2 minute read
USF salutes our 2018 Outstanding Young Alumni
Dreamers
& DOERS
Forever Bulls
This year’s honorees exemplify what it means to be a USF Bull: All aged 35 or younger, they’re leaders; they’re self-motivated; they strive to excel; they give back. In addition to the many hours they devote to their jobs and families, they serve on volunteer boards and support community charities. Two have created foundations that benefit youth, another created a scholarship fund for immigrant women here at USF, and another devises community-building initiatives.
Meet our seven Outstanding Young Alumni, men and women as passionate about pursuing their dreams as they are dedicated to reaching down and offering a hand up.
Hannibal L. Baldwin
Finance ’11, USF St. Petersburg
How he became a successful entrepreneur: “A mindset that has helped is finding and gravitating toward a problem that you can become obsessed about so that you can get so immersed in solving that problem that the stress, the volatility, the chaos that comes along with entrepreneurship subsides and you can look inside the new progress.”
Baldwin was just 20 when he and his older brother Keenan owned, operated and expanded Yogurtology, a frozen yogurt franchise that has grown to 13 locations in two states. Next they launched their own private equity and venture capital vehicle, now called B3 Ventures, which invests in promising young startups. In 2014 the
two created SiteZeus, a company built on software they originally developed to identify ideal locations for new Yogurtology shops.
Today, their SiteZeus clients include one of the world’s largest franchises, Subway. The company has raised more than $4 million in investments and won first prize in the 2017 Florida Early Stage Capital Conference. Co-CEO Baldwin’s plans for the future include putting SiteZeus’ analytics to work in myriad ways, from forecasting the next flu season to predicting and mitigating crime. He and his wife, Emily, have a son, Maverick.
R. Grant Baxley
Management Information Systems ’07, Life Member
What he does to stay ahead of the competition: “I read a lot of technology articles, see what’s coming out, try to be on the leading edge of technology. I always try to put myself around other people who know more than me. … I wouldn’t be here today without the team that we’ve built. I really depend on all my staff.”
Baxley launched TeleVoIPs, a business phone service, in 2009 as part of his IT company. In 2014, he sold the IT company to focus on TeleVoIPs, where the daily challenge is to rethink and reinvent communication technology. TeleVoIPs now hosts more than 7,000 phone numbers for businesses nationwide and has offices in Tampa and Jacksonville. The company has ranked in the USF Fast 56 – the 56 fastest-growing Bull-led businesses in the world – three times, reaching the top 10 last year.
Voted Tampa Bay Tech’s Emerging Technology Leader of the Year, Baxley continues to give back to USF and the community, sharing his expertise with students and tech startups. His goal is to foster collaboration by connecting the world through reliable communications.
Baxley and his wife, Abby, have two children, Michael and Christopher.
