Sunshine and cool breezes. Palm trees and margaritas. Welcome to Latitude Margaritaville, a 55-and-better community inspired by the legendary music and lifestyle of Jimmy Buffett, built on food, fun, music and escapism. Escape to the place where fun and relaxation meet. Escape to island-inspired living as you grow older, but not up. Escape to Latitude Margaritaville Watersound, located on Hwy 79, less than 8 miles from the beach.
As an IT leader, you know your team can solve almost anything. But when it comes to solving everything, even your experts could use more experts in their corner. Cox Business has a complete portfolio of cloud solutions to help you overcome any challenge, all supported by a provider you already trust. Get started at www.coxbusiness.com/cloud
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plans have limitations and exclusions. Florida Blue is a trade name of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida, Inc., and Florida Blue HMO is a trade name of Health Options, Inc. These companies are Independent Licensees of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. 111354 0822
BancorpSouth Bank and Cadence Bank are coming together. It’s more than a merger. It’s creating a financial partner dedicated to helping people, companies and communities prosper. The name will be Cadence, but together you’ll get more convenience, accessibility and simplicity, delivered by the same financial experts you have come to know and trust. Visit cadencebank.com/thenewcadence to learn more. ©2022 Cadence Bank. Member FDIC. Equal Housing Lender. NMLS#410279. All Rights Reserved.
Collectively, the members of the Pinnacle Awards Class of 2022 serve as a powerful reminder that the fields of endeavor in which women are free to succeed in the United States are all but unlimited. This year’s winners represent fields ranging from jurisprudence and the law to broadcast television and publishing to medicine and business visioning. For nine years, Rowland Publishing and 850 Business Magazine have honored women who have distinguished themselves as professionals, community servants and difference makers. Many are nominated to receive a Pinnacle Award by readers of 850 . Others have a way of making themselves known by virtue on their profiles as outstanding members of the Northwest Florida community. Responding to questions posed by 850 , the honorees comment on teachers and mentors who have served them well; lessons they have learned the hard way; and goals to which Northwest Florida should aspire.
In 2011, Choose
Tallahassee was established after Capital Health Plan in Tallahassee was named the No. 1 Medicare HMO in the country. That distinction and the city’s other assets justified an effort to lead older adults to move to Tallahassee in retirement, the organization’s founders thought. To measure success, Choose Tallahassee for years looked at the number of driver’s licenses issued and at voter registrations. “Now,” said Gregg Patterson, the organization’s director, “when someone downloads a relocation guide from our website, we capture them as leads.”
STORY BY STEVE BORNHOFTMore and more, older adults are returning to the workforce or remaining in their careers far beyond the traditional retirement age. A Pew Research Center report find that 12% of retired adults had returned to the workforce in 2006. By 2022, that number had jumped to 27%, according to a survey from the Employee Benefit Research Institute. Given modern health care, Baby Boomers are living longer and better, leading to a growing number of able-bodied adults not content to spend the remainder of their time in a rocking chair. STORY
ON THE COVER: After completing studies at the Askew School of Public Administration at Florida State University 28 years ago, Vince Long went to work for Leon County. He has never left and for 11 years has served as the county’s administrator. Over that time, he has held the line on property tax rates while enjoying the benefits of longevity and stability.
SHIPS In 2016, the Coast Guard selected Eastern Shipbuilding in Panama City to build as many as 25 offshore cutters but decided to rebid the program two years later, after the company’s Panama City shipyard was decimated during Hurricane Michael. In the years since, Eastern’s employees have worked tirelessly to rebuild the shipyard, keep the Coast
Guard contract on schedule and prove that the company has what it takes to manage the rest of the offshore patrol cutter program. It has assembled more than $50 million worth of funding from Triumph Gulf Coast and the State of Florida to transform the Nelson Street Shipyard into what Brian D’Isernia describes as an “offshore patrol cutter factory,” dedicated exclusively to the Coast Guard’s needs.
Long went to work for Leon County in 1995 after earning a master’s degree in public administration from the Askew School of Public Administration and Policy at Florida State University. He was appointed county administrator in 2011. “I had the benefit of having been with the organization, but that also comes with the burden of knowing what your strengths and weaknesses are and where you need to go as an organization,” Long said. “The one factor that all CEOs have in common is that they’ve got to get the culture right. For me, that was a major emphasis in my early years. It’s not like we had a bad culture in Leon County government, but because of all the things we do — airports to zoos, animal control to zoning — we had 47 different cultures that said very different things to the people we were serving. We needed to aggregate all of that into one culture and, with the same voice, really convey who we are and why we are here.”
DAN ROWE Panama City Beach’s assets account for its enduring appeal. “The old adage is that when you get our sand between your toes, you’ll be back,” said Dan Rowe, the president and CEO of Visit Panama City Beach. “That has to do with the quality of the beach and the sand and the whole experience of being out on the Gulf. Early developer J.E. Churchwell came up with the tagline ‘World’s Most Beautiful Beaches,’ and it stuck because it ain’t braggin’ if it’s true. Our water is spectacular. When there is no weather system in the Gulf, it is just stunning. We don’t have the big river systems flowing into our bays, so our water clarity is phenomenal.”
A new Customs facility at Tallahassee International Airport has been a long time coming. First came a new name and logo change in 2014. It’s been nearly a decade since proposed actions were first discussed with the City Commission, which approved the proposal after coordination with the Federal Aviation Administration, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Transportation Security Administration. Technical design standards from the U.S. CBP are highly specific. Consumers will be able to come into the terminal like they normally do, but there will be a designated area for business owners to work with Customs on import and export needs. Customs will also require the synergistic efforts of several security agencies that all need office space in the new facility.
Danfoss Turbocor has a long-standing relationship with the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering with whom it recently signed a $750,000 five-year agreement to fund scholarships and provide research opportunities for faculty and students. “As a company, we
are passionate about diversity, equity and inclusion,” says Danfoss president Ricardo Schneider, noting his own origins in an underdeveloped country. “We truly believe that through education, we can create a path for folks in engineering, especially from underrepresented groups.” Danfoss, in turn, benefits from both the research and talent pool that the College of Engineering program produces. Indeed, 22% to 25% of Danfoss engineers are FAMU-FSU graduates.
Danfoss also has a partnership with Tallahassee Community College aimed at addressing the skilled labor shortage in the manufacturing sector.
SUCCESSION PLANNING “Money that just sits there loses value,” says MillCreek Financial Consultants president William Green said. Many people think of assets as stable like a problem in a mathematics textbook. But reality is different. If six oranges are eaten at a rate of one per week, how long will it take before all of the fruit is gone? Arithmetically, the answer to this is fairly simple: six weeks. In reality, there is more green than orange by Day 10. At week three, no one is eating that fruit. After six weeks, someone is cleaning up a greasy mess. “And that’s what will happen to money if it’s not tended to,” Green said. Clients also devalue their businesses due to inactivity of a different sort — they fail to create a succession plan. For most people, a company’s most valuable asset is the owner’s ability to work. When that goes away, the entire business may suffer.
We all know the recognizable “stars” in everything from theater to politics. We admire these super achievers, charismatic leaders and time managers par excellence. But in truth, they’re more like us than we think. They all need help behind the scenes supplied by a cadre of assistants and organizers who clear the brush and prepare the way. Whether that means seeing to it that scheduled meetings run on time, votes are all nicely lined up, or that with just the right music, auditorium seats will be filled, the powerful people in the background make it happen as much as the people out front.
IF EVER A WIZ …
Bit-Wizards believes every company is a technology company. Technology touches every facet of a company’s operations, from human resources to IT. The engineers at Bit-Wizards focus on ensuring that IT systems are compatible while ensuring that clients have expert advice on what’s new.
Building on the success of the Milcon and Air Force Contracting Summits held by the Defense Leadership Forum in recent years, the Northwest Florida Leadership Forum, also headed by William Loiry, presented its first Northwest Florida Economic Summit in October.
From the bidding process to the grand opening, the project managers at JM Phelps Construction work closely with clients, providing market knowledge, value analysis, design coordination, materials procurement and advice on innovative tools and processes.
The South Walton Beaches Wine & Food Festival brings together winemakers, chefs, distillers and brewers for a weekend of wine tastings, education and entertainment at the Grand Boulevard Town Center. More than 600 wines from regional, national and international vintners will be poured.
STAY CURRENT A new state law requires that all
buildings three stories or more in height undergo a structural integrity reserve study by Dec. 31, 2024. Additional inspections are required of buildings near coastlines. Team Complete has the experience, expertise, technology and training to ensure that property associations are in compliance.
Twelve outstanding Northwest Florida women were honored at the ninth annual Pinnacle Awards presentation conducted by Rowland Publishing and 850 Business Magazine. This year’s awards luncheon took place in Tallahassee at the Dunlap Champions Club at Doak Campbell Stadium.
Downtown Tallahassee is welcoming a growing number of businesses owned by women. “We want our downtown to be reflective of who is creating and driving businesses these days, and that’s
women,” said Elizabeth Emmanuel, CEO of the Tallahassee Downtown Improvement Authority.
Legends Hospitality, whose clients include the New York Yankees, Dallas Cowboys and Tampa Bay Buccaneers to name a few, has embarked on a new relationship with Florida State University and Tallahassee as the manager of events, membership and food/beverage operations at the Dunlap Champions Club.
PROVIDER James Moore & Co., a full-service CPA and consulting firm, relieves pressure on business owners and managers by providing the best in business solutions. The company was voted a Best Accounting Firm to Work For in 2022 by Accounting Today and has been rated a Top 200 Firm by Inside Public Accounting for 13 straight years.
EXECUTIVE EDITOR Steve Bornhoft
MANAGING EDITOR Emilee Mae Struss
SENIOR STAFF WRITER Emma Witmer
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Lazaro Aleman, Marina Brown, David Ekrut, Ph.D., Rebecca Padgett Frett, T.S. Strickland
CREATIVE
VICE PRESIDENT / PRODUCTION AND TECHNOLOGY Daniel Vitter
CREATIVE DIRECTOR Jennifer Ekrut
SENIOR PUBLICATION DESIGNERS Sarah Burger, Saige, Roberts, Scott Schiller, Shruti Shah
GRAPHIC DESIGNER Sierra Thomas
CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Aerial Tallahassee, AJ Abellera, Dave Barfield, Glenn Beil, Michael Booini, Mike Fender, Alicia Osborne, Saige Roberts, The Workmans
SALES, MARKETING & EVENTS SALES MANAGER, WESTERN DIVISION Rhonda Lynn Murray SALES MANAGER, EASTERN DIVISION Lori Magee Yeaton
DIRECTOR OF NEW BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT, EASTERN DIVISION Daniel Parisi
DIRECTOR OF NEW BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT, WESTERN DIVISION Dan Parker
ADVERTISING SERVICES SPECIALIST Tracy Mulligan
SENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Julie Dorr
ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Michelle Daugherty, Darla Harrison MARKETING MANAGER Javis Ogden SALES AND MARKETING WRITER Rebecca Padgett Frett ADMINISTRATIVE & CUSTOMER SERVICE SPECIALIST Renee Johnson
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 2022 850 Magazine, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part without written permission is prohibited. Member of three Chambers of Commerce throughout the region.
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In the 1930s, a great entrepreneur was taking his first steps in a remarkable journey to success. He sold sodas at baseball games and eventually saved enough money to buy a Sinclair gas station — for $360.
Jim Moran was in the right place at the right time. The auto industry was taking off, and Moran worked hard in making his business the highestvolume seller of gasoline in Chicago.
Moran, meanwhile, had a lot of gas in his tank. He went on to establish the world’s largest Hudson Ford dealership. His success in the car business led Toyota to approach him in 1968, and Moran brought about Southeast Toyota.
Today, Moran’s highly successful JM Family Enterprises employs more than 5,000 people and is one of the largest and most diversified companies in the auto industry. Its principal operations are vehicle distribution and processing, finance and insurance, and retail vehicle sales. Its interests also include home improvement specialty franchises.
The Chicago-born Moran has been a great friend to Tallahassee. He and his wife Jan donated $100 million, the largest gift in Florida State University’s history, to establish the Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship. Flourishing in a building in downtown Tallahassee, the institute furnishes today’s budding entrepreneurs with valuable lessons as they start their own journeys to success.
I have had the privilege of being a founding member of the Tallahassee CEO Peer2Peer Group, which is an extension of the Jim Moran Institute. An initial group of 10 entrepreneurs was assembled based on characteristics of their businesses, such as annual sales and number of employees.
Now, admission to the groups — several now exist in Tallahassee — is by invitation. Confidentiality agreements are signed, and regular attendance is expected. The group gets together monthly for a 90-minute lunch meeting guided by a facilitator from the Jim Moran Institute.
The members, representing businesses of a similar size, relate well to one another’s challenges. At each meeting, a couple of members raise a hand and describe a difficulty or concern they are experiencing. Other members then speak to how they handled a similar situation at their business. The hand-raisers can then apply those experiences as they see fit to their own circumstances.
I am in my third decade as a member of the CEO Peer2Peer Group. It is one of the best investments of time I have ever made. The lessons I have learned from others have been invaluable.
Thanks to Jan and Jim Moran, I am a better entrepreneur, leader and publisher. They have made a great difference in my life and that of FSU, Tallahassee and the state of Florida.
Be well,
at the
Dunlap
at The Florida State University for the ninth annual Pinnacle Awards ceremony, held to celebrate honorees for their outstanding professional accomplishments and their contributions to community. After two years of virtual and hybrid events, the welcome return to a fully in-person banquet made it possible for attendees to greet old friends and make new connections.
To read the recap and view the full program, visit 850BusinessMagazine.com/pinnacle-awards-2022-recap.
Southern Vacation Rentals, a family-owned business in Destin, wanted to better manage and track their linen inventory while making the entire process run as smoothly and efficiently as possible. Enter the Bit-Wizards Software Engineering team. The partnership proved to be fruitful, elevating Southern Vacation Rentals’ operational control and adding to Bit-Wizard’s robust portfolio.
850BusinessMagazine.com/bit-wizards-helps-southern-vacation-rentals
The Greater Fort Walton Beach Chamber of Commerce directed a communitywide celebration honoring the 75th anniversary of the Air Force. The event, held in September, recognized the significant historical contributions to national defense made by Eglin, Duke and Hurlburt Field personnel.
850BusinessMagazine.com/ local-heroes-honored
A story that appeared in 850 Business Magazine’s Innovation & Technology issue for 2022 contained errors. Dr. Brett Edington’s name was misspelled. Bob Holton, not Dr. Alan Marshall, worked on synthesizing paclitaxel (taxol). Marshall was named to the Florida Academy of Inventors in 2016 for his work in mass spectrometry.
Building on the success of the Milcon and Air Force Contracting Summits held by the U.S. Defense Leadership Forum (DLF) in recent years, the Northwest Florida Leadership Forum presented its first Northwest Florida Economic Summit in October at the Destin-Fort Walton Beach Convention Center.
850BusinessMagazine.com/northwest-florida-economic-summit
Arriving sooner is always good, but a bigger seat up front is nice too. Fly in total comfort daily, direct from PNS to Miami and Orlando.
Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort announced the appointment of Matthew Krueger to executive chef of Hotel Effie. Krueger will helm the kitchen at the hotel’s signature restaurant, Ovide, the only restaurant in Florida created by James Beard Award-winning chef Hugh Acheson. As executive chef, Krueger will collaborate with Acheson to oversee all aspects of food and beverage operations across the hotel’s four restaurant outlets and in-room dining. In his new role, he’ll supervise the culinary team, manage budgets and maintain the overall guest experience. Krueger will work closely with Steven Grubbs, the hotel’s sommelier and wine director, to create pairings for Ovide’s menu and Kellie Thorn, the hotel’s lead mixologist.
» Tallahassee Community College has announced the naming of three new associate deans.
Ross Brooks is the new associate dean of science and mathematics. Brooks has been a full-time faculty member at TCC for 11 years, serving as the Mathematics Department’s lead faculty and program chair for four years. He has worked on projects that include developing new math courses, leading a group to narrow the equity gap in math course success rates and working on an instructor guide for Florida’s new B.E.S.T. Standards for Mathematics.
Ken Tellis has been named associate dean of student success in health care professions. He will focus on student enrollment, the development of programming and assessment tools related to student success and increasing the visibility of the TCC Healthcare Professions program in the community. Tellis was originally hired at TCC in 2004 as an adjunct instructor for College Success. He served as the assistant director of enrollment management at FAMU from 2008 to 2017, and director of academic services in the College of Education at FSU from 1998 to 2008
before joining TCC full time in 2017.
Marty Walker has been named associate dean of health care professions. Her passion for teaching led her to the Mercy Hospital School of Practical Nursing, as well as adjunct teaching jobs at Barry University and Florida International University. She spent 12 years at Northwest Florida State College, serving as a professor and director of nursing programs.
» Florida Blue is pleased to announce that Hong Potomski has been named senior director of regional business development for Northwest Florida. Potomski was instrumental in leading key initiatives in the organization in her prior role as senior director of commercial segment strategy and group go-to-market. In her new role, she will lead the development and execution of market strategies and plans; establish and nurture key community and business partnerships; identify and implement solutions to enhance market position; and drive results to improve the overall health and wellness of the communities Florida Blue serves. Before joining the company,
Financial planning isn’t just about retirement. It’s about you and your family working toward financial security now and for future generations. Trustmark’s experienced Tailored Wealth advisors can provide guidance and a plan tailored to help you pursue your specific goals. The perfect time to start planning is today. Learn more at trustmark.com.
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» Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare (TMH) has again been recognized as a “Best Hospital” by U.S. News & World Report. Following a performance analysis using a variety of measures such as survival and complication rates, patient experience and level of nursing care, U.S. News ranked TMH as the 24th best hospital in Florida for 2022–2023. TMH is one of two facilities in the Panhandle to make the top 25, and the Big Bend region’s only facility named a Best Hospital. Tallahassee Memorial also earned seven “high-performing” hospital ratings from U.S. News in several areas of care: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), colon cancer surgery, diabetes, heart attack, heart failure, kidney failure and stroke.
» The National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship (NACCE), the nation’s leading organization focused on promoting entrepreneurship through community colleges, has named Dr. Jim Murdaugh
NACCE’s 2022 “Entrepreneurial President of the Year.” Murdaugh has served as Tallahassee Community College president since October 2010. The award was announced at NACCE’s annual conference.
of the Progress Bank Santa Rosa Beach branch. With a 15-year history of banking in Okaloosa and Walton counties, he has extensive knowledge and experience in retail management, consumer loans, business products and mortgages. Foster is also involved with the local chambers of commerce.
» Shaun Foster has been named manager
» Christopher Bass has been named assistant branch manager of the Progress Bank Panama City branch. Bass’ previous work experience includes several positions over his seven years in banking, including personal banker, teller, business advocate and branch operations manager.
» Santa Rosa Golf & Beach Club welcomed their new member relations coordinator, Tori Thompson. She will be managing the club’s internal and external
communications, planning member events to enhance the overall club experience and forming meaningful relationships with the club members. A recent graduate of Kennesaw State University, Thompson holds a bachelor’s degree in political science. As legislative liaison for the Georgia secretary of state, she gained experience that included overseeing communication and member relations for the legislative affairs department, scheduling for the office administration and coordinating outreach events on behalf of the agency.
Experience Officer of First Service Credit Union in Houston, Texas. He has proven expertise in executive leadership, financial management, marketing, member experience and product development, and approaches his work with an emphasis on growth and results. Souers began his career as a market research consultant and later managed marketing for one of the largest credit unions in Alabama.
» Gulf Winds Credit Union has announced the selection of Daniel Souers as its next president and chief executive officer. He succeeds Chris Rutledge, who retired after 20 years in the role. Most recently, Souers was the Chief
»
& Spa announced that Gary Brielmayer will retire from his position as general manager of the resort in February 2023. Brielmayer has been a part of the Hilton Sandestin Beach team for 25 years. Prior to taking on the role of general manager in 2010, he led the development of both culinary and guest relations across several of the resort’s departments.
» SimpleHR, a Destinbased company, was recently named one of Florida’s Best Companies
To Work For. The annual list, featured in Florida Trend magazine, ranks 100 companies in small, medium and large employer categories. To participate, companies or government entities were required to have at least 15 workers in Florida and to be in operation for at least one year.
» Hotel Effie at the Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort has been listed as one of the top hotels in Florida by Condé Nast Traveler Readers’ Choice Awards. The property was listed as No. 9.
» Children’s Volunteer Health
Network, an organization that provides free access to dental and mental health services to children in need in Northwest Florida, has announced the arrival of their second mobile dental clinic. The first bus, gifted to CVHN by the Dugas Family Foundation, is a clinic on wheels. The dental unit meets children where they are and provides preventative dental services on the bus, which is often parked outside of local schools. Now, another state-of-the-art bus is being introduced to the community, but unlike the original mobile dental clinic, the second bus will go beyond preventative care and
provide restorative services, including urgent procedures.
» The beachfront Hyatt Place hotel is now open in Panama City Beach. The 11-story tower is developed and managed by OTO Development, part of The Johnson Group. Project partners include architect and design firm Bullock Tice Associates; interior designer P3 Design Collective; and general contractor Robins & Morton. The hotel has 224 guest rooms and suites, some with bunk beds to accommodate young families.
, a New York-based international advocacy organization to champion young classical musicians, has honored Sinfonia Gulf Coast music artistic director Demetrius Fuller with an appointment to its board of directors. Fuller founded Sinfonia Gulf Coast in 2005.
Eastern Shipbuilding invests in the future, even as a Coast Guard contract hangs in the balance
story by T.S. STRICKLAND
One afternoon in mid-July, a smattering of state and local officials stood on the docks at Eastern Shipbuilding’s Nelson Street Shipyard in Panama City and watched as a plaque bearing the name of U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski was ceremonially welded to the hull of the newly commissioned USCGC Ingham
The ship is the third of four similar vessels that are to be constructed by Eastern under a contract with the U.S. Coast Guard for their new offshore patrol cutter program. On this particular afternoon, the Ingham’s enormous hull loomed over the crowd, helping to shield onlookers from the midday glare. However, another, less friendly shadow also loomed over the afternoon’s proceedings.
Just a fortnight before the ship’s unveiling, Eastern had learned the Coast Guard would not be awarding it the $208.3 million contract for the next ship in the offshore patrol cutter fleet. Instead, the contract would be awarded to Austal USA, an Alabamabased subsidiary of the Australian defense contractor Austal.
With construction rights for up to 11 ships on the line, the ultimate cost of that loss could exceed $3 billion over the life of the contract. It was a staggering blow for a company that has weathered setback over setback in recent years, and one they refused to take lying down.
The company filed a formal protest with the Government Accountability Office at the end of July, alleging the Coast Guard’s own selection criteria should have favored them in the bid review process because of their prior experience with the program. They also alleged that Austal had exaggerated their own capabilities and relied on leaked pricing information in crafting their bid.
“Obviously we’re very disappointed,” p resident Joey
D’Isernia said about the Coast Guard’s decision. “We are very passionate about this program, and we feel strongly that our proposal, backed by our actual performance executing hulls one through four, provided the Coast Guard with a very low-risk solution to getting these much-needed vessels out to the fleet as soon as possible.”
T he Coast Guard originally selected Eastern in 2016 to build as many as 25 offshore cutters but decided to rebid the program two years later, after the company’s Panama City shipyard was decimated during Hurricane Michael .
In the years since, Eastern’s employees have worked tirelessly to rebuild the shipyard, keep the Coast Guard contract on schedule and prove that the company has what it takes to manage the rest of the offshore patrol cutter program.
Among other things, this has meant rallying more than $50 million worth of funding from Triumph Gulf Coast and the State of Florida to transform the Nelson Street Shipyard into what D’Isernia describes as an “offshore patrol cutter factory,” dedicated exclusively to the Coast Guard’s needs.
“We were able to tailor the different facility improvements throughout Nelson Street specifically to the offshore
patrol cutter program,” D’Isernia said, “which means we could do a lot of things with the design that we wouldn’t be able to do if we took a one-size-fitsmost approach. That’s really what makes our facility unique.”
As a prime example, D’Isernia pointed to a new, $5 million aluminum fabrication facility that was completed
in January. The enormous structure, built with an economic development grant from Triumph Gulf Coast, is engineered specifically to enable the company to turn out two offshore patrol cutters each year — a production level that is necessary to meet the Coast Guard’s ambitious goals.
“The building itself is not a modern marvel,” D’Isernia said. “What makes it special is the design and the specifications behind that building.”
The Nelson Street facility was designed from the ground up to turn out offshore patrol cutters as efficiently as possible.
This focus on efficiency goes beyond the way Eastern builds the ships’ bones. They’ve taken a similar approach with the vessels’ brains or — in military parlance — their C5ISR systems.
(C5ISR is an acronym that stands for Command, Control, Computers, Communications, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance.)
A modern vessel like the Coast Guard’s offshore patrol cutter is wired to the hilt with various hardware and software systems — all of which must be tested during construction to ensure they play well with one another and with the larger ship design.
“Production facilities like this are typically not co-located with the construction of the ship,” D’Isernia said, “which adds a certain level of complexity to being able to access it, to being able to quickly test things and get all that information back to the shipbuilder.”
Eastern decided to buck this norm and co-locate the C5ISR production facility for the offshore patrol cutter program within their shipbuilding operation. As with the aluminum fabrication facility, this operation is specifically designed to support two entire, parallel production lines.
“The reason why that’s so valuable is because anytime you integrate a large number of separate systems across these different vendors, you
have a certain amount of integration risk,” D’Isernia said, “meaning that one piece of equipment doesn’t talk to another piece of equipment like it should. Finding that at the late stages of construction while you’re trying to test a vessel is the worst time to do that because it’s very costly, and it can cause significant delays to the production schedule.”
Despite all this effort, the future of the Coast Guard program in Bay County now hinges on Eastern’s bid protest, and it is not clear to anyone what the outcome of that protest will be.
Regardless, though, D’Isernia said he was confident the investments made in the cutter program would bear fruit.
“With proven capabilities and certified business systems and just the ability to manage a government program of that pedigree … we’re very
well positioned, regardless of what happens,” D’Isernia said.
“This is where we live,” he added. “We’ve been building ships here for the last 45 years and have earned a
very good reputation as a company and as a community within both the commercial and the government shipbuilding sectors. So, the future is bright.” ▪
Northwest Florida State College is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) to award associate and baccalaureate degrees. Questions about the accreditation of Northwest Florida State College may be directed in writing to the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges at 1866 Southern Lane, Decatur, GA 30033-4097, by calling (404) 679-4500, or by using information available on SACSCOC’s website (www.sacscoc.org).
For a few years now, Visit Panama City Beach, a tourism promotion organization, has maintained a three-word brand position: Real. Fun. Beach.
It’s ambiguous. Is “Real” meant to qualify “Fun” or is it meant to signify authentic or genuine?
“It works both ways,” said Dan Rowe, Visit Panama City Beach’s president and CEO. “Real fun is not necessarily the most grammatically correct, but it is true. Real stands alone, but it also amplifies fun. Those three little words are incredibly important as we look out into the world and the world looks into us.”
Rowe isn’t inclined to tinker with the VPCB motto — even if the practice of separating words in a stance line with periods so as to add emphasis to each word passes from view — but his outlook on the World’s Most Beautiful Beaches suggests that he wouldn’t object strenuously to the addition of Reliable.
“Panama City Beach for generations has been one of the truly all-American beach towns,” he said during an interview. “It goes all the way back to the 1930s. This has been a place that people have come to, year in and year out, because the quality of the experience is always so high. There are a lot of beaches in the nation that you go to for a very specific purpose, but this is a beach where you come to relax, chill out and have fun.”
Rowe holds in special regard the early developers of Panama City Beach, including Gideon “Gil” Thomas.
Thomas recalls Harvey Jackson III in his fine history, The Rise and Fall of the Redneck Riviera, “bought a little over 100 acres adjacent to J.E. Churchill’s Long Beach Resort and named it Panama City Beach. Selling the project wasn’t easy, but Thomas’ enthusiasm was contagious. He raised the money, laid out the streets and made them passable with oyster shells brought in from Apalachicola. Then he built a two-story, 12-room hotel along with a few tourist cottages. Gated with an arch, the development was so brightly lit at night that it could be seen from the downtown Dixie-Sherman Hotel, located across St. Andrew Bay.”
Said Rowe about Thomas, “When he opened the first hotel on the sand at Panama City Beach, people ridiculed him. His response was, ‘I’m not here to grow vegetables, I’m here to grow people.’ He had an insight that really helped define our destination.”
ON,
Rowe spoke to the natural assets that account for Panama City Beach’s enduring appeal.
“The old adage is that when you get our sand between your toes, you’ll be back,” he said. “That has to do with the quality of the beach and the sand and the whole experience of being out on the Gulf. J.E. Churchwell came up with the tagline ‘World’s Most Beautiful Beaches,’ and it stuck because it ain’t braggin’ if it’s true. Our water is spectacular. When there is no weather system in the Gulf, it is just
→ Visit Panama City Beach president and CEO Dan Rowe at the Publix Sports Park. Sports tourism has become an important part of the visitation mix at the “Home of the World’s Most Beautiful Beaches.” VPCB is working on plans for an indoor sports facility that will adjoin the sports complex’s existing fields of play and host gymnastics, volleyball and other events.
stunning. We don’t have the big river systems flowing into our bays, so our water clarity is phenomenal.”
That clarity makes Panama City Beach a Florida diving destination second only to the Keys in popularity.
“The beach is our No. 1 attribute, and we show up on best beach lists all the time, but we encourage everyone to get on, get in and get under the water while they are here,” Rowe said.
Amid the sun, the sand, the water and the salt air is fun, and that, Rowe said, “is the glue that holds it all together.
“You come here, and you have a smile on your face. The definition of fun will change at different times of the year, but fun is always the centerpiece, whether it’s a family in the summertime, a jazz aficionado during the Seabreeze Jazz Festival, winter residents coming down here to beat the bitter Midwestern cold or a country music fan. Everybody is coming here to have fun. It is really cool to be able to market that because as the world gets crazier, people need to be able to reconnect and be able to put it all aside for a while.”
In Bay County, first Hurricane Michael and then a global pandemic reminded people of the preciousness of connections with others and the importance of good times “because there are some things that are out of our control,” Rowe said. “We’ve done quite well in the aftermath of the pandemic because our fundamentals are very strong: You can come down here, go outside, hang out on the beach, be socially distanced and make sense of the world.”
Even as the Panama City Beach area has begun to become home to large-scale residential developments and is seeing a proliferation of branded hotels, Rowe said, its homegrown small businesses remain foundational to the PCB experience and the renewal of traditions each year among regular visitors. Dusty’s Oyster Bar, Goofy Golf, Half Hitch Tackle, the Shell Port and countless other owneroperated businesses are permanent fixtures of the landscape.
The summer months when children are out of school will always be peak season in Panama City Beach and an area defined by Atlanta, Birmingham and Nashville figures always to be its primary market.
“But we are now seeing a lot of visitation from up the I-65 and I-75 corridors — Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, St. Louis,” Rowe said. “And Texas is a very important market for us. One market that is interesting to me is Orlando. We get a lot of people who come up here from there. That’s a testament to the experience we provide. Because living in Orlando, you’re just a few hours from everywhere in Florida.”
Visit Panama City Beach’s marketing efforts have evolved and expanded over time in response to the ways in which people obtain and consume information.
“We are a digital-first marketing agency, and as such, we’re able to introduce Panama City Beach to audiences that we couldn’t reach back in the days of TV and print media,” Rowe said. “Now, we can talk to a much larger audience much more efficiently.”
Given the resumption of international travel, Visit Panama City Beach is relaunching its marketing efforts in the United Kingdom.
The COVID-19 pandemic both disrupted and benefitted Panama City Beach.
On one hand, it forced the postponement of events owned and sponsored by VPCB. At the same time, people altered travel plans and extended their stays.
“If you are able to work remotely and your kids are going to school virtually,
well, a lot of people chose to do that here,” Rowe said. “We have a safer environment than those in a lot of large metro areas. As an economic downturn, the pandemic for us lasted just about 60 days beginning in the middle of March 2020. When the governor reopened the state to short-term rentals, we were able to get back to business in the middle of May, and we have been growing strong ever since.”
The pandemic meanwhile spurred the popularity of vacation rentals that enable visitors to “control their environment,” Rowe said.
“You can decide when you are going to engage, you don’t have to eat every single meal at a restaurant and you have more space. That sense of space and being able to get away from the crowd is incredibly important. Even though in the summer there are a lot of people on the beach, you still have the ability to enjoy your own little slice of heaven.”
For Rowe, Panama City Beach is an unpretentious place.
“Our visitors look like the average American,” he said. “People of different socio-economic levels come here — we have people who save up to come on vacation to the beach once a year, and we have other people who come here all the time and for whom money is no object. You’ll see Ford F-150 pickup trucks, and you’ll see Range Rovers. But this is one of those great places where everyone is welcome.”
Visit Panama City Beach owns the new Publix Sports Park at the eastern end of an area that has come to be known as Breakfast Point, and it is working on plans to develop an indoor sports center that will adjoin the complex’s baseball diamonds and rectangular fields of play. That indoor facility — it will host volleyball matches and gymnastics meets, and VPCB is looking at wiring it for e-sports
There are beaches in the nation that you go to for a very specific purpose, but this is a beach where you come to relax, chill out and have fun.”
— DAN ROWE, VISIT PANAMA CITY BEACH CEO↑ Panama City Beach, in the estimation of its promoter-in-chief Dan Rowe, has been a quintessential beach vacation destination going on 100 years. VISITATION REAL. FUN. BEACH.
— will contribute to making visitation in Panama City Beach less seasonal.
Panama City Beach doesn’t drive off a cliff when school resumes anymore, and that, Rowe said, is a change that has occurred gradually over time.
“ It used to be that the 100 days of summer were it,” he said. “There was a reason why Panama City Beach got into s pring b reak when it did. It was an economic development strategy so businesses could start to bridge the gap between Labor Day and Memorial Day. Now, we have more year-round businesses. Many shopping malls are having a hard time given the advent of online shopping, but Pier Park is an exception. It’s an attraction. Retailers there are doing well, and there is very low turnover from year to year.”
Where does Rowe, promoter-in-chief of Real. Fun. Beach. go to find his little
↑ With events and new facilities, Visit Panama City Beach, under the leadership of Dan Rowe, has succeeded in expanding the community’s tourist season. “It used to be that the 100 days of summer were it,” he said. Panama City Beach first sought to enlarge the Memorial Day to Labor Day window by positioning itself as a spring break destination. Of late, it has chosen to instead target families as preferred spring visitors.
slice of heaven? He fly fishes but not for pompano or bream.
“I prefer being in a cold mountain stream,” said Rowe, who grew up in the West as the son of a National Park Service employee.
“I lived off and on for a decade in Colorado and fished many of the trout streams there,” Rowe said. “I went to Colorado State, and the Roaring Fork was my home water. I have not fished any of the streams up in the Yellowstone area, and the Madison and the Jefferson are definitely on my bucket list.”
Rowe recalled a time spent fishing a pool beneath the Navajo Dam in the desert in Southeastern Colorado.
“The trout — big ones — were eating little flies. It was hard to see the flies we were using, much less tie them on. You would see the fish and float a fly by them and all of a sudden, one of them would hit it and those fish would just take off and you would pop more of them off than you could turn. But it was so much fun.”
At his mention of fun, Rowe’s thoughts come back home.
“Panama City Beach has been tested, and we have weathered the storm and withstood the test of time,” he said. “The staff here are dedicated to this place because they love what they do, and they love where they are.”
So does Rowe. ▪
During the best of times, mergers and acquisitions are exciting and stressful. Such is the nature of change. The stakes are higher during a recession because interest is higher and cash is less valuable. Business leaders on both sides of the transaction need to ensure proper due diligence is done across the entire spectrum from cultural to financial.
At Bit-Wizards, they believe every company is a technology company. Technology touches
every company facet, from human capital management to operations, finance and information technology (IT). The engineers at Bit-Wizards focus on ensuring that IT systems are compatible while ensuring that you have expert advice on the state of IT Systems. Proper IT due diligence ensures there are no surprises post-merger.
Bit-Wizard’s consulting services helps companies achieve the synergies they expect by providing them with data and information about the IT systems, so companies
do not get saddled with an albatross that destroys value.
One such albatross typically not evaluated properly is the compatibility and state of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) or Human Resource software systems. Incompatibilities can result in large, expensive data migration or system migrations post-M&A transaction, causing overestimated synergies and effectively destroying the company’s value.
Often overlooked are simple things like phone system
compatibility, last desktop refresh, state and licensing of servers and software, IT vendor agreements, and technical ability and knowledge of the staff. Failure to plan for their costs pre-M&A can be costly and impact critical operations.
Vince Mayfield, CEO, and Sam Blowes, Director of IT at BitWizards, often see companies become overwhelmed when they discover how many systems must be meshed. These include software, cloud systems, data recording, compliance, manufacturing
operations, security, hardware, and even phone and internet providers.
“Think of an acquisition as a wedding and a merger like the marriage,” Blowes said. “Companies are focused on the wedding because that’s where the excitement is, but the focus should be on sustaining a 50-year marriage. We act as the marriage counselor. By asking the right questions, we take two unlike systems and help them merge into something compatible.”
Additionally, many companies are buying intellectual property (IP) as
part of an acquisition. This IP usually exists as part of custom software or proprietary software integrations. You must evaluate these systems thoroughly, just like you would a used car. You do not want to buy a lemon where your profits flush down the drain in maintenance or where you are held hostage by a single developer with all the software knowledge. Do you have the source code? Is it well-written and documented? What are the unit economics, and what are the operating costs? These are just a few considerations.
“Typically, when you acquire and merge another business, you’re seeking growth or acquiring a strategic asset,” Mayfield said. “Many companies don’t have the bandwidth or expertise in IT systems, which is where we add value. Our team does a pre-merger evaluation, then helps you quickly integrate and standardize so you can achieve that growth.”
70 Ready Ave. NW, Fort Walton Beach BitWizards.com | ( 850) 226-4200
Building on the success of the Milcon and Air Force Contracting Summits held by the Defense Leadership Forum in recent years, the Northwest Florida Leadership Forum, also headed by William Loiry, presented its first-ever Northwest Florida Economic Summit in October at the Destin-Fort Walton Beach Convention Center.
The event in many ways resembled Loiry’s summits focused on military construction and procurement budgets, but this one encompassed, too, anticipated projects that will result from the $1.2 trillion federal infrastructure bill and the $715 billion federal transportation bill.
The Economic Summit addressed economic development funding and programs, energy and technology initiatives, military contracting opportunities and public-private partnerships while also speaking to Northwest Florida’s growth dynamic.
Of particular value to contractors, the Economic Summit provided for one-on-one matchmaking discussions between business people and officials at local, state and federal agencies who are responsible for administering grants and awarding contracts.
The event’s keynote speakers were Congressman Neal Dunn, who represents Florida’s 2nd Congressional District, and Jennifer Conoley, the president and CEO of Florida’s Great Northwest.
Dunn, a member of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, addressed the summit regarding the fiscal year 2022 Department of Defense budget and anticipated spending in fiscal year 2023. In 2022, 19% of the DOD budget or $132.5 billion was reserved for procurement purposes, and 16% ($112 billion) was earmarked for research and development. Those appropriations, versus far larger budgets reserved for operation and maintenance and military personnel, flow to private-sector businesses.
Dunn emphasized the continuing strategic importance of the Eglin Test and Training Range, which covers approximately 724 square miles of the Florida Panhandle and 120,000 square miles over the Gulf of Mexico. He described the range as irreplaceable. Dunn also provided an update on construction at Tyndall Air Force Base, which is being redeveloped at the cost of $5.2 billion as the Air Force “Base of the Future.”
Conoley provided a regional perspective on economic diversification and development efforts.
A handful of large public investors stood up Florida’s Great Northwest 22 years ago, intending that it serve to encourage businesses to locate and expand their operations in the Florida Panhandle. The economic development organization represents 12 counties: Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, Walton, Holmes, Washington, Bay, Jackson, Calhoun, Gulf, Liberty and Franklin.
Its chief aim, Conoley said, remains economic expansion and diversification, but the organization also has arms dedicated to advocacy and community collaboration. It retains a lobbyist, she said, who safeguards the region’s interests in Tallahassee, including by seeing to it that $1.5 billion in damages, paid by BP owing to the Deepwater Horizon disaster and designated for eight coastal counties in Northwest Florida, remain in the region.
Conoley counts as her competitors Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana and the Carolinas and said she doesn’t like to lose. She spends a lot of time with site selectors, especially those who relate to Florida’s Great Northwest’s targeted industries: aviation; aerospace and defense; cybersecurity; distribution and logistics; and manufacturing.
She pointed to regional assets including its talent ecosystem; a supportive financial environment; transportation infrastructure in the form of ports, airports and highways; and supportive business networks and communities.
Those assets, she noted, have yielded successes ranging from ST Engineering, a maintenance, repair and overhaul operation at Pensacola International Airport to Probes Unlimited, a temperature sensor manufacturer that set up shop with 18 employees in an old middle school building in Bonifay in Holmes County.
The 12-county region can be expected to experience rapid growth in coming years. Citing figures from the Bureau of Economic & Business Research at the University of Florida, Conoley noted that the area’s population was projected to grow by 11.3% between 2021 and 2025 and by 51.3% by 2050.
Conoley was the keynote speaker at Rowland Publishing/850 Business Magazine’s 2022 Pinnacle Awards presentation, held in Tallahassee in October.
Rowland Publishing executive editor Steve Bornhoft and associate publisher McKenzie Burleigh participated in an Economic Summit panel focused on the technology sector in the regional economy. Joined by Steve Millaway, the founder/CEO at Tech Farms Capital in Panama City Beach; Vincent Mayfield, the CEO at BitWizards in Fort Walton Beach and Keith Bowers, the director of the Office of Economic Vitality in Tallahassee, they discussed vulnerabilities and strengths of the entrepreneurial ecosystem involving tech innovators in Northwest Florida.
McKenzie Burleigh, associate publisher of 850 Business Magazine, moderates a Northwest Florida technology panel.
Their conclusion: The future is bright.
With all of that growth, of course, comes growing pains.
Megan Harrison, the CEO at the Walton Area Chamber of Commerce, and Bill Imfeld, the executive director of the Walton County Economic Development Alliance, spoke to the need for affordable housing, day care centers, and roads and mass transit in Walton County, which is the second-fastest-growing county in the state and home to Florida’s fastest-growing city by some measures, Freeport.
The Northwest Florida Summit, then, provided an insightful look into the growth that will inevitably visit the region, the impacts that it will bring and ways in which businesses can position themselves to take advantage of what’s next.
» WANT TO GO? Find out about more Defense Leadership Forum initiatives, as well as all upcoming summit and networking events, by visiting usdlf.org.
BY WILLIAM LOIRY
The 2023 Air Force Contracting Summit will be held on Feb. 7-8, 2023, at the Hilton Sandestin Beach Golf Resort & Spa.
The 10th annual Summit, a national military business event, will bring together more than 700 military and government officials, business executives, contracting experts and financing leaders to discuss the 2023 defense budget, Air Force mission and contracting priorities, and new support for companies with innovative defense solutions.
Speakers from the Pentagon, Air Force bases, and Air Force commands will provide the latest information on Air Force procurement opportunities, accelerated innovation contracting, Tyndall AFB reconstruction, military base energy resiliency, support for small-business tech programs, militarycommunity partnerships and more.
Of special note will be opportunities at the Summit for companies to pitch their products and services to DEFENSEWERX, SOFWERX, DHSWERX, MGMWERX and the Doolittle Institute — all Pentagon-supported organizations which speed the development of innovative solutions to benefit warfighters and the nation.
Summit sponsors include General Dynamics, ARMA Global, Bank of America, Horsley Construction, Minoria Tech, Gene Moran, Carr, Riggs & Ingram, Cadence Bank, and many others. More than 60 on-site exhibitors will be on hand, representing a wide range of products and services, from aircraft munitions to aircraft maintenance, command-and-control systems and military base reconstruction.
During 2023, the Defense Leadership Forum is also organizing the Southwest
U.S. Rep. Neal Dunn (FL-2) with Summit Chairman William Loiry at the 2022 Northwest Florida Economic Summit. More than 120,000 government, military and business leaders have attended Loiry’s conferences on defense, homeland and global security, disaster reconstruction and economic development. For more information, visit WilliamLoiry.com.
Defense Contracting Summit, European Defense & Energy Security Summit, Navy Contracting Summit, Northwest Florida Economic Summit, Pacific Defense Contracting Summit, and the MILCON Contracting Summit.
Construction projects bring plans to fruition through a blueprint, a detailed plan, quality materials and a talented team. At JM Phelps Construction, project managers Lance Youngblood and Buck Henry are stewards of that process.
JM Phelps president and CEO Justin Phelps has long put cultivating strong relationships at the center of his business. As a result, he enjoys repeat customers including CEFCO and St. Joe Properties. Phelps stresses the importance of relationships to members of his team.
Before becoming a project manager with JM Phelps four years ago, Lance Youngblood worked in the restaurant industry, beginning as summer employee and eventually becoming a franchisee. He worked with general contractors to build new restaurants.
Youngblood became friends with Phelps, who was looking to expand his business. While Youngblood had a lot to learn about construction, he was already a people person experienced in growing and managing companies.
Buck Henry has worked in construction, specializing in structural concrete, underground utilities and site work, since 2007. Henry had been friends with Phelps for many years, when Phelps made him aware of an open position with his company. In October 2021, Henry joined Youngblood as a project manager. The two primarily manage projects for CEFCO, averaging six or more locations per year.
From the bidding process to the grand opening, Youngblood and Henry work with their clients every step of the way. They provide market knowledge, value analysis, design coordination, materials procurement and advice on innovative tools and processes while managing a team of superintendents and contractors.
“I always answer my phone, and some may see that as a downfall, but it’s how we gain repeat customers who trust us, who know their time is valued and that we will provide them with the exact results they want,” Henry said.
Youngblood often draws upon his experience as a customer of construction companies.
“A lot of work and coordination goes into these projects, which makes handing over the keys to the owner all the more rewarding,” Youngblood said. “We may finish a project, but the client knows we are always there to help. We build a lot of buildings and even more relationships.”
Wine has a way of brightening even the sunniest of days. Each year, the South Walton Beaches Wine & Food Festival raises a glass to that sentiment. The festival, which brings together winemakers, chefs, distillers and brewers for a weekend of wine tastings, education and entertainment, will be held for the 11th time next April 27–30 at the Grand Boulevard Town Center.
More than 600 wines will be poured, giving attendees the opportunity to taste, learn about and purchase regional, national and international vintages.
To complement the wines, the Savor South Walton Culinary Village will offer samples from the best restaurants in South Walton. Items are prepared to pair well with the wines that are poured. Additional food offerings are located throughout the festival.
A unique aspect of the festival is its Tasting Seminar Tent. Seminars presented by winemakers, distillers, chefs and well-
known personalities are both educational and enjoyable and provide insights into processes, flavor profiles and more.
The festival begins on Thursday with a Winemakers & Shakers event held at Wine World in Destin. Friday’s activities include a VIP Wine Tasting followed by the Craft Beer & Spirits Jam. The main events occur on Saturday and Sunday at the Grand Tasting.
Stacey Brady, executive director of South Walton Beaches Wine & Food Festival, advises festival-goers to look at the event program ahead of time and plot out the tents they most want to visit.
“Our wines are poured from around the world — beautiful pinots from Oregon, specialty cabernets and chardonnays from California, delicious Italian reds, subtle French wines that everyone loves and bold wines from South Africa and South America,” Brady said.
Find a new wine that you like, and you can purchase a bottle at the retail tent.
“Our goal is to present a world-class wine and food event that you might not be able to experience elsewhere in terms of the volume and types we pour,” Brady said.
The Minuty Rose tent, evoking the glamour and French Riviera lifestyle of St. Tropez, will be back in 2023.
The festival is a fundraiser for the Destin Charity Wine Auction Foundation, which benefits over a dozen children’s charities in Northwest Florida. The 2022 event raised $40,000, a record amount.
“Since the start, we have made it our mission to be charitable, and it’s been incredibly rewarding to see how much we’ve raised, all while allowing attendees to enjoy the good life, discovering great wines and delicious local food,” Brady said.
Following the Surfside collapse in Miami in June 2021, John Minor, certified general contractor (CGC); James Coil, professional engineer (PE) and James “J.B.” Burnes, community association manager (CAM) got together with some condominium clients and put together a plan based on their condo owner association needs.
“The condo collapse was a tragedy, and on top of that, a billion-dollar settlement. However, it resulted in long overdue action to correct deferred maintenance and inadequate reserves, which exist in many associations,” Burnes said.
Thinking proactively, Team Complete formed a group of licensed professionals to conduct Structural Integrity Reserve Studies (SIRS) along with Milestone Inspections (Phases 1 and 2).
As Burnes predicted, Senate bill 4D was signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis on May 26, 2022. New statutes require that all buildings three stories or more in height undergo a SIRS by Dec. 31, 2024, to remain in compliance.
The SIRS mandate is designed to ensure that condos and co-op associations are reserving the funds necessary for structural repairs.
The study will dictate funding to be set aside to address deficiencies. Annual budgets must demonstrate that required reserves are on hand.
During a SIRS, 10 elements are addressed: roof, load bearing walls and structural members, floor, foundation, fireproofing and fire protection systems, plumbing, electrical, water proofing and exterior painting, windows and other
elements over $10,000 that have an impact on the structural integrity.
Milestone Phase 1 Inspections must be conducted at buildings of three stories or more and lying within three miles of the coastline by the 25th anniversary of the issuance of its first certificate of occupancy. All buildings lying outside of this 3-mile radius shall be completed by its 30th anniversary. Subsequently, a Milestone Inspection must be also conducted every 10 years.
Phase 1 is an initial inspection of structural integrity. Should substantial deterioration be found, a Phase 2 assessment will define the scope of the needed repairs.
“Now is the time to be proactive in your SIRS and Milestone inspections,” Burnes said. “Team Complete has the experience, expertise, technology and training to help.”
Let’s create a plan that leads with your passions and priorities.
At Bonner/Zediker Wealth Management Group of Wells Fargo Advisors, we aim to help clients feel more confident by developing personally tailored wealth management plans for our clients. Our goal is twofold:
To help manage your financial world, freeing you to pursue your passions, dreams, and talents
To address the full spectrum of your wealth management needs, no matter how complex
photography by THE WORKMANS
MCMILLAN was fond of an aphorism — “It’s not whether you win or lose; it’s how you look!” She used to sign copies of her book, A Guide to Style, with that saying. McMillan was a retail executive, dress shop owner and publisher over the course of her long life. She was born in 1927 in Jackson County, a place unlikely at the time to give rise to a fashion maven and producer of magazines, and died in 2021 at age 93.
Rowland Publishing and 850 Business Magazine honored McMillan and her legacy with a Pinnacle Award in October. She is described by people who knew her as “irrepressible.” That word might fairly be applied to the 11 additional honorees who stepped forward to receive Pinnacle Awards at an event held at the Dunlap Champions Club on the campus of Florida State University.
Over the course of its nine-year history, Pinnacle Award recipients have included some who can remember very well an era when career options for women were few. The Pinnacle Class of 2022 is remarkable for various reasons, not the least of which is the range of occupational fields its members represent, from medicine to law, public relations and advertising, education, economic development and business planning.
Thanks go to pioneers like McMillan for more widely opening the world of work to women and for making all they have and will contribute available to us all. Over the next few pages, the honorees for 2022 reflect on lessons learned and mentors who shaped their lives. They offer thoughts, too, on aspirations that Northwest Florida should embrace. We would fare well to consider carefully what they have to say. — Steve Bornhoft
DESCRIBE TWO OR THREE WOMEN WHO SERVED YOU AS IMPORTANT ROLE MODELS AND MENTORS. WHAT DID YOU LEARN FROM THEM? Throughout my life, I’ve been blessed to have been positively impacted by several remarkable women. Two of the women who have made an indelible mark on the woman I am today are my mother Susie Grimsley and one of my former high school teachers, Lisa Mitchell. My mother has always been an intelligent, charming, firebrand of a personality who loves music and is a social butterfly. As a kid, I had a front-row seat to her building a loving, God-fearing home, while earning a master’s degree and working full time as a licensed social worker. She fostered a sense of independence by showing me how to earn a psychology degree while maintaining a loving family. Her hard work and creativity were equally matched by her electric style and notable grace. She instilled in me from an early age that I was special, smart and unstoppable when I put my all into any effort. Mrs. Mitchell was also incredibly supportive. A God-fearing woman who loves her family unconditionally, she shared that unconditional love with me, and it buoyed me through some emotionally challenging high school years. Her positive perspective of who I was reinforced my confidence and other positive aspects of my character. Through her eyes, I could see that I possessed an even greater potential than I had considered. This experience shaped how vital I see the role of mentors for troubled youth. One person truly can make a generational difference.
TELL US ABOUT
THE HARD WAY. It’s undoubtedly an age-old lesson but one of the hardest ones I’ve had to learn — always be your authentic self. When you try to be someone you’re not, it’s always a recipe for disaster! When I was preparing my investiture speech, I tried to shape a speech similar to the one that Supreme Court Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson had
She has been buoyed by a belief in her unstoppability
given during a ceremony celebrating her historic confirmation to the United States Supreme Court. I remember being moved to tears by her sheer brilliance, grace and reverence for her cultural upbringing. She was someone who understood the gravity of her appointment. Who wouldn’t want to move people in that way? I sure did, and so I crafted a speech that I believed would seize the moment by inspiring the masses. You’ll have to ask those in attendance what they thought of the speech, but from that experience, I learned that we all have special ways and by using them as tools, we have the power needed to move people in unique ways that only we can do.
WHAT
BUSINESS, PERSONAL
PROFESSIONAL, IS UPPERMOST
YOUR MIND? I’ve always looked at my election to the 2nd Judicial Circuit as a journey to something greater than me but focused around serving the people who elected me to this position. Professionally, I can continue in that aim by working with Phi Alpha Delta Law Fraternity to establish a circuit-wide mock trial tournament for high school students. I dream to see our students compete at the statewide and national level. I’m studying French and hoping to master the language just enough to enjoy a trip to Paris soon!
AS IT CONTEMPLATES ITS FUTURE, WHAT SHOULD NORTHWEST FLORIDA ASPIRE TO BE? Northwest Florida should aspire to be what any place aspires for its communities: a beacon of diversity, where all communities have the space to freely express thoughts without the fear of retaliation. Northwest Florida is home to the state capitol — a lighthouse, if you will, for the entire state. My hope is that Northwest Florida can continue to work to be a place where the intelligence and reason of its residents can carry the day instead of emotional reactions to clickbait.
The lyrics of a well-known anthem that’s been reprised over the years says, “I’m every woman, it’s all in me… .” This song has always reminded me that most of what we need is already inside of us. So, my advice to young women pursuing their specific careers is to always remain your authentic self. Pursue a career that reflects your morals and values. Stay grounded so that you’ll never lose focus on why you set out to accomplish your goals. Finally, don’t allow yourself to be silenced. Ever. Don’t doubt yourself. Speak up because your voice is necessary.
DESCRIBE
LEARN FROM THEM? Women in my family are the strongest role models I’ve had in my life. Starting with my mother, aunts and grandmother — they were my first role models. And now, my three daughters, Irelyn (18), Ella (17) and Bryre (16), are a constant inspiration to me as I see them navigating life’s challenges and opportunities. As for my professional life, I am surrounded by a team of women in my firm that encourages, inspires and holds me accountable.
Cara, Meredith, Dianne, Meagan, Hannah and Julie embody the epitome of a woman in all facets of life and are my bumper stops and encouragers daily. I have also benefited from the mentorship of Carol Carlan (IHMC) and Virginia Buchanan (Levin Papantonio); both women have passed along their secrets to success and have been there every step of the way to guide me.
TELL US
THE HARD WAY. Always put on your own oxygen mask before assisting others. Practicing marital and family law can be particularly taxing on the emotions of the attorney because of the stressful nature of the cases you’re charged with navigating. Often, clients require the “counselor” more than they need the “attorney” part of you. It is easy to lose yourself and give more than you have when clients are experiencing such intense grief and loss.
When my children were younger, I came home at the end of the day with little mommy juice left for them — much less myself. I was burned out and needed more oxygen for myself. My solution was to carve out Mondays for my own projects, business development and self-care so that I’d be able to approach my clients and family with the grace and energy they deserve.
This is a hard one! I am constantly moving the bar for myself, so while I’m content, I always feel like there’s a next step to take. Business growth, travel and family continue to be the topics most forefront in my mind.
NORTHWEST FLORIDA
TO BE? A place where our children want to live that is vibrant with activity and full of job opportunities. Our community has it all, but we must retain our talent. As I see kids going out of state for college, I just cringe because I think of all the talent we could be exporting. For them to want to move here, we need to build community and expand job opportunities so that all this exported talent is only temporary.
Let personal excellence be your goal post, and don’t worry about what others are doing or saying. Do not give people who are not your biggest fans a front-row seat to your life. I also think that when you are young and have fewer demands on your personal life, you should seize the opportunity to build a career as early as possible. If you prove to be a valuable employee or professional when you are young, when the time comes that your family may need more attention, you have the resume to support flexibility. Embrace how fun it is to work. Hard work and career development are not bad words; don’t let Instagram tell you otherwise!
DESCRIBE TWO OR THREE WOMEN WHO SERVED YOU AS IMPORTANT ROLE MODELS AND MENTORS. WHAT DID YOU LEARN FROM THEM? My mother, Helen, displayed the amazing qualities of patience, kindness and love. These were her special gifts that she shared with everyone she encountered. I loved the fact that she could balance all these attributes and yet be so strong raising five children during the Great Depression. I am honored to be named after her. The other woman that was a role model to me was Queen Elizabeth II. Through her 70 years as the queen, she showed love, guidance, dignity and respect. She balanced her marriage of 74 years and her throne, and she always showed compassion and strength.
TELL US ABOUT A LESSON YOU LEARNED THE HARD WAY. I have allowed God and the Holy Spirit to lead my life through prayer. This has helped me not to make quick decisions in life, which has been my strength through His guidance. So, my lesson is one that I have learned “His way,” not the “hard way.”
WHAT UNFINISHED BUSINESS, PERSONAL OR PROFESSIONAL, IS UPPERMOST IN YOUR MIND? To always maintain a special relationship with my grandchildren, foster their relationship in a Godly manner and touch their hearts by just listening to them.
AS IT CONTEMPLATES ITS FUTURE, WHAT SHOULD NORTHWEST FLORIDA ASPIRE TO BE? Northwest Florida should aspire to be the geographic area that is known for opportunity, growth and prosperity with a touch of hospitality. It should be known as a place with giving people that help each other in a unique way that attracts more good people.
Never give up as you run across obstacles in life. Let your passion drive your desires for success, and always balance God, family and career — in that order.
The biggest part of crisis management is showing up
DESCRIBE TWO OR THREE WOMEN WHO SERVED YOU AS IMPORTANT ROLE MODELS AND MENTORS. WHAT DID YOU LEARN FROM THEM? My mother, Sharon, is my number one. My father passed away when my brother, Jacob, and I were young, and I learned so much from watching her raise us. She made multi-tasking look effortless. My mother showed me you could have both a successful career and a flourishing family life. She taught me about hard work and to keep my relationship with God at the forefront of all my decisions. Another woman who helped shape me professionally is my previous boss, Jennifer. She is a go-getter and a fantastic example of success in the tourism and marketing industries. I’m elated that I still get to work alongside her on regional initiatives.
TELL US ABOUT A LESSON YOU LEARNED THE HARD WAY. Being a leader isn’t easy or glamorous; it’s challenging and exhausting. Each day, you’re required to make executive decisions that affect others. There’s a lot of responsibility and weight in that. Going through multiple crises in my current role made me understand that an essential part of being a leader is showing up every day — even after those days you want to quit.
WHAT UNFINISHED BUSINESS, PERSONAL OR PROFESSIONAL, IS UPPERMOST IN YOUR MIND? Enjoying my family is most important to me. My husband, Matt, and I have a 5-year-old son and an 18-month-old daughter. We want to be very intentional in every moment we have with them. Soon, before we know it, they’ll be grown and living on their own. We try to soak it all in and enjoy the best years of our lives while we live them!
AS IT CONTEMPLATES ITS FUTURE, WHAT SHOULD NORTHWEST FLORIDA ASPIRE TO BE? Northwest Florida’s natural beauty and diversity are extraordinary. I hope that Northwest Florida has the vision to develop new, exciting opportunities that allow it to be a leader on many fronts. Most importantly, it will enable its young talent to remain in the area and call it their forever home.
WHAT ADVICE DO YOU HAVE FOR YOUNG WOMEN PURSUING THEIR CAREERS? The best advice I’ve received is, “The world is run by those who show up and speak up.” This advice came to me when I was transitioning into my current role as director and struggling with imposter syndrome. I knew I had the skills and capabilities, but I was still unsure. That piece of advice gave me the confidence to own my voice.
PRESIDENT/CEO, LAKEVIEW GROUP
DESCRIBE TWO OR THREE WOMEN WHO SERVED YOU AS IMPORTANT ROLE MODELS AND MENTORS. WHAT DID YOU LEARN FROM THEM? By far, my most influential female mentor was my grandmother, June Thornberry Raine. She was widowed at a young age and raised a family independently. She was the first female lector at her town’s Catholic Church and the first female vice president at the local bank. She introduced credit cards to the
community before they were customary. I have a big family, and she always told us we didn’t have to like each other, but we had to love each other. She applied that lesson to everybody and treated all with kindness. We lost her in May of 2021. She was three months shy of her 95th birthday. At her viewing, a gentleman told me my Granny helped him open his first bank account. He remembers depositing the first dollar he ever made because of her encouragement.
She says ‘yes’ to opportunities outside her comfort zone
To this day, I hear her advice in my head. That’s the type of impact I hope to have on others one day, and she lived it every day.
TELL US ABOUT A LESSON YOU LEARNED THE HARD WAY. The best lesson I’ve learned is that it’s okay not to get everything you want. Hearing “no” is sometimes painful, but things work out like they’re supposed to. “No” doesn’t always mean “never.” Sometimes it means “not right now.”
WHAT
UPPERMOST IN YOUR MIND? That list is long! The organization I’ve had the privilege of leading exited a 25-year affiliation with a larger health care system last year. The separation was collegial and the best decision for both organizations. We are now an independent nonprofit, and the future opportunities are limitless. In many ways, we now get to make decisions that start-up businesses make — and that’s exciting and terrifying at the same time. Fortunately, I work with the most talented group of individuals who make a difference in the lives of people daily.
AS IT CONTEMPLATES ITS FUTURE, WHAT SHOULD NORTHWEST FLORIDA ASPIRE TO BE? Northwest Florida should continue to focus on creating communities that attract and retain talent. I have lived in Pensacola most of my life. I met my husband and raised my family here. We’ve been blessed with so many opportunities. Education, personal safety, arts and entertainment, plus the natural beauty of this area are all reasons why we stay. I want both of my children to desire to return to Pensacola because they see the same opportunities that their dad and I had.
WHAT
WOMEN
THEIR SPECIFIC CAREERS? Say “yes!” to all the things that are scary, to all the things that make you stretch yourself, to all the things that take you out of your comfort zone. You may not excel at all those things, but you will learn valuable life lessons. You will grow in understanding who you are as a person and be better prepared for the future opportunities that will present themselves when the time is right.
She
DESCRIBE TWO OR THREE WOMEN WHO SERVED YOU AS IMPORTANT ROLE MODELS AND MENTORS. WHAT DID YOU LEARN FROM THEM? When I started my career in television, our wonderful office manager at WCTV in Thomasville showed a tremendous amount of empathy to a young, divorced mother with four children. She took me under her wing and helped me learn all aspects of the business and mentored me as I was building the foundation of what would turn out to be a successful career. Throughout my 35 years, I made it a point to surround myself not only with women in the broadcasting business but also with women in the community who would later become important and valuable to my career. To choose only three women would be impossible for me to do because these women are still, to this day, a very important part of my life and continue to inspire me to be the person I am today.
TELL US ABOUT A LESSON YOU LEARNED THE HARD WAY. Two individuals in a young marriage can eventually grow apart. At the time, it seemed like the right thing to do, but one day I finally realized my marriage was not going to work. This change in my life showed me that I could no longer depend on others for the welfare of my children and me. I also discovered how strong, independent and self-sufficient I am.
WHAT UNFINISHED BUSINESS, PERSONAL OR PROFESSIONAL, IS UPPERMOST IN YOUR MIND? I have an interest in writing a book about all the incredible and talented people I have interviewed over the years — there are so many memories filled with inspiration and impact.
AS IT CONTEMPLATES ITS FUTURE, WHAT SHOULD NORTHWEST FLORIDA ASPIRE TO BE? To continue to drive innovative solutions for social, economic and area tourism. Northwest Florida already offers a vibrant foundation for these solutions, and my hope is that the area continues to build upon them.
WHAT ADVICE DO YOU HAVE FOR YOUNG WOMEN PURSUING THEIR CAREERS? If you know what you want to do in life, get your foot in the door, be aggressive, ask questions, always strive to do more than what is asked of you, work hard, trust your intuition and above all, trust in God. The old saying is so true, “If you love what you do, you’ll never work another day in your life.”
DESCRIBE TWO OR THREE WOMEN WHO SERVED YOU AS IMPORTANT ROLE MODELS AND MENTORS. WHAT DID YOU LEARN FROM THEM? I have been truly fortunate to have the influence, guidance and strong friendships of wonderfully talented women of strong character. Though perhaps each woman was different in personality, age or vocation, they all shared a common trait — resiliency. Their responses in the face of a challenge or adversity have been a great motivator and example for me. There is an unmistakable link between our behavior, attitude and success. Two of these influencers joined me at the award celebration, Claire Duchemin and Debbie Huey.
TELL US ABOUT A LESSON YOU LEARNED THE HARD WAY. It may sound cliche, but it is true: Life is not fair. It is common to find, especially in the workplace, a lack of honesty or interest in being a team player. When I began my career, which started in college, I quickly learned not all colleagues are people of integrity. As I have gotten older and more experienced, it has become a little easier to distinguish the motives of others, and with strong leadership, to overcome obstructive personalities.
WHAT UNFINISHED BUSINESS, PERSONAL OR PROFESSIONAL, IS UPPERMOST IN YOUR MIND? I seek to be a lifelong learner. Currently, I’m enrolling in courses that I didn’t have the time for previously, allowing me to pursue new interests. Although temporarily sidelined during the pandemic, I plan to complete my required flight hours for my helicopter pilot license.
learned to be strong, independent and self-sufficient
Lifelong learning and resiliency are keys to her success
AS IT CONTEMPLATES ITS FUTURE, WHAT SHOULD NORTHWEST FLORIDA ASPIRE TO BE? A vibrant, healthy community is built on resources.
Accessible, quality health care is vital, but so are the social and economic resources, including housing, transportation, safety, arts, education and culture. When families and individuals can live in safe communities
with secure, stable employment and compete in the workplace, the entire region thrives.
WHAT
DO YOU HAVE FOR YOUNG WOMEN PURSUING THEIR CAREERS? Seize opportunities. Find ways to take advantage of your skills, interests and values. Be open to learning all you can, whether technology skills, leadership
skills or volunteer experiences. Don’t hesitate to ask for counsel from a successful professional. Advice from experienced talent can help steer your career plan. A golden rule is that you can always change your goals if you’re not finding satisfaction in your work — don’t stay stuck in a negative situation. You deserve to pivot and find pleasure in your work life.
SENIOR CONSULTANT, VISIONFIRST ADVISORS
DESCRIBE TWO OR THREE WOMEN WHO SERVED YOU AS IMPORTANT ROLE MODELS AND MENTORS.
WHAT DID YOU LEARN FROM THEM?
There have been many women throughout the years who have served as role models and mentors. Most of them do not even realize the small ways they have shaped my life, especially professionally. One of the most impactful pieces of advice I have ever received was from a women’s economic development luncheon about five or six years ago. One of the speakers stated that women needed to “own our seat at the table.” I use these words of advice today to help encourage other women leaders. As women, we often overlook the fact that we worked hard to earn that seat at the leadership table. We must remember that we are there because of the skill sets and insights we bring to the leadership team.
Honestly, I struggle with body image issues. I remember standing in my closet this summer and thinking, “How can I still be grappling with the same body image issues as I did when I was in my 20s?” I have to remember that it is not my physical appearance that makes me who I am, but my confidence in myself as a woman, both in personal and professional settings. This is an issue that many women struggle with, regardless of our age, and it can be hard to ask for help or advice. But we need to remember to reach out and ask for help.
Her confidence makes her the successful woman she is
WHAT
YOUR
One of my personal goals this year was to run a halfmarathon. I have been training since mid-June and will finally run the race in October — it was postponed due to Hurricane Ian. Training for it has been both a mental and physical challenge. But, I have grown to love those early morning runs where it is 100% my decision on how fast, how far and how long I run. And when I travel, it is a great way to get out and explore the community, right at dawn, just as the city is beginning to wake up.
From the coastline to the rural communities, the 850 region is primed to seize on the investment of new and existing industry growth that will produce new jobs in health care, manufacturing, technology and agriculture. I often say that economic development is a team sport. Our region needs to work together to cultivate these opportunities and the workforce needed to support industry growth in Northwest Florida.
Remember to take the time to listen to your clients/customers and your team. Approach each one of your projects with positive energy and a collaborative leadership style. And remember to smile. A smile can help build rapport and put people at ease. It goes a long way in networking and building relationships.
She learned early that persistence gets the better of resistance
DESCRIBE TWO OR THREE WOMEN WHO SERVED YOU AS IMPORTANT ROLE MODELS AND MENTORS. WHAT DID YOU LEARN FROM THEM?
Kay Phelan was the first mentor that I had the honor to learn from when I entered the marketing and public relations industry back in 2006 as a young intern at Destin Commons. Kay is the matriarch of PR on the Emerald Coast, and I have been blessed to learn the ins and outs of traditional PR and the importance of relationships from her throughout the years. Another role model and mentor that I have looked up to for over a decade is McKenzie Burleigh, the associate publisher of Rowland Publishing. Kenzie is the epitome of hustle with grace. She so humbly takes on so many different leadership roles both personally and professionally and gives them her very all, succeeding in everything she does. Most importantly, Kenzie does each of these things with humility,
steadiness, positivity and passion. Kenzie has taught me over the years that I can do anything I set my mind to.
TELL US ABOUT A LESSON YOU LEARNED THE HARD WAY. Persistence removes resistance. This is an idea that my dad has instilled in me since I was a young girl. Folks don’t always love the reminders, but persistence in business and life is key.
WHAT UNFINISHED BUSINESS, PERSONAL OR PROFESSIONAL, IS UPPERMOST IN YOUR MIND? The continuation of Proffitt PR’s Girls’ Night Out. I created this event in 2011 that gathered local ladies for camaraderie, and it grew over five years into hundreds of women coming together to raise thousands of dollars for local charities. I shifted my focus to my clients and have always wanted to resurrect Girls’ Night Out on the Emerald Coast. Stay tuned, ladies!
AS IT CONTEMPLATES ITS FUTURE, WHAT SHOULD NORTHWEST FLORIDA ASPIRE TO BE? A happy place thriving with health and wealth that visitors and locals can both enjoy.
WHAT ADVICE DO YOU HAVE FOR YOUNG WOMEN PURSUING THEIR CAREERS? Do it with your whole heart. Find what you’re passionate about, and never look back. Work hard, find a mentor and don’t lose the human connection. This digital age has many people relying so heavily on virtual communication. There is nothing more important and impactful than a conversation looking someone in the eyes finished with a nice, firm handshake!
DESCRIBE TWO OR THREE WOMEN WHO SERVED YOU AS IMPORTANT ROLE MODELS AND MENTORS. WHAT DID YOU LEARN FROM THEM? My high school principal and my mother are both important role models. My high school principal was brave and bold, and she always pursued what she believed was the right thing to do. I appreciated that even if she created controversy by doing the right thing, she still followed through. My mother taught us to always believe in ourselves. She made us truly feel as though we could achieve anything. Her unconditional love and example of motherhood have been my greatest sources of strength.
TELL US ABOUT A LESSON YOU LEARNED THE HARD WAY. Do not make crucial decisions based on feelings.
Teaching others all I have learned is most important to me. I have experienced and learned a lot in my career, and I want to be able to pass that onto others and help them in their careers. With my special medical interest in treating cerebral and spinal
She has grown on the strength of her passions
vascular lesions, I hope that I can lead others to further assist in healing head, spinal and neck traumas and issues.
AS
WHAT
NORTHWEST
ASPIRE TO BE? I believe Northwest Florida has the potential to be the main socioeconomic center in this region of the country.
DR. MARIA TOLEDO, PENSACOLA
Always give your best in all that you do in every aspect of your life. Life will come with challenges and setbacks, but if you just keep working on you and your passions, you will grow from them and improve yourself even further. Life has so many different areas to manage, so be easy on yourself and just do your best without being so hard on yourself.
TALLAHASSEE TENNIS CHALLENGER
approaches life with her mind open and her feet moving
DESCRIBE TWO OR THREE WOMEN WHO SERVED YOU AS IMPORTANT ROLE MODELS AND MENTORS. WHAT DID YOU LEARN FROM THEM? My mother and grandmother were very independent and assertive women for their times. My grandmother was a postmaster (not a postmistress!) for most of her life as well as a business owner. She was a strong presence in her community and remained so until her death. My mother worked at a time when many women did not. She enjoyed her work and ended up managing the largest real estate company in Tampa for over 25 years until it was sold in 1998. I have always enjoyed working, and I think that passion came from both of them. As a critical care nurse, I looked forward to every day. It was an extremely rewarding and challenging career. I have been a smallbusiness owner as well, which has proved to be enjoyable for many years.
TELL US ABOUT A LESSON YOU LEARNED THE HARD WAY. People don’t always want honesty! Most of the time they just want you to agree with them.
WHAT UNFINISHED BUSINESS, PERSONAL OR PROFESSIONAL, IS UPPERMOST IN YOUR MIND? I’d like to grow the Tallahassee Tennis Challenger into a larger event that would bring more to our community. Currently, we are at capacity, so we’re trying to figure out where to go next.
AS IT CONTEMPLATES ITS FUTURE, WHAT SHOULD NORTHWEST FLORIDA ASPIRE TO BE? Northwest Florida needs to hold on to its own particular charm. We aren’t Miami or Tampa or Orlando, thank goodness — we are so much more. The best places to visit are always the ones who have maintained their unique charm even while growing.
WHAT ADVICE DO YOU HAVE FOR YOUNG WOMEN PURSUING THEIR SPECIFIC CAREERS? Be flexible! You never know what curves life is going to throw at you, so you always need to be ready for anything. Keep your mind open and your feet moving.
The FSU Dunlap Champions Club was charged with anticipation, but on Bobby Bowden Field, outside the club’s windows, not a linebacker was stirring, not even a punter.
Rather, friends, family, co-workers and sponsors had gathered for the ninth annual Pinnacle Awards ceremony, held to celebrate honorees for their outstanding professional accomplishments and their contributions to the community. After two years of virtual and hybrid events, the welcome return to a fully in-person banquet made it possible for attendees to greet old friends and make new connections.
Many past Pinnacle Award recipients attended this year’s event to support the latest inductees into the Pinnacle “sisterhood,” a growing group that Steve Bornhoft, the executive editor of 850 Business Magazine, noted in his remarks, but not before humorously pointing out the flaws of men.
“The great byproduct of the Pinnacle Awards has been a sisterhood,” Bornhoft said. “Pinnacle honorees, once brought together, tend to stay together. Even pioneers enjoy company. Each honoree is a difference maker in her own right, and we are only beginning to understand what the sisters might do collectively.”
Presented by 850 Business Magazine, the 2022 Pinnacle Awards ceremony was held on Oct. 5 after a one-week postponement due to concerns about Hurricane Ian.
Associate publisher McKenzie Burleigh began with a thank you to the event’s sponsors.
“Nine years into our Pinnacle Awards experience, we at Rowland Publishing and 850 Business Magazine have learned that when you go looking for consequential women of character and vision, there are a lot of them out there,” Bornhoft said. “They just don’t get celebrated enough, and that is what today and the Pinnacle Awards program is all about.”
One such woman is Jennifer Conoley, a 2017 Pinnacle Award recipient and this year’s keynote speaker. Conoley was introduced by Ashley Rousseau, the Tallahassee Center director at Florida Blue, who spoke to Conoley’s dedication to promoting regional economic growth and diversification as the president/CEO at Florida’s Great Northwest.
“(Conoley) started this role in March of 2020, a time that was very challenging and filled with uncertainty due to the rising threat of COVID-19,” Rousseau said. “She led her team, however, through those times to victories and notable business attraction efforts. Because of her, Central Moloney and Probes Unlimited, two high-quality manufacturers, are now calling our region home and adding 250 jobs with benefits to our community.”
Conoley began her address by sharing a question that had been posed to her by Bornhoft:
How does a papermill worker’s daughter become a regional economic development executive?
That journey, she said, involved tough decisions, inspiring mentors and leaps of faith. At this stage in her career, Conoley said, she has learned to focus on who she wants to be rather than what she wants to accomplish.
“I want you to think about these Pinnacle Award winners,” Conoley said. “In meeting these wonderful women this morning, it’s clear to me who they are and who they wish to become. Now I ask you the same thing. Who do you wish to become?”
After Conoley and Bornhoft spoke, Burleigh introduced videos that celebrated the honorees. Colleagues, mentors, friends and loved ones spoke to the virtues and accomplishments of each Pinnacle Award winner as publisher Brian Rowland and Burleigh presented them with their awards.
story by STEVE BORNHOFT // photo by THE WORKMANS
The notion that retirees are of only modest value to a local economy and thus not worth targeting with recruitment efforts is demonstrably false, according to the executive director of Choose Tallahassee.
“Among people starting new businesses, retirees are one of the largest groups,” said Gregg Patterson. “They buy homes, shop at our stores, go to restaurants and volunteer at nonprofits. They use our health care facilities. They are a big part of our economy, and we welcome them.”
And in Tallahassee and Leon County, the number of people who are 55 years old or older is growing as a percentage of the overall population.
Choose Tallahassee is at least partly responsible for that trend.
The organization, Patterson said, was started in 2011 by a group of volunteers after Capital Health Plan in Tallahassee was named the No. 1 Medicare Health Maintenance Organization in the country. That distinction, coupled with the city’s other assets, justified a promotional effort that would bring Tallahassee to the attention of the 55-plus community, the volunteers concluded.
“In 2017, Choose Tallahassee decided to put its foot on the gas and hired me through my business as executive director,” said Patterson, who owns IMS Business, a provider of accounting and back-office services.
Patterson launched a fundraising effort that promptly generated $100,000, increasing Choose Tallahassee’s cash on hand by more than a hundredfold. The organization hired a marketing firm. It started to figure in media reports. The New York Times did a story on Choose Tallahassee. So, too, did magazines totaling 56 million readers.
In 2020, Virginia Glass, a retired Realtor and venerated community servant, agreed to become board chairman.
“I was told it would take about two hours a month, and right after I decided to do it, they decided to become a 501(c)(3) and take on all that goes with that,” Glass said. “It really was a lot of work, but it was fulfilling work and the progress we saw as a result of becoming a nonprofit was just phenomenal.”
Both Patterson and Glass said the hiring of Blaze Digital Services has had much to do with Choose Tallahassee’s recent success. The company, hired in 2020, redesigned the nonprofit’s website, which now features Live, Work, Play and Learn tabs.
“Mostly, people find us via Google searches,” Glass said. “I have always been enthusiastic about Choose Tallahassee because when I was in real estate and dealing with buyers from out of town, I always had to sell Tallahassee before I could sell a house. The website is an extremely helpful vehicle in terms of introducing people to our city.”
To measure success, Choose Tallahassee for years looked at the number of driver’s licenses issued and at voter registrations.
“Now we have everything in a funnel,” Patterson said. “When someone downloads a relocation guide, we capture them as a lead and send them a series of emails.” Eventually, “leads” receive a survey with but a single question: Did you move here?
In 2022, 32 survey recipients had responded “Yes” as of Nov. 1. Choose Tallahassee’s success has not gone unnoticed. Spurred by entities including Florida State University and Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare, the organization has expanded its focus.
“Leaders in Tallahassee and Leon County came to us and encouraged us to appeal to young professionals, entrepreneurs and students,” Patterson said.
So it is that the website now provides links to four relocation guides targeting different population segments: retirees, young professionals, working
professionals and entrepreneurs/ business owners.
Glass likes to tell a story about Steve Haynes, who moved to town to accept a job at TMH as its vice president/chief human resources officer. He and his wife, Rindi, ultimately moved from North Carolina to Tallahassee for a host of good reasons. Choose Tallahassee was a factor in their decision in that it helped Rindi Haynes become familiar with Florida's capital city.
“She went to our website and discovered everything that is happening in Tallahassee,” Glass said.
Recalled Rindi Haynes, "When we knew relocation to Tallahassee might be a possibility, I spent a lot of time online attempting to learn as much as I could about the area. The Choose Tallahassee website was the best way to get to know the community and all it has to offer. The website covered everything a newcomer would want to know and showcased many of the features that make the community a great place to live.”
A key to success for any nonprofit is an active and committed board of
directors. In that regard, Patterson said, Choose Tallahassee is in good shape. Some board members have been with the organization since its inception. They include what Patterson calls “Tallahassee royalty” — former legislator and retired Tallahassee Community College administrator Marjorie Turnbull, Glass, and Ken Boutwell of Capital Health Plan.
Patterson is proud that Choose Tallahassee creates the impacts that it does on an annual budget of $150,000.
Here are key takeaways from its October 2022 report:
◾ Monthly leads generated: 190. Year to date: 2,060. ◾ Lead source breakdown: Google, 134; organic: 56.
At this writing, Choose Tallahassee’s marketing plan for 2023 was in draft form. In any event, it is sure to be ambitious. Proposed goals included:
Management of digital marketing efforts, with a goal of driving traffic to the website.
Estimated 2023 website traffic: 87,000+
Management of Google Ads campaigns, with a primary goal of generating leads.
Estimated 2023 leads generated: 2,500+
To increase organic website traffic: monthly blog posts around targeted keywords, editing and scheduling of contributor posts from board members and community members, webpage audits and content refreshes as needed.
Estimated 2023 organic website traffic: 50,000+
cost per lead: $7.98 across all
Three more households completed the one-question survey in October, bringing the number of households Choose Tallahassee influenced to relocate here in 2022 to 32.
◾ Spending of $100 on Instagram yielded 464 profile visits, resulting in 140 new followers and 89 visits
Leads generation through the first three quarters of 2022 was up 140.97% from all of 2021: 1,870 leads from 776.
“What is there not to like about Tallahassee?” Patterson asked rhetorically. “There are just a lot of positive things, and we are working on telling that story to the world. I really believe we have the secret sauce. I’m an outdoors guy — we have 700 miles of trails plus other recreational opportunities. And we have arts and culture and Olli courses and other lifelong learning options. If we can make sure that growth doesn’t overwhelm our infrastructure, and we can create jobs for disadvantaged populations, we can become a place unlike anywhere else.”
Patterson is flattered that some have suggested that Choose Tallahassee should evolve to become a regional Choose North Florida.
“First things first,” Patterson said. “We need to focus on what we are doing now.”
Expectations around retirement are shifting. More and more, older adults are returning to the workforce or remaining in their careers far beyond the traditional retirement age.
A report from the Pew Research Center showed that 12% of retired adults had returned to the workforce in 2006. By 2022, that number had jumped to 27%, according to a survey from the Employee Benefit Research Institute.
This trend was amplified as the baby boomer generation, surpassed in population only by millennials, entered their retirement years. Due to advancements in health care, members of the baby boomer generation are living longer and better. This has led to an ever-increasing number of able-bodied adults who are not content to spend the remainder of their time in a rocking chair.
At 70 years old, Jean Warner serves at the Bay County Council on Aging as the coordinator for the Respite Center and Caregiver Support Program, and she has no plans to retire.
“So, as long as I feel good and I’m not having any issues with my own health, I just don’t see any reason to do it,” Warner said.
Warner’s husband retired years ago, and these days the couple lives comfortably on their military pensions and Social Security. She does not have to work, but she is compelled to serve. In her work, Warner provides a safe place for older adults with dementia to spend time during the day, giving a much-needed break to weary caregivers.
Tearful hugs remind Warner daily of the importance of her role.
“That’s what’s important,” Warner said. “Feeling that whatever you are doing and wherever you are doing it is someplace where you feel that you are really needed.”
A report from the Pew Research Center showed that 12% of retired adults had returned to the workforce in 2006. By 2022, that number had jumped to 27%, according to a survey from the Employee Benefit Research Institute.
Older adults are changing the way that today’s society views retirement
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Jean Warner, 70, serves as the coordinator of the Respite Program at the Bay County Council on Aging — and has no plans to retire.
The Respite Program is designed to provide people who care for loved ones with dementia a break from those responsibilities.
Dawn Carr, director of the Claude Pepper Center, has spent the majority of her life studying aging. Her research helps to shed light on motivations behind this generational shift in attitudes about retirement.
“There is this traditional academic theory that talks about our shift in goals as we get older,” Carr said. “As we see our life is getting shorter, we think more about our legacy and things that are more meaningful. We
are less worried about money and much more worried about what we can do that makes a difference.”
Added Carr, “There is increasingly an interest in mentoring others, leaving a legacy or setting up the place for something that will be more long lasting.”
The BCCOA has several older adults among its ranks, some decades older than those served through programming. Most never considered retirement. For
those returning to work after retiring, there are often financial imperatives at work.
During the so-called Great Recession, Carr conducted a study that showed more than half of people who left full-time jobs during that time came back to work in some capacity. While data related to current inflation and its impact on retirement are not yet conclusive, it is likely that there will be a similar effect.
For those seeking returns to work after retiring from their careers, whether due to finances, the desire for socialization or to build a legacy, there are often challenges and prejudices blocking their way.
“There is an assumption that older people can’t learn new things, are not interested in learning new things, are not ambitious in the same way that younger people are and that, frankly, they are just not committed,” Carr said. “Yet, the data shows they are less likely to miss work and they are more likely to hang around longer and be committed to an organization.”
Not only do older workers tend to be more reliable in their professional commitments, Carr suggests that their bodies of work experience are valuable to businesses. Data suggest that older workers tend to be more adept at managing conflict, mentoring others and anticipating the long-term impacts of business decisions.
Where older workers tend to approach decision-making with caution, younger workers are generally more willing to take risks and push the envelope. Often, Carr explained, this risk-averse nature is counted as a strike against older workers, particularly in fast-paced and technology-driven industries. A miscalculated risk can be devastating, however. Synergy is found at the crossroads of discretion and innovation.
“There has been some interesting research related to intergenerational workplace environments,” Carr said. “If you have three teams — one of only young people, one of only older workers and one that is mixed — the one that produces the best outcomes in terms of creative and effective solutions is the mixed age group. That research is really important because it’s not saying that all work environments should be older people or younger people. Having a diverse age group draws on the strengths of different skills and abilities.” ▪
There is an assumption that older people can’t learn new things, are not interested in learning new things, are not ambitious in the same way that younger people are and that, frankly, they are just not committed. Yet, the data shows they are less likely to miss work, and they are more likely to hang around longer and be committed to an organization.”
— DAWN CARR, DIRECTOR OF THE CLAUDE PEPPER CENTER
As a county administrator, Vince Long spends a lot of time thinking about what strengthens connections between people and a place.
He has witnessed, he says, more growth and redevelopment in Tallahassee/Leon County in the last 10 years than had occurred in the previous four decades, and he is pleased that the expansion had proceeded “responsibly.”
“I see a continuing growth opportunity for us,” Long said. “More than ever before, people are going to decide first where they want to live and then decide where they want to work.”
And Long is here to tell you that Leon County is in a good position to attract people who are free to choose where to make their home.
“If I’m in an airport and somebody asks me where I’m from and I say, ‘I’m from Tallahassee,’ they say, ‘I love Tallahassee,’” Long said. “They may speak more positively about our community than they do about their own mother. We’re not perfect, but we try to be really thoughtful about building places for people.”
On a shelf in Long’s fifth-floor corner office in the Leon County Courthouse, a space adorned with framed newspaper articles, FSU sports memorabilia and a bounty of plaques, is a book, Love Where You Live: Creating Emotionally Engaging Places, by the urbanist Peter Kageyama. Long proudly notes that the author devoted several pages to Leon County.
Kageyama writes more generally, “If I were the mayor or manager of my city, one of the first things I would do is convene a meeting of my community’s co-creators. You know who these folks are — they are the easily identifiable community activists, social entrepreneurs and connectors who function as the big fish in the social pond of your place.”
Bringing about such meetings is the kind of thing Long likes to do. In the midst of the Great Recession, at a point where no one knew how long it would last or how bad it would get, he and the deputy county administrator met with the heads of some three dozen large Leon County employers. For those leaders, Long had but a single question, “What can the county do that would enable you to add a full-time employee or avoid eliminating an FTE?”
The county, at the time, was working to put together stimulus plans pursuant to the American
Recovery Act. And it had begun to discuss the possible development of an amphitheater as part of Cascades Park.
Long remembers in particular a meeting with Mark O’Bryant, the CEO/president at Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare.
“Mark didn’t propose a tax break,” Long recalled. “He said, ‘I’m trying to attract doctors. Build the amphitheater.’ That conversation was instrumental in pushing that project forward. It speaks to the issue of building a place that is not Anywhere, USA.”
Precisely which factors will lead individuals or a business to choose one city over another may be hard to predict, but inclusivity almost certainly helps.
In 2012, Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer, a Manhattan law firm, was shopping for a community in which to locate its 100-employee back-office operation. When Tallahassee/Leon County emerged as a finalist, Long asked a managing partner with the firm why.
“He was every bit as shrewd and as cutthroat as you would think,” Long said. “And he told me, ‘You have a domestic partner registry. Our employees came to us and told us that was important to them.’”
Said Long, “I didn’t see that one coming.”
Long went to work for Leon County in 1995 after earning a master’s degree in public administration (MPA) from the Askew School of Public Administration and Policy at Florida State University.
He was appointed county administrator in 2011.
“I had the benefit of having been with the organization, but that also comes with the burden of knowing what your strengths and weaknesses are and where you need to go as an organization,” Long said.
“The one factor that all CEOs have in common is that they’ve got to get the culture right. For me, that was a major emphasis in my early years. It’s not like we had a bad culture in Leon County government, but because of all the things we do — airports to zoos, animal control to zoning — we had 47 different cultures that said very different things to the people we were serving. We needed to aggregate all of that into one culture and, with the same voice, really convey who we are and why we are here.”
County government, said Long, who is given to football metaphors, is engaged in “blocking and tackling,” that is, supplying infrastructure and services, and occasionally “throwing deep” — making a considerable public investment trusting that it will result in significant private-sector activity.
“We work on generational projects in addition to all of the day-to-day things that we do,” Long said. “I
have benefitted from longevity and the opportunity to see big projects through to completion and to put together a team of tenured people.”
And, he has been lucky, too.
“I was fortunate as a working-class kid to end up at the Askew School at FSU and to have had the mentors I had,” he said. “I was lucky that my first job out of graduate school was in Leon County with all that it has to offer as the state capital and a university town. We had very little staff, and we were experiencing robust growth and were wrestling with the complex policy issues that growth presents.”
Still, Long said, he started work for the county at the optimal time where his own professional growth was concerned. Established large cities are big ships to try to turn.
“You benefit when you get to do things for the first time such as developing a comprehensive plan,” Long said. “I was in the right place at the right time. It was analogous in the business world to working on a startup during its highest growth phase.”
In July, the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) recognized Long with what amounts to a lifetime achievement honor. Its Mark E. Keane Career Excellence Award is reserved for one local government CEO in the world each year.
Asked about the selection process and criteria for the award, Long joked, “Not many people know this, but they told me that it is based solely on looks.”
But seriously, according to a news release issued by his office, Long was selected “due to his role in leading Leon County government through unprecedented challenges like the Great Recession, Hurricane Michael and the COVID-19 pandemic, all while launching significant programs, completing game-changing projects
and strengthening Leon County’s reputation as a great place to work, live and play.”
“The ICMA had noticed some good things coming out of Leon County, and we received an invitation to apply,” Long said. “I was honored especially because the people making the selection were peers. They really understand what you do and its complexity. It’s not just an individual honor. It is one that reflects well on my team and on the Board of County Commissioners. The board, since I came on in 2011, has done nothing but provide a lot of support.”
“Based on my 27 years as a county commissioner, I feel like it would be a hard task to find someone who has demonstrated such a level of continuous excellence over their career as Vince,” Leon County Commission chairman Bill Proctor said when he learned that Long had been honored by the ICMA. “I say it all the time to Vince — the only problem he creates for himself and his team is the expectations. With him as our county administrator, I feel like there is nothing we cannot do in Leon County.”
The Keane Award carries with it a $5,000 cash award. Long planned to give the money to the Askew School.
“That was a no-brainer,” said Long, who taught a graduate-level course at the Askew School for more than 12 years prior to being appointed county administrator.
“I told my students for years that working as a CEO in the private sector or the public sector requires the same acumen,” Long said. “But in government, you are doing what you do in a very public realm. We take on projects and activities that are either not profitable and thus not appropriate to private business or too difficult for the private sector to handle. Government tends to lead in certain areas, and then at some point, an activity becomes doable at scale or
Vince Long’s application for consideration as an ICMA Award for Career Excellence recipient listed milestones and achievements that he has helped bring about as Leon County administrator.
▪ Comprehensive organizational transformation and culture shift in county government.
▪ Leon County recognized nationally as a model for efficiency, innovation and citizen engagement.
▪ Leon CARES program recognized as national model for the distribution of aid to people hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.
▪ County recognized by U.S. Treasury Department as a leading distributor of Emergency Rental Assistance funds.
▪ Amazon commits to development of fulfillment center, expected to employ more than 1,000 people.
▪ Successful passage and implementation of intergovernmental Blueprint sales tax program.
▪ Development of Apalachee Regional Park cross country course.
▪ Federal Emergency Management Agency designates Leon County a #HurricaneStrong community, the first in the nation.
▪ Investment of $60 million to protect freshwater springs.
▪ Consolidation of 9-1-1 dispatch functions.
▪ Implementation of sustainability plan projected to reduce the county’s greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by 2030.
▪ Designation of Tallahassee/Leon County as one of the South’s “Best Cities” by Southern Living magazine.
▪ Creation of Leon County’s Created Equal event, which focuses on issues related to race and racial inequality.
▪ National Association of Counties presents 95 awards to Leon County for best practices and achievement in county programs and practices.
▪ No change in ad valorem millage rate for 11 years.
▪ AA+ bond rating from Fitch Ratings.
it becomes profitable, and the private sector takes it over. In local government, we were doing things 30 years ago that the private sector now does.”
With seniority comes confidence, Long said.
“After a while, the game slows down for you, and you can see it very clearly,” he explained. “You’ve been through the emergencies, the disasters, natural and manmade, and you’ve executed the difficult projects. You’ve been through financial ups and downs, and you have led your team to the other side of it, and you know you can do that, and your team knows you can do that. Not only am I a really technical person, but I’m also tactical. And I am tough enough to hang in there and see things through.”
When DeVoe Moore entered into discussions with the logistics giant Amazon regarding the sale of his property near the intersection of Mahan Road and Interstate 10 for a state-of-the-art fulfillment center, he reached out to Long.
“I may have been DeVoe’s first phone call,” Long said. “He didn’t call me because he knew the county had an incentive package. He didn’t want an incentive package. He didn’t call to ask me if I could get the local chamber and the Florida Chamber to the table. He was adamant that he didn’t want them involved — you know DeVoe.”
Rather, Moore knew that Long could address Amazon’s concerns about how long it would take to get its project permitted.
“Their most fundamental concern and objective was speed to market,” Long said. “I was able to turn to Amazon and say, ‘If you do these things, here’s when you can be permitted. If you agree to these things, then we can be ready to go.’”
Amazon had no problem with satisfying requirements for stormwater
attenuation, tree replanting or construction of a public connecting road through their facility as long as they would be allowed to build 2 million square feet and be able to get the center up and running in time for the 2022 holiday shopping season.
“They were looking at other parcels,” Long said, “some of them less expensive, and I assigned a team to them right off the bat. I joke with some of our local developers about giving me a hard time about having to build a road. I mean, Amazon said, ‘No problem.’ ”
Leon County, Long believes, is in an excellent position to diversify and strengthen its economy given the assets it possesses — the capacity to grow talent, a strategic location, transportation arteries and a regional health care hub.
“We have really benefitted from being a state government and
university town,” Long said. “I am first to agree with anyone who says that if you are not growing, you’re dying. And, if you are going to start with a base, I’ll take state government and higher education every day of the week. That gives you stability when you are going through various economic cycles.”
Long views infrastructure as an economic development tool.
“We know that if we do that well, it can literally pave opportunities for the private sector,” he said. “There is no better example of that than what we did on Gaines Street. We came in and did the unsexy work, the unprofitable work. We made a $35 million investment thinking not just about the infrastructure, but thinking, too, about the private sector infrastructure that it could stimulate. Today, we are about to hit $600 million in private investment that it has attracted. At Cascades Park, we invested $30 million
in infrastructure, and it has already leveraged $160 million in private investment.”
The county’s efforts leading to the creation of the Domi Station business incubator, Long said, were an example of its preparedness to throw deep. For years, tech transfer and commercialization and business incubation had been listed as priorities at county government retreats.
“These are not things that cities and counties traditionally do,” Long said. “So, we reached out to business associations and schools and universities and said if we had an incubator, we could really set the table for commercialization. It wasn’t that they didn’t get it, they just weren’t ready to do anything with it. Finally, I had a warehouse become available on Gaines Street in the middle of all the Gaines Street work
we were doing. It was an immediate ah-ha moment, and we said, ‘That’s it. That’s our incubator.’”
With a team of policy analysts and economic developers, Long toured every urban incubator in Florida, learning that 90% of incubated businesses stay where they are born.
“Ultimately, through those visits, we got connected with the people who ended up running Domi, a venture capital firm out of Boston and Atlanta,” Long said. “They wanted to work with FSU and FAMU anyway and were in the community kicking the tires and exploring the possibility of doing an incubator. We told them we would build out the warehouse for them if they would take on X number of companies and do community programming and events to promote business expansion and tech transfer and commercialization.
“The county’s total investment was $200,000, and now we’ve had Domi Station for a good few years, and they’re doing great work.”
Coinciding with Long’s tenure as county administrator, Leon County has gone 11 years without a millage rate increase.
“It’s a question of what you take pride in doing,” Long said. “Anyone can manage when you have all the money in the world. We take particular pride in not only being a national model, but versus comparable counties in Florida, we have the fewest number of employees per capita, and we have the lowest tax burden. We don’t have impact fees here, and that’s something people don’t often think about. We try to stretch our dollars as far as we can for as long as we can.”
Even so, might additional efficiencies and savings be possible if Leon County and the City of Tallahassee merged into a single unit of local government?
“The short answer is yes, they could,” Long said. “For years at FSU, I taught a section on consolidation. Speaking to a class of 45-50 graduate students about something that has been a topic of conversation in our community for decades, I said that, in three hours, we could write a consolidation charter that would realize tremendous efficiencies and provide for a more responsive government, but it would likely fail dramatically at the ballot box.”
Academically and technically speaking, Long said, “We can create a consolidated government that would bring about new efficiencies. But you have to go into that process knowing that you are not going to need a county administrator and a city manager, you’re not going to need seven county commissioners, five city commissioners and five constitutional officers and, you know what, unions, we’re probably
not going to need all of the employees we have today.”
Some cities, Long said, get to the point where they want one person — a strong mayor who is directly accountable to the people — in charge.
“You have to look at whether you are doing duplicative things,” he said. “In our community, the answer is no. We have engaged in lots of functional consolidation. You may not find
another community that has a joint planning department, for example. We are functionally consolidated in the areas of fire and EMS. The county provides EMS; the city provides fire protection. We provide the libraries, and they run a major utility.
“Consolidation? If you are going to make an omelet, you are going to have to crack some eggs. Is it doable? Yes. Is it always better? No, it’s not.” ▪
It’s a question of what you take pride in doing. Anyone can manage when you have all the money in the world. We try to stretch our dollars as far as we can for as long as we can.”
— VINCE LONG, LEON COUNTY ADMINISTRATORCascades
Park
Anyone flying through Tallahassee’s airport over the last few years has likely noticed subtle and not-sosubtle changes. Capital Circle SW has been expanded to three lanes for most of the stretch from Tennessee Street to the airport. Interior renovations have been made to the facilities. Restaurants have been upgraded, and more business-friendly amenities have popped up around the terminal.
The man responsible for many of the improvements over the past 30 years is Tallahassee International Airport director of aviation David Pollard. He started at TLH in 1994 and worked in airport operations and as deputy director.
His latest project is to open Tallahassee up to the rest of the world, taking the Tallahassee International Airport beyond a branding change to becoming truly international.
“Building blocks is how I like to refer to it,” Pollard said, regarding getting
Customs facilities at TLH. “It’s been a long time coming.”
First came a new name and logo change in 2014. It’s been nearly a decade since proposed actions were first discussed with the City Commission, which approved the proposal after coordination with the Federal Aviation Administration, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Transportation Security Administration. Technical design standards from the U.S. CBP are highly specific.
“Part of the design envisions and entails an ability for the public to come into the facility from our regular parking lot,” Pollard explained.
Consumers will be able to come into the terminal like they normally do, but there will be a designated area for business owners to work with Customs on import and export needs. Customs will also require the synergistic efforts of several security agencies that all need office space in the new facility, as
well as facilities to receive and review goods and services for international trade and travel.
“I take very seriously our efforts to become a major economic driver for not just this city or this county, but for the entire Northwest Florida region,” Pollard said.
Adding Customs will increase economic vitality by making Tallahassee a prime location for larger, international companies who require a portal to international trade.
“I call it competitive posturing. We are able to check that box, and we stay in contention for possible business opportunities,” Pollard explained. “This is an investment for our community that will bring growth, both in jobs and in business.”
Customs is not the only ongoing project at TLH. Frequent fliers might notice subtle changes and upgrades going into effect, like Dunkin’ Donuts and stations for customers to work
while awaiting their flights. These are all part of the City Commission’s fiveyear plan to boost economic growth in the region.
“The key to me is to be as businessfriendly as we can. To provide a safe, secure, efficient, customer-friendly experience,” Pollard said.
But the Customs facility will be what really puts Tallahassee on the global stage.
“In terms of passengers, we separate those out,” Pollard said. “Domestic passengers won’t really notice any real change other than the construction effort that’s in motion now.”
For the most part, it will be business as usual for national fliers but “there will be two international gates down at the end of our B concourse,” which will act as swing gates, capable of diverting global fliers toward Customs agents, where they can officially cross the border into the U.S.
Pollard emphasized that the expansion does not mean Tallahasseeans should get ready to book regular outgoing flights
to London, Paris or Rome, though he wants that to be an ongoing conversation moving forward. However, having U.S. CBP in Tallahassee “opens the door to this community and region.”
The next step in the process is a Foreign Trade Zone application with the International Trade Administration, which will encompass nine counties in North Florida from Gulf County east to the I-75 corridor with an eye toward future expansion into South Georgia.
The director of aviation is always looking for ways to improve the airport. And though global passenger flights might be years away, Pollard believes Customs will be the first brick in building a gateway from Tallahassee to the rest of the world. ▪
Downtown Tallahassee is undergoing a transformation, one resulting from the presence of more businesses owned by women.
“We want our downtown to be reflective of who is creating and driving businesses these days, and that’s women,” said Elizabeth Emmanuel, the Tallahassee Downtown Improvement Authority’s CEO.
Emmanuel is championing a femaleled downtown revival which includes ownership in retail, hospitality and food vending. From Andrew’s family-owned mother-daughter duo, who moved back in 2019 to run the restaurant, catering business and new concept, Rootstock, to a woman taking the reins of the Downtown Market — entrepreneur Chrissy Souders, where small businesses are flourishing in Ponce De Leon Park.
In 2021, owner Amanda Morrison opened Poco Vino Wine Bar & Market, which became the first retail establishment in the central city in more than 10 years. “We are the catalyst proving that retail concepts in downtown cannot just survive but also thrive,” Morrison said. “Representation matters, which is part of why we are an
all-female staff that pioneers concepts that cater to women — they are the leaders in consumer decisions.”
That representation is inclusive for Poco Vino and Common Ground Books, an LGBTQIA+ and feminist bookstore owned by Alex Spencer. They offer new, used and locally made retail.
These concepts share more than being women run. They focus on the experience, from beautifully set-up spaces, menu items for a variety of diets, children’s events and live music — it’s a renaissance era for the heart of the community.
JoEllen’s, a Southern soul food restaurant owned by Theresa Nix, is the most recent addition. “I believe that who we are as individuals is woven into the products and services we provide. I think there is a lot to learn from women who have navigated through environments that are traditionally male dominated or who find themselves in spaces that are adverse for people of color,” said Nix. Emmanuel is excited to see business owners take advantage of opportunities and resources available in downtown. They are paving the way for our community to shape the city they want to live in. Jean Uthmeier recognized this with La Florida, the city’s first
coffee and wine bar, that overlooks an idyllic city park. This mindset is shared by the next transformation in downtown, a brewery.
“We are four families who are fully vested in Tallahassee and are so happy to contribute to the revitalization of downtown,” said Amicus Brewing co-owner Laura Barrett. “We are proud to set an example to our children and to others in the community about how women can lead and contribute to the success of a locally owned business.”
It’s exciting to see how these business owners will continue to shape downtown and is an open invitation for those who may want to be next in a series of successful new concepts in the Panhandle.
Danfoss Turbocor’s revolutionary transformation of the heating, ventilation and air-conditioning industry, with its oil-free, magnetic-bearing compressors and its relocation from Canada to Tallahassee to be near the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, is a welldocumented story.
Less publicized, perhaps, are the Danish company’s close ties with the MagLab, FAMU-FSU College of Engineering (COE) and Tallahassee Community College and the mutual benefits derived from their collaborations.
As Danfoss Turbocor president Ricardo Schneider tells it, his company is heavily dependent on magnetic technologies to enhance and further develop its products, and in Tallahassee it found a favorable environment. Not only does the Capital City boast the world’s largest and highest-powered mag lab, it’s home to world-class research institutions that are pushing the boundaries of aerodynamics, power electronics and magnetic technologies.
“This is why we came to Tallahassee and why we’re happy
to be growing here,” Schneider said, referring to his company’s latest expansion at Innovation Park, where it is constructing a state-of-the-art manufacturing plant.
Schneider identifies the creation of more efficient cooling and heating systems as his industry’s biggest challenge, both to conserve energy and reduce carbon emissions. In those areas, Danfoss Turbocor is a global leader with its cutting-edge digital compressors.
Sales of those compressors surged during the pandemic, a continuing trend that Schneider attributes to
the accelerated construction of IT infrastructure to accommodate the shift to remote work and learning, and the consequent need to cool data centers, along with a growing worldwide demand for greener technologies.
“We see this repeatedly in history in terms of the adoption of new technologies when major disruptions occur,” Schneider said. “People say, we need to do this better or differently, and technologies reach an inflection point. With the pandemic, the digital infrastructure grew exponentially.”
Dr. Greg Boebinger, director of the MagLab, explained that its primary purpose is to create electromagnets, whose magnetic properties once activated by electricity, become significantly more powerful than those of permanent magnets.
“Our reason for existing is to generate these incredibly high magnetic fields,” he said. “And those powerful magnets are what has enabled Danfoss to produce its line of oil-free bearings.”
Additionally, Boebinger said, MagLab staff are able to troubleshoot problems, such as when magnets become misaligned, or nonmagnetic materials become magnetized in the manufacturing process.
“We can help solve these problems,” Boebinger said. “For Danfoss, it’s like having a research lab next door.”
In return, Boebinger said, Danfoss advances MagLab’s cause when, for example, it testifies before Congress on the need for a U.S. magnetic industry to counter dependence on overseas magnet production.
“Such testimony helps because we’re then seen as important players,” Boebinger said. “And when these big corporations say it to Congress, it means a lot more than me grabbing the phone and saying, ‘Hey, listen to me.’”
Another of Danfoss’ longstanding relationships involves the FAMU-FSU
COE, with whom it recently signed a $750,000 five-year agreement to fund scholarships and provide research opportunities for faculty and students.
“As a company, we are passionate about diversity, equity and inclusion,” Schneider said, noting his own origins in an underdeveloped country.
“We truly believe that through education, we can create a path for folks in engineering, especially from underrepresented groups.”
D anfoss, in turn, benefits from both the research and talent pool that the COE program produces. Indeed, 2 2% to 25% of Danfoss engineers are FAMU-FSU graduates, Schneider said.
Finally, there is Danfoss’ partnership with TCC aimed at addressing the skilled labor shortage in the manufacturing sector through the creation of an apprenticeship program that feeds the company’s trainees.
“The new manufacturing requires skills in computers and highly sophisticated machines,” Schneider said. “This collaboration with TCC creates a talent pipeline for us.”
Dr. Kimberly Moore, TCC vice president of workforce innovation, noted that COVID-19 not only caused employers to shed jobs, it also led employees to re-evaluate the workplace and many older workers to bail out, part of the so-called Great Resignation. In effect, she said, the exodus created a workers’ market and exacerbated the skilled labor shortage stemming from a longstanding emphasis on four-year degrees over trade schools.
“It’s a huge, national problem,” Moore says. “And now we’re trying to fast track to create the skilled talent that employers need.”
The apprenticeship program, she said, benefits not only Danfoss but also the community, creating a career pathway for individuals whose only option otherwise would be a fast-food job.
As for TCC, the partnership helps it better achieve its objectives.
“They serve on our advisory council, advise us on trends and encourage us to change the curriculum,” Moore said. “Others can take a page from Danfoss’ playbook on how to engage actively, recruit workers and do it with partnerships.” ▪
We hear thousands of heartbeats every day, and they all tell us one thing: Keep going. Keep caring. Keep growing. Keep learning. Keep building. Keep dreaming. Keep saving lives. Never quit.
Our community deserves the best healthcare, right here at home. For your children. And our children. For all of us. Over the last 75 years, TMH has grown with our region. From the barracks at Dale Mabry Field to a sprawling campus in the center of town, and now into Panama City Beach and beyond, we’re building a regional healthcare system for the future. And we’ll keep going. For you.
In January 2022, Legends Hospitality, whose clients include the New York Yankees, Dallas Cowboys and Tampa Bay Buccaneers to name a few, embarked on a new relationship with Florida State and Tallahassee.
Legends’ variety of services include concessions for numerous athletic venues on campus, and within the Dunlap Champions Club, event planning and execution, member dining and overseeing the food and beverage for the premium spaces within Doak Campbell Stadium.
“Legends is familiar with big cities and their affiliate stadiums, and it’s been great to have them come in and recognize the community that Tallahassee is and adapt to that. They are hyper-focused on providing great experiences for the surrounding community and University,” said Brittany Yazdanpanah, Membership Manager at the Dunlap Champions Social Club.
The Club’s membership is primarily comprised of University supporters, faculty and out-of-town alumni, but the space itself caters to not only members, but FSU athletics, local businesses and those looking for a unique and one-of-a-kind space.
Florida State is Legends’ first full-service account with the Dunlap Champions Club launching their collegiate membership Club space. This is an exciting venture to take on as FSU will help pave the way and become a resource for future Clubs to come.
The Dunlap Champions Club is now a year-round experience and not limited to gameday operations, including the member dining room at the Kearney Osceola Grille, exclusive member events, including Easter Brunch, member mixers, themed Chef dinners and more, all while hosting and being available for public event rentals.
“Legends Hospitality has set the stage for us to elevate the event experience in one
of the most amazing venues in town,” said Director of Catering and Special Events, Pam Monnier, at the Dunlap Champions Club. “We provide welcoming hospitality, great food and memories to last a lifetime.”
Management group seeks to make good times even more memorable
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You don’t know what you don’t know.
That sentiment is echoed by the three partners at MillCreek Financial Consultants whenever they discuss
the blind spots people often have when it comes to finances.
William Green, the company’s president, has an innovative philosophical approach shared by the firm’s other partners, Austin England
and Robbie Kinney. They work with clients on a macroscopic level to help them realize the best way to navigate uncertainty in the highly dynamic U.S. and world economies.
“A lot of the people in our business sell solutions, like features and benefits,” said Green, who has 22 years of experience in finance. MillCreek instead focuses on problem-solving and works to be a macro manager for their clients, bringing third parties, such as CPAs, attorneys, property managers and other external experts into the planning process.
“Our job as we see it,” said Kinney, “is to be a financial coach, a financial
educator.” Providing a real-world perspective on financial education is a challenge MillCreek takes very seriously.
The wealth equation tells us that Wealth = Money x Rate x Time, but this formula is deceptive. If money and time are fixed, the rate is the most important part of this equation.
That, Green asserts, is a wrong way to plan and creates risk.
“Saving is way more important than the rate of return,” he said. “The reality is we can’t predict taxes. We can’t predict interest rates. I mean, could anyone really predict that we were going to get basically 0% on savings for 15 years?”
Yet most traditional financial planners use this methodology, putting “just enough money in the gas tank,” to get their clients to the destination. MC takes a different approach to succession planning, teaching their clients how to protect, save and invest in what they see as the right way.
“People often have a business balance sheet and a personal balance sheet,” Green said. “And that’s wrong. In reality, the business balance sheet sits on top of the personal balance sheet. The business is an asset of the owner. They own that stock. The goal is to ultimately transfer that business to the
personal balance.” This could be as a legacy, in retirement or due to a change in lifestyle. Most business owners plan for their employees’ futures without considering their own, until it is too late.
A key component to any plan is identifying what each client wants.
“You can’t understand a solution until you fully understand the problem. It’s not always about money,” Green explained. “Sometimes it’s about family. It’s about fairness. Sometimes it’s about getting the highest multiple we can with the least amount of cost possible.”
Planning in a way that protects assets should be the first step toward
You can’t understand a solution until you fully understand the problem. It’s not always about money.”
— WILLIAM GREEN, PRESIDENT, MILLCREEK FINANCIAL CONSULTANTS
expanding a company’s value. “Money that just sits there loses value,” Green said. “Math is not money.”
Many people think of assets as fixed like a problem in a mathematics textbook. But reality is different. If six oranges are eaten at a rate of 1 per week, how long will it take before all of the fruit is gone? Arithmetically, the answer to this is fairly simple: six weeks. In reality, there is more green than orange by day 10. At week three, no one is eating that fruit. After six weeks, someone is cleaning up a greasy mess. “And that’s what will happen to money if it’s not tended to,” Green said.
Though they offer all financial market capabilities, MillCreek consultants thrive in the space between fully conceptualizing problems and discovering the scope of real-world solutions. They partner with their clients to develop realistic goals for assets, while they still hold value.
Clients often devalue their businesses by failing to create a succession plan. In some cases, if they die without a plan, the company’s worth plummets or is nullified completely.
“For most people, the company’s most valuable asset is the owner’s ability to
work,” England said. When that goes away, the entire business may suffer.
In addition to experience and expertise, many trades require licensure or certifications that are nontransferable. For example, an electrician might will their business to children who lack the credentials and skills to wire a building and cannot honor existing contracts without external assistance from experts. Those contracts could now be worthless to the person holding them.
“Naturally,” Green added, “business owners are focused on running their businesses,” and cannot always see the hidden costs that arise as a result of doing business. “You really have to have a protection-first philosophy. What we want is maximum protection at minimum cost.”
Planning can ensure that a business is protected. With a succession plan, entrepreneurs can benefit by selling their businesses to a competitor or apprentice, whereas a family member inheriting a company might struggle to sell or be forced to sell at a fraction of the true value.
“If we are driving down a road and we see a detour sign that says ‘BRIDGE OUT IN 10 MILES,’ do we really need
to go down the road 10 miles just to see if the bridge is out?” Green said. “Or do we start detouring then? And I think that’s what we bring to the table. To move beyond protection is to create a model, a road map, and we can measure and verify what’s really going on from a macroeconomic world.”
With inflation the highest it has been since 1981, retirement seems out of reach for many people, but in reality, saving and investing in the right areas are more important than ever. It starts with planning contingencies and building protections into long-term goals.
“At the end of the day, clients need to have a coordinated and integrated exit strategy,” Green explained. “The cost of transferring business is phenomenal. There are good ways to transfer business. There are bad ways to transfer business. From a transitional standpoint, we spend a lot of time helping clients validate and verify what is the cost of transition. How do we make it valuable? How do we make it cost less?”
Business owners need to be able to make their assets and liquidity work for them.
“There are only three ways to leave a business,” England said. “Get hauled out, limp out or walk out. You gotta plan for all of those.”
Completing the math analogy from before, rather than allowing the oranges to decay and become someone else’s mess, MillCreek works to ensure that each client’s legacy will grow, so entrepreneurs and their families may enjoy the fruits of a lifetime of labor in the long term. ▪
James Moore & Co. relieves pressure on business owners and managers by providing the best in business solutions and services.
“As a business owner, it’s almost impossible for you to stay on top of everything,” said Nadia Batey, a partner at James Moore. “That’s where we come in to advise business owners. We give them comfort that they’re abiding by the rules and making secure decisions that will take their business to the next great level.”
In business for more than 50 years, James Moore is a full-service CPA and consulting firm. That means their services go beyond the tax planning/filing, audit and bookkeeping work you typically see from a CPA firm. Their advisory professionals offer technology solutions, HR consulting, data analytics, wealth management, business planning services, transition planning solutions and more.
The company was voted a Best Accounting Firm to Work For in 2022 by Accounting Today and has been rated a Top 200 Firm by Inside Public Accounting for 13 years straight. And in 2022, the Accounting MOVE project named the company a Best CPA Firm for Equity Leadership (for the fourth consecutive year) and included the firm on their nationwide list of Best CPA Firms for Women.
James Moore’s Net Promoter Score of 82 — compared to an industry average of 19 — is a strong indicator that the firm’s clients find them to be responsive, technically efficient, caring, respectful and diligent.
The firm credits that score at least in part to how they approach each engagement. Before they set to work on numbers and reports, team members educate themselves on the inner workings of their client’s business.
“Our goal is to be an expert you can trust, and from that trust, create a personal relationship with you,” Batey said. “You should have comfort and peace of mind that your financial situation is in the right hands, and that you’re offered the advice and expertise that you need to be successful.”
We all know the smiling faces, the recognizable “stars” in everything from theater to politics. We admire these super achievers, charismatic leaders and time managers par excellence.
But in truth, they’re more like us than we think. They all need help behind the scenes supplied by a cadre of assistants and organizers who clear the brush and prepare the way. Whether that means that scheduled meetings run on time, votes are all nicely lined up or that with just the right music, auditorium seats will be filled, the powerful people in the background make it happen as much as the people out front. Here are four such essential employees.
← JON AUSMANThough retired, John Ausman is the longest-serving member of the Democratic National Committee in Florida’s history and the longestserving chairman of the Leon County Democratic Party in county history.
He also has run dozens of candidates’ campaigns for state and local offices. Ausman is clear-eyed about the relationship between candidates and running a campaign. The campaign manager runs the campaign while making the candidate think that he is running it.
“Many campaign managers, including myself, may begin to despise the candidate and wish that Election Day were
already here,” Ausman said. “Both the candidate and the campaign manager get edgy because they know there is a specific deadline on which they will be graded by the voters.”
The scope of the manager’s work is exhaustive — and exhausting.
“First, you must marshal five critical resources: money, a good candidate, technology, a message and organization of people,” Ausman said. “Second, determine how many votes are necessary to win. Third, examine where those votes can be obtained. Fourth, contact likely voters four to six times with an effective message. And, last, keep the candidate focused on the campaign while providing him rest and recreation when needed.”
Ausman says that after reminding the candidate that well-meaning friends don’t always have good ideas — and becoming satisfied that in the end, he will be paid — there’s nothing like the gratification of a win.
BY THE WORMANS (COURTNEY THOMAS) AND COURTESY OF INDIVIDUALS story by MARINA BROWN PHOTOSThough only 32 years old, Thomas seems to have already spent a lifetime in political circles.
“Growing up in Tallahassee where my father was involved with government, going to the Governor’s mansion was not really a big deal,” she said. “Our family was friends with Bob Graham and Alcee Hastings, and from the very beginning I knew I wanted to be involved in politics, too.”
While still at FSU, Thomas became an unpaid intern for then-County Commissioner John Dailey, learning to network and develop working relationships. She began by participating in Gwen Graham’s congressional campaign, helping with Al Lawson’s election to Congress and working in Washington with U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson. Then she got homesick.
With her experience and Tallahassee contacts, it wasn’t long before she was recruited into Dailey’s orbit as director of external affairs before becoming his chief of staff.
“Much of my role involves outwardfacing communication,” she said. “Meetings, social media.”
Though she avoids the word gatekeeper, Thomas does admit that she helps “curate” meetings, or takes them herself.
“I often hear things first and ask him (the mayor) if he wants to hear them, too,” she said. “I know many people and have the contacts, so I can help things actually get done. What I also bring is a millennial Black woman’s point of view. I share my learned, lived experience with the mayor, and I believe it is valued.”
Given her love of politics and public service, would Thomas herself ever run for office?
“The year 2020 was an eye-opening time for me with all that vitriol and anger,” she said. “It turned me off of ever running or being out front.”
Thomas, however, still loves public service and her contact with the people of Tallahassee.
“I will never need a title to make a difference,” she said.
Darrick McGhee became immersed in politics early but has always worked behind the scenes rather than in an elected office. In fact, McGhee has served as chief of staff or director at one Florida agency after another. He took on leadership roles in the administrations of governors Rick Scott, Charlie Crist and Jeb Bush. Today, he is a leading lobbyist and COO at Johnson & Blanton LLC. His only upfront role is that of pastor of the Bible Based Church in Tallahassee, which he helped found.
“I earned a degree from FAMU in political science with an eye to becoming a lawyer,” he said, but the ministry also called. McGhee became ordained while still in college. Over the next two decades, he was director of legislative affairs for the governor. He held posts as executive director, chief of staff, and director of legislative and cabinet affairs in three state departments, often at the same time.
McGhee said that when he assesses possible lobbying jobs for a private client, money as a consideration is way down the list of concerns.
“Lobbying for the private sector is different from legislative lobbying,” he said. “You can’t sell what you don’t buy. I do my research. I never take what a client says at face value.”
Legislative lobbying is different.
“For instance,” he said, “with Rick Scott, my role was to advance, educate, and keep front and center the priorities of the governor. Though I wouldn’t assert my opinion particularly, I would debate team strategies. But in government, if you want to keep your job, as they say, ‘Get on board, or get run over.’ ”
→ Darrick McGhee held leadership positions in the administrations of Florida governors Rick Scott, Charlie Crist and Jeb Bush. Today, he works in the private sector in a less visible role as a lobbyist and also pastors a church.
She manages a symphony budget that 12 years ago was $460,000, and today is $1.3 million, writes grants, hires artists and collaborates with the maestro, musicians, patrons, sponsors and grantors to the orchestra. Stringer loves every aspect of her job to which she devotes 60 hours a week while rarely taking a vacation.
She holds a doctorate in piano performance, but stage fright kept her from pursuing piano as a profession. For her, the job of symphony CEO and the challenge of finding common ground among the symphony’s stakeholders — and money with which to pursue those goals — is “completely fulfilling.” The hiring of guest artists, marketing costs, numbers of rehearsals and helping to decide which music to play are all part of the nuanced decisions Stringer has on her plate.
“Working with the artistic head of the symphony, Darko Butorac, is a true partnership,” Stringer said. “While the conductor has the final say in programs, he is always open to my suggestions. The Seven Last Words of the Unarmed, for instance, was my idea. We share a level of trust in what will sell and what the musicians and conductor want to play. But of course, it often comes down to money. Mahler costs more than Mozart!”
Though some of these behind-the-scenes operators have at one time or another been out front and in the spotlight, today each one of them lauds the benefits of a little less glare.
Stringer says she “feels like a kid in a candy shop,” knowing she’s making a positive difference in the world with music. McGhee treasures the additional time he has to be with family now that he is working in the private domain. From behind the scenes, Ausman reminds a candidate to, “Always do what you think is right; winning or staying in office is not worth your integrity, honor or serenity.” And Thomas says that she values her own self-care and mental health enough to steer clear of running for office.
And we’re glad they feel this way. After all, we need them where they are, helping to run the show.
Choose Tallahassee, a nonprofit established in 2011 to promote Florida’s capital city as a great place to live, work, play and learn, was in a good position to respond to a trend that was made unmistakable by the COVID-19 pandemic and is dramatically affecting intranational migration.
People, in choosing where to live, are putting place ahead of workplace to an unprecedented extent. Various drivers are intensifying this trend. People want to live in a place where they can feel safe. They gravitate toward places where the climate is mild, housing is affordable, taxation is relatively unoppressive and where recreational and cultural opportunities abound.
A place like Tallahassee. A place like North Florida.
Choose Tallahassee began by targeting retirees. Research demonstrated that the city offers many of the features that retirees most value in a community. The all-volunteer organization then set about touting Tallahassee’s assets and attractive qualities.
The developing nonprofit enjoyed an adolescent growth spurt with the hiring of Gregg Patterson as executive director in 2018. Patterson immediately launched a highly successful fundraising campaign that enabled Choose Tallahassee to hire a marketing agency, Blaze Digital Services, that redesigned its website and provided for leads capture.
About the same time, Choose Tallahassee chose to incorporate as a 501(c)(3), and it began to hear from entities including Florida State University and Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare, who petitioned the organization to expand its focus.
FSU was seeking a competitive advantage in recruiting faculty.
TMH needed doctors capable of going to work in a state-of-the art surgical center.
The members of both sought-after groups had this in common: They could
choose to live in any one of lots of places. Might Choose Tallahassee begin to target working professionals in addition to people departing the workforce?
It could, and it has. For years, it had been in the business of selling people on Tallahassee as a place to live. Now, it needed only to multiply and tailor its appeals.
The Choose Tallahassee website — ChooseTallahassee.com — now provides links to five relocation guides, each directed to a different population segment: retirees, young professionals, working (career) professionals, entrepreneurs/business owners and incoming college students.
That a single city might strongly appeal to all five groups is in itself a testament to its vitality. I grew up in Minneapolis, a city with a similar broad-spectrum appeal, but, man, it can get cold up there.
Success in business almost always involves distinguishing one’s enterprise in positive ways from its competition so that it can proffer a unique selling proposition. Patterson said he believes Tallahassee is in that position.
He believes Tallahassee has the “secret sauce,” and he is hopeful that the city will not neglect two important ingredients in that recipe.
One, for Patterson, is a commitment to diversity. He intends that Tallahassee be a place where anyone, no matter his background or current station in life, can come to live well and live better. Choose Tallahassee, to its credit, maintains a diversity committee.
Secondly, Patterson emphasized, maintaining an outstanding quality
of life means ensuring that infrastructure anticipates needs versus running to catch up to meet them.
Work to add traffic lanes to an area of insufferable congestion results throughout the project period in a worsening of congestion. The six-laning of U.S. 98 in Destin disrupted commerce for years, and Panama City Beach is about to undergo a like project. In Walton County, a referendum to pass a 1-cent infrastructure sale to provide funding for projects to address “mobility issues” failed in November by 40 points.
Tallahassee is in a better place.
In November 1989, Tallahassee and Leon County voters approved a local-option 1-cent sales tax to provide funding for transportation projects, law-enforcement facility improvements, economic development activities and … stadium upgrades? Well, the latter is another matter. Extended twice, the tax will remain in place through at least Dec. 31, 2039.
Because it can be used to leverage matching funds, the tax is a doubly powerful instrument, one that can be used to keep infrastructure current, as Patterson suggests.
Inherent in Patterson’s remarks is the realization that Tallahassee and the 850 region will need to work to ensure that growth remains a good problem to have.
Drive carefully,
STEVE BORNHOFT, EDITOR, 850 MAGAZINE sbornhoft@rowlandpublishing.com
