women in business

FEBRUARY 21 - FEBRUARY 27, 2014 | THREE DOLLARS

DATADisparity DespairWe celebrate business owners no matter their sex, but disparity still exists between men and women in business. PAGE 7

ADVANCEMENTAccounting for ChangeWhen Gail Markham was told she shouldn’t want to make decisions, she made a big one. She left her job to start her own firm — and took 100 clients with her.PAGE 9

HOSPITALITYSuck it UpAs one of three women hotel general managers in Tampa, Pam Avery doesn’t complain. She excels.PAGE 10

DISCUSSIONShattering StereotypesTo hear what women in business think of the topic, we asked them. Their answers, and advice, might surprise you.PAGE 14

FAMILYFinding BalanceMary Brandt quit her corporate gig with 200 employees to raise her family. Her new venture makes room for that. PAGE 18

WISDOMVoice of ExperienceFrom hiring flight attendants for TWA to running a luxury travel agency, Wilma Boyd has seen times change. And she has always stayed ahead.PAGE 27

Panel | Women have come a long way at work. So why are we still talking about it? PG.14

DON’T MISSPAGE 19 How Venus and Mars communicate in the workplace.

PA S C O • H I L L S B O R O U G H • P I N E L L A S • M A N AT E E • S A R A S O TA • C H A R L O T T E • L E E • C O L L I E R

inside

Mary Forristall built a successful niche in a traditionally male-led industry. What got her there is simple: Be better than everyone. PAGE 8

Mary Forristall | President, Forristall Enterprises

M&I Bank Plaza in Tampa sells for $30.36 million. 22

William Warren Group buys Lock Tite Self Storage for $7.5 million. 23

Hazelden buys residential portion of its Naples facility for $5.8 million. 24

TOP DEALS

FLORIDA’S NEWSPAPER FOR THE C - SUITE

MEMBER FDIC

1165

78

BARRIERSDEMOLISHWOMEN

MARK WEMPLE

2 BUSINESS OBSERVER | FEBRUARY 21 – FEBRUARY 27, 2014BusinessObserverFL.com

1341

39

BUILDING PORTFOLIOS ISN’T THE MOST

IMPORTANT THING WE DO.

BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS IS.

BUILDING PORTFOLIOS ISN’T THE MOST

IMPORTANT THING WE DO.

BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS IS.

Planning and investing for your future, your family or your business

doesn’t have to be complicated. Especially when you have someone

you trust, who has taken the time to get to know you and your

specific situation, helping guide you along the way. We start by

listening to your needs, then delivering the quality, sophisticated

advice you expect and deserve. Ensuring that we deliver not

just any plan, but the right plan for you. LIFE WELL PLANNED.

©2013 Raymond James Financial Services, Inc., member FINRA/SIPC. Securities offered through Raymond James Financial Services, Inc., member FINRA/SIPC. 13-BDKMT-1098 ICD Relationships 1/2 Pg EG 6/13

Edward L. Roth, CFP® Registered Principal

2750 Stickney Point Road, Suite 201 Sarasota, FL 34231

941-925-0045 800-999-2701 www.easyed.com www.raymondjames.com

SUN COUNTRY CLEANERS… WE’LL COME TO YOU!

Call 727.535.9930or visit SunCountryCleaners.com

1341

55

Dry Cleaning • Laundry�ǆƉĞƌƚ��ůƚĞƌĂƟŽŶƐ�ͻ��ŽŵĨŽƌƚĞƌ

�ƌĂƉĞƌǇ��ůĞĂŶŝŶŐ�Θ�ŵŽƌĞIN BY 9 OUT BY 5,

SATURDAYS, TOO!

6 DAYS A WEEK

Stores Open: 7am-7pm Mon-Fri7am-6pm Saturdays • Closed Sunday

OUR LOCATIONSSt. PetersburgSt. Petersburg BeachLargoN. Redington BeachPalm HarborSouth PasadenaEast LakeBrandonSeminole�ĞůůĞĂŝƌ��ůƵīƐClearwaterTampa

CORPORATEPICKUP & DELIVERYSERVICE AVAILABLEDIRECTLY TO YOUROFFICE OR HOME

Subscription PriceOne-Year Periodical Rate ....................................................................................... $75One-Year First-Class Mail .....................................................................................$107

Two-Year Periodical Rate ......................................................................................$127Two-Year First-Class Mail ......................................................................................$180

Three-Year Periodical Rate ...................................................................................$185Three-Year First-Class Mail ..................................................................................$239

Single copy price: $3Group rates for five or more corporate subscriptions are available.

To subscribe online: www.businessobserverfl.comIf you have a question about your subscription or wish to suspend your subscription

temporarily, call Anne Shumate, (877) 231-8834 or contact her by email: [email protected]

HOW TO SUBSCRIBE

A DIVISION OF THE OB SERV ER MEDIA GROUP

BusinessObserverFL.comThe Business Observer, formerly the Gulf Coast Business Review, is Southwest Florida’s newspa-

per for business leaders. With offices in Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, Manatee, Sarasota, Charlotte, Lee and Collier counties, the Business Observer is the only weekly business newspaper that provides business leaders with a regional perspective. The Business Observer’s mission is to deliver relevant news and information on Southwest Florida’s leading and growing companies, up-and-coming en-trepreneurs and the important economic, industry and government trends affecting business. The Business Observer is also the leading publisher of public notices on the Gulf Coast of Florida.

HOW TO REACH USHILLSBOROUGH COUNTY 412 E. Madison St., Suite 911 Tampa, FL 33602Phone: 813/221-9505 (Legal Notices)Fax: 813/221-9403

LEE COUNTY 5237 Summerlin Commons Blvd., Suite 324Fort Myers, FL 33907Phone: 239/275-2230 (Jean Gruss);FAX: 239/936-1001 (Legal Notices)ORANGE COUNTY 446 N. Dillard St., Suite 4Winter Garden, FL 34787Phone: 407/654-5500 (Legal Notices)Fax: 407/654-5560

CHARLOTTE COUNTYAddress: 949 Tamiami Trail, Suite 202 Port Charlotte, FL 33953Phone: 941/249-4900 (Legal Notices)Fax: 941/249-4901

PINELLAS COUNTY14004 Roosevelt Blvd.Clearwater, FL 33762Phone: 727/447-7784 (Legal Notices)Fax: 727/447-3944

“The road is cleared,” said Galt. “We are going back to the world.” He raised his hand and over the desolate earth he traced in space the sign of the dollar.

Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged$$

The Business Observer (ISSN#1539-9184) is published weekly on Fridays by the Gulf Coast Review Inc., 1970 Main St., Sarasota, FL, 34236; 412 E. Madison St., Tampa, FL 33602; 14004 Roosevelt Blvd., Clearwater, FL 33762; 5709 Main St., New Port Richey, FL 34652; 5570 Gulf of Mexico Dr., Longboat Key, FL 34228; 949 Tamiami Trail, Suite 202, Port Charlotte, FL 33953; 5237 Summerlin Commons Blvd., Suite 324, Fort Myers, FL 33907; and The French Quarter, 501 Goodlette Road N., #D-100, Naples, FL 34102. Periodicals Postage Paid at Sarasota, FL, and at additional mailing offices. The Business Observer is circulated in Charlotte, Collier, Hillsborough, Lee, Manatee, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk and Sarasota counties.

POSTMASTER: Please send changes of address to the Business Observer, P.O. Box 3169, Sarasota, FL 34230.

For information on reprints, visit BusinessObserverFL.com

POSTAL INFORMATION

MANATEE COUNTY 5570 Gulf of Mexico Dr., Longboat Key, FL 34228Phone: 941/362-4848Phone: 941/906-9386 (Legal Notices)Fax: 941/954-8530

SARASOTA COUNTYPO Box 2234Sarasota, FL 342301970 Main St., Suite 400,Sarasota, FL 34236Phone: 941/362-4848Phone: 941/906-9386 (Legal Notices)Fax: 941/954-8530

COLLIER COUNTY The French Quarter, 501 Goodlette Road N., #D-100Naples, FL 34102PHONE: 239/263-0122 (Legal Notices) Fax: 239/263-0112

PASCO COUNTY5709 Main St.,New Port Richey, FL 34652Phone: 813/221-9505 (Legal Notices)Fax: 813/221-9403

Editor and Publisher / Matt Walsh, [email protected]

Executive Editor / Kat Hughes, [email protected] Managing Editor / Mark Gordon [email protected]/Collier / Jean Gruss [email protected] Editor / Sean Roth [email protected] Editor / Amanda Heisey [email protected] Design / Nicole Thompson [email protected]

Associate Publisher / Rosemary Felton [email protected] Associate Publisher / Diane Schaefer [email protected] of Legal Advertising / Kristen Boothroyd [email protected] Production Manager / Kathy Payne [email protected] Financial Officer / Laura Keisacker [email protected] of Distribution and Subscriptions Sales / Anne Shumate [email protected] Marketing Manager / Leslie Gnaegy [email protected]

To send Legal Notices, email to: [email protected] the county of interest in the subject line and attach notice.

Deadline for legal notices is noon Wednesday.

For Display Advertising, Call (941) 362-4848.Deadline for display advertising space is noon Friday.

Vol. XVIII, No. 8

3FEBRUARY 21 – FEBRUARY 27, 2014 | BUSINESS OBSERVER BusinessObserverFL.com

3979 SOUTH TAMIAMI TRAIL | (941) DIAMOND | DIAMONDVAULTJEWELERS.COM

+-%�'IVXM½�IH�(MEQSRHW�`�)RKEKIQIRX�6MRKW�`�*MRI�7[MWW�;EXGLIW�`�'YWXSQ�(IWMKR�4VMZEXI�)WXEXI�4YVGLEWMRK�`�*YPP�7IVZMGI�6ITEMV 13

2715

1338

54

Luncheon and Celebrationof Women with Vision Awards

Iconic leaders in areas of business andcommunity outreach throughout Pinellas County

Keynote Speaker:Dara Richardson-Heron, M.D., CEO YWCA USA

You know one. You strive to be one. You are one.

Wednesday, May 14Hilton St. Petersburg - Carillon Park

Mistress of Ceremonies:

Lissette Campos,Director of Community

Affairs, for ABC WFTS TV- Action News

General Admission & VIP Tickets Available at stpete.com/iconic2014

Tickets include the Iconic Boutique VIP tickets include the VIP Lipstick Lounge

For questions call the St. Petersburg Area Chamber of Commerce at 727-388-2914 or e-mail [email protected]

Sponsorships Available email [email protected]

or call 727-388-2914

St. PetersburgWomen’s Chamber

of Commerce

CoffeeTalkIf you’re seeing a lot more Canadian

license plates on Southwest Florida roads these days, it’s not your imagi-nation.

David Jacobson says we’ll likely see many more in the years ahead. As the

U.S. ambassador to Canada from 2009 until last year, he knows something about our northern neighbors.

Despite the strong rebound in residential real estate prices in areas such as Sara-sota and Naples, Southwest Florida remains a bargain

to Canadians, says Jacobson, now vice president with BMO Financial Group.

Jacobson was in Naples recently meeting with BMO clients from Can-ada who are seasonal residents here. He says Canadians continue to view

Florida real estate as a bargain be-cause of the relatively strong currency exchange and lower prices relative to Canadian real estate.

Foreign investors, particularly from Asia, have driven the median home prices in Canada to double that of U.S. homes. What’s more, the Canadian economy has weathered the downturn more robustly.

“We’re not just talking about retir-ees,” Jacobson says. “We are talking about people in their 40s and 50s.”

Canada has a tradition of second-home ownership. Many Canadians have second homes they call “cot-tages” on the country’s thousands of lakes, Jacobson says.

Despite the bargains, Jacobson says Canadian clients tell him they’re concerned about the future of the U.S. economy and politics in Washington, D.C. “Canadians follow what’s going on in the United States very closely,” Jacobson says. “It’s a whole lot easier when the U.S. does well.”

The Naples Winter Wine Festival is king of big-time Gulf Coast food and wine events, with $13.5 million raised for charity this year, but a Sarasota upstart has gained quite a following.

The annual Forks & Corks, now in its seventh year, has become a see-and-be-seen food and wine extravaganza for the Sarasota-Bradenton region. This year’s Forks & Corks, held the same weekend as the Naples shindig, Jan. 24-27, was a record-setter says Kate Atkin, executive director of the Sarasota-Manatee Originals. The Sarasota-Manatee Originals, which hosted the event, is a nonprofit orga-nization made up of independently owned local restaurants.

“We couldn’t be more thrilled,” Atkin tells Coffee Talk. “Everyone left with smiles on their faces. We’re still beaming.”

Forks & Corks highlights include: • The main all-day event at the

Ringling Museum, The Grand Tasting, sold out of 1,200 paid tickets eight minutes after tickets went on sale. The Grand Tasting featured signature dishes from 43 Originals member restaurants, with 45,000 samples of food pre-pared and served. There were also 438 wines from 81 wineries, with 5,000 bottles of wine poured. “We experienced the fastest ticket sell-out ever,” Atkin says in a release. “We even had calls and emails from overseas for tickets.”

• Nearly 35 worldwide winemakers attended the winemaker events, which led to around $100,000 in retail wine sales over the entire weekend.

• A charity auction event raised $13,000 for All Faiths Food Bank and more than $30,000 for The Ringling.

• Nearly one in 10 ticket buyers, 8%, were from outside Florida, while another 11% were from outside Sarasota and Manatee counties.

Planning for Forks & Corks 2015 has already begun. It’s scheduled for Jan. 23-26. Says Atkin: “We’re already getting requests from vintners to be a part of it and from the public to pur-chase tickets.”

Canadians find value in Florida

Event forks out a success

When Gary Callicoat was scouting opportunities to open a restaurant in Florida, most people he met in Naples already knew about his Rusty Bucket Restaurant and Tavern.

That’s because many seasonal residents from the Midwest spend winters in Southwest Florida. They’re already familiar with the Columbus, Ohio-based chain of 15 restaurants.

So Callicoat plans to open his first

Rusty Bucket in Florida at the Mercato shops in Na-

ples in May, the first of what could be many more in the state. “No reason I can’t build 20

restaurants,” he says. “I’m looking in Tampa,

Sarasota and even the east coast,” says Callicoat.

The Rusty Bucket restau-rants range in size from 4,500 to 6,500 square feet and can seat as many as 240 people. “Florida is a target market for us,” he says.

FOLLOW THE SNOWBIRDS

See COFFEE TALK page 5

JACOBSON


Welcome to the second edi-tion of the Ian Black Real Estate Property Guide!

Encouraged by the reception that our first edition received, we have made the commitment to publish the guide on a regular basis and have given it a new pro-fessional layout with advertising support from many of our business partners.

The positive response to our first publi-cation vindicated our initial thoughts that in today’s fast moving world of electronic communication a more tangible presen-tation would be appealing to those inter-ested in commercial real estate.

I am also pleased to report that in the first five months of 2011, our results have been more than encouraging and reflect significant increased activity. The com-

mercial real estate market is still coming to terms with the new market realities, the less bureaucratic in-terference with supply and demand, the bet-ter chance the market has to return to some degree of stability.

The increasing suc-cess of Ian Black Real Estate can be attrib-uted to diverse market knowledge combined with excellent team work and an unyield-ing commitment to serve the best interests of our clients. It is both exciting and hum-bling that our efforts have been recognized by the Greater Sarasota Chamber of Com-merce and we have been named as one of the three finalists for the 2011 Frank G. Berlin Sr. Small Business of the Year.

In closing I will again answer the ques-tion that I posed in our last edition and

Commercial Property Guide

Summer 2011 | Issue: No.2.11

2011 Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce Frank G. Berlin Sr.

Small Business of The Year Award Finalist

by Ian BlackIan Black Real [email protected]

Office Warehouse Retail

Front row: Debbie Anglin, Joni-Elizabeth Hoehn, Michele Fuller, Ian Black, Bob Granicz.

Second Row: Dottie Rutledge, Steve Horn, Marci Marsh, Nick DeVito II, David Greenberg, Jag Grewal, Alia Wallace.

one that I am asked nearly every day, “How’s the market?” From our perspec-tive the improved movement we have experienced since the beginning of the year is promising but the market is still strug-gling to deal with the new paradigms.

As always our team is at your ser-vice and we look forward to our ninth year serving all of your commercial real estate needs. Q

��&HQWUDO�$YH��6DUDVRWD��)/��LQIR#LDQ�EODFN�FRP��ZZZ�LDQ�EODFN�FRP

ZZZ�LDQ�EODFN�FRP� � � � ��ppp'bZg&[eZ\d'\hf

Welcome to the second edi-tion of the Ian Black Real Estate Property Guide!

Encouraged by the reception that our first edition received, we have made the commitment to publish the guide on a regular basis and have given it a new pro-fessional layout with advertising support from many of our business partners.

The positive response to our first publi-cation vindicated our initial thoughts that in today’s fast moving world of electronic communication a more tangible presen-tation would be appealing to those inter-ested in commercial real estate.

I am also pleased to report that in the first five months of 2011, our results have been more than encouraging and reflect significant increased activity. The com-

mercial real estate market is still coming to terms with the new market realities, the less bureaucratic in-terference with supply and demand, the bet-ter chance the market has to return to some degree of stability.

The increasing suc-cess of Ian Black Real Estate can be attrib-uted to diverse market knowledge combined with excellent team work and an unyield-ing commitment to serve the best interests of our clients. It is both exciting and hum-bling that our efforts have been recognized by the Greater Sarasota Chamber of Com-merce and we have been named as one of the three finalists for the 2011 Frank G. Berlin Sr. Small Business of the Year.

In closing I will again answer the ques-tion that I posed in our last edition and

Commercial Property Guide

Summer 2011 | Issue: No.2.11

2011 Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce Frank G. Berlin Sr.

Small Business of The Year Award Finalist

by Ian BlackIan Black Real [email protected]

Office Warehouse Retail

Front row: Debbie Anglin, Joni-Elizabeth Hoehn, Michele Fuller, Ian Black, Bob Granicz.

Second Row: Dottie Rutledge, Steve Horn, Marci Marsh, Nick DeVito II, David Greenberg, Jag Grewal, Alia Wallace.

one that I am asked nearly every day, “How’s the market?” From our perspec-tive the improved movement we have experienced since the beginning of the year is promising but the market is still strug-gling to deal with the new paradigms.

As always our team is at your ser-vice and we look forward to our ninth year serving all of your commercial real estate needs. Q

7+(�3/$&(�)25�63$&(

6LJQL¿�FDQW�'RZQWRZQ�6DUDVRWD�3URSHUWLHV�

Kĸ��ĐĞ� � ��tĂƌĞŚŽƵƐĞ� � ��ZĞƚĂŝů

ϭϴϮϬ�ZŝŶŐůŝŶŐ��ůǀĚ͘��EĞǁ�WƌŝĐĞ͊Ψϭ͕ϳϱϬ͕ϬϬϬ��ϲ͕Ϯϴϭ�^&��ƵŝůĚŝŶŐ

ϰϯ

Ϯ

ϭ

ϭϱϲϬ�Ͳ�ϭϱϳϲ�DĂŝŶ�^ƚƌĞĞƚΨϮϳ�W^&�EEE��hƉ�ƚŽ�ϱ͕ϴϬϬ�^&

ϭϰϰϱ�^ĞĐŽŶĚ�^ƚƌĞĞƚ��ĞǀĞůŽƉŵĞŶƚϮϯ͕ϳϬϬ�^&�ZĞƚĂŝůͬϭϴϬ��ƉĂƌƚŵĞŶƚƐ

ϮϬϱ�E͘�KƌĂŶŐĞ��ǀĞ�Ͳ�ϭϱϱϴ�&ƌƵŝƚǀŝůůĞ�ZĚ͘ΨϮ͕Ϭϵϱ͕ϬϬϬ��ϭϭ͕ϰϱϮ�^&��ƵŝůĚŝŶŐ

1

2 4

3

1319

97

topstories from BusinessObserverFL.comCHARLOTTE-LEE-COLLIERNaples home prices spike 45%

The median price of single-family homes in Naples bal-looned to $340,000 in January, an increase of 45% compared with January 2013.

One of the reasons for the price spike is that foreclosures and bank short sales that once held the market back are dwindling.

Finance chief indicted for embezzlement

Federal prosecutors charged Alfred Lenz, 68, with embez-zling nearly $2.4 million from his former employer, Vine-yards Development Corp. in Naples.

According to a statement from the U.S. Attorney, Lenz was the controller for Vine-yards Development from 2005 to 2012, using the money he embezzled to buy real estate and for personal expenses.

Prosecutors allege Lenz used his position as controller to hide 87 checks of $24,000 each to an account he controlled, making false entries in Vine-yards’ books. He also allegedly made nearly $300,000 in wire

transfers from Vineyards’ ac-counts into another account he controlled.

Vineyards Development developed Vineyards Naples, a master-planned commu-nity off Pine Ridge Road near Interstate 75. The company is privately held by the Procacci family.

TAMPA BAYChannelside complex sells for $76.5 million

Florida’s public pension fund purchased the new 356-unit Pierhouse at Channelside apartment development for $76.5 million.

Miami’s Related Group completed construction of the four-story upscale apartment in August.

The state public pension fund invests 10% in real estate, says Dennis MacKee, a spokes-man for the State Board of Administration.

The Related Group pur-chased the 6.33-acre property for the Pierhouse at Chan-nelside in late 2010 for $6.5 million.

Engler Financial Group started marketing the property for sale shortly after it opened in September.

M&I Bank Plaza changes ownership

SCIP 501 LLC, an invest-ment partnership led by IP Capital Partners LLC, pur-chased the 296,082-square-foot M&I Bank Plaza at 501 E. Kennedy Blvd., Tampa for $30.36 million.

IP Capital Partners previ-ously owned the building with different partners. The change in ownership was part of a re-capitalization of the property.

Located adjacent to the Hillsborough County court-houses in downtown Tampa, the 20-story Class-A office building was 85.3% occupied, as of the CoStar Group’s last review of the property.

SARASOTA-MANATEEHousing starts increase 41.8%

The Sarasota-Bradenton new housing market had a mini-boom during the fourth quarter, when single-family unit housing starts jumped 41.8% compared with the 2012 fourth quarter, according to a Metrostudy report.

In total there were 1,041 single-family home starts in the 2013 fourth quarter in the

two-county region, up from 734 starts in 2012. The annual start rate increased by 51.2% over 2012, to 3,749 annual starts. The region now has more homes under construc-tion than any point since 2006.

Mobile marketing firm heads to Dubai

The mobile marketing and customer loyalty network developed by MobileBits Corp., Samy, is now available in Dubai.

Dubai Silicon Oasis-based Igniva Technologies, through a regional license from Sarasota-based Mobile-Bits, launched the network in Dubai Feb. 12, according to a release. Samy was the top downloaded app in the lifestyle category within 24 hours, the release says.

Dubai is the first United Arab Emirates market where Samy, which helps merchants, retailers and brands connect with consumers in their local area, is available.

Mobile Bits, founded in 2009, announced a corporate expansion in September that includes up to 40 hires over the next three years.

what do 34.5% Yes

65.5% Noyou think?

quoteof theweek

“”I have banged my head against the glass ceiling a couple of times. But being the hard-headed Italian I am, I just kept knocking.Mary Forristall | President, Forristall EnterprisesSEE PAGE 8

Are women still treated unfairly in the workplace? Will Obamacare help drive more

entrepreneurship?

Last week’s question:

Vote at BusinessObserverFL.com/decision


Proven EXPERIENCE.

Extensive REACH.

Two very different Nickels, one very awesome agency.

Find out more at nickelcommunications.com

Inspiring DESIGN.

Impressive

RESULTS.

1331

61

CoffeeTalkFROM PAGE 3

Alltrust Insurance founding partner Joe Part had an interesting experience the first time he went on a sales call with new employee Caz Piurowski — a former college and pro football player.

“I’m a pretty short guy and Caz is one-foot, two inches bigger than me,” recalls Part. “It was the first time a CEO I went to see burst out laughing and then apologized.”

The funny story illustrates a serious plan to help Alltrust, which focuses on employee benefits consulting, grow. Piurowski, hired late last year in a ben-efits adviser position, is part of a grow-ing contingent of former Florida State University Seminole athletes to join the firm. A tight end from 2006 to 2009, Piurowski joins former teammate and ‘Noles quarterback Drew Weather-ford at Alltrust. Kristen Andonian, an account manager with Alltrust since 2007, was an FSU varsity swimmer.

Piurowski, whose NFL career, first with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and later the Seattle Seahawks was cut short by injuries, will be based mostly out of the firm’s Sarasota office. Weatherford, a high school football star when he played for Land O’ Lakes High in Pasco County, works in busi-ness development for AllTrust. Weath-erford’s older brother, Will Weather-ford, R-Wesley Chapel, is the Florida House Speaker.

An FSU alum himself, class of ’75, Part says the hunt for good employees who wear garnet and gold goes deeper than college pride. He says Division I college athletes, in his experience, have the preparation skills, teamwork and diligence he seeks in employees. Andonian, for example, is the type of employee, says Part, where nothing falls through the cracks and every-thing is done is by the end of the day.

“Nowadays you don’t want a lone wolf salesperson,” Part tells Coffee

Talk. “And Division I athletes under-stand that. They get it.”

Alltrust, says Part, had its best year ever in 2013, with more than $7 mil-lion in annual sales. The firm, boosted by clients that need precise and real-time federal health care overhaul law information, plans to expand to Orlando, possibly later this year. Part says the Fort Myers-Naples market is another growth target.

The expansion and need for more employees means Part might have to play nice with a rival — and maybe even hire a University of Florida Gator. A few UF alums are already on the Alltrust payroll, grumbles Part. “We prefer not to,” jokes Part, “but we will.”

The doctor will see you where you were once serenaded by a mariachi band.

The landmark Jalapeño’s restaurant on College Parkway in Fort Myers will be the future of home of Physicians’ Primary Care, according to Stevens Construction, the firm that’s renovat-ing the 16,000-square-foot building.

The bright orange building has been vacant since the Mexican restaurant

closed its doors a few years ago. But it’s located on College Parkway near U.S. 41, a major corridor for commuters from Fort Myers to Cape Coral.

If visiting the doctor in that building makes your taste buds tingle (remem-ber the great chips and dip?), you can still satisfy your hunger by buying a pizza next door. Blue Moon Pizza will occupy a portion of the Jalapeño’s building, Stevens Construction says.

Firm brings out tomahawk for employees

Feeling sick? Head to Jalapeño’s

The allure of flipping a house in Tampa for a quick profit has dimmed.

The region posted a 17% drop in flipping in 2013 from 2012, accord-ing to a RealtyTrac report. Tampa, the report adds, is one of several major markets to post an annual de-crease in flipping, which RealtyTrac considers a home purchased and sold again with six months. Other cities with a drop include Philadel-phia, down 43%; Phoenix, off 32%; Houston, down 17%; Denver, with a 15% drop; and Minneapolis, off 9%.

But the drop in Tampa and other markets doesn’t represent a national trend. Instead, Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac, in its year-end Home Flipping Report, says single-family home flips nationwide increased 16% in 2013 over 2012 and 114% over 2011.

A total of 156,862 homes were flipped in the United States in 2013,

the research firm says. Metro areas that led the nation in a flipping increase in 2013 include Virginia Beach, up 141%; Jacksonville, up 92%; Baltimore, up 88%; Atlanta, up 79%; and Richmond, Va., up 57%.

The market share of the flip-ping niche is one the upswing, too: Homes flipped in 2013 accounted for 4.6% of all U.S. single-family home sales, RealtyTrac reports, up from 4.2% in 2012 and 2.6% in 2011. The amount of properties flipped bought out of foreclosure, mean-while, is down, to 21% of all proper-ties in 2013. That figure was 27% in 2012, RealtyTrac states, and 32% in 2011.

“Strong home price appreciation in many markets boosted profits for flippers in 2013, despite a shrinking inventory of lower-priced foreclo-sure homes to purchase,” RealtyTrac vice president Daren Blomquist says in a release.

FLIPPERS FIND FUN, AND RICHES,

COLIN HACKLEYPIUROWSKI

WEATHERFORD


941.957.3730 • michaelsaunders.com/commercial

Larry Schaper CCIM

100 South Washington Blvd • Sarasota 941.957.3730 or 941.586.6840

1460 S. McCall RoadMFCRE# 21589012

$180,000

2811 Tamiami TrailMFCRE# 894489$8.00 PSF NNN

2695 Tamiami TrailMFCRE# 28638775

$800,000

Larry Schaper is active in sales and leasing of office, retail and investment properties throughout Florida’s Gulf Coast; and is active in triple net leasing investments. Larry has received the highest level of educational achievement for a commercial Realtor, through fulfillment of the requirements and receipt of the Certified Commercial Investment Member (CCIM) designation. Larry has been recognized for his accomplishments in outstanding customer service, and exceptional knowledge of commercial real estate. When you are ready to take the next step in your commercial investment, contact Larry for results you can count on.

Susan Goldstein MBA, CCIM

8325 Lakewood Ranch Blvd • Lakewood Ranch 941.350.9747

1777 Main StreetSarasota

CIX# 1504414Lease $18.00 PSF Gross

3800 26th StreetBradenton

CIX# 28667000$299,000

5565 Broadcast CourtLakewood Ranch

CIX# 28748132Lease $14.25 PSF NNN

Susan Goldstein has repeatedly earned the position as the company’s Top Producing Commercial Agent. Focusing on sales and leasing in the Sarasota and Manatee County marketplace, Susan provides superior service to her clients. Balancing an understanding of client needs and objectives with dynamics of the market, the financial realities of all parties, and a willingness to work hard to get the job done contribute to Susan’s success. Susan has been involved in a multitude of transactions with client’s ranging from national corporations to local businesses and developers. Call Susan for next commercial endeavour.

1306

77

All five major metropolitan areas of the Gulf Coast posted

higher annual-percentage gains in taxable sales of

consumer durables in November than the state as a whole (up

4.5%)

Three areas of the state posted annual-percentage declines

in taxable sales of consumer durables

in November: Tallahassee (-7.6%), Miami (-3.7%) and

Winter Haven-Lakeland (-2.9%).

Two areas of the Gulf Coast posted

double-digit annual-percentage

increases in taxable sales of consumer durables in November:

Naples (11.8%) and Tampa-St.

Petersburg (10%).

5

2

3

BY THE NUMBERS

Consumer Durableseconomicsnapshot

Nov. 2012 Dec. ’12 Jan. ’13 Feb. ’13 Mar. ’13 Apr. ’13 May ’13 Nov. ’13Oct. ’13July ’13 Aug. ’13 Sept. ’13June ’131.5

2.1

1.9

1.7

2.3

$2.5 billion (Florida statewide)

WHAT THE DATA SHOWTaxable sales in the consumer durables cat-

egory include appliances, furniture, home elec-tronics, boats, aircraft and hardware. The latest data are for November.

WHAT IT MEANSNew-home construction has fueled a recovery

in furniture, home electronics and appliance sales in Southwest Florida. The Naples and Tam-pa-St. Petersburg areas were particularly strong, but all areas of the Gulf Coast exceeded the 4.5% statewide annual-percentage increase in tax-able sales of consumer durables in November.

FORECASTNew-home construction in the spring will

continue to fuel the sales of appliances and furniture. Purchasers include both seasonal residents buying second homes in the area and Floridians who feel more confident about their job prospects and balance sheets to replace ag-ing furniture and appliances. The success of the spring home-selling season will dictate the pace of consumer-durable sales.

Naples

Cape Coral-Fort Myers

Punta Gorda

Sarasota-Bradenton

Tampa-St. Petersburg

NOVEMBER CONSUMER DURABLESAREA % ANNUAL CHANGE

$248.1 10%

$15.7 8.4%

$61.7 11.8%

$70.7 5.5%

$74 5.1%

Source: Florida Legislature Office of Economic & Demographic Research

DURABLES ($ in millions)


WOMENRecently, it seems there’s an

uprising of publications, events and organizations dedicated to women in business. Some seem serious about bringing women together to help advance their careers, while others seem more interested in cre-ating out-of-office days for shopping veiled as “networking.” Pink invita-tions are a dead giveaway.

At the Business Observer, we’ve talked about doing a women in business issue for years, but we’ve always shied away from it. It wasn’t because we weren’t comfortable with the subject, or didn’t think it was important or relevant. It was that in our minds, it seemed wrong to do an issue that lauds women for doing the same things men do.

We look for success stories no matter the race, ethnicity or gender of our subjects. We care about what

strategy they’ve chosen to advance their business, how they’ve found success and what they’re going to do next to keep their business growing — not what they look like. We think it’s insulting to treat women any differently from their male coun-terparts on these pages, including caging them into an issue about women.

Yet the fact remains that we end up with far fewer women in our newspaper than we’d like. It appears there are fewer women presidents, CEOs and entrepreneurs — the C-suite positions on which we focus. This results in a disparity of cover-age regarding gender.

The issue has sparked some spirited discussions in our editorial meetings for years, but we decided it was time to tackle the topic. We put a lot of thought into how to cover

the issue without diminishing the achievements of the women fea-tured, as well as how to add some-thing to the conversation that isn’t trite or obvious.

To cover this complex topic, the issue before you has two main parts. We start on page 8 with stories of women who have built their busi-ness in typically male-dominated industries — long before this was ac-cepted — and what it took to over-come some challenges inherent in that quest.

The second part (page 14) features a discussion from a panel of five prominent women business leaders, as well as their tips for other women in business. Although we can only share a fraction of the conversation in print, you can listen to the entire discussion on our website, at busi-nessobserverfl.com.

The most repeated parts of the la-dies’ advice (have a plan, be profes-sional, then outperform and out-work everyone) could apply to either gender. Members of the panel stated several times how much progress has been made, and some wondered if talking about women in business is even worth the time these days. As Alex Miller, CEO of Mercedes Medi-cal, put it: “... in a decade where we need it least, we are getting it most.”

That may be true, but the truth also remains that there will always be differences between men and women — it’s in our DNA. But, as our columnist Denise Federer writes on page 19, the key to lessening disparity is having both men and women understand these differ-ences, so that we can focus on what really matters: performance.

– Kat Hughes

Notes• Tech Data’s only woman board

member is Kathleen Misunas, an airline industry executive. Misunas worked for AMR Corp., parent of American Airlines, for 22 years. Her roles there included chief information officer. She previously served on the board of Canadian Tire Corp.

• One of the three woman board mem-bers at HSN is its CEO, Mindy Gross-man. HSN’s senior executive team is also well represented by women. Judy Schmeling, CFO and COO, and Lisa Letizio, chief human resource officer, are two of four C-suite-level executives who report to Grossman.

• Jabil Circuit’s lone woman board member, Martha Finn Brooks, is currently a director at aerospace firm Bombardier and motorcycle company Harley-Davidson. She previously held executive posi-tions in the aluminum and recy-cling industry.

• One of the two woman directors at Raymond James, Shelley Broader, was CEO of Sweetbay Super-market from 2006 to 2008, when she was one of the most visible female business leaders in Tampa. Broader is now president and CEO of Walmart Canada. Energy and utility indus-try executive Susan Story, past chair of the Florida Chamber of Commerce, is the other woman director at Raymond James.

• One of Teco’s two women board mem-bers, Evelyn Follit, was an executive with Radio Shack from 1997 to 2005. Follit is currently a di-rector at Bradenton-based retailer Bealls, and she was previously a director at Winn-Dixie Stores, Linens-n-Things and Nautilus. The other women board member, Loretta Penn, was an executive with IBM and Spherion Staffing Services.

DISPARITY DESPAIRWomen make up more than half the workforce. Not so much for corporate boards.

Gulf Coast publicly traded compa-nies, at least the 10 largest based on annual revenues, pretty much mir-ror firms nationwide when it comes to women board representation.

The national rate of women board directors among S&P 500 companies, according to a 2013 report from Ernst & Young, was 17% in 2012. Women hold 18.2% of corporate board seats in

the largest companies from Tampa to Naples, a Business Observer analysis shows. That’s 17 out of 93 seats.

– Mark Gordon

Tech Data Corp., Clearwater$25.3 billion (2012 revenue)

Jabil Circuit, St. Petersburg$17.1 billion

WellCare Health Plans, Tampa$7.4 billion

Bloomin’ Brands, Tampa$3.98 billion

Raymond James, St. Petersburg$3.89 billion

HSN, St. Petersburg$3.26 billion

Teco Energy, Tampa$2.99 billion

Roper Industries, Sarasota$2.99 billion

Chico’s FAS, Fort Myers$2.58 billion

Cott Corp., Tampa$2.25 billion

COMPANY MEN BOARD MEMBERS WOMEN BOARD MEMBERS

9 1

9 1

7 3

7 2

8 0

6 3

4 3

10 1

8 2

8 1

300

100

500

700

900

Florida United States74%

76%

78%

80%

82%

84%

86%

1997 ’99 ’01 ’03 ’05 ’07 ’09 ’11

NUMBER OF WORKERS,FL, 2012, IN THOUSANDS

MEDIAN WEEKLY EARNINGS, 2012WOMEN’S EARNINGS AS A PERCENT OF MEN’S

$796

$676

$854

$691

FloridaUnited States

2,992women

3,307men

Men

Wom

en

Wom

en

Men

Sources: Reuters, Google Finance GRAPHICS BY NICOLE THOMPSON


But it certainly fits. Forristall is an executive, after

all, who is the first woman board member in the 62-year history of the Lakewood Ranch-based Gulf Coast Builders Exchange, a 450-member lobbying organi-zation and industry trade group. Forristall is also a woman who built a $3 million business in the niche construction sector of site demolition — the epitome of what’s traditionally been a man’s world.

Then there’s this pioneering path: Forristall quit high school on her 16th birthday in 1976 to start working. She earned a GED the next year, then she didn’t go back to school until her late 20s, when she took night classes to-ward an associate’s degree. More night classes awaited Forristall in her 30s, when she earned

bachelor’s and master’s degrees. “I have banged my head

against the glass ceiling a couple of times,” says Forristall, chair-elect of the Builders Exchange. “But being the hard-headed Ital-ian I am, I just kept knocking.”

Forristall, 53, is president of Palmetto-based Forristall En-terprises. Sales increased about 15% last year, says Forristall, from $2.9 million in 2012 to $3.3 million, part of an ongoing re-bound from the recession. The company has 39 employees, up from 30 a few years ago and re-cently hired an estimator to grab more market share. Forristall says the firm’s headquarters, a 1,700-square-foot building near Port Manatee in north Manatee County, is currently out of space. She seeks to add at least another 900 square feet.

The key to success in a man’s working world, says Forristall, is to make certain every interac-tion with a customer or peer is of the utmost professionalism. Then it’s about performance, not gender.

That ideal was so important to Forristall that when she started in the business, especially when she met with clients, she revert-ed to the name Mary. That’s her legal name, but growing up she was always Bambi, to friends, family, teachers and everyone else. The switch to Mary, she thought, would eliminate one possible way for people to look down on her. “I was the first person people would see on the job site,” says Forristall. “I didn’t want to come off as overly sexy or flirty.”

Forristall says her family, espe-cially her three children and hus-band, Stephen, vice president at Forristall Enterprises, has been a bedrock of support during her career. That’s helped, but so too has an inner drive that propels Forristall to always find a way to do it better. That motor explains how she earned three college degrees while she ran a business and raised three children.

“I was focused on getting it done,” Forristall says. “I look back on it, and I don’t know how

the hell I did it. I guess I didn’t sleep much.”

Follow Mark Gordon on Twitter @markigordon

MARK WEMPLEMARY FORRISTALL has been in the site demolition sector of the construction industry for more than 25 years.

The core of Mary Forristall’s unique story of success in a male-dominated field is

gender-proof: Outwork everyone.

“”I have banged my head against the glass ceiling a couple of times. But being the hard-headed Italian I am, I just kept knocking. Mary Forristall | Forristall Enterprises

KNOCK IT

Admitted introvert M a r y Fo r r i s t a l l would likely cringe if the word trailblazer

dotted her biography.

WOMEN BY MARK GORDON | DEPUTY MANAGING EDITOR

DOWN

TipsPalmetto-based Forristall En-

terprises President Mary Forristall has been in site demolition for more than 25 years. Here are tips for young professional women in construction. • Get schooled. A focus on

education, Forristall says, is paramount. “Construction can be a great career for women, espe-cially now that things are picking up,” says Forristall. “I would advise them to attend one of the construction schools.”

• Stay ahead. Forristall says a competitive advantage in construction, past personal education, is to have a company that outshines competitors in its capabilities. Says Forristall: “We wanted to get every licensure and certification we could get.”

Success in a Man’s WorldWOMEN WHO BROKE THROUGH MALE-DOMINATED INDUSTRIES


IF YOU EMPLOY PEOPLE, EMPLOY PAVESE.

O V E R 6 5 Y E A R S E X P E R I E N C E .

Christina Harris Schwinn

Fort Myers: 239.334. 2195 Cape Coral: 239. 542.3148www.PaveseLaw.com

Employment Law affects every business differently, but it does affect every business. If you have employees, you need a resource such as Pavese Law Firm to help you navigate the myriad of employment laws that govern the employer-employee relationship. The number of employees employed by a business determines what employment laws apply to any given business. Let us help you develop a custom plan that will work for your business.

>>

1319

85

WOMEN

W ho turns down an accountant for a business loan?

Barnett Bank did just that to Gail Markham when she founded her accounting firm 35 years ago. A banker refused to consider Markham’s loan to fund the expenses of additional office space even though her business plan was solid and her client roster was growing fast.

Markham knew the reason she was turned down: She was a woman.

Markham had left her previous em-ployer after hitting the glass ceiling. Af-ter four years, when she was denied a partnership with a Fort Myers account-ing firm because she was a woman, Markham resigned. “You don’t want to worry and make decisions,” the male partners told her when she asked why she hadn’t earned a partnership. “I walked out the door feeling pretty bad,” she remembers.

Her first firm partner, Joni Norton, joined her a few years later. “I’ve never had that happen,” Norton says, listening to Markham’s experience.

At a Christmas party before she re-signed from the male-dominated ac-counting firm, the partners handed Markham a holiday card with the title “Firm Hustler.” That’s because she had been given the task of crossing the bridge to Cape Coral to grow the prac-tice. “Go to Cape Coral and hustle up a practice,” she remembers them telling her derisively.

Unbowed, Markham hustled up such a practice that about 100 clients fol-lowed her to her new firm after she re-signed, launching what would become Markham Norton Mosteller Wright & Co. She never thought of applying to

other accounting firms. “I didn’t even try,” she says.

Today, Markham says she finds the firm has to work harder than male-dom-inated rivals. “Our fees are questioned more,” she says. “I find little subtleties.”

Markham works on behalf of litigants and attorneys who sometimes refer to the partners as “you girls.”

Markham says those comments don’t bother her now. “We have earned the respect,” she says. “We’ve worked very

hard.” Her firm is well established with offices in Fort Myers and Naples and billings of “several million.”

The three women partners say they didn’t intend to build the firm to be one owned mostly by women. “It was just by accident,” Norton says. Because they don’t work on government contracts, they say they don’t benefit from being woman-owned.

Chauvinistic remarks are less preva-lent outside of law circles, say partners Norton and Karen Mosteller. They’re quick to say that men make up a major-ity of their clients and most are profes-sional. The firm’s fourth partner, Randy Wright, is a man who joined the firm in 1986.

“If we send someone to a bank to get a loan, it doesn’t matter if they’re a man or a woman,” Norton says.

Follow Jean Gruss on Twitter @JeanGruss

Gail Markham achieved firsts in accounting, building her firm despite the obstacles.

Held accountable

ED CLEMENT

JONI NORTON, GAIL MARKHAM and KAREN MOSTELLER celebrate their accounting firm’s 35th anniversary this year.

TipsAs Joni Norton, Gail Markham

and Karen Mosteller celebrate their firm’s 35th year in business, they lend the following advice to other women in business:• Be the best at what you do and

exceed expectations. “We go way beyond what’s required,” Markham says.

• Be a planner. “You need to have your story down,” Norton says.

• Be conservative. “What about six months of losses?” Norton asks.

• Don’t grow too fast. “You can go out of business being too suc-cessful,” Norton cautions.

BY JEAN GRUSS | EDITOR/LEE-COLLIER


“Suck it up, do the work and be excellent, and it will all work out in the end,” Avery tells her young employees. That’s how she says she worked her way up from a desk clerk in Sheridan, Wyo., making $2.10 an hour, to become one of Tampa Bay’s three women hotel general managers.

Avery, 53, is general manger of the Quorum Westshore hotel and board chair of Visit Tampa Bay. Overseeing the hotel with 272 rooms, 128 employees and revenue topping $10 million is an around-the-clock job. “You just don’t get to close the doors,” Avery says.

Her biggest challenge was rais-ing kids as a single mom in an industry that is open 365 days a year, 24 hours a day. It’s all a jug-gling act, says Avery, who would finish work at night during her kids’ homework time. She was also lucky to have help — when her kids had to stay home from school because they were sick, they got to stay in a room at the hotel where she was working.

The kids could watch pay-per-view movies and get room ser-vice from her coworkers.

Balancing a family life could be one of the reasons there aren’t as many women in the hospitality industry as people may assume, Avery says. But she doesn’t let the lack of diversity at the top bother her. “I can hang with boys, do ev-erything they do, and play really bad golf once a year,” she says. “It’s really just about working hard and showing up.”

Avery’s biggest project right now is a $6 million renovation and a rebranding effort to change her hotel to a Holiday Inn, anoth-er Quorum hotel property. The rebranding isn’t anything new for the GM, who has led the same hotel through its changes from Quorum to Wyndham, and back to Quorum in her five years at the Westshore location.

Avery knows the gender gap has impacted her at times in her career. She remembers a note she found in her personnel file from one of her early jobs that said, “Give Pam $4.50 and give Ron $5.50 because she’s married and has a second income.”

“At that time, I had a choice to make: Just shut up, do my job, be great and it would be OK. And

that’s how I approached that,” Avery says.

Avery says there’s also a f lip side to being a woman in busi-ness, and at times in her ca-reer, she’s lucked out for being a woman. “I’ve worked hard at Visit Tampa Bay, so don’t get me wrong. But five years of being in a market and being chair is pretty remarkable, so I am also afforded opportunities because I’m a woman, and I totally realize that,” she says.

As chair of Visit Tampa Bay, Avery says she spends between four and eight hours a week at the bureau. Avery says she brings a fresh perspective and fresh energy to the board, because she hasn’t lived in Tampa for 20 years, like other members. She also admits that she is brutally honest, which she credits as her greatest strength and weakness. “Some of my more political guys think I’m a wild card,” she says.

Avery is skilled at leaving an impression. She says her hotel’s most expensive amenity is the bottomless jar of M&Ms at the front counter, which costs the equivalent of an employee salary annually. The price is worth it, for the number of positive M&M-inspired reviews she receives

on TripAdvisor and for brand recognition from clients who are used to receiving the candy during sales calls. “Nobody tells you to go away if you have bags of M&Ms in your hands,” she adds.

MARK WEMPLEPAM AVERY says her hotel’s signature bottomless jar of M&Ms won’t disappear with the hotel’s name change to a Holiday Inn next month.

Pam Avery is one of three women hotel general managers in the Tampa Bay area.

“”I can hang with boys, do everything they do, and play really bad golf once a year. Pam Avery | Quorum Hotels and Resorts

Pam Avery is not a fan of complainers. That’s why she tells other women: “Just suck it up.”

WILD CARDTips

Pam Avery has been in the hos-pitality industry for 28 years. Here are her tips for other women want-ing to make a mark in boardrooms and business meetings.• Learn sports. “If you can talk

sports, if you can talk the game, if you can the trades, if you can talk just something that is going on, it gives you instant cred, or you are kind of part of the guys,” Avery says. “If all else fails, that’s a good rapport builder and a good icebreaker.”

• Work hard. Avery says in any industry, no matter your gender, you should always strive to “do a little bit more than the next guy.” She says with women in business “it goes one way or the other — we’re still dressing like a fraternity girl or we are so serious that we can’t crack a smile all day. But all you really have to do to stand out is work hard.”

WOMEN BY TRACI MCMILLAN BEACH | TAMPA CORRESPONDENT

Success in a Man’s WorldWOMEN WHO BROKE THROUGH MALE-DOMINATED INDUSTRIES


THEY’RE ONE STEP CLOSERWe are pleased to announce the finalists for the

2014 Bright House Networks Regional Business Awards.

LARGE BUSINESS

Atkins

C1 Bank

Citizens Bank

Creative Mailbox

Franklin Street

Home Instead Senior Care

LabTech Software

LRE Ground

Piper Fire Protection

RJ Kielty

MEDIUM BUSINESS

Air & Energy

American Consulting Engineers

Bayshore Solutions

Clearwater Gas System

iDatix

IT Authority

Keeton’s Office & Art Supply

Orchid Springs Animal Hospital

The Woman’s Group

Wallace Welch & Willingham

SMALL BUSINESS

B-Ag Contract

Big Frog

Construction Serivces of Tampa

East Lake Pediatrics

Hess & VanLandschoot

Majesty Title

Spring Engineering

The Eye Doctors

Winter Haven Housing

WRA

START UP

AspirEDU

Carvoyant

Drive Digital Group

MB2x

Uhsome

Hear from the new Tampa Bay Buccaneers Head Coach Lovie Smith and from Patrick Geraghty, CEO of Florida Blue, Florida Trend’s Floridian of the Year.

Lovie Smith Patrick Geraghty

Come see who makes it all the way to the top at the Bright House Networks Regional Business Awards.

Thursday, February 27, 2014 | 6:00pm | Hilton Tampa Downtown

Reserve your tickets, or table for 10, at brighthouse.com/RBA

4352615_RBA_AD10.375x16.indd 1 2/12/14 11:19 AM

1304

54


WOMEN

WOMEN

T rudi Williams became an engi-neer to prove a point.

A nurse by training, Williams was headed to medical school when her boyfriend told her she didn’t have what it takes to be an engineer.

So she switched careers, became an environmental engineer in 1981 and married that boyfriend, Don Williams, also an engineer. “I should’ve gone into medicine,” she says with a smile.

But Williams says she wanted to prove that she could be an engineer, and she built TKW Consulting Engineers in Southwest Florida where the good-old-boy network was still well entrenched at the time.

Williams had been turned down for partnership in the Fort Myers engineer-ing firm where she labored for seven years after completing her university degree. When a male engineer she had trained was promoted to partner over her, she decided to leave. “We need to keep the boys together,” they told her when she asked why she was excluded.

A friend told Williams she could start her own firm, which she did in the living room of her house. Her biggest expense at the time was a $700 monthly bill for the brick-sized cell phone she used.

Her first client was the Gasparilla Inn on Boca Grande. “The reception among the private sector was OK, but the gov-ernment wasn’t,” she says.

Lee County municipal chiefs wouldn’t give TKW a shot at government work de-spite Williams’ qualifications. She over-heard one make a disparaging comment that she drafted while stirring spaghetti sauce. She wasn’t discouraged, however. “It made me more determined,” she says. “If you give up, they win.”

Williams acknowledged that losing business because of her gender made her mad. She released her anger on the tennis court. “I’ve been known to put people’s initials on that tennis ball,” she smiles.

But times changed and TKW landed its first big municipal job in 1995, designing the sewers for the new campus of Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers. “You just never, ever, ever give up,” Williams says.

Williams’ reputation was cemented when she was named to the board of the South Florida Water Management Dis-

trict and elected chair in 2001. Her peers with the National Society of Professional Engineers awarded her the prestigious Professionals Engineers in Private Prac-tice Award in 2006.

In 2004, Williams was elected to the Florida House of Representatives, pro-pelling her to prominence in the region. Her biggest accomplishment was shep-herding the state’s purchase of Babcock Ranch, 71,000 acres that straddle Char-lotte and Lee counties.

Gender issues aren’t a problem for Wil-liams anymore. She says engineering schools are graduating an equal number

of women and men, creating a more level playing field.

TKW weathered the recession despite the drop in billings from $7 million at the peak of the boom in 2007 to about $2.5 million last year. “We’ve always been a very profitable outfit,” Williams says. “Service separates us from the rest.”


When Carol Hague was asked to lead a new women’s group formed by the Clearwater

Chamber of Commerce, her response was swift: “Absolutely not.”

Later, when the group’s leader asked Hague to be a cofounder, Hague agreed to help out. That was, only if the group abided by her rules. “It can’t be something trite,” Hague said. “I don’t do Tupperware parties. I don’t do weddings. I don’t do fe-male social club things. So if we’re going to have cocktail parties, count me out. We need to have a real solid purpose.”

Purpose could be Hague’s middle name. “I’m a purpose-driven person,” she admits. “I am a child of duty, not a child of play. I can’t sit still for that long.”

Hague, 60, is chief operating officer of Johnson, Pope, Bokor, Ruppel and Burns, a firm of 42 lawyers. For the last 30 years, she’s spent her free time as an adjunct pro-fessor at St. Pete College. She’s served as a board member of the Clearwater Chamber of Commerce since 2006 and was chair-woman of the board in 2009 and 2010. She’s now cofounder of the chamber’s women professionals group, AchieveHERs.

This year Hague was awarded with the Clearwater Chamber of Commerce’s Woman of the Year award and she’s cur-rently in the running for the St. Peters-burg Chamber’s Business Woman of the Year award.

Hague started working in the legal in-dustry as a paralegal in 1973 for Fowler White in St. Petersburg. At the time, the women weren’t allowed to wear pants to work. “It was a Hugh Heffner kind of thing, she says.” On her first day, her boss told her, “Just so you know, I think women should not be working. I think they should

be at home.” Three years later, the same boss was telling her to apply to law school.

Hague was nicknamed “Blondie” by the men in the office, something she shrugged off and ignored. “That’s just how it is. It’s the South,” she told her family.

She started at the firm with the hopes of eventually going to law school. At the time, there were only two women lawyers in St. Pete. “It was going to be rolling a boulder uphill to be a woman in the practice of law,” she says, so she decided to pursue the administrative side of the industry.

Hague now oversees a team of more than 90 employees, including 42 lawyers

in three offices — Clearwater, Tampa and St. Petersburg. Hague declined to share the firm’s revenue, but did say that the company has recently grown, adding five lawyers to its team in January.

AchieveHers has stuck to Hague’s “pur-pose-driven” rule, with a mission to pro-vide a vessel where females feel safe talk-ing to each other about their professional lives. The group’s kickoff event sold out Ruth Eckerd Hall in St. Pete, and its mail-ing list touts more than 200 local women.

Women are always expected to do more, Hague says. Even if they work, they’re “expected to nurture and expect-

ed to take care of the home and pick up the dry cleaning.” It doesn’t make a dif-ferent to Hague, who says, “I’m a person that never says ‘no.’”

She also doesn’t like complainers or those who make excuses. “I think it is time we stop talking about the glass ceil-ing and the tension between men and women,” Hague says. “We all just need to be very accepting of the differences in people and judge people by their work and by their credibility and by the value of their souls. Forget about all these other things we’ve talked about.”

Trudi Williams busted through the good-old-boy network to build her engineering firm in Fort Myers.

Engineered to grow

Big expectations

ED CLEMENT

TRUDI WILLIAMS didn’t let disparaging remarks about her gender stop her from growing her Fort Myers engineering firm.

MARK WEMPLE

CAROL HAGUE advises young women to plan and think about their goals for their work life and family life. “Today, you’re told, ‘You can do it all, you can have it all.’ But you can’t,” she says. “The pace in the workplace will not allow you to be part-time.”

TipsTrudi Williams successfully grew

her Fort Myers engineering firm into a $2.5 million business. Here are tips she shares with other women:• Never give in to disparaging

remarks by your competitors. “Don’t let the bastards get you down,” Williams says.

• Be passionate and don’t be timid. “You’ve got to have fire in the belly,” Williams says. “Jump in with both feet.”

• Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Williams says she asked clients to refer others to her and write letters of recommendation. One client passed her business cards at a Rotary Club meeting.

• Look for talent. “Always hire people who are smarter than you,” Williams says.

• Be professional. The first time Williams ordered business cards, they were printed on peach-col-ored paper. Today, they’re solid green. “It was probably a bad to do light peach,” she says. “We’re professional.”

TipsCarol Hague has watched the

legal industry transform from a male-dominated industry to a more even split over the last 40 years. Here are her tips for others in male-dominated industries.• Find mentors. Hague advises

women to find two mentors, “one that’s older, so you can learn from that experience and wis-dom, and one that’s younger that can reverse mentor you on how to stay young.”

• Brag about yourself. Hague says advice from former White House Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers is the most significant thing she’s heard in the last 10 years: “Take time to brag about yourself.” “As women, not only do we lean in, we lean back. We let men take credit for everything,” Hague says. That’s why women need to talk to other women to learn how to start bragging.

BY JEAN GRUSS | EDITOR/LEE-COLLIER

BY TRACI MCMILLAN BEACH | TAMPA

After witnessing challenges as a woman in the workplace firsthand, Carol Hague likes to share her story with others. Not to complain, but rather, to provide a purpose.


You Seek. We Find.

CareerSource Florida is a powerful, statewide network of workforce professionals who help employers of all sizes recruit, hire, train and keep the best and brightest employees. We are committed to finding the skilled, professional talent you seek.

CareerSource Florida is an equal opportunity employer/program. Auxiliary aids and services are available upon request to individuals with disabilities. Disponible in Español.

careersourceflorida.comLearn more about your regional services

Solutions that work for you

1331

67


It ’s about a hy per-focus on planning and execution wrapped around a tireless work ethic. That’s how these lead-ers — a sneaker and retail en-trepreneur; a medical supply executive; a regional real estate executive; and two banking ex-ecutives — achieved their suc-cess.

“I don’t do anything half,” says Naples-based Shamrock Bank President and CEO Col-leen Kvetko. “We are all driv-ers in here and we are all over-

achievers.”The executives met w it h

Business Observer editors at the Observer Media Group’s downtown Sarasota office Feb. 11 for an hour-long conversa-tion about women in business. Here’s an edited excerpt of the conversation:

Many women have risen to the top of the ranks in a variety of fields, yet women business-themed publications and events have surged in popularity. Do we still need to have the “women in business” discussion in 2014? Is it still worth talking about?

Kvetko: I think it’s great. I think you are onto something. Last year the Florida Bankers Association had a women in banking seminar to help women maneuver through an organiza-tion and a career. I think more and more people are realizing

what you are realizing. Let’s highlight some people for oth-ers to follow.

Miller: I think it would have been more relevant 20 or 30 years ago. It should be based on performance, whether I’m pur-ple or blue or black or white or female or male, it doesn’t mat-ter because my shareholders are concerned about performance, and that’s it. I find it interesting that in a decade where we need it least, we are getting it most. It almost provides a disservice to women, when you start to seg-ment them out.

Pemble: I think the populari-ty of (Facebook executive) Sher-yl Sandberg’s book is evidence that there are a lot of women still striving to reach the level the women in this room have reached. That book hit a chord with so many people.

PHOTOS BY MARK WEMPLE

Back: Colleen Kvetko with Shamrock Bank in Naples; Molly Jackson with New Balance in Sarasota; and Katie Pemble with C1 Bank in St. Petersburg. Front: Judy Green with Premier Sotheby’s International Realty in Naples and Alex Miller with Mercedes Medical in Sarasota.

Five of the region’s top women leaders offer a glimpse into how they approach the gauntlet of business decisions they make every day. The insights are surprising, inspiring and enlightening.

A quintet of women business leaders on the Gulf Coast with a stellar list of career

achievements has a message for anyone who hopes to follow them to success one day: It’s not about gender.

WOMENThe Panel | BY MARK GORDON | DEPUTY MANAGING EDITOR

The PanelistsJudy Green: President and CEO, Premier Sotheby’s International Realty

Molly Jackson: Co-owns two New Balance stores in Sarasota and Manatee counties with her hus-band, David Jackson

Colleen Kvetko: President and CEO, Naples-based Shamrock Bank

Alex Miller: CEO, Sarasota-based Mercedes Medical, a medical sup-ply firm

Katie Pemble: President, St. Petersburg-based C1 Bank

TRAILBLAZERS


At Professional Benefits Inc., we offer a range of insurance services from our extraordinary team of professionals. Christine manages successful dividend programs for workers' compensation across the state of Florida. Debbie has completed high-level PPACA certifications that enable PBI to provide comprehensive benefits that serve every client's needs. And Taylor, Vice President of PBI, is one of the most highly certified independent insurance agents in Florida.

[email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

Benef its that work for youwww.benefitsandplanning.com(941) 957-1310

1331

62

Do you think there’s extra pressure and scrutiny on women business leaders to succeed?

Kvetko: I do. When I was the first female named (a division) president and CEO of Fifth Third Bank in 1992, the phone calls I got from throughout the orga-nization, I felt like I had a ton of bricks on my shoulders because I was the first. And that was very difficult. I thought there was no way I could screw this up. There was a lot pressure. But my gen-der never held me back because I had to produce the numbers. I had to show that just because I’m a female, it really doesn’t matter.

Miller: There are still few fe-male CEOs, and few women sit on boards, and I think until the unicorn phenomenon stops and there are many more women in leadership roles we will con-tinue to dissect them and take them apart.

The decision-making process for women between their careers

Judy GreenCOMPANY: Premier Sotheby’s International Realty.

CAREER: Green started in real estate in 1978, and she eventually ran Florida and Texas operations for real estate giant Coldwell Banker. Her tenure there included overseeing the purchase and merger with Arvida Residential Real Es-tate. Green worked in cen-tral Florida in the 1990s and she was elected mayor of Oviedo, outside Orlando, in 1993, when she ran her own realty brokerage. She founded Signature Sothe-by’s International Realty of Sarasota in 2008, a firm

that merged with Premier Sotheby’s International Realty of Naples two years later. The firm’s reach now spreads to the Tampa mar-ket. Real Estate Magazine named Green, based in Naples, one of the 500 Most Powerful Women in the World in 2004. AGE: 64ADVICE TO YOUNG WOMEN PROFESSIONALS: “Never forget the human touch. We can do anything with technology. We can grow but we can never forget the human touch. It’s all about relationships and building trust and that hu-man touch.”

See PANEL page 16

BUSINESSOBSERVERFL.COM // Visit our website to watch video and hear full audio of our Women in Business panel discussion.


and family life is a much-discussed topic. Have any of you struggled with being more of a mom and less of a business leader?

Jackson: That’s a daily struggle for me. (Jackson and her husband have four children, ages 4-14.) We went from a one-vendor relation-ship for about 13 years to opening two stores within a 12-month pe-riod and going from one vendor to 300, and having a baby, and oh by the way, it was the recession. That took a lot of time away from raising the other kids. Now looking back four years ago, it’s a very big blur in my life that I might have changed a little bit.

Miller: There’s an expression: Show me a mother without guilt and I’ll show you a man. Women have guilt and mothers who work have the worst guilt. Lean In (by Sand-berg) is the first book I read where I felt maybe I shouldn’t feel guilty. She removed a lot of the feelings I had about feeling guilty.

Green: I think there’s an element of that a man feels, too. Our kids are

grown and we have nine grandchil-dren. But my husband is like: ‘Boy, I should have taken more time with the boys. I should have taken them fishing or taught them to hunt.’

Pemble: I have one daughter and I have been the sole care provider since was 4. (She’s 14 now.) Balanc-ing my professional ascent and ca-reer that I value tremendously while raising somebody I want to be inde-pendent and full and happy as any other child takes decisions every single day. You need to approach your life the way you approach your business — you have to plan. There’s a saying: If you don’t know where you are going, any map will get you there. You first have to know what it is that you want to achieve. Then you work it backwards like an algebra problem. And then you recognize that every day you will be thrown a curveball.

Is there a glass ceiling for wom-en, and if so, how have you broken through it?

Pemble: I’ve personally been real-ly fortunate. I had an 18-year career with Nations Bank, which became Bank of America, and it was built

COMPANY: C1 Bank

CAREER: Pemble was named presi-dent and chief operating officer of C1 Bank in 2010. She began her career with Nations Bank and stayed when it became Bank of America. Pemble was a senior vice president for commercial lending at BofA and was also Pinellas County president. She later held several executive roles at the Bank of St.

Petersburg and Florida Bank Group, including president and CEO.

AGE: 49

ADVICE TO YOUNG WOMEN PROFES-SIONALS: “Know your stuff. Be a student of whatever it is that you are doing. You can’t do something half-baked. You have to be willing to put in the work. And then make sure your performance is undisputable.”

COMPANY: New Balance, Fleet Feet.

CAREER: Jackson began her career in banking, in marketing with First Union Bank, which later became Wachovia. She was then a busi-ness consultant for handbag and luggage retailer Vera Bradley before she and her husband, David Jack-son, began to expand their sneaker retail business in 2008. Now the couple co-owns two New Balance stores, one in Sarasota and one in east Manatee County. They also run Fleet Feet Sarasota, and a women’s

store, Molly’s! A Chic and Unique Boutique. Jackson is a past chair-woman of the national New Balance Advisory Board.

AGE: 44

ADVICE TO YOUNG WOMEN PROFES-SIONALS: “Family first. If you’re happy at home you will be able to exceed expectations at work. And collaborate as often as you can. As a team in most cases we will be better. Sometimes even collaborat-ing with your competition can be really energizing.”

COMPANY: Shamrock Bank of Flor-ida. Naples-based First National Bank of the Gulf Coast acquired Shamrock last year.

CAREER: Kvetkto started in banking in 1971, and she was hired to work in Fifth Third Bank’s national lend-ing division in 1987 in Cincinnati. In 1992 she was the first woman named president and CEO of a Fifth Third state division, in Florida. Fifth Third Bank South Florida opera-tions grew from $1 million in assets in 1992 to $1.1 billion in assets and 16 locations by 2005 under Kvetko. She has since retired and unretired, and was named president and CEO

of Shamrock, a $100 million asset bank, in 2011. U.S. Banker named Kvetko one of the “Twenty Five Most Powerful Women in Banking” in 2004 and 2005.

AGE: 59

ADVICE TO YOUNG WOMEN PROFES-SIONALS: “Be yourself. You can’t put a mask around who you are because you will always be the person you are. Know who that person is because if you want to be back room or operations or a CFO you definitely don’t want to be out selling. So you need to understand who you are and what you are after and build upon that.”

PANEL from page 15

Colleen Kvetko

Molly Jackson

Katie Pemble


More Than Just Dirt.

(239) 489-4066www.landsolutions.net

PARKER COMMONS

PRESERVE AT CORKSCREW

GALLERIA AT CORKSCREW

Commercial Site in South Fort Myers

Raw Land

COMMERCIALOPPORTUNITIES

1333

34

on a meritocracy, so it was how you performed. But I joined in the mid-80s and I don’t think there were any women on the bank’s board and very few, if any, bosses who were women. My company had monthly diversity meetings to focus on how to do a deep pull of talent.

Green: I don’t feel like there was (a glass ceiling.) Whatever I wanted to do I just did it. It’s not a man’s world or a woman’s world. It truly is who you are and what you achieve and how hard you work. And you can accomplish whatever you choose to accomplish. I don’t even know what a glass ceiling is because I haven’t reached it yet.

Miller: I don’t think it’s relevant anymore. I think it’s more like a glass door. Women choose to pull themselves out of their careers to have children and that puts them back however many years in their career path. If they choose to go back it’s going to be a tougher road for them.

Kvetko: I don’t think anything ever held me back. Did I ever think I was breaking through a glass ceiling? Yes. Because in my par-ticular bank (Fifth Third) every-one was watching me. Were there some challenges along the way? Sure. I would have had those no matter what.

Why has it taken women so long to break through on boards and into the C-suite? And why does a pay disparity continue to exist between women and men?

Green: I think there are a lot reasons why. In today’s world we have a lot of single women rais-ing their children and being the caregiver. In many of our homes today it’s not the old family unit that we were raised in. It’s a single woman or a single man. I’ve seen it in my own family. My daughter has raised three children on her own and there is no question that those grandchildren have missed something very special.

Kvetko: Some women ta ke breaks to have children. (But) the pay disparity effort has been go-ing on since I was born, which is a long time. The numbers get closer and closer but it goes back to part of our DNA, walking in, talking about your skill set and asking for that raise. We just don’t think that way — but we should.

Jackson: Women don’t ask for it. Women don’t demand it. I don’t think the money part is as impor-tant to women. Obviously we have to pay our bills, and especially if you are raising a family. But I think for women it’s more about the overall package of what we are doing, which really speaks to the quality of life issue. To women it’s much more than a paycheck.

COMPANY: Mercedes Medical, a Sarasota-based medical supply firm.

CAREER: Miller has spent most of her career with Mercedes Medical, a firm founded by her mother, Noelle Haft, in 1991. Miller was chief operating of-ficer from 1998 to 2003. She was named CEO in 2005. The company, with $30 million in annual sales and 65 employ-ees, has made the Inc. 500 list twice for fast growth. Miller was elected to the board of the

Sarasota Memorial Health Care System in 2012.

AGE: 40

ADVICE TO YOUNG WOMEN PRO-FESSIONALS: “You can never be overdressed or overeducated. If you are not educated you will hold yourself back eventually, that’s just a fact, unfortunately, for better or worse. My philoso-phy, what I tell people, is to do what you are good at and make a career out of it and don’t leave it. Stick with it and develop it.”

Alex Miller “”There’s an ex-pression: Show me a mother without guilt and I’ll show you a man.Alex Miller | Mercedes Medical, Sarasota


Today, she owns a 10-room boutique hotel in Naples.

Brandt’s journey from the corporate heights to hands-on entrepreneur may be a familiar story to women. Brandt retired from Cigna in 2003 when she became pregnant with her first daughter, moving to Naples for lifestyle reasons. She invested in real estate with her husband while doing some health care consulting as time permitted.

But as part of her subsequent divorce, Brandt became owner of the Hotel Escalante last year, a 10-room boutique hotel off tony Fifth Avenue in Naples, just steps from the beach.

Now a sing le mom w it h

two daughters ages 10 and 4, Brandt lives a block and a half away from the hotel. She’s in-vested about $200,000 of her own money into upgrading the rooms, adding a restaurant and planting an organic garden. A staff of 11 including a full-time gardener looks after the guests.

Brandt seems to relish her entrepreneurial life today, bal-ancing the opportunities to be involved in her children’s school activities with running the daily operations of a hotel. She doubts she could be involved in her daughters’ lives to the same degree if she had stayed with Cigna.

Although work is so close, Brandt says she leaves it behind when she goes home. “I’ve al-ways been great with balance,” she says. Still, her children enjoy the social aspects of the hotel. “My 10-year-old loves to be at the front desk,” she says.

Brandt stays in touch with changes in the health insur-ance industry, inviting her col-

leagues to the hotel for meet-ings. “Sometimes I miss it,” she says. But, she adds, “right now I can’t go back.”

Brandt got a fast education in the hotel business when she and her husband bought the Hotel Escalante at bankruptcy auc-tion in 2004. The manager quit the same day and she discov-ered guests scooping pastries from the breakfast buffet into their bags.

“You figure out everything fast,” she laughs. “The hardest part was finding the best place to find supplies.”

Because of its Napa-l i ke charm and location close to the beach and Fifth Avenue’s up-scale shops, Brandt says she can charge $200 to $900 a night. In the winter season, the hotel is fully booked and 80% full on an annualized basis.

Brandt uses skills managing the hotel that she acquired run-ning Cigna’s operations. “I al-ways try to hire people better in all areas than myself,” she says.

“I was never threatened by it [at Cigna],” she says. “I’m not wor-ried someone’s after my job.”

To control costs, Brandt decid-ed to bring in-house what many hotels outsource. That includes laundry, catering and landscap-ing. “When you’re 10 rooms, out-sourcing may not make sense,” she says.

Although she’s a good delega-tor, Brandt says every one of her 11 hotel employees reports di-rectly to her. The hotelier says she doesn’t need more than four hours a sleep at night to func-tion effectively. “It has to be four hours consecutively,” she smiles.

Because she’s the final deci-sion maker at the hotel, Brandt says she’s less concerned about tracking expenses than giving guests a great experience. At Cigna, she says, “I’d know where every penny went. Here, I don’t. It would probably keep me up at night.”


VANESSA ROGERSMARY BRANDT is the owner of Hotel Escalante, a 10-room boutique hotel in downtown Naples.

Mary Brandt traded in her corporate life for entrepreneurship after she had children and later divorced.

“”I always try to hire people better in all areas than myself. Mary Brandt | Hotel Escalante

MAKING

As the former presi-dent and general manager of insur-ance giant Cigna’s

operations in Indiana, Mary Brandt oversaw a $900 million business with 200 employees.

WOMENFinding Balance | BY JEAN GRUSS | EDITOR/LEE-COLLIER

ROOM


Independent Valuations for a Variable World

Geri F. Armalavage, MAI, CBA, CVA, CMEAValbridge | Armalavage Valuation, LLC

2240 Venetian CourtNaples, FL 34109

239-514-4646 x213

[email protected]

valbridge.com

Valuation & Advisory Services: • Business • Real Estate • Equipment • Partial Interest • Estate & Gift • IRS & SBA Qualified

1343

39

Gender differences in communica-tion are both obvious and subtle. The wildly popular book, Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus, high-lights the differences in how men and women think, with a focus on personal relationships.

While we often find humor in these conflicting perspectives, it can be ex-tremely frustrating and potentially de-railing when we experience these diverse attitudes in our professional lives. There-fore, understanding gender distinctions in communication is critical for both men and women to work together effec-tively and maximize their individual and collective potential for business success.

The work place differences in the male/female dynamic is demonstrated in a recent article in the Harvard Busi-ness Review that found that not only are women grossly underrepresented on Fortune 500 boards, but females’ ex-periences are vastly different from their male counterparts’ perception of how women experience being on a board. Women often feel excluded and isolated in the boardroom — and men don’t pick up on that at all.

Additionally, in my leadership coach-ing work, many female executives will express that often in corporate meetings they share an idea that is ignored, while a male colleague may express a similar thought and he is lauded, resulting in these women feeling frustrated that their voice is not heard.

What can be done to overcome gen-der differences at work? Both men and

women acknowledging they exist and attempting to understand them is a great start.

GENDER’S IMPACTS AT WORK Perhaps this lack of awareness stems

from the differences men and women have with regard to conversations, which can be significant. While there is always a continuum when looking at behavior, there have been some interesting find-ings in gender communication research.

BARGAININGWomen certainly don’t lack the ability

to bargain, but they often hedge their assertiveness when negotiating by si-multaneously seeking social approval. Ironically, women as a rule don’t have an issue negotiating for someone else; it’s when they need to promote them-selves that they often stumble.

BEING DIRECTWomen often hold back in situations

that warrant stepping up, assuming they’ll be picked, noticed or rewarded solely due to their accomplishments. They often have trouble being direct.

Men, on the other hand, tend to ask for what they want — so they get their needs met more often. Women can learn from this and many have; those who excel have learned to communicate in a direct and confident fashion (even if they retain internal doubts).

CONVERSATION GOALSFor men, conversations are nego-

tiations focused on achieving and maintaining the upper hand, and hi-erarchical, with a goal of achieving in-dependence. For women, conversations are negotiations for closeness, where they seek and give confirmation and support, and a way to enhance their network of connections.

The goal for women in most conver-sations is to reach consensus, thus you can see why problems can ensue when men and women stick to their tradition-al behavior patterns. Those issues are exacerbated when men use “I,” which they often do instead of “we” or “us,” a practice that makes women feel ex-cluded from conversations or plans.

The final nail in the conversation coffin can be differences in communi-cation style; women speak in details, while men talk about the big picture. Add to that the fact that men cite facts and often express them as absolutes, something that can make them appear patronizing.

HOW TO ADDRESS DIFFERENCESIf you’re a woman struggling to have

your voice heard in the workplace, it is necessary to embrace strategies to em-power yourself.

The first step is to take a look at your own behavior to see if you’re inadver-tently sending a message that frustrates others or tends to get you excluded as a conversational partner — resulting in having your voice ignored. Women who often find themselves in that situation must determine what about their style

makes this happen, and what can they do to turn things around.

What specific steps can women take to communicate more effectively, to both be heard and get what they want? Here are a few suggestions:

• Make it a goal to be more assertive;• Be aware of your needs and priori-

tize them;• Be aware of your language; use pow-

erful words and drop qualifiers like perhaps or maybe;

• Take note of your tone, inflection and body language — focus on ex-uding confidence;

• Directly communicate your needs. If you want something, ask for it.

Considering the powerful impact women have demonstrated in driving results in the business world, it is criti-cal that both men and women share in the responsibility of narrowing the communication gap in the workplace. This can only be accomplished if both genders are willing to shift the way they think and behave — even if it means getting out of their comfort zone — and anticipate that the outcome will be worth the short-term discomfort.

bottom-line behavior BY DENISE FEDERER | CONTRIBUTING COLUMNIST

To overcome gender differences in the workplace, both men and women need to attempt to understand them. But first, we need to acknowledge they exist.

Denise P. Federer, Ph.D. is founder and principal of Federer Performance

Management Group. She has 27 years of experience working with key executives, business leaders and Fortune 500 companies as a

behavioral psychologist, consultant, coach and trainer. Contact her at:

[email protected]

Gender issues: Yes, we’re different


Her accomplishments, past running a 94-attorney firm with five offices in Florida, include leadership roles in economic development, Super Bowl com-mittees and the University of South Florida board of direc-tors. She’s pocketed numerous awards, both for her legal work and philanthropic efforts. Law also is a sought after speaker on women in business panels and a mentor to many young women leaders. “There were a lot of peo-ple who helped me,” says Law, “and now it’s incumbent on me to help them.”

Law, 64, recently spoke with the Business Observer about some issues and topics impor-tant to woman business leaders. Here are excerpts of the conver-sation.

TURKEY DAY: Law and her husband, Way ne Wil l iams, write one-year, five-year and “over the horizon” life plans every Thanksgiving — a tradi-tion that takes place before tur-key and gravy. The documents, says Law, cover everything from personal goals to work goals to painting the house. Law evaluates her plans each

quarter to see where she should focus her time. The meticu-lous plans, she says, are a big part of her success. “Planning is tremendously important. We started out modestly, but now it’s quite a spreadsheet,” she says. “We look forward to doing these plans every year.”

PLUG AWAY: Law has spoken on dozens of women business leader panels, and has given dozens more speeches on women in business topics. The subject is both a passion and something she says remains necessary, even with the strides women have made over the last decade. “It provides an outlet that’s relevant to 51% of your workforce,” Law says. “It shines a spotlight on these issues.”

THE MAZE: The legal field wasn’t something women regu-larly went into when Law earned her law degree, in 1979 from Stetson University. A fifth-gen-eration Floridian, Law says she stayed humble and outworked other attorneys while she built up a client base in government policy and land-use law. That ex-perience and success, she says, helped her break through what she calls “a glass labyrinth,” not a glass ceiling. Law also says she was aided by a host of mentors and champions. “Champions,” she says, “are people who use their high positions to ask peo-

ple to give you a chance.”

DOING IT ALL: Law says bal-ancing work with family can be conquered just like a lot of other problems — through commu-nication. Communicating and managing people’s expecta-tions, she says, is the key to establishing strong family re-lationships. “I consider it an alignment,” Law says. “People might say I’m the most unbal-anced person they know, but it works because Wayne and I are aligned.”

BIG DISPARITY: The low number of women on corpo-rate boards is a wrongheaded approach, in Law’s view. “There shouldn’t be a board member disparity,” says Law, “because there’s all this research that has come out that says a company with a diverse board of directors performs better financially than other companies.”

CONFIDENCE BUILDER: Be-fore her law career, Law worked at the University of South Flor-ida, where she helped write grants and contracts. It was there, in the 1970s, where Law met and worked under her first mentor, Dr. William Taft. Un-sure about a career path, it was Taft, says Law, “who told me ev-ery day that I can do anything I want to do. After a while I start-ed to believe him.”

PASSION PLAY: Law spends a good amount of time mentor-ing young women professionals, especially new attorneys. Her advice: Find your passion and stick to it. “When young lawyers come in my office for the first time I tell them that you need to love what you do because you will spend more time here than you do with your family,” says Law. “Focusing on something you love will help you be really good at it.”

MARK WEMPLERHEA LAW is CEO of Tampa-based law firm Fowler White Boggs, one of the most prominent firms on the Gulf Coast.

A 35-year legal career provides

Rhea Law a chance to impart reams of wisdom.

‘Focusing on something you love,’ she says, ‘will help you be really good at it.’

“”It is important to have these panels and discussions. It shines a spotlight on these issues. Rhea Law | Fowler White Boggs

the

WONLAW

Fowler White Boggs law firm CEO Rhea Law is regularly recognized as one of the most powerful

business leaders in Tampa Bay.

WOMEN

Fowler White BoggsCEO and board chair: Rhea Law

Headquarters: Tampa

Offices: Fort Lauderdale, Fort My-ers, Jacksonville, Tallahassee and Tampa.

Attorneys: 94

Shareholders: 60

Associates: 29

Employees: 205

History: Tampa lawyers Cody Fowler and Morris White founded the firm in 1943.

Source: Fowler White Boggs

Executive Session | BY MARK GORDON | DEPUTY MANAGING EDITOR


1314

64

Contact our Business Lending Professionals to learn more.

[email protected] | 941.907.4850

The 100% Physicians Financing Program* at Achieva Credit Union may be your perfect solution.

• 100% Financing for owner-occupied commercial real estate.

• Must be in Business at least 5 years.

• Must occupy at least 51% of total square footage of building.

Physicians FinancingProgram thru the SBA 7a Program at Achieva

that’s GOOD

Federally Insured by NCUA. Equal Housing Lender.

*Eligibility requirements and restrictions apply.

1327

03

corporatereport |

Suncoast Schools Federal Credit Union changes name, expanding

Suncoast Schools Federal Credit Union has changed its name to Sun-coast Credit Union. In December, the credit union’s members voted to convert the credit union from a fed-eral charter to a state charter, which required the credit union to change its name.

The charter change will allow the credit union to expand its member-ship to anyone who lives or works in 15 counties, including, for the first time, Sarasota and Highlands counties.

Suncoast Credit Union currently has more than half a million members and assets of more than $5.5 billion. It employs 1,098 people.

HSNi inks marketing partnership with United Entertainment Group

St. Petersburg-based multichannel retailer HSNi has reached a marketing partnership with the United Enter-tainment Group (UEG).

As part of the deal, UEG and its partner, United Talent Agency, will utilize its presence in Hollywood and Madison Avenue to build upon HSNi’s ongoing foray into integrating entertainment and retail by building partnerships with celebrity brands, unique music platforms, television, film collaborations and other brand partnerships.

“HSNi is thrilled to be working with

a highly respected agency such as UEG as we open our Los Angeles offices to better engage the entertainment in-dustry,” Andy Sheldon, chief creative

officer for HSNi and general manager of HSN Entertainment, says in a press release. “Having a presence on both coasts will pro-vide us the agility we need to succeed.”

UEG, which was cre-ated as a joint venture with Hollywood pow-erhouse United Talent

Agency, has developed campaigns for marketers such as Procter & Gamble, Frito-Lay, General Mills, AT&T and Starbucks, and works with entertain-ment companies including Time War-ner, Comcast, Facebook and Google, and celebrities such as Katie Perry, Mark Wahlberg, Pharrell Williams and Drew Barrymore.

IMD Cos. agrees to buy Apopka manufacturer of gardening products

The board of directors of IMD Cos. Inc. has signed a letter of intent to ac-quire Lumz’n Blooms Ltd., an Apopka-based manufacturer of products and services for indoor gardening and hydroponics. Lumz’n Blooms Ltd. was founded in 2006 and had revenues of more than $2.2 million in 2013.

Lumz’n Blooms sells to two main hydroponic gardening segments: the organic green/sustainable-living mar-ket and the medical and recreational marijuana market.

“By owning Lumz’n Blooms Ltd. we will increase our distribution chan-nels exponentially for not only their

products but for the EMC-5000 Sys-tem’s, which was acquired [in an Any-thing Technologies Media Inc.] joint partnership, as well,” Larry Robertson

CEO of ICBU, says in a press release. “This will afford Lumz the ability to expand its pres-

ence at trade shows, provide co-op advertising for major retailers, support retail trials, promote product through print, social and other media outlets, develop [point of sale] displays, as well as new product development.”

AVI-SPL receives patent for its VNOC Symphony workflow system

The United States Patent and Trade-mark Office has issued Tampa-based AVI-SPL a patent for its workflow management system, VNOC Sym-phony. Patent 8,625,769 recognizes the system’s process workflow automation for the management and control of meetings.

The company says the VNOC Symphony platform is the first soft-ware tool to automate the backend processes needed to schedule, moni-tor and manage video conferencing and AV resources. The software lets users schedule their own video meet-ings, check available video resources, access reports and analytics, and connect with the video network opera-tions center — where conference traf-fic is managed — for remote support.

“This patent award is a testament to the investments we have made on behalf of our customers and shows our commitment to enhancing the user experience regardless of what

collaboration tool is being used,” Mike Brandofino, executive vice president of video and unified communications, says in a press release.

First National Bank, parent add former N.T. Butterfield CEO to boards

TGR Financial Inc. and its sub-sidiary, Naples-based First National Bank of the Gulf Coast, have ap-pointed Bradford Kopp as a director

on both boards. Kopp will replace Chris Casciato of Lightyear Capital LLC.

Kopp is a senior adviser to Lightyear Capital, as well as a financial services ex-ecutive who has spent most of his career working with banks and related financial

companies. He advises a number of companies in the financial sector on strategic alternatives and profitability improvement initiatives.

He recently served as president and CEO of Bank of N.T. Butterfield & Son, where he orchestrated a recapi-talization of the bank with a group of institutional investors and returned the bank to profitability.

India Web marketing firm partners with Fox Business

Andy Fox’s Bradenton-based The Fox Business Group LLC is partner-ing with Suresh Babu Web Marketing Academy of Bangalore, India to create Fox and Suresh Enterprises. The new venture will provide digital marketing training and workshops.

SHELDON

KOPP


A TRUSTED PARTNER FOR CONSERVATIVE INVESTORSIn these uncertain times, risk averse investors quite often face the dilemma of sacrificing current income for safety of principal. Ames Capital Management Inc. “ACM” is dedicated to findingsolutions for clients faced with these prospects.

Preservation of Capital

Generating Current Income

Growing Wealth

amescapmgmt.com • 941-378-5000 • [email protected]

1327

35

BOYD INSURANCE & INVESTMENT SERVICES, INC.Serving The Gulf Coast For Over 40 Years! | boydinsurance.com

If your business keeps sensitiveor protected information aboutclients, patients or customers,talk to a Boyd specialist aboutCyber Liability Insurance.

We’re doing all we can to insure your future.941-745-8300Talk to us

1335

70

commercial real estate | TAMPA BAY |

IP Capital Partners changes partner, recapitalizes M&I Bank Plaza

BUYER: SCIP 501 LLC (principals: Jason Isaacson and Josh Procacci), Boca RatonSELLER: 501 East Kennedy Associates LLCPROPERTY: 501 E. Kennedy Blvd., TampaPRICE: $30.36 millionPREVIOUS PRICE: $45.8 million, June 2007LAW FIRM ON DEED: Bilzin Sumberg Baena Price & Axelrod LLP, Miami

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: An investment partnership led by IP

Capital Partners LLC purchased the 296,082-square-foot M&I Bank Plaza for $30.36 million.

The price equated to $103 per square foot. That figure is less than the two-year average price per square foot for office space ($115) in the Tampa Bay area, according to the CoStar Group.

IP Capital Partners previously owned the building with different partners. IP Capital Partners did not respond to a request for comment prior to deadline, but the Business Observer has learned that the change in ownership was part of a recapitalization of the property.

Located adjacent to the Hillsborough County courthouses in downtown Tampa, the 20-story Class-A office building features an attached garage. Built in 1981, the high-rise commer-cial structure was renovated in 1997. It sits on a 1.03-acre site at the corner of Kennedy Boulevard and Morgan Street. The building features two banks, a conference room, seven passenger- and one freight-elevator, a hair salon, restaurant and deli.

The building was 85.3% occupied, as of the CoStar Group’s last review of the property.

IP Capital Partners LLC is a private real estate investment and asset man-agement firm that was formed to co-in-vest with various institutional and high net-worth joint venture partners in

office, retail and industrial real estate in the major growth areas of Florida. Tampa is one of its four top targeted areas for investment, and IP Capital Partners plans to hold its transactions for three to seven years.

Sun Terra, JEN Partners developing Hunter’s Lake

BUYER: Jen Florida XVIII LLC (Jen IV GP LLC and Sun Terra Communities I LLC), OviedoSELLER: Hunter’s Lake LLCPROPERTY: 1325 Seffner Valrico Road, SeffnerPRICE: $3.35 millionPREVIOUS PRICE: $1.15 million, December 2009LAW FIRM ON DEED: Fuentes & Krescher PA, Tampa

PLANS, DESCRIPTION:A joint venture of Oviedo-based

developer Sun Terra Communities and New York City-based JEN Partners purchased 49.26 acres of pastureland for $3.35 million.

The price equated to $68,006 per acre. The site, which is being called

Hunter’s Lake, is already approved for a single-family community with 80 home lots. The partnership is developing the property to sell lots to David Weekley Homes.

“That project is scheduled and ready to go,” says John Kraynick, a partner with Sun Terra Communities. “We plan

to start next month. There are several existing lakes on the property and there will be seven lakefront lots. The rest will be a combination of 60- and 80-foot lots.”

Similar to the joint venture’s recent purchase of 85.7 acres of pastureland at 725 Lithia Pinecrest Road, Brandon for $12.4 million to sell to Homes by WestBay, one of the main attractions is the property’s infill location.

David Weekley Homes is expected to start construction in Hunter’s Lake in six months with sales starting two to three months after that.

St. Petersburg developer building new facility for Alzheimer’s care

BUYER: Sun City Center Senior Living Inc. (principal: Mark Bouldin), St. PetersburgSELLER: The Fremont Building Co.PROPERTY: 105 Commercial Center, Sun City CenterPRICE: $1.6 millionPREVIOUS PRICE: $4.2 million, April 2002LAW FIRM ON DEED: Quarles & Brady LLP, Naples

PLANS, DESCRIPTION:A company led by St. Petersburg

attorney and developer Mark Bould-in purchased 4.46 acres behind a 17,677-square-foot office building for

$1.6 million.The price equated to $358,744 per acre.Bouldin’s purchase entity has already

hired NDC Construction Co. to develop a 34,400-square-foot, 58-bed assisted-living Alzheimer’s facility on the site. Construction is already underway on the project, which is estimated to re-quired six to nine months to build.

Nick Ganey of KW Commercial Tam-pa Bay represented the seller and Joseph Daniels of Realty Investment Advisors in Tampa represented the buyer. Ganey is also currently marketing the adjacent office building for sale as well.

Sun City Center Senior Living Inc., received $7.14 million in mortgage and construction financing from Branch Banking & Trust Co.

ETC… • Southeastern Guide Dogs leased

space on the ground floor of First Central Tower at 316 Central Ave., St. Petersburg for an outreach center and retail store. Osprey Real Estate Services represented the landlord.

• EastGroup Properties, a Jackson, Miss.-based real estate investment trust, has hired CBRE as the exclusive leasing agent for an industrial portfolio of 26 buildings totaling more than 2 million square feet in the Tampa Bay area. The agreement also covers future development at EastGroup’s new Madi-son Distribution Center. Rian Smith, Kostas Stoilas and Kris Courier of CBRE have been charged with handling leas-ing the portfolio.

BY SEAN ROTH | REAL ESTATE EDITOR

1

2

3

1 2

3

Morgan Stanley lease sparks renaming of St. Pete building

Morgan Stanley has signed a long-term lease at 150 Second Ave. N., St. Petersburg. The office build-ing formerly known as Wells Fargo Plaza will be renamed Morgan Stanley Tower, and the financial services giant will occupy multiple floors in the building.

The 17-story, 187,000-square-foot office building was purchased in August by a joint venture of Feldman Equities, Tower Realty Partners and Second City Capital Partners.

“The renaming of the building as Morgan Stanley Tower provides us with terrific branding for the build-ing and our tenants,” co-owner Larry Feldman, CEO of Feldman Equities, says in a press release. “Our business plan is to combine the great branding of the Morgan Stanley name with a multimillion-dollar renovation that will occur during 2014. Upon completion, the new Morgan Stanley Tower will be one of the premier buildings in St. Petersburg.”


Downtown Offi ce: 941.366.7100333 North Orange Ave.

Sarasota, FL 34236

Cattlemen Offi ce: 941.342.50005850 Fruitville RoadSarasota, FL 34232

NMLS# 372744

www.insigniabank.com

the COMMUNITY BANKhome loans t

ailored to fit

your individual needs

Purchase your Home or Refi nance for Savings

• Portfolio Loans • All Condo Types • Jumbo Options

Contact one of Insignia Bank’sResidential Lending Offi cers today!

Laura DorseyResidential Lending Offi cer

NMLS# [email protected]

941.329.1544

Lynette WarnarsResidential Lending Offi cer

NMLS# [email protected]

941.329.1546

Joe AdamaitisVP Residential Manager

NMLS# 311791

1337

77

1318

32

Call us at

877-231-8834or scan the code

A Better View of Business BusinessObserverFL.com

How To Break

Into The C-Suite

Start breakinginto the C-Suite.

Sign up for theFREE

Daily Business ObserverE-Newsletter.

Get SmarterRead the Business ObserverReading the Business Observer arms you with knowledge to unlock the door to the C-Suite. Grow your career with Florida Gulf Coast news that’s relevant to your career.

• Regional Business News and Economic Trends• Profiling Up-and-Coming Florida Entrepreneurs• Feature Stories of Regional Business Leaders• Emerging Florida Companies and Corporate Strategies• State, Regional and Local Government Actions

William Warren Group buys, rebranding Lock Tite Self Storage

BUYER: 4625 Clark SP LLC (principals: Clark Porter and Timothy and William Hobin), Santa Monica, Calif.SELLER: Olde Sarasota Associates LLCPROPERTY: 4625 Clark Road, SarasotaPRICE: $7.5 millionPREVIOUS PRICE: $1.05 million, April 2002LAW FIRM ON DEED: Williams Parker Harrison Dietz & Getzen, Sarasota

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: The William Warren Group pur-

chased the 79,355-square-foot real estate of Lock Tite Self Storage for $7.5 million.

The price equated to $95 per square foot. That figure is higher than the two-year average price per square foot for industrial space ($46) in the Tampa Bay area, according to the CoStar Group.

The Santa Monica, Calif.-based self-storage development and management company paid an additional $600,000 for the business operations.

The Sarasota self-storage facility features 675 storage units.

“This asset provides a tremendous value-add opportunity and an ability to

capitalize on Florida’s continued eco-nomic rebound,” Bill Hobin, president and CEO of the William Warren Group, says in a press release. “This new prop-erty will help fill the growing storage needs of Sarasota-area residents.”

The new ownership will bring the property under its StorQuest Self Stor-age brand. The location will be its third facility in the greater Tampa area and 19th in Florida. The William Warren Group now has 96 locations in the com-pany’s operating portfolio, 57 of which are branded as StorQuest Self Storage. The William Warren Group also plans to increase the storage options and amenities of the Sarasota property with a truck and driver program and 24-hour customer support.

The company expects adding the StorQuest platform should improve the occupancy at the Sarasota self-storage facility through its, “more focused and innovative management system,” ac-cording to Hobin.

The purchase entity, 4625 Clark SP LLC, mortgaged the property to Bank of America NA for $5.7 million.

New York City’s Sung family buys Shoppes of Venice

BUYER: VJHC Holdings LLC (50% interest) and CHJV Development LLC (50%) (Sung & Co. PC), New York City

SELLER: Shoppes of Venice II LLC

PROPERTY: 4260 S. Tamiami Trail, Venice

PRICE: $2.85 million

PREVIOUS PRICE: $450,000, November 2005

LAW FIRM ON DEED: Berlin Patten PLLC, Sarasota

PLANS, DESCRIPTION:New York City’s Sung family pur-

chased the 10,421-square-foot Shoppes of Venice retail strip center for $2.85 million.

The price equated to $273 per square foot. That figure is higher than the two-year average price per square foot for retail space ($146) in the Tampa Bay area, according to the CoStar Group.

Located at the southeast corner of Tamiami Trail and Jacaranda Boule-vard, the center is an outparcel to a Wal-Mart Supercenter. The five-unit retail development is fully leased. Its tenants include Verizon Wireless, Am-scot Financial, GameStop, Mattress Firm and China Taste.

“We felt it was a good hard asset in-vestment given the current economy,” says Thomas Sung. “The property is relatively new. It was built in 2007 and first occupied in 2008. We’re not plan-ning any changes.”

The Sungs are part-time residents of Longboat Key. Thomas Sung, an im-migration lawyer, is better known as a real estate investor and the founder of Abacus Federal Savings Bank in New York City’s Chinatown.

The affiliated purchase entities, VJHC Holdings LLC and CHJV Devel-opment LLC, mortgaged the property to the seller Shoppes of Venice II LLC for $1.75 million.

Bayside Pet Resort owners buy commercial land in Osprey

BUYER: Bayside Pet Resort of Osprey Inc. (principals: Robert and Lynne Huff), SarasotaSELLER: Sabal Palm BankPROPERTY: 718, 727 and 728 S. Tamiami Trail, OspreyPRICE: $775,000LAW FIRM ON DEED: Tucker & Pretschner PA, Sarasota

BUYER IN A QUIT-CLAIM: Sabal Palm BankSELLER: TT LLCPRICE: $2.55 millionPREVIOUS PRICE: $1.58 million and $420,000, April 2005

PLANS, DESCRIPTION:The owners of Bayside Pet Resort

& Spa, Robert and Lynne Huff, have purchased four acres of commercial land on U.S. 41 for $775,000.

The price equated to $193,750 per acre. That figure is lower than the two-year average price per acre for retail land ($893,571) in the Tampa Bay area, according to the CoStar Group.

Candice McElyea, of 360 Degrees PR a spokeswoman for the Bayside Pet Re-sort & Spa, says the owners are looking to open a store in south Sarasota, but that it was too early to comment further.

In late 2013, the Bayside Pet Resort & Spa owners opened a second location, Bayside Pet Spa, at 8405 Honore Ave., University Park. Bayside Pet Resort & Spa opened in the former Rip Van Winkle Lanes bowling alley on U.S. 41 in June 2012.

commercial real estate | SARASOTA–MANATEE | BY SEAN ROTH | REAL ESTATE EDITOR

1

2

3

COSTAR



PASCO

HILLSBOROUGH

PINELLAS

MANATEE

SARASOTA

CHARLOTTE

LEE

COLLIER

Construction is rebounding on the Gulf Coast. Find out which companies are leading the way.

Special Issue: March 21

Advertising Reservation Deadline: March 12

Our lineup of 2014 special issues offers an entire year of opportunities to advertise and reach Florida’s

Gulf Coast business leaders. To receive more information or our editorial calendar,

contact Rosemary Felton at 941.362.4848.

1318

39

Construction Guide:

Top 50 Contractors

commercial real estate | CHARLOTTE-LEE-COLLIER |

Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation buys residential portion of Naples facility

BUYER: Hazelden Foundation (principals: Mark Mishek, Terry Rubenstein, Susan Gillis, Paul Gossling, James Blaha, John Butler, William Cirone, Susan Engeleiter, Harve Ferrill, John Huss Jr., Andrew Jeon, Paul Karon, William Lammers, Cheryl McKinley, Lester Munson, Austin Olney, Gloria Perez, Michael Sime, Catherine Weyerhaeuser, et al.), Center City, Minn.

SELLER: 610 Development Co. LLCPROPERTY: 950 Sixth Ave. N., units 1-12, NaplesPRICE: $5.88 millionPREVIOUS PRICE: $1.7 million, May 2006 (includes additional property)LAW FIRM ON DEED: Foley & Lardner LLP, Tampa

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: The Hazelden Betty Ford Founda-

tion has purchased the remainder of Six10 Condominium, 12 loft units, for $5.88 million.

The price equated to $490,054 per unit.Hazelden has been leasing the units

on the second floor of the building since 2010 for the residential portion of its ad-diction treatment and continuing care

operations. The foundation had 47 beds in the space with two bathrooms per loft.

The nonprofit drug treatment center company purchased the commer-cial ground floor portion of the Six10 Building Condominium in late 2009 for $3.3 million.

A Hazelden spokesperson says the property was acquired because a purchase option that was priced years earlier, when the residential market was much worse, was scheduled to expire. The company now owns a total of 40,000 square feet in the building.

No changes are currently planned for the property.

The Center City, Minn.-based drug rehabilitation center company cur-rently has 12 locations.

Platinum Health Care LLC buys Emeritus at Fort Myers

BUYER: PH Fort Myers Realty LLC (principal: Benjamin Klein), Skokie, Ill.

SELLER: HC3 Ft Myers LLC

PROPERTY: 1896 Park Meadows Drive, Fort Myers

PRICE: $2.95 million

PREVIOUS PRICE: $2.72 million, August 2007

LAW FIRM ON DEED: Riddell Williams PS, Seattle

PLANS, DESCRIPTION:Skokie, Ill.-based Platinum

Health Care LLC purchased the 38,567-square-foot Emeritus at Fort Myers retirement community for $2.95 million.

The price equated to $36,018 per bed.

Built in 1980, the development features 77 units and 82 total beds. It occupies a 4.08-acre site.

The seller, Emeritus Corp., has owned and operated the senior-hous-ing facility for the past six years.

Prior to its recent acquisitions, Plati-num Health Care has primarily owned senior-housing facilities in the Mid-west, including in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Missouri and Wisconsin. Along with Emeritus at Fort Myers, Platinum Health Care also recently purchased the Beneva Lakes Healthcare and Rehab Center at 741 S. Beneva Road, Sarasota for $3 million.

Prior to the acquisitions, Platinum Health Care managed 26 owned prop-erties and three leased long-term care facilities, according to its website.

The purchase entity, PH Fort Myers Realty LLC, mortgaged the property to Bank Leumi USA for $2.64 million.

BY SEAN ROTH | REAL ESTATE EDITOR

75

75

9382

29

93

45

45

45

78

80

776

771

867

35

17

41

41

Ochopee

Immokalee

Naples Park

Sanibel

Punta Gorda

GoldenGate

BonitaSprings

LehighAcres

Fort MyersShores

San CarlosPark

RotondaWest

MarcoIsland

Cape Coral

Fort Myers

PortCharlotte

1

1

2

2

3

COSTAR


Rich Pierro(941) 753-3053 ext 229(941) 713-4412 – Cell #

9PJO'27PUZ�JVT

Josh Kitchner(941) 753-3053 ext 227(941) 726-3817 – Cell #12P[JOULY'27PUZ�JVT

Mark Christiansen(941) 753-3053 ext 221(941) 735-2412 – Cell #

4*OYPZ[PHUZLU'27PUZ�JVT

Are recognized healthcare leaders and your PPACA Specialists

Let our Experts assist you today in understanding the “Obama Care” laws and how it affects your business in:

• Compliance• Play or Pay Penalties• Employee Benefits• HR Functions Call your

PPACA Specialist today!

753-3053Fax: 753-3179

1305

191333

61

Brooklyn’s Read Property Group buys Windsong Club Apartments

BUYER: Windsong Club Apartments LLC (principals: Robert Wolf), Brooklyn, N.Y.

SELLER: April Circle Ltd.

PROPERTY: 11096 Windsong Circle, Naples

PRICE: $8.4 million

PREVIOUS PRICE: $700,000, June 1991

LAW FIRM ON DEED: Burr & Forman LLP, Tampa

PLANS, DESCRIPTION:Brooklyn, N.Y.-based Read Property

Group LLC purchased the 120-unit Windsong Club Apartments for $8.4 million.

The price equated to $70,000 per unit. That figure is on par with the average price per unit for multifamily real estate ($70,803) in Southwest Flor-ida, according to the CoStar Group.

Built in 1996, the 15-buidling, 121,722-square-foot apartment de-velopment occupies a 8.86-acre site. Amenities include a clubhouse, play-ground, pool, basketball court and car wash. Units average 986 square feet.

The development was 98% occupied

as of the CoStar Group’s last review of the property.

The purchase entity, Windsong Club Apartments LLC, mortgaged the prop-erty to KeyBank National Association for $6.92 million.

ETC…• Santec Consulting Services Inc.

leased 5,189 square feet of office space at 3800 Colonial Blvd., Suites 100-103, Fort Myers from Orbis Properties LLC. Enn Luthringer of CRE Consultants handled the transaction.

• Wapedza LLC purchased 3.48 acres of vacant industrial land at 3580 Shaw Blvd., Naples from St. Matthews House Inc. William Gonnering of Investment Prop-erties Corp. handled the transaction.

• US Investigations Services LLC leased 6,233 square feet of office space at 3850 Colonial Blvd., Suite 100, Fort Myers from Winfield Partners II LLC. Enn Luthringer of CRE Consultants rep-resented the landlord and Jones Lang LaSalle represented the tenant.

• The American Bottling Co. – Dr. Pep-per Snapple Group leased 18,000 square feet of industrial space at 2236 Heming-way Drive, Fort Myers from Investment Group One. Tim Schneider of CRE Con-sultants handled the transaction.

• Century Link leased 4,848 square feet of retail space at 3301 Del Prado Blvd., Suite 1, Cape Coral from Gerald Warnken. Bill Young and Biagio Ber-nardo of CRE Consultants represented the tenant and Phil Deems Real Estate represented the landlord.

• Network Access Solutions leased 2,400 square feet of professional office space at 6226 Presidential Court, Fort Myers from Nyman Limited Partner-ship. Chase Mayhugh of Mayhugh Realty Inc. handled the transaction.

• RM Connexions Inc. leased a 3,204-square-foot retail space in Mer-chants Plaza, at 155-159 Hancock Bridge Parkway, Units 8-10, Cape Coral for a gaming center and video arcade. Gary Tasman, Doug Olson and John Albion of Cushman and Wakefield | Commer-cial Property Southwest Florida LLC handled the lease.

• Tavern West (8004 Trail LLC) leased the 6,791-square-foot former Big Al’s Restaurant building at 8004 Trail Blvd., Naples from Grills of Naples LLC. Frank Kupiec of K3 Real Estate represented the landlord.

• Carlos Frizone as trustee purchased 88.5 acres at 11711 Tamiami Trail, Punta Gorda from Central Bank SW Florida for $545,000. Godfrey Santini of LandQwest Commercial represented the seller.

• Painting contractor Service Painting of Florida leased a 10,000-square-foot industrial space at 12140 Metro Park-way, Unit 1, Fort Myers. Gary Tasman and Shawn Stoneburner of Cushman and Wakefield | Commercial Property Southwest Florida LLC handled the lease.

• Property management company Landex Resorts International Inc. an-nounced that its Vice President Ruth Anglickis has been promoted to presi-dent and chief operating officer.

• The Hertz Corp. leased 60,000 square feet of office space at 3181 N. Bay Village Court, Bonita Springs from RCS-North Bay LLC. Craig Timmins of Investment Properties Corp. repre-sented the tenant and Dan O’Berski of Trinity Commercial Group represented the landlord.

• The Salvation Army leased 15,092 square feet of industrial space in the Collier Park of Commerce at 2975 Horseshoe Drive S., Naples from Helios

Colliers LLC. Dave Wallace and Tim Schneider of CRE Consultants handled the transaction.

• Advanced Medical of Naples LLC leased 9,414 square feet of office space at 720 Goodlette Road N., Suite 500, Naples from 720 Commons LLC. Patrick Fraley of Investment Properties Corp. and Bill Klohn of Medical Advisors handled the transaction.

• Cypress Cove at HealthPark Florida selected Stevens Construc-tion as construction manager for the continuing-care retirement commu-nity’s memory care residences project. Stevens Construction will be provid-ing pre-construction and construc-tion management services for Cypress Cove’s 37,940-square-foot, two-story, 44-room residence. Located at 10200 Cy-press Cove Drive within the HealthPark campus, the project will occur while the 470-residency retirement commu-nity remains operational. The project is scheduled to start in early 2014. SFCS is the architect of record.

• Coding Services Group LLC leased 3,384 square feet of office space at 3003 Tamiami Trail N., Suite 200, Naples from Gofsco LLC. Patrick Fraley of Investment Properties Corp. and Alex Daane of Daane Properties LLC han-dled the transaction.

• Junior Achievement of Southwest Florida has relocated its Naples office. Previously located at 6615 Hillway Circle, Suite 202, Naples, the Collier County headquarters office for Ju-nior Achievement has moved to 3838 Tamiami Trail N., Suite 100B, Naples. Iberiabank donated the new space.

• DAK Property Holdings Inc. pur-chased 1.19 acres of land at 14101 N. Cleveland Ave., North Fort Myers for $90,000. Adam Palmer of LandQwest Commercial represented the buyer.

3COSTAR



PASCO

HILLSBOROUGH

PINELLAS

MANATEE

SARASOTA

CHARLOTTE

LEE

COLLIER

Legislative Special

Businesses are never safe when the Legislature is in session. Don’t miss our preview of proposed legislation that could change your business.

Special Issue: March 7

Advertising Reservation Deadline: Feb 27

Our lineup of 2014 special issues offers an entire year of opportunities to advertise and reach Florida’s Gulf Coast business leaders.

To receive more information or our editorial calendar, contact Rosemary Felton at 941.362.4848.

1318

13

FEBRUARY 26COMMISSIONER SPEAKS: Collier County Commissioner Tim Nance will discuss issues affecting the county and the Hispanic community at a Council of Hispanic Business Professionals meeting. The event will run from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the McCormick & Schmick’s, Mercato, 9119 Strada Place, Naples. Cost is $15. For more information visit http://chbp-naples.wildapricot.org.

FEBRUARY 27CEO NETWORKING: The Gulf Coast Builders Xchange and the Gulf Coast CEO Forum will hold a joint networking meeting from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at The Field Club, 1400 Field Road, Sara-sota. For more information visit gcbx.org or gulfcoastceoforum.com.

MORE MORGAN: Personal injury attorney John Morgan of Morgan & Morgan will be the speaker at the Febru-ary dinner of the Tiger Bay Club of Southwest Florida. The event will start at 5:30 p.m. at Art For The Olympians, 1300 Hendry St., Fort

Myers. Cost is $40 for members and $50 for others. For more information visit http://swfltigerbay.org.

FEBRUARY 28DEVELOPMENT UPDATE: Randy Goers, project manager and urban plan-ning coordinator of the city of Tampa, will speak at the Urban Land Institute Tampa Bay brown-bag lunch. The event will run from noon to 1 p.m. at the ULI Tampa Bay

headquarters, 5426 Bay Center Drive, Suite 400, Tampa. For more information visit tampabay.uli.org.

MARCH 4DON’T GO ALONE: Chris Karlo, partner with Mercury New Media, will discuss business partnerships at the Tampa Bay Innovation Center’s Tech Talk. The event will start at 8:30 a.m. at Microsoft Headquarters offices, 5426 Bay Center Drive, Suite 700, Tampa. There is no cost.

For more information call Jen Suereth at 727-547-7340 or email [email protected].

MARCH 5FELLOWS FORUM: Mindy Grossman, CEO and director of HSN; Mike Jackson, chairman and CEO of AutoNation USA; and David Kohler, president and chief operating officer of Kohler, will speak at the Univer-sity of Tampa’s Fellows Forum. The event will run from 7:15 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. at The David A. Straz, Jr. Center for the Performing Arts, Louise Lykes Ferguson Hall, 1010 N. Macinnes Place, Tampa. Cost is $20 for members of the Tampa Chamber of Commerce and $40 for others. For more information visit ut.edu/fellowsforum.

MARCH 10GET THE GRANT: Laura Rhoad, human resources director at Shaw Develop-ment, will discuss how to leverage a Florida quick-response training grant at a Southwest Regional Manufacturing Association’s tour of the Bonita Springs manufacturer. The event will run from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Shaw Development, 25190 Bernwood Drive, Bonita Springs. For more information visit http://srma.net.

MARCH 12EYES ON ESTERO: Ed McMahon, an expert on sustainable development, will speak to the Urban Land Institute’s South-west Florida chapter about development in the Estero community of Lee County, the future home of Hertz’ corporate headquarters. The meeting will take place from 8 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. at Florida Gulf Coast University, 10501 FGCU Blvd., Fort Myers. Cost is $15 for members and $20 for others. To register, call 800-321-5011 (reference 8118-1403) or email [email protected].

MARCH 21DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT: Rob Walsh, former commissioner of the New York City Department of Small Business Services, will be the keynote speaker at a forum presented by the Tampa Downtown Partnership. The event will be held at the Tampa Preparatory School, 727 W. Cass St., Tampa. For more information visit tampasdowntown.com.

FORMER FDIC CHIEF: Bill Isaac, former chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., will be the speaker at The Argus Foundation’s Meet the Minds luncheon. The event will start at 11:30 a.m.

at the Sara Bay Country Club, 7011 Willow St., Sarasota. Cost is $45 per person. For more information email [email protected].

MARCH 27MEET THE MAYOR: Bob Buckhorn, mayor of the city of Tampa, will be the speaker at a meeting of the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce. The event will run from 11:45 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Hilton Downtown Tampa at 211 N. Tampa St., Tampa. Cost is $45 for members and $55 for others. For more information visit tampa-chamber.com.

APRIL 17HALL OF FAME: Junior Achievement of Southwest Florida will induct Norman Love of Norman Love Confec-tions and Mark Loren of Mark Loren Designs into the 2014 Business of Hall of Fame for Lee County at an awards banquet. The event will start at 5 p.m. at the Hyatt Regency Coconut Point Resort and Spa, 5001 Coconut Road, Bonita Springs. Cost is $250 per person. For more information visit jaswfl.org.

calendarofevents

MORGAN

GROSSMAN

JACKSON

KOHLER

ISAAC

BUCKHORN

LOREN

LOVE


YOU HAD TO BE an all-American homemaker. There were about 2,000 contestants and I was chosen as Mrs. Pennsylvania. I got lots of prizes and flew to Florida to com-pete in the Mrs. America contest. I came in third.

IT WAS QUITE AN HONOR to represent the American house-wife. I was very pleased to do that because it’s such an honorable pro-fession.

I WAS ONE OF 10 WOMEN in the United States responsible for hiring flight attendants for TWA, from 1970 to 1984. Back then you had to have the right height, the right weight, the right teeth, the right skin, the right eyes. They had to make a good first impression. The first two minutes is when you make an impression. I would have sometimes 60 candidates a day. It was glamorous. Ten percent made the cut.

THE HEIGHT REQUIREMENT was 5-foot-2 and it was so impor-tant because you couldn’t reach the overhead bins. I put them on a scale, which we were permitted to do then, but today I would be put in jail.

I SEE SUCH A CHANGE. Oh my gosh, when I worked for TWA, if I got on a flight and one of the flight attendants had her hair in a pony tail, or an extra pin she shouldn’t have on or her skirt was too long, I could have her grounded for six weeks.

I JUST FEEL it doesn’t take any longer to put on a nice pair of pants and a shirt than it does to put on sloppy old jeans with a sloppy old shirt.

AIRLINE DEREGULATION was the biggest mistake they ever made. That will never be reversed. They had good manners with pas-sengers and now they don’t.

OFTENTIMES women would say to me: How can you leave your children and go to work? Because women weren’t working nearly as much then as they need to now. I would say it’s always the quality of time you spend with them, not the quantity. But my children never took second place.

I STARTED a travel school with three students. I decided that young women and men needed a lot of training in the basics of trav-el. I thought I could teach a lot of them skills that would help them to get a job. When I sold the school I was graduating 1,700 students a year with 100 staff members.

OF ALL THE THINGS that I’ve learned it’s knowing how to hire the right people. A good hire is someone who has a good attitude. It’s all about attitude. It’s someone who is basically happy inside.

TODAY I NOTICE how seldom

a young man opens a door for a woman. It’s a nice touch, so why not do that? On the other hand, women don’t expect it. I think our society is lacking in being more thoughtful of another person.

I STARTED my travel agency in Naples in 1984. We’re celebrating 30 years here. There were 60 travel agencies in Naples and Marco Is-land. Now we have about 10. I was able to acquire 10 agencies in about nine years.

IN ’95 AND ’96 the airlines took our commissions away. At the time we were a very large corporate agency. We’re 85% luxury travel today.

AFTER 9/11, ou r bu si ness dropped 50% . We decided we weren’t going to lay anyone off. We’re just going to pull our belts in and weather the storm. We sold

everything in sight.

I THINK the economy is coming back. People are starting to travel again.

WE DON’T CONSIDER the Inter-net as competition. People use the Internet to buy airline tickets. But if they’re going to go Hong Kong, they’re not going to go on the In-ternet. Many people in Naples who travel with us are very affluent and they don’t want to waste their time researching to find out where they should go. Our staff has traveled to almost every country in the world. They can call us 24 hours a day. The Internet doesn’t do that.

SPENDING A FEW DAYS in Lon-don gives everybody a lift. My most glamorous destination is Monaco. You can gamble there. Once in a while it’s kind of fun.

YOU HAVE TO REALIZE you’re taking a risk when you open a busi-ness. You have to have enough cap-ital to keep you going because you don’t get business the first week. I just counseled someone about this two months ago.

BE PREPARED to work very hard. Don’t think you’ll hire people around you who will do all work when you first open.

BE NICE to everyone along the way. Don’t be snippy or short. Ev-eryone’s important. Find the time to be nice to people.

ANOTHER THING I think some-times owners do is they’re afraid to let go of different responsibili-ties. Consequently they get bogged down and can’t do the things they should be doing. I’m a firm believer in letting go.

ED CLEMENT

WILMA BOYD, the president and CEO of Preferred Travel of Naples, is celebrating the 30-year anniversary of her travel agency this year.

“My husband entered me in a contest that was running for Mrs. America. That was in 1959.

WOMENVoice of Experience | BY JEAN GRUSS | EDITOR/LEE-COLLIER

It’s all about attitude. Wilma Boyd | Preferred Travel“”

Wilma Boyd, president and CEO of Preferred Travel of Naples, is the doyenne of luxury travel.

From hiring flight attendants for TWA in the 1970s to running a successful travel agency today,

Boyd speaks about her entrepreneurial career and shares insights into the business.

TRAVELPRO


(239) 261-1177(800) 523-3716

www.preferrednaples.comSunTrust Building at Pelican Bay801 Laurel Oak Drive • Suite 300

Preferred Travel of Naples President and CEO Wilma Boyd and the Preferred Travel team of54 travel specialists would like to thank our many travel partners for their participation

in the eighth annual travel showcase…

This year, we at Preferred Travel celebrate 30 years of extraordinary journeys and treasured relationshipswith our many wonderful clients and friends, our dedicated travel partners, and our valued

community and business associates. We look forward to many more years of presenting the gloriousworld of travel to enhance the lives of all who embrace its many fabulous adventures.

Warm Wishes,

Oceania Cruises • Orient-Express

Celebrity Cruises • Holland America Line • Micato Safaris • Regent Seven Seas Cruises • Seabourn • Silversea

Abercrombie & Kent • Crystal Cruises • Rocky Mountaineer

African Travel • Ama Waterways • Amanyara • American Queen Steamboat Company • Auto Europe • Azamara Club Cruises • BackroadsBig Five Tours & Expeditions • Brendan Vacations • Classic Vacations • Cox & Kings • Cunard • Disney Cruise Line • G Adventures • General Tours

Globus Family of Brands • Island Destinations • Journese • Ker & Downey • Lindblad • Norwegian Cruise LineOn Call International Insurance • Paul Gauguin Cruises • Princess Cruises • Rebecca Recommends • Red Carnation Hotel Collection

Royal Caribbean International • SeaDream Yacht Club • Tauck • Trafalgar • Travelex Insurance Services • Uniworld

Thank you to our more than 400 guests for their generous support of Friends of Foster Children!This event raised more than $22,000.

Thank you to our local business partners for their support,Beverly’s Tropical Glass Design and Garden District.

Please call your Preferred Travel consultant today for exclusive offers available for a limited time.Special amenities include shipboard credit, additional savings, upgrades and onboard value booklets.*

Thank you to the following travel partners for making Explore the World…Your Way!an overwhelming success and a true exploration of the world of travel!

* Offers apply to new bookings and vary per travel partner. Restrictions apply. Please contact Preferred Travel of Naples for complete details.

Wilma Boyd — CEO

&��#�%��%��!�($�� "%��#�� '(''!�($�($''��'&"''&#%'(

1338

55

women in business

Documents

e e c o

o t t e

s c o h i

s o ta c h

i e r insidemary forristall

business doesnt

s b o r o u g h p i

building relationships