’t be sure that she wasn’t making things up. “And she was a big encourager of other people, especially women.” “She loved to grow people,” Cole agreed. Medley was the type of person who never overlooked special occasions in the lives of the people she knew. “She would spend two hours in a store picking out cards that she would send out over the next year,” Cole said. “She gave me my regalia when I got my doctorate. And then every time I wore it, I would send her a picture of me in it. Sure did.” — Steve Bornhoft

PINNACLE AWARDS

» Tracy Andrews Local manager, Gulf Power Co.

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.” Tracy Andrews, who is Chipley, Florida’s mayor and a local manager for Gulf Power Co., strives every day to answer Marianne Wilson’s call for self-actualization. “I encourage people today, especially

our youth, to not let fear impede upon the greatness inside them,” Andrews said. For her, fear came knocking when Hurricane Michael ravaged Chipley and when, just days after the storm passed, she was made mayor. “I asked a room full of councilmen and commissioners, ‘Are you sure?’ ” Andrews recalled. “Were they sure it was me they wanted to assume this role? It spoke volumes about their trust in me, and I resolved that I wouldn’t let the opportunity be anything other than a privilege.”

Two years into her tenure, Andrews, who is the first African American woman to serve as Chipley’s mayor, is going strong. Thanks to a citywide team effort, storm recovery has come a long way. So much so that Andrews is now focused on revitalizing Chipley’s downtown, an area that, during her childhood, was a “vibrant hub of mom-andpop stores.” “The challenge I think for any community leader is wanting results ASAP,” she said. “Learning to be patient with the process and being sensitive to the true needs of your community takes time. There’s not always an easy fix, but as long as we’re making strides to get positive results, it’s worth the sweat equity.” Born and raised in Chipley, Andrews transferred from Chipola College to Florida A&M, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in computer information systems. An internship with Gulf Power led to a full-time customerservice position with the utility in ı99ı and returned her to her hometown. As a community-oriented organization, Gulf Power encouraged Andrews to pursue new ventures in volunteering. She became involved in the Literacy Council of Washington County and held seats on Chipley’s Parks and Recreation and Code Enforcement boards. She became chairman of the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission and served as a member of the Advisory Committee for Washington County Public Schools. “When I think of powerful women, I think of Dr. Thelma Wood, who was one of our first African American female school board members in Washington County and a great educator who served graciously,” Andrews said. “She is still a resource who I, as a young leader, call upon for advice.” Andrews also admires former Gulf Power vice president Bentina Terry, and her friend Carmen Smith, who is a director for Habitat for Humanity. Both of those women are previous Pinnacle Award recipients. “I lastly rely upon the strength of my mother, who has always encouraged me to be my best and be all that God has purposed for me to be. “My goal is to be a positive voice for my community, one that leads with dignity, character and integrity. My desire to serve comes from a genuine love for the people in my community and a desire for us to grow and develop into something greater.” — Hannah Burke

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PINNACLE AWARDS

» Elizabeth Ricci Managing Partner, Rambana & Ricci, PLLC

A foreign-born veteran of the U.S. military living in Ocala had been under the impression for decades that he was an American citizen. When he enlisted in the Marines, a recruiter told him that he would be granted citizenship in exchange for three years of military service. The man lived up to his half of that bargain. His service included deployment as part of Desert Storm and resulted in the revocation of his citizenship in his native Australia. Upon learning that the military had not followed through with its pledge, the man confidently reported to a naturalization interview. Clearly, there had been some mistake, some oversight. At the interview, said immigration attorney Elizabeth Ricci, the man “was treated like dirt.” Ricci believes that there are tens of thousands of foreign-born military veterans in the U.S. who mistakenly believe that they are citizens. She has made them her pro-bono niche. “It’s a common problem,” Ricci said. “These veterans go to get a driver’s license or a passport, and they find out that they are not a citizen and the military has washed its hands of them.” The man from Ocala, Ricci explained, was denied naturalization “because he voted and the officer said he voted knowing he was not a citizen. But he didn’t know he wasn’t a citizen.” Ricci is appealing the officer’s decision. She has been practicing immigration law since shortly after her graduation from the law school at Nova Southeastern University near Fort Lauderdale. She and her future husband Neil St. John Rambana set up shop in Tallahassee in 2000. Rambana was born in Jamaica and is familiar with the immigrant experience. Ricci had studied immigration law under renowned immigration expert Ira Kurzban. At the time, a temporary benefit referred to as the 245(i) was about to expire. It allowed foreigners with family or employer sponsors to pay a $ı,000 fine and apply to adjust their immigration status without having to leave the country. “My then boyfriend and I saw an opportunity with the law changing,” Ricci said. “We got an office space and bought office furniture with an Office Depot credit card. We took out ads in the Thrifty Nickel. A relative loaned us money for start-up costs, and we learned everything we could as fast as we could.”

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That opportunity would become a career, and Tallahassee would become home. These days, Ricci devotes much of her time to working with exceptional ability aliens who possess skills and training seen to be in the national interest. Her clients that way have included Dr. Yeliz Cemal from the United Kingdom. Cemal had an opportunity to join a plastic surgery practice in Pensacola, and Ricci led her through the process of applying for a green card and work permit. “I would have been absolutely lost had I tried to navigate that process on my own,” said Cemal, who now practices in Charlotte, North Carolina. “She was always available via email or phone to answer any questions I had. She put me at ease, and I would recommend Elizabeth without hesitation.”

Her public service record of more than 20 years extends from time spent with the Peace Corps in Guatemala in ı997 to current involvements, including service as a Girl Scout leader and as an adjunct instructor at the Maclay School in Tallahassee where she explores legal issues with students. She is indebted to her mother who worked hard as a single parent to provide well for her. She greatly admires fellow Pinnacle Award winner Marjorie Turnbull and said that she would like to grow up to be like her. And she respects the determination and savviness of Rebekah Rivers, the owner and operating principal at a Tallahassee real estate firm. “Always seek the yes,” Ricci advises young people. “The no is always out there. Be creative, and come up with why you can do something.” —Steve Bornhoft

» Erica Grancagnolo Assistant Director, Santa Rosa Economic Development

Erica Grancagnolo left Hawaii with some reluctance to move with her husband Jason to Santa Rosa County. But she was confident that she was moving to a good place, given its low crime rate, highly rated schools and outstanding reputation among active and retired military personnel. That is, there was plenty of data available to make her feel OK about leaving “rainbows and waterfalls” behind. But the data doesn’t fully reveal the reason why she made the move. There are other places with little crime, good schools and a military community.

She moved to Santa Rosa County because it is an outstanding place for her to raise her boys Nicco and Dario. And she loves her job as the associate director at Santa Rosa Economic Development because it gives her the opportunity to make her chosen home even better. Asked about keys to success, she mentions confidence and the importance of being passionate about what you do and she cites Simon Sinek’s 2009 bestseller, Start with Why. In that book, Sinek writes that “if you ask most businesses why their customers are their customers, most will tell you it’s because of superior quality, features, price or service. In other words, most companies have no clue why their customers are their customers.” Grancagnolo understands that Santa Rosa Economic Development successfully recruits

employers not just on the basis of fact sheets. Her boss, Shannon Ogletree, has impressed upon her that commitments come about as the product of carefully nurtured relationships that generate trust. She, like Ogletree, is a relationship builder. Grancagnolo earned a master’s degree in public administration from Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi after earning a B.A. in political science and government from the University of Arizona. She is a native of Phoenix. She started her career working for the City of Austin, Texas, in the planning and zoning department, later working for local government in Honolulu. Grancagnolo has been a Santa Rosa County employee for five years. In her current role at the economic development office, her responsibilities include management of the $ı0 million Whiting Aviation Park infrastructure project, which has been funded by Triumph Gulf Coast, Inc. Leonardo helicopters, headquartered in the United States in Philadelphia, is set to become the park’s first tenant, a significant triumph for Santa Rosa Economic Development. Grancagnolo is in a position to closely observe the interplay between private contractors and the Navy at Whiting Field where Jason, a reservist, trains helicopter pilots. She is an admirer of Santa Rosa County Commissioner Don Salter, given his skill as a collaborator and his doggedness. For two decades, he worked to bring about Whiting Aviation Park, which in an odd twist was finally made possible by a catastrophic oil spill and the resulting reparations paid by BP. Grancagnolo views Becca Hardin, the president of the Bay County Economic Development Alliance, as worthy of emulation, and she has been impressed by the poise and public speaking abilities of Gulf Power’s Sandy Sims and Marlene Santos, as demonstrated at the utility’s economic symposia. “I appreciate the fact that my job is to help others understand how great Santa Rosa County is and to help make sure we stay a great place, to make sure that we have quality jobs and that we are growing in a responsible way,” Grancagnolo said. In so doing, she finds personal, face-toface interaction to be highly valuable. While anticipating that virtual site tours will become more prevalent, she looks forward to the resumption of business travel. Grancagnolo admits that she has developed a powerful dependency. “I’m addicted to economic development,” she said. “The highs, the lows, the competition. I love selling the community.” Santa Rosa County can hope that she doesn’t take the cure soon. — Steve Bornhoft

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» Dana Kerigan President, Kerigan Marketing Associates

In 20ı6, at the invitation of the agency’s founder, Dana Swatts joined Kerigan Marketing Associates in her hometown of Port St. Joe as a media buyer and someone to look after the business side of the house. Now, she is the president of the agency, a principal and its majority owner. And, she married the agency’s founder. Dana Swatts Kerigan is a negotiator, you see, and has been since graduating from Florida State University, where she studied purchasing, marketing and consumer economics. She started her career as a buyer for the onetime Rich’s department stores and went on to become a supply chain manager for Ply Mart, a regional building materials business. When the collapse of the real estate bubbled knocked Ply Mart down from ı,000 employees to 45, she put her resume in circulation and landed at Niscayah, Inc., a global high-tech security firm, again as a supply chain director. When Stanley Black & Decker purchased Niscayah, Kerigan became a supply chain vice president at Keyston Brothers, a wholesale fabric distributor based in Atlanta. There, she lived by herself and was accustomed to working ı4-hour days and supping on bowls of cold cereal. Then, she met Jack Kerigan, and Kerigan would find that she had taken a long way around to going back home. Kerigan grew up in Port St. Joe, a town founded by her great-grandfather Terrell Higdon Stone. She graduated high school in three years and attended Gulf Coast Community College before moving on to FSU. In her career, she has been far more than a purchasing agent and inventorycontrol specialist. She has been a highly valued business analyst, strategist and efficiency expert who saved her national and international employers millions of dollars by obtaining rebates, renegotiating contracts and consolidating spending operations. She applies those same skills at Kerigan Marketing, even if on a slightly different scale. Kerigan joined the agency four years ago. She married Jack on New Year’s Eve 20ı6. “A lot has happened in the last few years,” Kerigan said. “I moved from Atlanta, changed jobs, got married, had instant teenagers and became a partner in business with my husband.” The couple spent a year and a half building

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a waterfront dream house, then lost it to Hurricane Michael. Then rebuilt it. “My grandmother, Mabel Stone Swatts, and Jack’s grandmother, Ruth Ramsey, were best friends,” Kerigan pointed out. “We think they must have done a little matchmaking in heaven to put Jack and me together.” Of late, Kerigan Marketing, at Kerigan’s behest, has undergone restructuring and parted company with some large, demanding customers that were “sucking the life out of our team,” she said. “We now have a happier and a better mix of clients, and in the last year, we increased our profitability by almost ı,000 percent.” About her relationship with Jack, who is also an agency principal, she said, “We are both stubborn. He thinks I am more stubborn than he is, but he is wrong about that. At the end of the

workday, we have off ramps. And, we can’t stay mad at one another for more than five minutes.” What makes for a successful negotiator? “Ninety-nine percent of the time, he or she with the most information wins,” Kerigan said. “And, at times, saying nothing is a powerful tactic. If someone says something that you don’t agree with, instead of coming right back at them, sit there for a moment and pretend to process and nine times out of ı0, they will back off of what they have just said.” And, don’t take Kerigan Marketing lightly. “Every person on our team has big-brand global experience,” Kerigan said. “We are a corporation. We have by-laws, we have mission and vision meetings and strategy sessions and team retreats, just like any other large organization would have. “We just choose to live at the beach.” — Steve Bornhoft

PINNACLE AWARDS

» Kellie Jo Kilberg

Chairman, Florida Defense Alliance Among women who have shaped her approach to life and business, Kellie Jo Kilberg’s grandmother on her father’s side comes first to her mind. “She raised foster children,” Kilberg said. “She taught me about compassion and the importance of listening. Everyone has a story.” For more than 30 years, Kilberg has worked in leadership and organizational development. As a consultant, change agent, alliance builder, director of communication and strategic initiatives for a homebuilder and as the chairman of the Florida Defense Alliance, she always takes time to

listen. In all that she does, she works to unite people and organizations with resources that will help them meet their needs and advance their objectives. That begins with understanding their stories. At the Florida Defense Alliance, Kilberg stays current regarding the needs of the 20 military installations and three unified commands in the state. In turn, she works with communities, chambers of commerce and local military affairs committees to retain and expand the military presence in Florida. She has known military affairs committee veterans, including Bay County’s Glen McDonald and Tom Neubauer for 25 years. “We look at ways that local communities can support military personnel and their families,” Kilberg said. “We identify state and federal dollars that can be leveraged in

that effort. We look at our schools and try to ensure that our post-secondary institutions offer the types of degrees that local military missions need. We do what we can to provide for spousal employment, which is a big factor in retention. To the extent possible, we serve as a helpful partner in the national defense strategy.” Northwest Florida has earned a reputation for being military friendly, and that’s understandable. Military spending is a huge factor in local economies. “Going through the pandemic would have been a lot worse if we didn’t have our military and defense companies,” Kilberg said. “They keep us economically stable.” The Florida Defense Alliance joins economic development organizations and chambers in recruiting defense companies capable of carrying out contracts that military missions in Florida have to offer. “We help them get established, and we give them reason to stay,” Kilberg said. For a time, she worked at Enterprise Florida as its vice president for economic development specializing in space and defense. That experience prepared Kilberg for her role at the Florida Defense Alliance, which is an allvolunteer organization that operates beneath the Florida Enterprise umbrella. Her consultancy, Kilberg & Associates, charts paths for growth-minded nonprofits and associations, particularly in the economic development realm. A native of Sioux City, Iowa, Kilberg is a graduate of Iowa State University. Her mother modeled hard work and volunteerism. Her sister, Karen Seabrook, worked in Jacksonville as a purchasing agent for CSX Transportation managing multimillion dollar contracts and is a “fabulous mother, sibling and best friend.” Kellie Jo learned a lot from Susan Pareigis, who was secretary of the Agency for Workforce Innovation when Jeb Bush was governor and, for ı0 years, was the president and CEO of the Florida Council of ı00. She admires Joan Carter of Destin who made a career of career counseling. “Joan always looks to bring out the best in everyone,” Kilberg said. “Social media can tear people down, and there aren’t enough people who are inspiring. I would encourage young women today to stay positive and patient and be inspirational. Do those things and listen to what is going on around you, and you will make a difference in the world. “Listening is strength.” — Steve Bornhoft

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» Adrienne Maygarden

Service line director, wAscension Sacred Heart Hospital; Turnbull Award honoree When Adrienne Maygarden thinks about her career to date, she pictures not a ladder so much as she does monkey bars. She has moved logically and horizontally from rung to rung, gathering a breadth of experience and knowledge along the way. She does not know what’s next, but she is certain that she will always want to be learning, growing and serving. Already — and her career is in an early inning — Maygarden has played key roles in two projects that have significantly changed the Pensacola landscape. She was working as a public accountant with governmental entities and nonprofit organizations when one of her clients, the YMCA of Northwest Florida, recruited her. Her time there coincided with the $ı6 million Pensacola Downtown YMCA project, which, along with development of the Southtowne apartment community, would prove transformational. Maygarden’s success at the YMCA attracted the attention of Carol Carlan, the president of the Ascension Sacred Heart Foundation, which was undertaking fundraising efforts in support of another highly consequential development, the Studer Family Children’s Hospital. “We finalized fundraising for that hospital, and it’s beautiful and it’s big and it’s changing care for generations of children to come,” said Maygarden. She described walking through the new facility with a woman whose daughter had been hospitalized five years earlier with pediatric cancer. “I showed her one of the patient rooms, and she immediately started crying because she knew how vastly different her experience would have been with the kind of space and amenities we have today,” Maygarden said. “I think the most rewarding aspect of the whole project was seeing that mom’s face.” In June, Maygarden reached out and grabbed another rung, joining Ascension Sacred Heart Hospital as its women’s and children’s service line director. In that role, she will be creating partnerships throughout the hospital’s service area with health care providers, pediatricians’ offices, OB/GYN offices and small hospitals to provide for a seamless flow of care to the practitioners best suited to handle a case. It’s been an eventful year for Maygarden personally, too. Her first child, Charlotte, was born on March 2.

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“I find fulfillment knowing that I can continue to challenge myself and improve the lives of others,” Maygarden said. In that, she resembles her mother, Deborah McDanal, who earned three degrees and worked for 40 years in elementary education while raising three children of her own. “She primarily worked in the Hoover City and Vestavia Hills school districts in Alabama,” Maygarden said. “You could see the love that she had for students and their families — and her own children.” She has drawn inspiration, too, from Carlan and from Belle Bear of the Bear Family Foundation in Pensacola and Bear’s daughter, Cindi Bonner, the director of Rally Pensacola, which supports families with children fighting cancer. She advises young women always to stay

true to themselves and to say yes to challenges that may lead to opportunities. “In conversations with women, I recognize that they pull back if something seems scary or hairy or too big to tackle,” Maygarden said. “Lean into it, and you will be surprised at the growth that happens during your period of greatest discomfort. “The thing that scares you the most might be that little voice in your head that says you should do it. But people around me have been generous guides and counselors, and when it gets too scary, I am able to lean on them. A key to a successful life is creating that support system.” Can Maygarden see herself as a hospital president or CEO one day? “It’s not beyond the realm of possibility,” she said. — Steve Bornhoft

PINNACLE AWARDS

» Kay Phelan

Owner, Phelan & Lowry, Ltd. At age 29, Kay Phelan took advantage of one of the few professional pathways available to women at the time and opened in ı976 her own real estate business in New Hampshire, an hour north of Boston. Her then-husband was an airline pilot and had been transferred to the Northeast. Phelan impressed the real estate agent with whom she dealt in New Hampshire as someone who might succeed selling homes. The agent’s instincts were correct; Phelan so liked the field that she quickly progressed to acquire a broker’s license. “I grew up in an era when women either

married or did clerical work,” said Phelan, who is 73. Indeed, she had worked only as an executive secretary before getting into real estate. “I am pleased at how far women have come over the years.” Phelan discovered a particular appetite for the marketing and advertising side of the real estate business. Upon moving to Atlanta in ı980, she worked in those areas with builder/ developers. In ı985, she opened her own ad agency. Two years later, it was recognized by the Atlanta Business Chronicle as one of the top agencies in the Atlanta market. The Kroger supermarket chain became her No. ı client. “Kroger was a good corporate citizen,” Phelan said. “We didn’t advertise chicken for 49 cents a pound so much as we promoted initiatives like their Children’s Challenge,

which raised millions of dollars for children’s hospitals and furnished schools throughout the Southeast with early IBM computers.” Phelan was gratified to be part of something that was making a positive difference in the lives of people, and she has been helping out ever since. As she puts it, “Cause-related marketing is ultimately what really tripped my trigger.” Phelan first visited the Emerald Coast when she attended a conference of Kroger store managers and food vendors. She walked the beach, cruised U.S. 98 in her rental car and bought a lot. She moved permanently to the beach in ı994 and lazed on the sand for a time before concluding that she was too young to do nothing. As it happens, she’s still too young to do nothing. Thirteen years ago, she lost her elder son to pancreatic cancer. Two-and-a-half years ago, she underwent open-heart surgery after developing an aortic aneurysm. Still, she carries on. Her current clients include the Emerald Coast Children’s Advocacy Center; Lulu’s Restaurant; and Destin High School. She has done work, often at no charge, for nonprofits, including the Mattie Kelly Arts Foundation, the Cultural Arts Alliance of Walton County, Sinfonia Gulf Coast, the E.O. Wilson Biophilia Center, the American Cancer Society and the fundraising Chi Chi Miguel Throwdown. She has succeeded despite never having had any formal professional training. “Experience has guided me through life,” she said. “There really is no such thing as pure luck. I believe in the adage that luck is where preparation meets opportunity.” And hard work often yields happiness as a byproduct. “I married a couple of times as an adult,” Phelan said, “but I stopped doing that in my 40s. The last 25 years have been pretty normal. “I wouldn’t have believed that my life would bring me down to the Miramar Beach/ Destin area and the beautiful water and the beautiful people. I love the people here. I cannot think of anywhere I would rather be.” — Steve Bornhoft

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PINNACLE AWARDS

» Brigette Brooks President, Pensacola Bay Area IMPACT 100

If service to others is the rent you pay for a place on earth, Brigette Brooks is a tenant in great standing. From her commitment to excellence in working with buyers and sellers at Emerald Coast Realty to her volunteer work in the Pensacola and Santa Rosa Island communities, service, said Brooks, is at the heart of everything she does. As president of the Pensacola Bay Area IMPACT ı00 organization, Brooks has helped provide millions of dollars’ worth of grants for nonprofits and community improvement projects in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties. Her role as board chair for the Santa Rosa Island Authority (SRIA) challenges her to be an active participant in projects and decisions that stimulate the local economy, preserve the area’s character and foster a warm, welcoming community that appeals to residents and visitors. A close follower of current events and political news, Brooks is passionate about her work with a local chapter of the Alpha Kappa Alpha (AKA) Sorority. “One of my favorite things AKA does is, during election years, engaging our population to register and exercise their right to vote,” she said. “As a woman, and especially as a black woman, you can appreciate the sacrifices suffragettes and equal rights activists made for you to obtain those rights.” Brooks devotes time to the Institute for Women in Politics of Northwest Florida, which encourages women to be involved in political processes and to consider running for office. She says the biggest lesson she learned from her mother, Yvonne Gray, was to never put herself in a box, to never limit herself. Commitment, her mother said, pays off. As a child, Brooks watched her mother who,

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while raising three small children, commuted from Pensacola to the University of Alabama in Montgomery every week to pursue a master’s degree in education. “For her, it was long days and hard work,” said Brooks. “But very early on, she was a beautiful example of what I could be. Though I come from a family of educators, she always encouraged me to do whatever I liked and to never feel confined.” Brooks applied that same approach in raising twin sons, Hannibal and Malcom.

She calls her husband, Larry, her “biggest cheerleader” and prioritizes spending her free time with family. “The more I learn about our community, the more I realize how blessed I’ve been with the family I was born into, the opportunities I’ve been provided and the consistent love and support I’ve received,” Brooks said. “That’s why it’s so important for me to give back and to try to make a difference through organizations that serve others.” — Hannah Burke

» Dr. Martha Saunders

President, University of West Florida While in high school in Mississippi, Martha Saunders developed a desire to see the world. Today, as president of the University of West Florida, she continues to favor a bigpicture view. That tendency leads her to think beyond

what the university might accomplish by itself and to instead consider what UWF might make happen in concert with other regional players. When UWF celebrated its 50th anniversary in 20ı7, Saunders considered that the university had progressed very well to a point where she would hold up its academic programs for comparison to those anywhere. Ranked faculty members teach most of the courses at UWF. None are taught by graduate students.

Going forward, how would the university build on that? “Almost anything we can think of doing, someone else is already doing,” Saunders said. “They have been at it longer. They are likely bigger and have more money than us. But there are partnerships that we can establish and leverage that enable us to build something even bigger than the sum of the parts.” By working with partners, including Eglin Air Force Base and the Department of Homeland Security, UWF brought about its Center for Cybersecurity. Partnering with the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition in Pensacola, UWF established Florida’s first doctoral program in intelligence systems and robotics. “You will be seeing more examples in the future of how can we take what we know how to do and couple that with other resources and partners in the region,” Saunders promised. For the counties of the Panhandle, she has similar advice. “It’s hard for them to make themselves heard,” she said. “Together, they are only 4 percent of the state’s population, so they need to lock arms and not work at cross purposes.” Saunders received acceptance letters from several universities, but she opted to stay home and go to the University of Southern Mississippi. It was affordable and on a quarter system, and Saunders, in a hurry to get out, doubled up her course load and graduated in less than three years. She started out majoring in journalism, but several of that department’s professors quit in a dispute with the school, and Saunders changed her major to French. She would marry a Marine pilot who later became a commercial airline pilot, and her wanderlust was satisfied. The journalism degree came later in a master’s program at the Grady School at the University of Georgia. With that credential, she would catch on as an adjunct at UWF. Its journalism program was seeking accreditation from the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications. A consultant advised the program that it was unlikely to succeed unless it made a woman part of its faculty. Saunders was encouraged to apply for a full-time opening and got the job with the

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understanding that she would get a doctorate. She spent a lot of hours on I-ı0 on her way to earning her Ph.D. in communication and research from Florida State in Tallahassee. At UWF, Saunders had become a dean when president Morris Marx suggested that she would make a good college president, herself. But, said Marx, “We have taught you all that we can teach you here. You need to move on, experience other places.” Six months later, Saunders was a provost at the University of Georgia and three years later, she became a college president at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. “My mother about freaked,” Saunders said. “She thought I was moving to the Arctic Circle.” But Saunders liked her time there. She managed never to put her car in a snowy ditch, and everywhere she went, she was served red velvet cake. “I guess that’s what they figured Southerners eat,” she said. She left Whitewater, a town with “one grocery store, two gas stations and 36 bars,” before the sense of wintry adventure wore off. Her alma mater Southern Miss had called, and she assumed the presidency there. She was prepared to retire when Judy Bense, Saunders’s predecessor as president at UWF called and asked her to join her team. A short-term assignment has turned into a longterm engagement. Asked about women who have influenced her, Saunders immediately thought about her childhood piano teacher, a woman she knew only as Mrs. Bryant. “She had physical problems and probably was in pain a lot, but I remember just how gracefully she handled difficulty,” Saunders said. “She was such a positive influence. It wasn’t so much ‘Don’t let them see you sweat.’ It was more like ‘Don’t sweat.’ ” Saunders doesn’t sweat. Sometimes, the best hire you can make is someone who doesn’t have anything left that she needs to prove. — Steve Bornhoft

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» Marjorie Turnbull She seizes opportunities and doesn’t look back

Have confidence in what you can do. Refrain from thinking about gender barriers. Believe that you will accomplish your goals. Remain open to opportunities, and once you seize an opportunity, don’t look back. There is one reason we are on this earth

and that is to help other people, so whatever your role in life is, get involved in your community. Always maintain a sense of humor. In such a way, Marjorie Turnbull would advise young women today. And, while it has always been her nature to live up to that advice, there were times when she required a little shove. Consider: When Turnbull was born, the ı9th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution,

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which gave women the right to vote, was just two decades old. “When I was growing up,” she recalls, “there were very few professional women, but I knew early on that I was going to have a different kind of trajectory. I envisioned marriage, family and home, but I also thought that I would have a career. My mentors were men — my father and other men that I admired greatly, men who had had successful lives and had benefited their communities.” Indeed, Turnbull’s dad, J. Wayne Reitz, in the course of a storied career in higher education, served as president of the University of Florida from March ı955 to January ı967. Turnbull was inspired, too, by women in history and headlines, most especially Eleanor Roosevelt, about whom she says, “She was a strong woman, she was a leader and she was always willing to take risks in reaching out to people in our society who were marginalized. She had great courage.” Turnbull likes to say that she has been “involved in universities since the womb.” Her dad was on leave from the University of Florida and was completing requirements for his doctorate at the University of Wisconsin when Turnbull was born. At age 6 months, she moved to Gainesville where she would grow up. She met her husband, Gus, on a blind date in New York City. He was working on a doctorate at the University of Virginia. They married and moved to Georgia where Gus worked briefly for the Governor’s Office before joining the faculty at the University of Georgia. Subsequently, he was recruited by Florida State University and would serve as provost there. Turnbull, who holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Florida and a master’s degree in international relations from the University of Georgia, would devote her talents and energies to Tallahassee Community College. She headed up the TCC Foundation before becoming the school’s executive director, a job she held for ıı years. Concurrently, she became an admired community servant and office holder. Turnbull took an interest in the Council for Neighborhood Associations in Tallahassee. At her first association meeting, she was encouraged to serve on the board. At her first board meeting, she was made vice president.

Two months later, the president resigned and moved to Cincinnati. The cream rises. Turnbull was also active with the Apalachee Land Conservancy when it was petitioning the Leon County Commission for an easement for the Miccosukee Greenway. Three commissioners favored granting the easement, and the Conservancy needed a fourth. Fellow Conservancy activists encouraged her to run for a commission seat. “Word got around and people starting calling me,” Turnbull said. “The neighborhood people. The tree-hugger people. I made a list, pros and cons, and I turned to Gus and I said, ‘No, this is not going to work.’ My con list was five times longer than my pro list. Gail Nelson was a district representative on the commission, but I would be running as a woman with no experience as a campaigner for an at-large seat. I didn’t think I could win.” Gus was blunt. “Quit making lists, and just do it,” he said. She would serve six years on the commission. After losing her husband to cancer in ı99ı, Turnbull announced that she would not be seeking a fourth commission term. She didn’t think she had another campaign in her. But she was convinced to run for the 9th District seat in the Florida Legislature. Hurley Rudd was calling it quits after four terms. “I had worked as a legislative staffer,” Turnbull said. “The legislative process didn’t intimidate me. Here was an opportunity for me to employ what I learned as a local office holder and to have statewide impact.” She represented the 9th District from ı994 to 2000. When she retired, Turnbull vowed to stay active. “I had three criteria for saying yes,” she said. “Will I learn something? Will it be fun? Will it help other people?” These days, Turnbull is a director at Prime Meridian Bank. She is a member of the Institutional Review Board at Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare. She is president and chairman of the Economic Club of Florida. Her work for Choose Tallahassee, which was formed to attract retirees to the city, has entered a second phase. Choose Tallahassee is now additionally focused on young professionals. She is on the boards of the Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra and the Big Bend Hospice Foundation. “I retired, and I told myself that I wasn’t going to do stress anymore,” Turnbull said. “I was just going to enjoy myself.” — Steve Bornhoft

» Cindy Wilker

President, LGBTQ Center of Bay County

As a ı6-year-old high schooler, Cindy Wilker was instructed by two uniformed deputies to open her locker. The men rifled through its contents and confiscated as evidence notes that Wilker had received from a girl she was dating. The deputies put her in a cruiser and took her to the sheriff’s office. Her father, a schoolteacher, was summoned. Furious, he gave his daughter two options. She could leave home or she could agree to be enrolled in a Christian school and get fixed. She left and has been finding her way ever since. Wilker enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps in ı980, believing that it would afford her an escape from poverty. She envisioned becoming a Judge Advocate General (JAG) lawyer and planned, after separating from the military, to practice immigration law. She had grown up in Pueblo, Colorado, among migrant and immigrant farm workers. After completing basic training at Parris Island, she believed she could handle anything, but she had yet to meet her commanding officer. “I was in a unit with 500 men and myself, and that was a living hell,” Wilker recalled. “For two weeks straight, I would go into my CO’s office and he would kick over his spittoon and say, ‘Clean that up, would you? Would you, maggot, would you clean that up?’ And I would clean up that tobacco juice, and I would make that bastard his coffee. It was clear they didn’t want me around.” Wilker got out, and she got lucky. “I met a man who pretty much turned my life around,” she said. “Gary Krone was an investor on the Chicago Board of Options and invited me to be a runner. I wasn’t going to get dirty, I would be working in a heated and cooled place, and when he gave me a

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Mastercard, I said, ‘Wahhh, I just hit the jackpot.’ ” Wilker followed Krone to New York City when he bought a seat on the New York Stock Exchange. She grew into a role as a researcher and discovered that she had an ability to find patterns among businesses that could work together. In 20ı4, she hooked up with Tom Davidson and the Davidson Capital Group in WaterColor. His customers included Texas financier T. Boone Pickens and Joe Craft, owner of one of the biggest coal-mining operations in the country. Today, she works with developer Arthur Lazerow, who has projects in Maryland. In Texas, she was part of a team working to put together a deal involving agricultural interests. Wilker didn’t much understand the language of the parties but was asked whether she thought there might be a hole in the deal. “I said, ‘What happens if a tornado or a hurricane wipes out the business? You don’t have insurance for that,’ ” Wilker recalled. “And before the deal closed, guess what happened? A damn hurricane. I looked like a prescient genius. I was pressured to say something, and sometimes the best thing you can say is next to nothing.” Deal-making has provided Wilker with some nice grubstakes and the freedom to try on assorted short-term jobs. She has taken advantage, traveling to remote destinations worldwide. Ask her and she will tell you about sitting down to dinner with a five-yearold, never buried, never frozen corpse in Tana Toraja. She harbors an unrealized desire to cormorant fish amid a waterborne culture in eastern China. In Chicago, Wilker worked briefly as an OSHA safety trainer before a wall overloaded with shelves containing hundreds of glass power-meter lenses collapsed on top of her, breaking her back and neck, damaging a hip and cracking her skull. She spent months in recovery. Along her winding road, Wilker earned degrees at Drake University and at the University of Colorado, where she studied statistics and data collection and wrote a thesis on environmental racism. Today, Wilker serves as the president of the groundbreaking LGBTQ Center of Bay County. The project got its start when two women asked her if she would help bring about a

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drop-in center where gay and lesbian students might feel safe and free to be themselves. She has realized that objective and much more, empaneling a powerhouse board of directors, raising the profile of the LGBTQ community in Bay County, seeing to the firstever Pride Festival in Panama City and forging alliances with organizations, including the NAACP, Feeding the Gulf Coast, Equality Florida and Florida State University. Working with the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, she has seen to it that a mobile

clinic will visit Bay County and provide a previously unserved transgender population with medical care. “I was dealing with a population of people who hadn’t been to the doctor in five or six years, many of them with mental health issues, many of them using medications from wherever they get them without being monitored,” Wilker said. “Something had to be done. Health care is a human right. Everyone deserves access to health care.” — Steve Bornhoft

PROMOTION

2020 Pinnacle Awards Recap

Brian Rowland and McKenzie Burleigh Lisa Walters

Rowland Publishing and 850 Business Magazine celebrated the contributions of 12 leading Northwest Florida women at the seventh annual Pinnacle Awards. For the first time, the awards presentation was a virtual event, made possible by the host Downtown Community Church in Tallahassee and The Workmans video production team. The honorees, representing a variety of professional endeavors, all have contributed unselfishly to the betterment of the places they call home. Lisa Walters, senior vice president and general counsel at The St. Joe Company, served as keynote speaker. Rowland Publishing, for the first time presented the Turnbull Award, named for Pinnacle Award recipient Marjorie Turnbull, to a young woman of promise who already is making an importance difference in her community.

Downtown Community Church

To watch the Virtual Program and for a full event recap visit: 850businessmagazine.com/pinnacle-awards-2020

Thank you to all the sponsors who made this event possible PRESENTED BY 850 BUSINESS MAGAZINE