USPS Publication Number 16300
T h is C o m mu n i t y N ewsp a p er is a pu bl ica t ion of E sca m bia / S a n t a Rosa B a r Assoc ia t ion
Se r v i ng t he Fi r st Jud icial Ci rcu it
Section A, Page 1
Vol. 18, No. 48
Visit The Summation Weekly Online: www.summationweekly.com
December 5, 2018
1 Section, 8 Pages
Local Lawyer Among Nine Pensacola business leaders Who Made top 500 Florida influencers list Florida Trend recently recognized nine Pensacola leaders as top Florida influencers in their inaugural Florida 500 Influencers Index. Among those who were recognized was Fred Levin, chairman and attorney of the Levin, Papantonio, Thomas, Mitchel, Rafferty, and Proctor Firm. Other Pensacola-based influencers included Deborah Calder, executive vice president of Navy Federal Credit Union; Michael Myhre, CEO of Florida Small Business Development Center Network; Ken Ford, founder and CEO of IHMC; Mark Faulkner, president and CEO of Baptist Health Care; Eugene Franklin, president and CEO of Florida Black Chamber of Commerce; Quint Studer, founder of the Studer Family of Companies; Lewis Bear Jr., president and CEO of Lewis Bear Co. and Michael Murdoch, president and CEO of AppRiver. The leaders represented the fields of finance and insurance; information, technology and media; retail and wholesale; law; professional services; real estate and life sciences. The list is the first ever compiled by Florida Trend in an effort to spotlight some of the most influential business leaders in Florida. These did not necessarily mean the most visible people or the people with the most state-wide influence, according to Florida Trend, but people who had influence on the small and large scale and those who have had a long record of work and effort put into their field. While highlight the influencers’ work and success, the list also gave those selected a chance to answer some personal questions about themselves. “In the course of developing our list of influential Floridians, we invited those under consideration to answer ques-
tions about themselves via an online form,” Executive Editor of Florida Trend Mark Howard said in an editor’s letter. “We chose the questions carefully, hoping the responses would enable us to present more personal snapshots of the people we believe are charting Florida’s course. Among other questions, we asked what they considered the biggest issue for Florida; we asked them about personal challenges; about how they perceived the future of their industries; whether they ready for pleasure and to relate something they thought most people don’t know about them.” Florida Trend selected the influencers after a year-long
project that included interviews, research into business contacts and input from community sources. The nine Pensacola business leaders were selected from a much larger pool of people, one that include a former Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives and major business executives, such as the Mayo Clinic, Synovus, Royal Caribbean Cruises and more. “The reality is that in a fastgrowing state of 21 plus million, with a $1 trillion GDP (gross domestic product), we probably could have included one thousand names and still generated disagreement about who made the list and who didn’t,” Florida Trend Publisher Andy Corty said.
Many of the Pensacola influencers shared personal challenges and stories about working in their field or simply how they live their daily life. Murdoch shared his Dominican heritage, Studer opened up about being a 35plus year recovering alcoholic and Myhre talked about not having any college ambition until the birth of his daughter. They also mentioned current projects and goals for their companies, including Studer’s ongoing work to improve the lives of children and Faulkner’s struggles to rebuild Baptist Health Care facilities after they were damaged during Hurricane Ivan. The list provides a window into the lives of those who
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help to run Pensacola, but it also shows the larger context of their influence throughout the state. Some, like Ford and Levin, are local business enterprises, while Calder and Faulkner belong to businesses that are known throughout the state. Either way, their influence was strong enough to catch the attention of Florida Trend and proven enough to make the list. The presence of so many Pensacolians on the list speaks to the continued growth in the community. With Florida Trend set to release another influencers index next year, Pensacola’s place as a rising business city means there may be more locals spotlighted for success in their industry.
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