850 Business Magazine- October/November 2016

MEET THE 2016 PINNACLE AWARD WINNERS

BREAKING RULES IN THE WAR FOR TALENT BERT THORNTON’S SUCCESS WITH CHILI AND WAFFLES

KATIE HARRIS: Full Earth Farm Gadsden County

SPECIAL REPORT: Bay County Business Journal

GOING ORGANIC

More shoppers are looking for organic produce — and local farmers are happy to provide it

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850 Magazine October – November 2016

IN THIS ISSUE

CLASS OF 2016: Rowland Publishing, Inc., and 850 Magazine celebrated the successes of 10 outstanding women who have distinguished themselves in business and as community leaders. See profiles of the Pinnacle Award recipients beginning on page 46.

850 FEATURES

LAWRENCE DAVIDSON

36

Going Organic Once on society’s fringe, organic farming is becoming an increasingly mainstream occupation, with many local farmers now able to sell their goods to a growing number of natural food sellers, including Publix, Whole Foods and Earth Fare. Organic food, in fact, comprises nearly 5 percent of all food sold in the U.S., with personal health the primary reason people choose it. By Lazaro Aleman

46

Meet the Pinnacle Winners 850 is proud to honor the 2016 recipients of the Pinnacle Award, an honor designed to shine the spotlight on women of Northwest Florida who have set high standards for themselves and exceeded them, women who are a moving force in the private business arena and their communities. Their success has made this region a better place for all.

By Linda Kleindienst

On the Cover: Katie Harris, who manages the Full Earth Farm in Gadsden County, displays carrots produced in accordance with guidelines observed by Certified Natural Growers.

Photo by Alicia Osborne

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850 Magazine October – November 2016

IN THIS ISSUE

84

In This Issue

12 18 33 98

From the Publisher Business Arena Sound Bytes The Last Word from the Editor

Special Section

Corridors

THE 850 LIFE

I-10

17 Local businessman Tom Rice of Fort Walton Beach pays back his fellow veterans by paying homage to military heroes.

84 Cindy Poire has an affinity for collecting old things because their history fascinates her.

She’s turned her passion into successful businesses at Madison Antiques Market & Interiors and Marketplace of Madison — and she’s still shopping.

MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES 20 Local CEOs find help for their companies by sharing ideas, successes and failures with fellow CEOs in the region.

24 In the war for talent, are you breaking the rules of engagement by poaching intellectual property along with workers?

88 Chris Holley has an extensive resumé working for some of Florida’s fastest growing cities and counties. Now he is helping Gulf County as director of the Economic Development Coalition and gives his thoughts on the region’s development.

HUMAN ELEMENT

CAPITAL

28 Employers are required to accommodate employees with a broadly expanded list of medical conditions. Make sure you’re following the rules.

92 Jose Mateo, owner of B and V Custom Carts in Tallahassee, will rebuild golf carts into just about any style his customers want, allowing them to ride around their golf courses, plantations and neighborhoods in style.

IT’S THE LAW

DEAL ESTATE

30 What’s trending, what’s selling and what’s hot to buy in the 850?

Find out here.

FORGOTTEN COAST

DETECT | PORT PANAMA CITY | DEMOGRAPHICS | ALIGNMENT BAY COUNTY | EDUCATION | MICA SPECIALTIES | PIER PARK | MILITARY | SPECIAL PROJECTS

EMERALD COAST

Special Report BAY BUSINESS JOURNAL From new activity at the Port of 59 Panama City to new economic development and education efforts

throughout the county, Bay County is on the move, bringing in more jobs and opportunities for its residents.

2016 BAY COUNTY BUSINESS JOURNAL

AN 850 BUSINESS MAGAZINE SPECIAL REPORT

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94 Bert Thornton joined Waffle House as a manager trainee in 1971 and climbed the ranks, becoming president and COO. But he’s probably best known as the inventor of Bert’s Chili.

Retired, he now focuses on the importance of mentoring.

PHOTOS BY TODD DOUGLAS (17) AND SCOTT HOLSTEIN, FILE PHOTO (84)

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850 THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE OF NORTHWEST FLORIDA

October – November 2016

Vol. 9, No. 1

PRESIDENT/PUBLISHER BRIAN E. ROWLAND EDITORIAL DIRECTOR OF EDITORIAL SERVICES Steve Bornhoft EDITOR Linda Kleindienst SENIOR STAFF WRITER Jason Dehart EDITORIAL COORDINATOR Rebecca Padgett CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Lazaro Aleman, Matt Algarin, Steve Bornhoft, Hannah Burke, Kathleen Haughney, Christy Kearney, Rochelle Koff, James Pooley, Sandi Poreda, T.S. Strickland, Tabitha Yang EDITORIAL INTERNS Reeves Trivette, Joseph Zeballos-Roig PRODUCTION SPECIALIST Melinda Lanigan COPY EDITOR Barry Ray CREATIVE CREATIVE DIRECTOR Lawrence Davidson DIRECTOR OF PRODUCTION AND TECHNOLOGY Daniel Vitter SENIOR ART DIRECTOR Saige Roberts ART DIRECTOR Jennifer Ekrut PUBLICATION DESIGNERS Charles Bakofsky, Shruti Shah GRAPHIC DESIGNERS Meredith Brooks, Sarah Mitchell DIGITAL PRODUCTION SPECIALIST Chelsea Moore CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Jacqui Barker, Michael Booini, Castleski, Lawrence Davidson, Todd Douglas, Kevin B. Gray, Colin Hackley, Scott Holstien, Kay Meyer, Christopher Okula, Alicia Osborne, Christopher Reel, Catherine Regan SALES, MARKETING & EVENTS VICE PRESIDENT/CORPORATE DEVELOPMENT McKenzie Burleigh Lohbeck DIRECTOR OF NEW BUSINESS Daniel Parisi AD SERVICES COORDINATORS Tracy Mulligan, Lisa Sostre ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Bess Grasswick, Darla Harrison, Lori Magee Yeaton, Rhonda Murray, Dan Parker, Linda Powell, Paula Sconiers, Sarah Scott, Brianna Webb EVENTS AND SPECIAL PROJECTS COORDINATOR Leigha Inman INTEGRATED MARKETING SPECIALIST Jennifer Ireland INTEGRATED MARKETING COORDINATOR Bria Blossom MARKETING AND EVENTS ASSISTANT Mackenzie Ligas EVENTS AND MARKETING INTERN Maddy Cloud OPERATIONS CORPORATE CLIENT LIAISON Sara Goldfarb ACCOUNTING Jackie Burns ACCOUNTING ASSISTANT Lisa Cleaves ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT Lisa Snell RECEPTIONIST Katherine Marshall

DIGITAL SERVICES 850 BUSINESS MAGAZINE 850businessmagazine.com, facebook.com/850bizmag, twitter.com/850bizmag, linkedin.com/company/850-business-magazine ROWLAND PUBLISHING rowlandpublishing.com SUBSCRIPTIONS A one-year (6 issues) subscription is $30. To purchase, call (850) 878-0554 or go online to 850businessmagazine.com. Single copies are $4.95 and may be purchased at Barnes & Noble and Books-A-Million in Tallahassee, Fort Walton Beach, Destin, Panama City, Pensacola and at our Tallahassee office.

850 Magazine is published bi-monthly by Rowland Publishing, Inc. 1932 Miccosukee Road, Tallahassee, FL 32308.

850/878-0554. 850 Magazine and Rowland Publishing, Inc. are not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts, photography or artwork. Editorial contributions are welcomed and encouraged but will not be returned. 850 Magazine reserves the right to publish any letters to the editor. Copyright October 2016 850 Magazine, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part without written permission is prohibited. Member of three Chambers of Commerce throughout the region.

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From the Publisher

Adopting Your Customer’s Perspective Twenty-five years ago, a mentor and friend shared with me his approach to assessing the level of care and concern that a business owner or corporate manager has about his or her enterprise and where that business is in its life cycle.

BRIAN ROWLAND browland@rowlandpublishing.com

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PHOTO BY SCOTT HOLSTEIN

His remarks suggested to me that an owner’s or manager’s relationship with his business often evolves in the same way relationships between people do — and, you know, he’s right. Many established businesses reach the point where they fail to approach a new customer as they would a first date.

The mentor advised, “When you drive up to a business, size up its curb appeal.

How presentable is its signage, landscaping and building exterior? When you enter the front door, are you genuinely welcomed by the person who is your first point of contact? Observe the floors and overall décor. Is the furniture in good condition? Are the magazines on the coffee table neatly organized?”

Not long ago, I was under-impressed by the condition of drive-thru windows at two major-brand drug stores. Presumably, the managers of those stores had not inspected them recently or they would have taken steps to brush off the spider webs, clean the windows, remove the dead bugs and address the build-up of grime.

While the interiors of the stores and pharmacies were immaculate, the curb appeal that my mentor uses as a yardstick was not.

Same thing goes for gas pumps. I want to give a white-glove award to Pilot because their pumps are always so clean it is clear that they are polished daily.

I thought about the mentor’s test, too, when I encountered at the entrance to a professional office building two dead plants and a “welcome” mat that really needed to be retired. After bringing those items to the attention of personnel inside, I learned that all staff entered via a side door versus the entrance used by customers. No one could recall the last time a staffer had come in through the front door. Today, fresh plants and a new mat greet clients, but it was necessary for me to say something to bring about those improvements.

These “cosmetics,” if we choose to call them that, are indicative of the three basic types of businesses and business owners we may contact. Owners and managers may be …

• Fully engaged with their enterprises, working every day to increase market share and enhance their businesses’ reputations and demonstrating pride in their businesses.

• Doing just enough to get by and keep the doors open.

• Marking time and permitting their business to suffer.

My preference is to do business with fully engaged owners and managers, and my goal is to ensure that all of the people who work for Rowland Publishing adhere to that approach. We know that the results will be positive and satisfying for staff members and clients alike.

You know “what’s in your wallet” today, and if it’s flush with Benjamins, you will want to keep it that way. But do you know what your customers experience when walking into your business? Be mindful that the answer to that question is sure to affect your cash flow.

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850businessmagazine.com ONLINE POLL RESULTS Carol H. Carlan, President, Sacred Heart Foundation

Small businesses around the country are benefitting from the growing availability of 3D printers. It’s a trend that some say will help boost the nation’s manufacturing base. Do you use a 3D printer in your office?

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CURRENT ONLINE POLL

PINNACLE AWARDS RECAP

On Aug. 19, ten outstanding women from the 18-county region of Northwest Florida were honored at the third annual Pinnacle Awards presentation, presented by 850 — The Business Magazine of Northwest Florida and sponsored by Gulf Power, ResortQuest by Wyndham Vacation Rentals and Sacred Heart Health Systems. The Pinnacle Awards is designed to shine the spotlight on female business leaders who hold themselves to high standards and contribute to the betterment of the community. The presentation took place during a luncheon at Sacred Heart in Pensacola. Visit 850businessmagazine.com/ Pinnacle-Awards-Recap/ to read more about the event and check out each woman’s profile in this issue.

GULF POWER SYMPOSIUM Join us at the Gulf Power Economic Symposium on Oct. 2–4 in Panama City Beach. We will be Tweeting throughout the event and posting on social media each day. #850biz #oneNWFL

Once on society’s fringe, organic farming is becoming an increasingly mainstream occupation, with many local farmers now able to sell their goods to a growing number of stores. Are you more liable to patronize stores that have a large selection of organic products?

Visit 850businessmagazine. com/polls/ to take our newest poll now.

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LET’S GET SOCIAL! Have all the latest business stories at your fingertips by following us on Facebook, Twitter and even Instagram. No matter what device or social medium, we want to be a resource for you.

Find 850 Business Magazine in all the best spots.

Twitter: @850BizMag; Facebook: 850 – The Business Magazine of Northwest Florida; Instagram: 850bizmag; LinkedIn: 850 Business Magazine

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ONLINE EXCLUSIVES

»F lip Books: View this issue and past issues in a digital book format. »D eal Estate: View the latest real estate deals and listings.

PHOTOS BY LAWRENCE DAVIDSON

850businessmagazine.com/ Newsletter-Mailing-List/

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YOUR DOWNTOWN DISCOVERY BEGINS AT TALLAHASSEEDOWNTOWN.COM 16

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Executive Mindset

) Life The (850

M AKING PAST, PRESENT

Paying Homage to Heroes TOM RICE, FORT WALTON BEACH

S

tepping into Tom Rice’s Magnolia Grill is like walking back in time.

The building itself is a carefully preserved relic from the early 1900s and oozes with charm and quaint touches of the past. Having served in the Army for almost three decades, Rice, a native of Fort Walton Beach, has a natural affinity for supporting the armed forces. His personal knowledge of local and military history along with his treasure trove of military memorabilia make him a curator of sorts.

Rice takes great joy in honoring the past.

This is especially evident in his ardent efforts to cultivate an enduring appreciation for men and women in uniform — past, present and future. Rice chairs multiple organizations in his efforts to honor military

Photo by TODD DOUGLAS

Restaurateur heroes and organizes the area’s annual Memorial Day and Veterans Day services.

He was actively involved in the Doolittle Raiders anniversary event, the nine Honor Flights for World War II veterans and most recently in garnering funds for and erecting the Veterans Tribute Tower of Northwest Florida. The Veterans Tower was unveiled in November during a special week of festivities leading up to the Veterans Day service at Beal Memorial Cemetery in Fort Walton Beach — a week that was caringly facilitated by Rice.

With one eye on the past, Rice is also looking ahead to supporting the next generation of military servicemen and women. He is a founding board member of Fisher House and serves on the congressional

selection committee for North Florida’s military academy appointments.

“When you leave that process, you feel so good about how things are going,” says Rice.

“The payback for me is five years from now when I’m a little bit older, these kids are going to be pinning on gold bars.”

Rice also works with ROTC programs in Okaloosa County. Each Memorial Day, local ROTC cadets place more than 1,600 flags on veterans’ graves.

“It gives an old guy like me a lot of comfort that there are some really sharp kids in those programs,” says Rice.

Bridging the past and the future with his tireless volunteer work, Rice is a veteran’s veteran whose love for all things military is contagious. — Christy Kearney

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Executive Mindset

Business Arena NEWS AND NUMBERS

FOREIGN INVESTORS LOVE U.S. MANUFACTURING According to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, expenditures by foreign direct investors to acquire, establish or expand U.S. businesses TOTALED $420.7 BILLION IN 2015 — a whopping INCREASE OF 68 PERCENT FROM 2014, when expenditures were $250.6 billion. More than half the new investment was in manufacturing.

In 2015, as in 2014, the majority of the expenditures were to acquire existing businesses.

In 2015, expenditures for acquisitions were $408.1 BILLION. Expenditures to establish new U.S. businesses were $11.2 BILLION and expenditures to expand existing foreignowned businesses were $1.4 BILLION. Planned total expenditures, which include both actual and planned future expenditures, TOTALED $439.2 BILLION. The largest investors came from: United Kingdom, Japan, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Canada, Switzerland, Germany and France Expenditures for new investment in manufacturing were $281.4 BILLION IN 2015.

As in 2014, manufacturing accounted for more than half of total new investment expenditures. Within manufacturing, expenditures were largest in chemicals, mostly in pharmaceuticals and medicines. There were also large expenditures in finance and insurance, in real estate and rental and leasing, and in professional, scientific and technical services.

FLORIDA’S PORTS ARE KEEPING BUSY

Florida’s seaports support nearly 700,000 jobs and contribute $96 billion to Florida’s economy.

And international trade via cargo is continuing to rise, according to a report prepared by the Florida Seaport Transportation and Economic Development Council.

Here are some highlights from Florida Seaports: A Global Threshold — 2016– 2020 Five-Year Florida Seaport Mission Plan:

» F lorida’s Waterborne International Trade rose to $86.8 billion in 2015 — a $700 million increase.

» F lorida seaports moved more than 3.5 million containers or TEUs (a 5.9 percent increase) and $49.8 billion worth of containerized cargo in 2015 — a $300 million increase.

»C ontainer tonnage grew 6.6 percent in 2015, with nine of the ten cargo ports in Florida increasing tonnage.

» F lorida seaports served more than 15.2 million cruise passengers in 2015 and continues to have the top three cruise ports in the world.

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Executive Mindset

Management Strategies MENTORING OF CEOS

THE POWER OF PEERS CEO support groups are helping business leaders make the right decisions BY ROCHELLE KOFF

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COLIN HACKLEY

W

hen Bennett Napier had to decide whether to expand his office or move to a bigger building, he sought the advice of nine CEOs of other companies. They listened to his choices and shared their experiences and knowledge. In the end, Napier felt ready to make an educated choice.

“We stayed where we were and expanded,” said Napier, president and CEO of Tallahassee-based Partners in Association Management. “It was a savings of $40,000 to $50,000.”

Napier still meets with those nine business leaders once a month for a “very open and candid conversation.” They’re all members of a CEO Peer2Peer Group run by The Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship within Florida State University’s College of Business.

CEO peer groups are gaining momentum nationwide. They’re not meant for generating sales, soliciting clients or seeking quick in-the-weeds advice. They typically have an experienced facilitator, and they aim to increase their members’ effectiveness as leaders and help them see the big picture.

PARTNER PROJECTS Bennett Napier is the president/CEO of Partners in Association Management and a member of the CEO Peer2Peer Group. Napier’s business has greatly benefited from peer perspectives.

“They say it’s lonely at the top, and it’s true,” said Tracey Cohen, president of Target Print & Mail in Tallahassee.

“There are not a whole lot of people you can talk to about the things that keep you up at night.”

Cohen is able to talk to the other members of her CEO Peer2Peer Group even though they are not in her field — in fact, that’s the idea. Her fellow CEOs include a builder, a real estate broker, an accountant and a tree service

provider who share brain power to tackle a long list of issues that include managing growth, technology, finding and retaining talent, health care costs and developing retirement plans.

“We share the same fears and anxieties and challenges,” Cohen said.

“The same scary stuff, the same successes. It’s amazing how frank we are with each other.”

The Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship offers three groups

in Tallahassee (with waiting lists) and is establishing groups in Jacksonville by 2017. Each group includes eight to 12 CEOs who are presidents or owners of companies that employ three to 99 employees in non-competing industries. The institute runs a small-business executive program for CEOs and executives as well.

The 3-year-old program “is a winwin situation,” said Mike Campbell, director of North Florida outreach for The Jim Moran Institute.

“The assumption is that CEOs know everything, but they are learning every day,” said Campbell, who pointed to changes in the market, in the economy, in technology and other areas that challenge these leaders.

“CEOs are human, and they need support as much as everyone else.

“We help businesses work on their business, not in their business,” he said. “We look at high-level strategic issues, like ‘Where do you want to be in three years?’ ” There is no charge to belong to the CEO Peer2Peer Group, but it does require a commitment to attend the monthly meetings and sign a confidentiality agreement. Peer groups run by private companies may charge $12,000 or more per year for more indepth support programs.

CEOs pay $1,185 per month to join Vistage, an executive coaching organization that provides a confidential forum for business leaders to solve problems, evaluate opportunities and delve into a variety of strategic and operational issues.

“It’s not cheap but in the long run, it’s a bargain,” said Steve Smith, a Vistage member and CEO/owner of five Krispy Kreme franchises — two in Tallahassee, one in Panama City, one in Dothan, Alabama, and another

in Tuscaloosa. “When you’re a CEO, who are you going to talk to? There’s a huge value in meeting with 10 smart people who understand the principles of good business.”

In May, Smith was among 25 Vistage members and potential members at the DoubleTree By Hilton hotel in downtown Tallahassee, attending one of the group’s annual summits, which offer breakfast, talks by members and, on this occasion, guest speaker Paul J. Voss, president of the consulting group Ethikos and an associate professor at Georgia State University. Voss talked about the culture in a business and its effect on strategy.

“If you really want to put discipline around yourself and your organization, Vistage is about investing in excellence,” said Art Kimbrough, of Marianna, who is both a member of the Tallahassee Vistage CEO group and chair of the group that covers Panama City and the central Panhandle.

For entrepreneurs who haven’t had access to the type of executive training offered in big corporations, groups such as Vistage offer expertise, experience and support, he said.

Vistage works with more than 20,000 CEOs and senior executives in 15 countries. Statewide, there are more than 800 members. In Northwest Florida, there are two groups in Tallahassee, two in the Pensacola/ Destin area and one in Panama City/ central Panhandle, with a total of about 45 members. Membership is by invitation and interview.

Vistage membership includes 11 full-day meetings per year with other CEOs and a leader. Meetings run from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. with breakfast and lunch, offering professional speakers at six of those monthly events. There is also the annual summit. And members

AWARENESS Mike Campbell is director of the North Florida Outreach for The Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship at FSU. The program is meant to guide CEOs and executives.

COACHING Art Kimbough, chair of the Vistage CEO group in Panama City. Vistage provides private peer advisory groups, which expert coaches specializing in a variety of fields guide.

have a one-to-one, two-hour meeting each month with the area chair.

At private, monthly meetings, “conversations can morph into personal discussions,” said David Loveless, chair of the Tallahassee groups. “I wouldn’t try to be a counselor, but I can listen and ask questions till I’m blue in the face.”

Business leaders in Vistage may run a company with revenues of $2 million to $5 million on the low end to more than $100 million, but they share common concerns.

“It’s a real chance to focus on the bigger issues and get input from some of the area’s smartest business brains,” said Loveless, an experienced CEO at three companies, including Boston Whaler and a joint venture in Shanghai. “More than anyone else, a CEO needs a peer group.”

Group members “are not board members, your banker, your lawyer or your employee,” he said. “They’re people who are purely interested in your agenda. Vistage takes you up 35,000 feet once a month to look at your business as a big picture. It’s hard to focus on strategic issues when you’re putting fires out each day.”

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MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES

HELPING HANDS Kathy Anthony, chair of the Pensacola/Destin Vistage groups, with Chris Schulte, president and CEO of Everwell Specialty Pharmacy in Pensacola.

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can learn and exchange ideas” as well as outside speakers.

“Rarely do we hear someone say, ‘I don’t have anything for you,’ ” said Chris Schulte, president and CEO of Everwell Specialty Pharmacy in Pensacola.

Vistage “is like a board of directors for your company,” Schulte said. ”There’s a level of accountability. The group will follow up with you and our chair, Kathy (Anthony), will want to know what action we took.

“If I didn’t get anything out of it, I wouldn’t be in it anymore,” said Schulte, who has been with Vistage for four years.

“I’m a big believer in coaching. Michael Jordan may be the best player who ever lived, but I think he would tell you he benefited from coaching.”

Kimbrough said group coaching helped him. He got involved with Vistage when he was faced with a business dilemma. He was an investor in a funeral home company, and when one of the main partners died, Kimbrough didn’t know whether to liquidate or buy the company.

The CEOs in the Vistage group told him, “You need to buy it out right now.” It took Kimbrough a year and a half to buy the company, which involved securing almost $5 million in financing, but the group helped him on his journey.

“On my 65th birthday and my retirement (from his job as president and CEO of the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce), I became the owner of a multi-state, multilocation funeral company,” now named Overstreet Funeral Group, he said.

“The group gave me the courage to take the leap,” Kimbrough said.

Campbell, of The Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship, said it helps CEOs to hear how others handled a similar challenge. At CEO Peer2Peer groups, when a member brings up an issue, “other CEOs can only speak to it if they’ve lived it,” he said. “Anyone can give advice, but how many chances do you have to hear how other CEOs handled similar situations?”

Campbell will occasionally meet with the CEOs one-on-one, but “that’s not our primary mission,” he said.

The institute is under the FSU College of Business and will move to a stand-alone building in 2017 as part of a $100 million gift from Jan Moran and The Jim Moran

850businessmagazine.com

LIVING COLOR Laura Johnson, founding artist and CEO of Coton Colors, is a member of Vistage. Johnson is bright and bold in her designs and business strategy.

Foundation, along with expansion of the institute’s programs statewide. The gift will also enable FSU to create what will be the nation’s largest interdisciplinary, degreegranting school of entrepreneurship.

Whether the head of a small or big company, members said peer groups help them look at a work-life balance.

“You don’t want to work your butt off and be miserable at home,” Schulte said. “You don’t want to sacrifice one for the other.”

Being a woman CEO can have its own special issues, said Cohen of Target Print & Mail in Tallahassee. While there are four female CEOs in her Peer2Peer group, she also belongs to Women’s Roundtable, an informal group that addresses personal and professional issues.

“I consider these women my friends first and part of a peer group second,” Cohen said. “Despite our greater efforts to make our husbands involved, we are still moms, and that does not change. It presents some unique issues as leaders.”

She sees her peer groups as “very important” to her company and to her personally.

“It’s pretty powerful.”

PHOTOS BY CATHERINE REGAN AND COURTESY OF COTON COLORS

Laura Johnson, founding artist and CEO of Coton Colors, said the group has helped her better organize her growing businesses, which include stores in Tallahassee and Tampa, an online business and her pottery, dinnerware, ornament and gifts, which Coton Colors markets nationwide and internationally.

“CEOs tend to work in their own silos,” said Johnson, who has been a member of Vistage for four years. “A peer group is a safe environment to get some great perspectives on your business. Then it’s up to you as the CEO to make the decisions.”

Her group members include an engineer, a residential elevator manufacturer and a restaurant franchise owner, but “it’s fascinating how we’re interrelated,” Johnson said. “A CEO who thinks they have all the answers is not a very good CEO.” Members have to be willing “to lay their cards on the table, warts and all,” and be ready to share their knowledge with others, Kimbrough said.

“We also need to take personal responsibility for our own development, which is where peer groups come in,” said Kathy Anthony, chair of the Pensacola/Destin Vistage groups, which have 23 members.

“Instead of traveling to a conference where you hear content for one or two days, you can have an ongoing relationship with successful business owners with whom you

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Executive Mindset

It’s the Law TIPS TO AVOID INTELLECTUAL POACHING

WAR FOR TALENT Are you breaking the rules of engagement?

BY JAMES POOLEY

F

ree market economies work best when companies strive to improve their products and services — and employeepoaching can be an effective tactic in the fight to stay competitive. But be careful not to cross the line of fair competition when hiring new talent.

In today’s hyper-competitive global economy, talent is often your most valuable weapon. If you’re like most business leaders, you’re not above engaging in a little employee-poaching to improve your position. After all, if you can entice an MVP from another company to enlist in your ranks, you’ll deprive the competition of a key asset while taking immediate advantage of your new hire’s previous training and experience. Best of all, this kind of hiring is perfectly legal, right?

Well, yes … except when it’s not. There are two scenarios that tend to get companies in trouble when they woo workers away from a previous employer.

The first is hiring a new employee with the intention of gaining access to confidential information about another company.

The second is simply being sloppy about onboarding new hires and unintentionally allowing them to bring confidential data, knowledge or methods into their new position.

If you’re wondering whether tapping into another company’s secrets via employee-poaching is really that significant a transgression, the answer is a resounding “yes.”

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After Boeing hired away Lockheed employees who brought proprietary documents to their new employer, it had to pay a $615 million fine to avoid criminal prosecution. Even then, two former Boeing executives were indicted and sentenced to prison time.

Think this couldn’t happen to you? Think again. As reported recently by Symantec, half of employees who leave their jobs keep data belonging to their former employer, and most of them leave with plans to use it in their new positions.

When you’re hiring away employees, you need to be very familiar with what’s legal and ethical and what’s not, and take specific steps to make sure you aren’t crossing the line into espionage or trade secret theft.

Having recently completed a five-year term as deputy director general at the World Intellectual Property Organization in Geneva, where I was responsible for management of the international patent system (PCT), I am very familiar with the fields of intellectual property, trade secrets and data security.

Here are six ways for employers to stay on the right side of

the law when hiring key employees away from the competition — to make sure they aren’t poaching intellectual property along with employees.

Understand what’s legal for you to know — and what’s not.

The law protects only trade secrets, not employee skill or general knowledge. But what’s the difference? The skill a worker acquires practicing a craft over time is theirs to keep and is your company’s to enjoy after you’ve hired him or her away from the competition. The same thing may also apply to techniques and information learned over the course of employment. However, if any of those techniques or pieces of information give the employer a competitive advantage, are not generally known, and are safeguarded to a reasonable degree by the company, they are likely to be considered trade secrets.

If that explanation sounds confusing or open to interpretation, that’s because it is. Trade secrets can range from unique processes for creating goods — such as the legendary Coca-Cola formula — to seemingly inconsequential details, such as a key client’s favorite wine. There simply is no hard-and-fast distinction between these types of assets. However, if a piece of information — no matter how minute — is privately held and gives a particular company an edge over the competition, chances are the law will treat it as a trade secret — and will prohibit you and your newly poached hire from using it.

Be aware that poaching is a balancing game, not an exact science. Even if your company is careful to avoid learning and utilizing sensitive information when onboarding a new employee, contamination may still occur. Often the most valuable new employee in theory is also the one with the most knowledge of the competition, and is thus the riskiest hire in terms of exposure to information that could get you into trouble. As the “inevitable disclosure” theory postulates, some new hires may know more than they can reasonably be expected to contain. It’s up to your company to confront this paradox directly and determine your risk appetite for the “best” hire.

Also, be aware that your risk multiplies when hiring a group of people away from the same company. Not only must you guard against contamination from multiple sources who may be used to sharing confidential information with each other; you may face litigation from their previous employer. The competitor’s perspective is easy to understand: With so many

qualified individuals out there, the only reason for going after most or all of a team can be to cause damage and perhaps also get access to an array of special knowledge. This, the competitor will allege, is a raid, a particular form of unfair competition.

Tread carefully in the recruitment phase.

You can start mitigating the risk of information contamination when your company is still in the recruitment phase.

Ideally, all job announcements will express qualifications in generic terms, avoiding anything that could be interpreted as trolling for a source of competitive data. Be especially careful in this area if you’re targeting a particular individual or group.

Don’t let down your guard once you have desirable candidates on the hook. The pre-employment interview can be an especially fraught situation. Those who participate in the process should be trained, or at least well informed. They should be guided by a checklist that allows them to find out only what they need in order to assess the candidate’s general knowledge and skill set (which, once again, is the part of their experience that applicants are entitled to take with them). Make it clear to candidates at the outset that you don’t want them to reveal sensitive information of any kind and explain why.

Reaffirm your commitment to remaining “clean” during onboarding.

During new employee orientation, reinforce your company’s culture of respect for others’ information rights. As with the pre-employment interview, your goal is to impress on new employees how important it is to come into the new position “clean,” and to point out that there is no advantage — and considerable risk — in trying to prove themselves by bringing with them the work they did before.

There are some types of new hires for whom this sort of fresh start is particularly difficult. Consider software engineers, for example. Many of them tend to view their prior work as belonging to them instead of their former employers, and they often feel attached to it as a reference source.

In this situation, use the onboarding process to affirm your confidence in the new employee’s ability to get the job done only with the skill and general knowledge that he or she has accumulated during his career. Go carefully through the various forms and contracts that have to be signed, and make sure that the new hire knows where to get answers or address any concerns about information security.

Train current employees to recognize off-limits information.

Despite your best efforts, a new hire might inadvertently

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IT’S THE LAW

share sensitive data about a previous employer. It’s important that all of your employees (not just supervisors and hiring managers) know how to recognize off-limits information.

Set aside time for company-wide training on what constitutes a trade secret, and be sure to provide examples of acceptable and unacceptable conversations regarding “how we did things at my previous company.” Give specific instructions on what to do if an employee thinks they may have been exposed to secret information. And perhaps most important, provide information and encouragement about where to go if employees have questions or are concerned about an ethically ambiguous situation.

Have a decontamination plan in place.

It’s much better to be prepared than to be sorry, so assume that despite your best efforts, you’ll encounter information infection from new hires. Know how to proceed if and when this happens. Your first goal should be to understand the facts: what information was received, when and how it entered, to what extent it has spread through the organization or its systems, and whether or how it has been used.

Unless the issue seems trivial (e.g., it’s information of minor importance, possibly publicly available and exposed to only one person), immediately involve legal counsel to help decide what to do next and to provide a privilege against disclosure of your internal communications.

Assuming that any unwanted infection you suffer was truly an accident or the result of a rogue employee’s misconduct, then your challenge will be to combine risk management with ethical behavior.

Happily, they usually align. Voluntary disclosure to the information’s owner is often appreciated, with no greater consequence than cooperating on a plan for containment. Naturally, if the damage has been more extensive, then there is more risk that

litigation will result. But by keeping the situation secret from the victim, you will increase the risk of serious consequences if the facts surface. So the ethical choice is also the smarter choice.

Ultimately, establishing an overall culture of respect for intellectual property is your best defense against information

contamination when you are hiring employees away from the competition.

When everyone in your organization understands the importance of respecting trade secrets and other privileged data, this knowledge will shape their actions and interactions with potential candidates and new hires.

HOW “SAFE” IS YOUR INTERVIEW PROCESS? Two Forms to Prevent Sensitive Information Contamination

from New Employees

BY JAMES POOLEY

When recruiting new employees, it’s important to make sure that they do not bring previous employers’ trade secrets and other protected information into your company. The following forms will help you ensure that candidates know what information they should not disclose (either during the recruitment process or once hired), why and what the consequences will be if your company’s policy is violated. These forms are samples and can be edited to reflect your company’s policies and requirements.

PRE-EMPLOYMENT INTERVIEW CHECKLIST ❏ Discuss company policies regarding information protection » Company’s information » Others’ information (including candidate’s employer) ❏ Discuss and provide a copy of contracts candidate will have to sign ❏ Have candidate sign assurance of no confidential information (A sample of this form is provided below.) » Emphasize policy prohibiting use of unauthorized data ❏ Ask about current employment, without inviting disclosure of secrets » Observe candidate’s attitude toward rights of current employer » Get copy of any restrictive agreements » If already terminated, ask about warnings or concerns CANDIDATE ASSURANCE REGARDING SECRETS OF OTHERS To: Widgets, Inc. I am applying for employment with Widgets, Inc. I assure you as follows: ■

■

■

■

I can perform the duties of the position for which you are considering me, without violating my obligations to any other person or company.

I have given you copies of all nondisclosure, invention assignment, or other restrictive contracts I have entered into in my past employment.

I will not disclose to you or use in my work for you any confidential information derived from sources other than my work for you. I will not bring to Widgets, Inc., or otherwise use or disclose any materials or information belonging to any other person or company.

I understand that failure to comply with the policies of Widgets, Inc., regarding protection of confidential information may have serious disciplinary consequences, including dismissal.

Dated: ________________ Signed: _________________________

James Pooley is the author of “Secrets: Managing Information Assets in the Age of Cyberespionage.” He provides international strategic and management advice in patent and trade secret matters, performs pre-litigation investigation and analysis, and consults on information security programs. Before his service at the World Intellectual Property Organization, he was a trial lawyer in Silicon Valley for over 35 years, representing clients in patent, trade secret and technology litigation. He has also taught trade secret law at the University of California, Berkeley, and has served as president of the American Intellectual Property Law Association and of the National Inventors Hall of Fame, where he currently serves as chairman of the board.

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Executive Mindset

Human Element ASSESSING HUMAN RIGHTS

ENSURING EQUAL OPPORTUNITY Federal regulators have expanded the disabilities that require accommodation by employers

BY SANDI POREDA

I

n today’s world of political correctness, using the word “disabled” to describe an incapacity is almost cringe-worthy. It’s a term that feels inflexible, stark.

It’s also a term that could cause business owners to misstep when creating their policies for how to treat employees who have potential claims under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

The ADA was signed into law in 1990 by President George H.W. Bush, ensuring equal opportunities for people with disabilities. But what does that really mean? How do you determine, as a business owner, whether opportunities are equal? How should you define a disability?

This last question is one R. Scott Callen spends a lot of time helping his clients understand. Callen is a labor and employment attorney with Liles, Gavin, George, Carlisle, Lee & Callen, P.A., and he also serves the Tallahassee-based Big Bend Society for Human Resource Management as the organization’s director of governmental and legislative affairs. Both positions mean he spends a lot of time thinking about, talking about and explaining the ADA.

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“There’s a general misunderstanding that a disability is a major impairment; for example, someone who needs a wheelchair or who has some serious and permanent impairment,” Callen said. “But essentially, any medical condition that isn’t brief in its duration could be a disability. And so employers are often most confused about the terminology.”

Callen encourages his clients to get away from the constructs of the terminology and to think of the ADA as a process that protects employees with medical conditions. One reason for this critical distinction is a recent set of federal regulations issued by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission stating that “an impairment that is episodic or in remission is a disability if it would substantially limit a major life activity when active.”

An example, according to the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, would be someone with diabetes who may need regularly scheduled breaks during the workday to eat properly and monitor blood sugar and insulin levels. Even if the employee’s diabetes doesn’t prevent him or her from working or even substantially modify the employee’s capabilities,

they still may be able to file a claim under the ADA if they are not permitted reasonable accommodation (the breaks to eat and monitor blood sugar levels).

What’s Reasonable?

So what, then, is considered to be reasonable accommodation? Callen said there are two basic questions employers should ask themselves to make sure they’re on the right side of the law: 1. First, determine whether the employee can perform the essential functions of his or her position with or without a reasonable accommodation.

In essence, can you make a temporary change to accommodate the employee’s needs? This might mean setting a temporarily, flexible schedule so a cancer patient in remission can make his or her doctor’s appointments.

2. Second, employers need to contemplate at what point the reasonable accommodations could eventually become unreasonable. For example, if your employee is the only person on staff who can accomplish a critical task for your business and he or she won’t be available to perform this

a job prematurely. Connie Crowley, the human resources manager for North Florida company CW. Roberts Contracting Inc., said a person with a disability should not be considered unqualified for a position if he or she is able to perform the job’s essential functions, with or without reasonable accommodation. Essential functions could include anything from being able to lift a certain amount of weight in a warehouse to being able to work at any time during the day.

Third, document everything. Start at the beginning, from the initial request for accommodation. Keep track of any subsequent requests or updates so if you need a record of your responses, you’ll have the information you need instead of trying to work backward once a claim has been filed.

Do the Right Thing

task for six months, that may cause an undue hardship for your business. If your employee is abusing the attendance policies and is out of time off, or if there are limited resources to complete a job, you may be in a good position to argue the accommodation is unreasonable.

Callen noted that employers should make a good-faith effort, but they also don’t have to say yes to every request.

There’s no bright line for what is reasonable vs. unreasonable; each situation is different based on the size of the business, timing, job responsibilities and a host of other factors. But it’s

important for employers to at least try to engage — it builds a better foundation if an employer has to defend his or her position.

So what’s the best advice for employers trying to do the right thing?

First, start off on the right foot by incorporating a clear ADA policy into the employee handbook and making sure all supervisors are trained on the ADA. Just remember, federal law will trump the handbook, so make sure they don’t conflict or that you’re not too inflexible.

Second, don’t rule someone out for

Callen said the focus of the ADA has shifted from trying to determine whether an employee actually has a disability to working out how much an employer needs to accommodate the condition.

But employers shouldn’t let worry about the regulations and compliance consume them. Even though there isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution for guaranteed adherence with the ADA, there’s a simple formula.

“In the real world, the litmus test is that you should presume that your employee might have a claim, unless you’re dealing with something really obvious like a cold or the flu,” he said.

“If you presume as much, you can start taking steps to address the situation.”

When in doubt, he said, employers should base their decisions on how they can take care of their employees, and always appreciate the human element.

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DEAL ESTATE Just Listed

Grand Panama, Indeed Prime office spaces eager to be leased Appropriately named, Grand Panama, is an exceptional executive office building boasting notable tenants that include Summit Bank, Northrop Grumman and more. This building can’t go unnoticed as it is designed to impress with expansive offices, intimate offices, large windows and class A features. The second floor is exceptional with a beautifully furnished lobby, an outdoor balcony, cubicles, private offices, impressive conference rooms and equipped kitchens. The location is situated between major roadways Hutchison Boulevard, Middle Beach Road, Alf Coleman Road and Richard Jackson Boulevard. Nearby are many restaurant options and a variety of services. From the office you can feel the Gulf breeze gently blowing by, and some offices even provide delightful views of the water.

COURTESY KERRI PARKER / CORR GROUP

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Address: 600 Grand Panama Boulevard, Panama City Beach Price: Contact for details Contact: Kerri Parker, Listing Agent, (850) 231-1127, kparker@corrgroupus.com

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DEAL ESTATE Just Sold

COURTESY JOHN MCNEILL

You thought you loved it here before you saw it through her eyes.

Market Street Building Off Market Space proved irresistible

By Rebecca Padgett If you live in or frequent Tallahassee, you are well aware that the Market District is bursting with services, retailers and restaurants. This area is bustling and thriving as it quickly becomes a hub and asset in the community. This being said, buildings for sale don’t stay on the market long.

Market Street Investors LLC bought the building at 1474 Market Street to be used as a new location for Dermatology Specialists of Florida. The office’s previous location was also on Market Street, but the new location will provide substantial visibility and exposure.

After or before an appointment, the options of dining and shopping present themselves with locations such as Island Wing Company, The Fresh Market, Hopkins Eatery, Nic’s Toggery, Narcissus, Petco and more nearby. Patrick Jones and John McNeill of NAI TALCOR helped to seal this irresistible deal.

“We’re thrilled to take a tired C-class retail building, completely renovate the interior and exterior and deliver a first-class medical facility to the marketplace,” said Jones. “The tenant, Dermatology Specialists of Florida, relocating from their existing location nearby has already begun reaping the rewards of the enhanced visibility and market positioning.

TALCOR represented both the developer and the tenant and are very satisfied to have delivered a quality facility for the tenant, quality investment for the developer and a new firstclass office space for the city of Tallahassee.”

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BUSINESS NEWS

CAPITAL NEW BEGINNINGS

»

CPA firm Moore Stephens Lovelace recently named Salvatore Furnari as its chief operating and financial officer.

» FURNARI

» Samantha “Sam” Hobbs of the

Florida Engineering Society and the Florida Institute of Consulting Engineers has been promoted to director of government affairs and executive policy.

»

Former Deputy Secretary of State Kerri Post is now the Leon County director of tourism development. She served as the senior marketing director for Leon County Tourism from 2009 to 2012.

» Bryan

Desloge, Leon County District 4 commissioner, recently became president of the National Association of Counties during the 81st Annual Conference and Exposition held in Long Beach, California. This marks the first time that a Leon County commissioner has led the association.

»

Rachael Favors is the new certification and corporate services manager for the Northern Florida region of the FAVORS Florida State Minority Supplier Development Council.

Favors has more than a decade of experience working with the Florida Legislature and has worked in various industries, including customer service and housing.

LOVETT

» PHOTOS PROVIDED BY PROFILED INDIVIDUALS

Jet Business Loans LLC, an online financial-services provider, has expanded its small-business funding solutions into the Tallahassee area. Jet’s presence in this market is part of the latest phase of the small-business capital provider’s nationwide rollout.

» Sunshine Savings Bank has con-

verted to a Florida state-chartered financial institution and will now do business as Sunshine Community Bank. The bank is in Tallahassee and has approximately $162 million in assets. State-chartered financial institutions are licensed, examined and regulated through the Florida Office of Financial Regulation.

» James Moore, Certified Public

Accountants and Consultants recently announced promotions at its Tallahassee office. Daniel Roccanti and Chris Salak have been promoted to associate accountant, and Julie Long has been promoted to administrative services supervisor.

LOCAL HAPPENINGS

»

Tallahassee Ear, Nose and Throat-Head & Neck Surgery, P.A. is celebrating 30 years of serving the medical needs of Tallahassee.

The medical center also took home a CCYS Tally Award for top medical specialty office. Dr. Duncan Postma founded the practice in 1986 and recently welcomed Graham Whitaker, M.D., to the medical staff.

» An inventive new map that of-

»

Lee Lovett and Samantha Pettis have joined CPA firm Thomas Howell Ferguson P.A. Lee and Pettis will work as staff accountants in the tax services department.

appointed to serve on committees and boards for the National Association of Counties as well as the Florida Counties Foundation.

Luke David Thomas of Tallahassee has been ap- PETTIS pointed to the board of directors of the national nonprofit organization Battlefield to Boardroom.

Thomas served four years in the U.S. Coast Guard and four years in the Coast Guard Reserve.

» Leon County District 5 Commis-

sioner Kristin Dozier has been

fers a unique way to “SeeTallahassee” was unveiled recently at Tallahassee International Airport by the Knight Creative Communities Institute’s volunteer Community Catalyst SeeTallahassee team.

The donation to the TCC Foundation includes a $25,000 investment in technology upgrades, furniture and maintenance of a classroom, and $25,000 to create an endowed scholarship. The gift will also include $50,000 to support the renovation of TCC’s athletics training center.

» Partners in Association Management was recently honored with two awards at the Florida Society of Association Executives’ annual conference. Chief Staff Executive Rachel Luoma accepted the 2016 FSAE Member of the Year Award, and Partners in Association Management itself was honored with the Association of the Year Award. » The city of Tallahassee was recently honored as Public Employer of the Year by The Able Trust, which annually recognizes businesses, organizations and individuals for their efforts in helping Floridians with disabilities enter the workforce. » The Gadsden County Development Council’s new website recently earned the organization a Superior award during the Southern Economic Development Council’s annual conference in Missouri. The marketing communication award recognizes the county’s efforts in telling the Gadsden County business story to prospective employers and residents.

LEGAL NOTES

» Several Tallahassee attorneys were recently recognized in “Best Lawyers in America 2017.” Attorneys on this list are grouped by geographic region and practice area. They are reviewed by their peers on the basis of professional expertise and undergo an authentication process to ensure that they are in current practice and in good standing.

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now operating as Century 21 First Story Real Estate, a real-estate brokerage franchise affiliate of Century 21 Real Estate LLC. The company will provide residential real estate services to buyers and sellers throughout greater Tallahassee.

Tallahassee Community College received a $100,000 gift from Refreshment Services Pepsi & Vending at the Aug. 15 meeting of the TCC District Board of Trustees.

N. Nicholson-Choice, Sonya C. Penley and Barry Richard. Shareholder Michael J. Cherniga received special recognition as “Lawyer of the Year” in health care law.

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ROAD AND CASSEL DougB las L. Mannheimer, Douglas Rillstone, Charles Stratton and M. Stephen Turner.

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ERGER SINGERMAN MelaB nie Ann Hines, Lewis M. Killian Jr., Brian G. Rich and Daniel H. Thompson. Thompson was also named the Tallahassee Environmental Lawyer of the Year.

LOCAL HONORS

» First Story Real Estate Company is

»

SOUNDBYTES

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OLLAND & KNIGHT LawH rence N. Curtin, Mark K. Delegal, James M. Ervin Jr., D. Bruce May Jr., Shannon Hartsfield Salimone, Lawrence E. Sellers and Karen D. Walker. In addition, Sellers and Walker were named “Lawyer of the Year” in their respective practices.

REENBERG TRAURIG, P.A. G David C. Ashburn, Fred W. Baggett, Lorence Jon Bielby, Michael J. Cherniga, Fred F. Harris, M. Hope Keating, Robert R. McDonald, Maribel

850 Business Magazine

» Hope Keating, a shareholder in

the Tallahassee appellate practice of international law firm Greenberg Traurig P.A., has been named to the Fellows of the American Bar Foundation, an honorary organization of attorneys, judges, law faculty and legal scholars whose public and private careers have demonstrated outstanding dedication to the welfare of their communities and to the highest principles of the legal profession.

Membership in The Fellows is limited to 1 percent of lawyers licensed to practice in each jurisdiction.

» John Londot, a shareholder in the Tallahassee litigation practice of international law firm Greenberg Traurig P.A., has been certified by the McAfee Institute as a Cyber Threat Forensic Investigator and Certified Cyber Investigative Expert.

» Matthew Z. Leopold of Carlton Fields has been selected to participate in Connect Florida’s Statewide Leader- LEOPOLD ship Institute as a member of its Class VII. Leopold is of counsel in Tallahassee with Carlton Fields’ Government Law and Consulting practice group.

Prior to joining the firm in March 2015, Leopold was general counsel of the Florida Department of Environment Protection and was previously an attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice. » Akerman LLP, a Top 100 U.S. law firm serving clients across the Americas, recently announced that GIDDINGS Katherine “Kathi” Giddings, a partner in the litigation practice group in Tallahassee, |

OCTOBER – NOVEMBER 2016

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BUSINESS NEWS

SOUNDBYTES

has been named among the Top 250 U.S. Women in Litigation by Benchmark Litigation for the fifth consecutive year. Giddings was one of only five women from Florida who made the list.

APPOINTED

BY GOV. SCOTT

Âť Elizabeth Kidder of Tallahassee, assistant deputy secretary of Medicaid policy and quality for the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration, to the board of directors of Florida Healthy Kids Corporation by Gov. Rick Scott.

Her term ends June 30, 2019. Âť Jon Costello, 35, of Tallahassee, and Samuel “Boâ€?

Spring, 40, of Port St. Joe, were recently reappointed to the Northwest Florida Water Management District. Âť J. Alex Kelly, 39, of Tallahassee, to the Florida Elections Commission. He fills a vacant seat and is appointed for a term beginning Aug. 15, 2016, and ending Dec. 31, 2019.

I-10 LOCAL HONORS

Âť

Farm Credit of Northwest Florida honored six high-achieving high school seniors this spring by awarding each student a $1,500 AgVocator scholarship.

The recipients were Charles Dowis of Bay High School, Colby Hargrove of Cottondale High School, Jacob Long of Jefferson County High School, Kyle Rogers of Aucilla Christian Academy, Emily Ashworth of Jay High School and Alexander Cook of East Hill Christian School.

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'PS NPSF JOGPSNBUJPO WJTJU FZFDBSFOPX DPN SBJOESPQ

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APPOINTED

BY GOV. SCOTT

Âť Greg S. Hutching, 39, of Chipley, to the Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission, for a term beginning Aug. 3, 2016, and ending Aug. 1, 2020.

EMERALD COAST LOCAL HONORS

Âť The Chronicle of Higher Education recently named the University of West Florida a 2016 “Great College to Work For.â€? This is UWF’s sixth appearance on the list. It received this recognition in 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2014.

HOLLOWAY, PHELAN AND LOUTHAIN

Âť The Northwest Florida Coast Chapter of the Florida Public Relations Association announced that several local PR agents were honored at the 2016 Annual Conference. Kay Phalen of Phelan & Lowry Ltd. was named the 2016 recipient of the highly coveted Doris Fleischman Award. Tracy Louthain, APR, CPRC, of TLC-PR Communications won an Award of Distinction for her work with the 2nd Annual Eggs on the Beach EggFest.

The NWFL Coast Chapter received the Membership Development Award for doubling membership goals and growing the chapter by 20 members. Laura Holloway of The Storyteller Agency won an Award of Distinction and a Judges Award for her #EveryoneNeedsABuddy campaign video.

LOCAL HAPPENINGS

Âť

The Apalachicola Regional Stewardship Alliance and the Gulf Coastal Plain Ecosystem Partnership recently received two of 10 grants awarded by Gulf Power and its parent company, Southern Company. The grants support wildlife protection and natural resource conservation, and locally plant 2,200 acres of longleaf pine and improve 57,000 acres of existing longleaf habitat in the region.

Âť The Andrews Research & Education Foundation and the College of Health at the University of West Florida recently signed a memorandum of understanding to promote research, education, industry engagement and community outreach in the medicine and public health fields.

NEW BEGINNINGS

Âť Josh

Turner has joined Pensacola-based marketing agency IdeawÜrks as its director of technology. Turner, a Milton native, is an expert developer with more than eight years’ experience in all aspects of software architecture, design and development.

Âť WCI

Communities has named Christy Childress community representative for Lost Key Golf &

When it comes to business, it’s best to...

CHILDRESS

Beach Club, a luxury, master-planned community in the coastal village of Perdido Key, located a half-hour west of Pensacola.

» Jennifer Barrett and Matt Newcomer have joined Synovus/Coastal Bank and Trust as commercial bankers, located at the bank’s Pensacola office.

BARRETT

» Coastal Bank and Trust, a division of NEWCOMER Synovus Bank, recently announced the appointment of Cyndi Warren to its local advisory board. Warren is managing member of the Pensacola office of Warren Averett CPAs and Advisors. » CBRE Group Inc., the world’s

largest commercial real-estate services firm, has officially opened the company’s new office in Miramar Beach. The company, which currently has seven offices across the state, entered this regional market in December 2015.

» First Partners Bank has expanded its loan production office into a full-service office. This is the first location in Florida for the Birmingham-based based bank and was originally intended to focus primarily on business lending and consumer mortgages. To meet growing market demands, the location will now function as a full-service office of First Partners Bank. The Destin office began servicing clients on July 11, 2016. » Chris Baker has joined Birmingham, Alabama-based First Partners Bank as branch manager of the Destin office.

PHOTOS PROVIDED BY PROFILED INDIVIDUALS

LOCAL HONORS

BAKER

» Cindy Cole and Nikki Nickerson of Keller Williams Emerald Coast Realty were nationally named as most productive sales associates as a part of REAL Trends America’s Best Real Estate Agents for 2015 in a recently issued ranking report produced

by REAL Trends and sponsored

by Zillow Group and Trulia.

LOCAL HAPPENINGS

» Nemours Children’s Specialty Care, a nationally ranked pediatric specialty care practice, is proud to wel- DESMANGLES come Jean-Claude Desmangles, M.D., to the endocrinology department in Pensacola. » Bill Mertins has joined First Florida Bank as a financial adviser with First Florida Wealth Group, which now has an office in Pensacola. » Charleigh Kennedy, of Pensacola-based marketing agency Ideawörks, has passed her Google Analytics KENNEDY Individual Qualification (IQ) Exam. » National home design and fur-

nishings retailer Pottery Barn will open shop at Grand Boulevard at Sandestin next spring. The Grand Boulevard Town Center is the first location in Northwest Florida to welcome the popular national retail innovator.

»

Bill Fletcher of Freeport was recently sworn in as the new president of the Emerald Coast FLETCHER Children’s Advocacy Centers. Other new board members sworn in for the upcoming year were Shaun Eubanks, Maurice Stouse and Janine Pyle. Tom Cooper was sworn in as vice president and Alan Wood as treasurer.

» The University of West Florida Office of Economic Development and Engagement has awarded a $150,000 grant to Props Craft Brewery LLC, which will allow the company to expand into the mass manufacturing and distribution market by opening a new facility in Fort Walton Beach. » RE/MAX Commercial Brokers Inc. recently announced that the New Orleans-based equity investment group Five R Investments LLC has acquired the four-story Class B Office Building (One University Plaza) at 7282 Plantation Road and the neighboring retail and theater complex at 7280 Plantation Road in Pensacola for redevelopment.

—COMPILED BY JASON DEHART

Keep It Simple Somehow That’s what we’ve been doing for 15 years!

We “keep it simple” by having subject matter experts on staff to support your business.

When people know what they’re doing.

Life gets A LOT simpler.

How can we make things Simple for you?

Email: KeepItSimple@SimpleHR.com or call (850) 650-9935

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Yields at the Full Earth Farm, a Certified Naturally Grown (CNG) operation in Gadsden County, include bunches of carrots. CNGs adhere to U.S. Department of Agriculture guidelines, but rely on peer reviews, rather than those of government officials, for accountability.

The

Organic Age Once considered a fringe industry, organic farming is increasingly becoming mainstream STORY BY LAZARO ALEMAN // PHOTOGRAPHY BY ALICIA OSBORNE

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By all indicators, the organic food industry, if not wholly mainstream, is well on its way to becoming so. What generally is regarded as starting as a fringe or “hippie thing” in the 1960s was actually a return to the pre-industrialized farming of the earlier 20th century, and is today governmentsanctioned and considered quite ordinary. Nationally and internationally, in developed and developing countries, the production, processing and import/export of organic products is taking hold, or taking off, to one degree or another.

In the United States, which leads the world in certified organic operations, studies show that organic food sells in almost three of four regular grocery stores, and organic food consumption — once a lifestyle choice of a few — is a choice of the many, at least on occasion. Organic food, in fact, comprises 5 five percent of all food sold in the United States, with personal health the primary reason people choose it, according to Katherine Paul of the Organic Consumers Association (OCA), a national group that champions organic consumers.

“People don’t want to consume harmful pesticides,” Paul says. “They want nutrient-dense food, which can only be grown in healthy soil, not soil that has been degraded by chemical fertilizers and toxic herbicides/pesticides.”

Data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Organic Trade Association (OTA), the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agriculture Science (IFAS), and Florida Certified Organic Growers and Consumers Inc. (FOG), among others, attest to the industry’s growth and viability. The USDA, for example, reports that organic farming is U.S. agriculture’s fastest-growing sector, with 22,025 certified organic operations as of June 2016, up from 5,564 in 2002, when the department began keeping count. The 22,025, moreover, do not take into account farms transitioning from conventional to organic (a three-year process) or those that grow organically but forgo certification or choose a nongovernmental certification.

Consumer demand, along with premium prices, is credited with driving the growth, with the data showing organic food consumption rising steadily at 20 percent or more annually since the 1990s, creating one of the industry’s biggest challenges — demand outstripping supply. The OTA, which tracks the industry’s market performance, reports that organic food sales hit a record $39.7 billion in

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2015, up 11 percent from the previous year. To appreciate the significance of the increase, consider that in 1997, when the OTA began keeping track, organic food sales were about $3.4 billion and represented less than 1 percent of U.S. food sales.

Another indicator is the near tripling of farmers markets across the country over the past 15 years, from 2,863 in 2000 to 8,476 in 2015, per the USDA. Northwest Florida typifies the phenomenon. Not only do farmers markets abound in the region but so do organic food producers, health food stores, co-ops, coffeehouses, eateries and other outlets that cater to the organic food crowd, including chain supermarkets, big box stores and membership warehouse clubs.

Possibly the greatest sign of the industry’s mainstreaming, however, is its attraction of conglomerates such as Heinz, Kellogg, PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, General Mills and Kraft. Tellingly, a 2012 New York Times article noted that since the federal organic standards had come to the fore 10 years earlier, giant agri-food corporations “have gobbled up most of the nation’s organic food industry.” This trend carries implications, as will be noted later.

Florida, for better or worse, is relatively undeveloped when it comes to big or corporate organic producers. Not only are Florida’s 366 USDA-certified organic producers generally small-scale operations (particularly in Northwest Florida), their numbers pale in comparison with states such as California (4,507 USDA-certified operations), Wisconsin (1,617) and New York (1,406). Even so, an IFAS study found Florida’s organic sales growing at a rate not unlike the national 20 percent rate, and organic produce selling in 73 percent of conventional markets. A FOG survey, meanwhile, found Florida farmers, consumers and retailers wanting to grow the state’s organic agriculture industry, and chains such as Publix, Whole Foods

“People don’t want to consume harmful pesticides.

They want nutrientdense food, which can only be grown in healthy soil, not soil that has been degraded by chemical fertilizers and toxic herbicides/ pesticides.”

— Katherine Paul of the Organic Consumers Association (OCA)

Scenes from Full Earth Farm, Gadsden County (clockwise from left): Elephant garlic is suspended from rafters to dry before bulbs are separated from stalks; Aaron Suko and Katie Harris, the farm’s principal, sample freshly picked cucumbers; Victoria Dickeson washes heads of lettuce.

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and Winn-Dixie reporting rising consumer demand for organic products.

“We continue to see organics as a growing category,” confirms Publix spokesman Dwaine Stevens.

Mind you, the picture isn’t entirely rosy. Critics point out that notwithstanding organic farming’s rapid growth, it represents less than 1 percent of total U.S. cropland, and organic acreage has actually decreased in recent years. Organic food prices, meanwhile, remain high, which, while an inducement to producers, keeps many consumers from accessing the products. The mislabeling or misbranding of organic products, although not widespread, does occur. And too many farmers still cite pest pressures, low yields, lack of knowledge and onerous certification requirements as barriers to their entry into organics. That said, the industry’s prognosis is good.

USDA CERTIFICATION, BASED ON ADHERENCE TO the department’s National Organic Program criteria, is generally accepted as the industry’s “gold standard for health and sustainability.” USDA certification requires, among other things, that farmers eschew pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, genetically modified ingredients, and antibiotics and growth hormones in their plant and animal food production. The certification, moreover, entails annual inspections, voluminous paperwork and hefty fees, some of the costs of which may be recouped.

If one counts only USDA-certified organic operations, the 850 region has 10 of the 366 listed statewide. They are O’Toole’s Herb Farm in Madison County; Green Meadows, Holly Hill and Farm Fresh Organics of Monticello, and Ladybird Organics in Jefferson County; Orchard Pond Organics in Leon County; Fox Family Farm in Jackson County; Burt Worthing Farm in Holmes County; Wheeler Farm in Washington County; and Amavida Coffee & Tea Company in Walton County.

Add Certified Naturally Grown (CNG) operations and the number goes up notably. A simpler, less-costly, nongovernmental alternative that claims adherence to the USDA guidelines but relies on peer reviews for accountability, CNG certification is popular with small-scale producers who sell directly to customers. CNG operations abound in the Panhandle, two being Turkey Hill Farm in Leon County and Full Earth Farm in Gadsden County. These two farms’ respective principals, Louise Divine and Katie Harris, helped found and co-direct the Red Hills Small Farm Alliance (RHSFA), a grassroots network that operates an online market and counts some 40 members within a 100-mile radius of Tallahassee.

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Generally speaking, Panhandle organic farms are small in size, output and number of employees, although several are part of larger land holdings and not a few utilize volunteers and interns. Of the 11 cited, four grow single or near-single seasonal crops.

These are O’Toole (herbs), Holly Hill (starter plants), Green Meadows (blueberries) and Burt Worthing (chestnuts, pears and persimmons). The rest produce a wide variety of fruits and vegetables, and animal products in some cases. O’Toole and Worthing largely sell their products wholesale; the remainder retail directly to customers via farmers markets, upick operations, online services and/or Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), a subscription-type program whereby consumers receive weekly shares of a farm’s products. Several of the farms also supply restaurants. Orchard Pond, the largest at 30 acres, additionally processes pesto, granola and other addedvalue foods; markets some of its products through a distributor; and operates its own online store, as well as serving select customers in Alabama and Georgia.

Amavida, the outlier, is a USDA-certified corporation that processes imported products. It purchases organically grown coffees from 14 countries, has its own roasting facility and three cafes on the Emerald Coast, and distributes to select outlets in Florida and several other states. Distinct as a certified benefit corporation, Amavida is committed to accountability, social and environmental well-doing, and transparency, and is legally bound to benefit both society and its shareholders.

GIVEN THE COSTS AND HASSLES ASSOCIATED WITH USDA certification, why choose it? The answers vary, but generally, the designation is accorded credibility and accountability, along with educational, differential and political values.

“Often we think we’re growing organically, but we might be using products not allowed under organic certification,” says Margie Cole, of Holly Hill, noting the guidelines’ instructional value.

Mary Phipps, of Orchard Pond, underscores the point.

“It helps reduce the learning curve,” she says.

“The guidelines are set; you don’t have to figure everything out on your own.”

For Andrew Fox, of Fox Family Farm, it’s a marketing tool.

“We would say we grow naturally; we don’t use pesticides or synthetic fertilizers,” Fox says.

“But resellers would say the same things. USDAcertified is a legal term that resellers can’t use and people recognize and understand.”

Charity Bramblette, of Worthing Farm, echoes the sentiment.

At Orchard Pond Organics in Leon County, farming assistant Phil Nelson (above) sorts, cleans and weighs basil.

Far left: farm owner Mary Phipps inspects a crate of newly harvested okra. Left: Phipps relaxes with a dear companion.

Orchard Pond is a U.S. Department of Agriculture-certified operation, one of 366 in Florida.

Phipps has found it to her advantage to simply comply with guidelines set by the federal government versus “having to figure out everything on your own.”

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“My family’s always been organic-minded,” she says. “But more than anything, we wanted to be USDA-certified because it differentiated us.”

Dan Bailey, the founder, president and CEO of Amavida, augments the point.

“The system’s about trusting,” he says. “People may put an organic label on products that may not be certified. If consumers want to ensure they’re buying organic, they need to see the certification, because they’re paying a premium price. More importantly, if they’re buying organic because they don’t want chemicals in their bodies or to minimize chemicals in the environment, that certification is important. Without it, there’s no credibility.”

Harris, of the CNG-certified Full Earth Farm, cites the political worth of USDA certification.

“CNGs are off the radar when censuses look at how much the organic industry has grown,” she says. “In the future, I wouldn’t be surprised if we go with USDA certification. I’m no politician, but people vote with their money, and that’s tracked and it dictates what people grow and what people do.”

Whatever the reason or certification, however, financial sustainability is a must.

As Divine of Turkey Hill aptly puts it, “You can use your own compost and all of that, but if you can’t pay the rent, oh well.”

“The system’s about trusting. People may put an organic label on products that may not be certified. If consumers want to ensure they’re buying organic, they need to see the certification, because they’re paying a premium price. More importantly, if they’re buying organic because they don’t want chemicals in their bodies or to minimize chemicals in the environment, that certification is important. Without it, there’s no credibility.”

— Dan Bailey, the founder, president and CEO of Amavida

TALK TO SMALL-SCALE ORGANIC PRODUCERS, whether USDA- or CNG-certified, and certain themes or commonalties emerge, one being the focus on product variety.

“Diversity is key to survival for small-market farms,” Divine says simply.

“We grow a bit of everything because we target farmers markets,” Harris explains. “If you have only green beans, you won’t sell much. You have to have diversity to have interesting displays or be able to supply a CSA.” “Consistency of supply and variety are critical,” Fox agrees. “You can’t grow just tomatoes or watermelons, because customers will tire of it.

You’ve got to focus on a large number of crops and do it efficiently so you make a profit.”

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Although a fair number view organic farming as a labor of love, they also recognize that it is laborintensive and full of challenges.

“Weed and bug control is the hardest,” says Phipps, noting both are largely accomplished manually or mechanically. She rates record-keeping a close second.

“We have over 3 miles of blueberry rows in 5 acres, so you can imagine the difficulty controlling the weeds and grasses with weed-eaters,” says Delores Green of Green Meadows.

For Fox, the challenge is the lack of formal support systems, which makes for a steep learning curve.

“You’re unable to go to your local agricultural extension office for help,” he says. “You’re pretty much on your own. It takes lots of reading, checking what others are doing, and trial-and-error to see what works.”

The selling is the hardest part, Harris offers.

“You can grow all day long, but if you don’t have an outlet, what’s the point?” she says.

Growers cite various reasons for going organic, but common among them are a strong sense of land stewardship and a belief that organically grown food is healthier, tastier, more nutritious and environmentally friendlier.

“We’re very protective of the land,” Green says, echoing a common theme. “I always say we don’t live on the land, we live with the land. Growing things naturally also gives them better flavor and more nutritional value.”

“If you read the ingredients in some of the conventional products used in produce and food production, it’s scary,” Cole says. “It’s a health issue for me. But it goes beyond physical health. I think it can be healthy for the environment.”

“I’m not going to badmouth conventional agriculture,” says Frank Yaun, of Farm Fresh

Mary Phipps, owner of Orchard Park Organics, keeps score as kitchen manager Chris Alello, foreground, and kitchen assistant Olivia Watson tend to duties that include filling and boxing jars of tupelo honey.

The product comes from tupelo trees in swamps in the Florida Panhandle.

The trees bloom once a year for just a few weeks in the spring, making it a difficult and sometimes unreliable product to produce — if the bees aren’t in the swamps when the bloom occurs, no honey is made. Tupelo honey, known for its greenish cast, was made famous by songwriter Van Morrison and was central to a movie, Ulee’s Gold, which was filmed in Gulf County and starred Peter Fonda.

Organics of Monticello, whose agricultural roots date from the 1700s. “But vegetables taste better when they’re grown for taste, not shelf life. For me, it’s all about taste and health.”

Enough growers express a sense of mission to make it a noteworthy commonality.

“I love that I can encourage and help home gardeners grow their own organic produce,” says Cole, adding that it’s one of her long-term goals to help reduce prices by helping increase the propagation of organic plants.

“A big piece of what we do is education,” Harris says. “We’re constantly trying to teach people how to cook what we grow. Being in a CSA can be intimidating if you’ve never seen vegetables like kohlrabi (German turnip cabbage). So we try to provide recipes and educate.”

“Our mission in the RHSFA is definitely education,” Divine says, adding the caveat that not every organic producer is so inclined. “Some just want to eat good healthy food or make a profit.”

Even Amavida, by virtue of its B-corporation and Fair Trade mandates, aims to help improve the welfare of its foreign small producers.

“A lot of what we do is to support like-minded farmers who are trying to live on their land and

protect their environment and their kids by not using pesticides,” Bailey says.

Not surprisingly, given the internet’s pervasiveness, its utilization is common among organic growers, as is volunteerism.

“The internet’s hugely important for marketing and organizing workdays,” Harris says. “For example, we’re having a workday this weekend and 30 volunteers are coming. I was able to coordinate the entire thing online. That would have been almost impossible without the internet. We also use the internet to keep in touch with our CSA customers.

And the Red Hills online market (rhomarket.com) couldn’t exist without it.”

“The internet’s wonderful,” Green says. “We have a blueberry lovers’ email list with about 3,000 to 3,500 people that I notify when we’re getting ready to pick. Facebook’s another great contact. I post pictures all the time; people like to know what’s happening at the farm.”

“Social media’s definitely important for advertising and getting word out about what we’re doing,” Phipps says. “And volunteers are extremely important. Everything we do is so labor-intensive that we depend on volunteers and interns to get things done.”

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The Organic Age

“I wouldn’t say we couldn’t do it without volunteers,” Divine says. “But it’s awesome having them.

They’re also part of the education thing.”

She underscores her point by citing Worldwide Opportunities On Organic Farms (wwoof.net), which links volunteers with organic farmers globally to promote cultural/educational experiences and sustainable agriculture.

Finally, a sense of community commonly informs the interactions of small organic producers, both amongst themselves and with their customers.

“We consider our customers visitors,” Green says. “Like-minded people enjoy being together; that’s part of it. We feel we gain from seeing the people who purchase our products. It’s good to know that others value what you’re producing.”

“I think one of the biggest reasons I and others I know do it is community,” Harris says. “We have a great community of growers. We draw off each other and bounce ideas off each other, and we’re good friends. It’s also important work and a labor of love.”

“Small farms don’t exist in a vacuum,” Divine says. “It’s a community thing. You see a personal relationship between us and our customers that you don’t get in the grocery store so much. Validation’s also an important aspect of direct-market farming.

People say, ‘These pole beans are the best I’ve ever eaten.’ You feel good. Everybody wants validation, right? That’s part of what makes the endeavor worthwhile, to have someone tell you you’re doing a good job and they appreciate your work.”

“There’s a real sense of community,” Cole agrees.

“Most growers are willing to share information because it’s not just for financial profit. Yes, we make a profit, but it goes far beyond that. We’re all in this for the long haul. And what each of us does individually matters. When you put it all together, it can make a huge difference in the health of the individuals, the environment and even the community.”

Possibly it’s this sense of community and communal enterprise that gives a segment of organic food adherents an almost 1960s aura, if not in looks, then in outlooks. It’s a quality — conveyed either by age, demeanor, worldview, philosophical underpinnings and/or sense of solidarity — that suggests they lived the era, draw inspiration from it, or both. That said, it is millennials who are driving the market’s growth.

PROJECTIONS ARE THAT CONSUMER DEMAND FOR organic foods will continue growing rapidly in major U.S. and foreign markets, increasingly mainstreaming the movement and giving rise to greater market competition — trends that concern organic purists and consumer advocacy groups already

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worried that big business dominates the industry.

One concern is that massive growth will lead to large-scale economies and agribusiness consolidation, as occurred in conventional agriculture.

Such a development would further undermine small farms — the backbone of rural economies.

A second concern is that organic principles will be further compromised if large corporations come to dominate the standards-setting boards and additional additives and non-organic ingredients are allowed in organic foods for the sake of volume, marketability and expediency. Already, more than 250 non-organic ingredients are permitted, up from 77 in 2002. Critics fear that “organic” will lose validity, much as “natural” has been rendered meaningless by misuse.

Such developments would put an ever-greater burden on consumers to do their homework. Paul, of the Organic Consumers Association, believes consumers are up to the task, however.

“Consumers are getting smarter every day,” she says. “They realize the importance of supporting locally grown organic products and 100 percent grass-fed meat and dairy products.”

And don’t forget, Paul adds, hers and other consumer advocacy groups will continue monitoring the situation and doing their utmost to ensure organic foods’ integrity, especially as traditional outlets and global-distribution food networks more come to dominate the market. Whatever the future, however, know that the Age of Organics is here.

Katie Harris, Aaron Suko, Jon Jones and Victoria Dickeson pick cucumbers at the Full Earth Farm. Small organic farmers and certified natural growers share a sense of community and describe their efforts as labors of love versus business activities. They strive to adhere to strict standards that they fear may be compromised if industrial farming operations come to dominate standardsetting boards. A 2014 survey of certified organic farming operations conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service showed that 14,093 certified and exempt organic farms in the United States sold a total of $5.5 billion in organic products in 2014, up 72 percent from 2008.

UPCOMING PERFORMANCES FALL 2016

OCTOBER 13

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Donald Cried (Film)

OCTOBER 5–6

Ragamala Dance Company - World Premiere of Written in Water

NOVEMBER 1

Birdman Live with Antonio Sánchez

NOVEMBER 15

Joe Pug

NOVEMBER 22

Joey Alexander Trio

Upcoming 2017 shows – Marc Maron, Lily Tomlin, Twyla Tharp Dance, Smokey Robinson, & more!

OCTOBER 18

Mipso

NOVEMBER 9

NUTS! (Film)

NOVEMBER 23

Annie

DECEMBER 8

The Hot Sardines - Holiday Stomp

850.644.6500 openingnights.fsu.edu

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2016

PINNACLE AWA These 10 women have soared in their personal and professional lives

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850 Magazine is proud to present the 2016 winners of the Pinnacle Award, an honor designed to shine the spotlight on women in our region who have set high standards for themselves and exceeded them, and who are a moving force in the business world and their communities.

This year, we are pleased to recognize a wide variety of professional women from the 850 region whose talents range from the law to journalism to entrepreneurism.

These are the A-listers, with A-plus personalities and drive. Their drive to succeed began at an early age and perseverance has led them to where they are today, making our region a better place for us all.

We asked our readers to nominate women they felt deserved this honor. From the names submitted, please meet the Pinnacle Award winners for 2016.

ARD WINNERS STORY BY LINDA KLEINDIENST // PHOTOGRAPHY BY LAWRENCE DAVIDSON

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FORGOTTEN COAST CORRIDOR

TANA KENDRICK

It didn’t take long for Tana Kendrick to develop her business and technological acumen. She was about 13 when she started tinkering with technology.

She worked on the website for Apalachicola High School, where she started digging into the various aspects of technology and website development.

There she met her future husband. He was more tech-savvy and she was more creative, a good partnership that would one day develop into a marriage and a business.

“We decided we were the perfect pair for this kind of business,” says Kendrick, 29, owner and creative director at 2K Web Group. “Together we were the whole package.”

Many of their clients are people they grew up with and around. A good number are customers who Kendrick once served at a local restaurant when she was about 14 years old.

“I looked much older. They didn’t ask me how old I was, and I didn’t volunteer,” she remembers of her first job. “I really enjoyed working, and a lot of the people I met there I know now, and they come into my office and we work on their website. People like the fact they can look at us and talk about their needs.”

Clients include county governments, including Washington and Jefferson counties, and local programs and individuals in Franklin County.

The 2K Web Group was formed in 2007. At first, older family members were not so confident in the couple’s ability to make a go of the business because of their youth.

“We were told that, being young, it was not the best thing to do, that we should go to work for the state and get a regular paycheck,” Kendrick says.

“After a couple of years, everyone shut up.”

Her advice to young women starting out on a career path is that they do not have to go into debt with student loans to be successful.

“If you possess the skills needed and have the desire, you can pave your path and be successful,” she says. “Make a plan, and when you run into a wall (and you will) and you can’t find a solution, make one.”

“ If you possess the skills needed and have the desire, you can pave your path and be successful. Make a plan, and when you run into a wall (and you will) and you can’t find a solution, make one.”

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KIMBERLY PICKETT SHOAF

Working at her grandmother’s gas station in Simmons Bayou, just outside of Port St. Joe, taught Kimberly Shoaf a lot of lessons.

She ran the cash register, stocked shelves, greeted people and learned how to use an oil dipstick.

“I don’t believe I was a shy person,” says Shoaf, 32. “I enjoy talking, so I talked to customers as they came into the store and really got to know them. I believe this was where my love for working and dealing with the public came from. I knew I wanted to work in the tourism field and help share the love of the area with others.”

And Shoaf is doing just that as president of the Mexico Beach Community Development Council in nearby Bay County. She has been in the job for a little over six years and says there is not a day where she wakes up and dreads going to work. It can be hectic at times, she admits, but she calls it a “good challenge and good chaos. I get to promote a pretty amazing destination.” As a native of the area, she says she enjoys sharing tips and local knowledge with visitors.

Growth in the town of about 1,200 residents has been slow, steady and controlled. There are no high-rises, no traffic light and no chain restaurants — but plenty of Southern hospitality. That’s just how Shoaf likes it.

“It sounds kind of Mayberry-ish,” she says.

“But it’s a nice place to come and visit.”

What advice would she give to a young woman starting her career?

“Don’t think that just because a job opportunity is not in the standard mold that you’re not worthy of it,” she counsels. “Take chances and go after what your heart is telling you to. Your dream career could be right under your nose.”

“ Don’t think that just because a job opportunity is not in the standard mold that you’re not worthy of it. Take chances and go after what your heart is telling you to. Your dream career could be right under your nose.”

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I-10 CORRIDOR

NICOLE BAREFIELD

A 34-year veteran of the media industry, Nicole Barefield took the reins as publisher of the Washington County News and the Holmes County Times-Advertiser nearly 10 years ago. Although she still lives in Panama City, she commutes daily and considers her newspaper markets — Chipley and Bonifay — her home.

Starting her career in a male-dominated field, Barefield, 55, had to learn early on how to win support from those she didn’t supervise, getting them to follow her lead on projects and initiatives. To do that, she worked to build trust with the more experienced longtime managers and department heads.

Her interest in journalism began early, probably not surprising since her paternal grandparents worked for a newspaper, as did her great-grandfather.

“There was some definite genetic influence. I was always someone who wanted to write, and I was a voracious reader,” Barefield recalls. On her senior wish list in high school, she predicted that someday she would become editor of Time magazine. But while she entered the field on the news side, she moved into developing promotions and special products, and that morphed into marketing. She became marketing director at The (Panama City) News Herald.

As have others in her field, Barefield has worked to cope with a changing industry heavily affected by the strides made in technology and changing readership habits.

“It’s all about providing the news and information that’s relevant to the audience and finding the ways they want to be reached,” she says. “You have to be adaptive. If not, we won’t be around long.”

Barefield’s passion for the industry remains strong, leading her to urge young women to seek opportunities for which they have a passion or true interest.

“Whatever you do, do it to the best of your ability,” she counsels. “You may fail, you will make mistakes and hopefully you will learn. Regardless, when you do your best, you will develop and be recognized for your expertise and abilities.”

“ Whatever you do, do it to the best of your ability. You may fail, you will make mistakes and hopefully you will learn.

Regardless, when you do your best, you will develop and be recognized for your expertise and abilities.”

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ASHLEY B. ROGERS

“Professing” is a word that Ashley Rogers says best describes her personal and professional life.

“It’s a word we use in my church to describe a person who expresses a belief in our doctrine and commits to living in a manner consistent with that belief,” she explains. “I think ‘professing’ in a professional sense is similar. To say that I am a lawyer means that I am committed, at all times, to living a life of service to others.”

Rogers, 38, an attorney and shareholder with Chesser and Barr in Crestview, learned pretty early who she was and what direction she’d likely take.

Being selected as “Good Citizen for the State of Georgia” by the Daughters of the American Revolution as a high school senior “made me think more about civic responsibility. That’s really where my desire for the law comes naturally.”

As an 18-year-old freshman at the University of Georgia, she worked for a local law firm where she learned how to be a better lawyer, team player and employer.

“I vacuumed the staircase, hauled away the recycling and cleaned the restrooms,” she remembers. “But I also learned how to conduct discovery, perform title searches, interview witnesses and assist at trial.”

Her petite 5-foot-4-inch frame and Southern accent at first blush surprised some of her early clients. With a laugh, she says, “People don’t expect a zealous advocate to come in a package that looks and sounds like me.”

Now specializing in business and real estate litigation, Rogers says she was once a wallflower, but her aunt encouraged her to lose her inhibitions and not be so worried about what others may think. Her advice to young women today is to “be you and no one else. Even though I excelled academically, for some reason I felt insecure about my Southern accent and growing up in a rural community. Today, I prize and embrace those characteristics.”

“ Be you and no one else. Even though I excelled academically, for some reason I felt insecure about my Southern accent and growing up in a rural community.

Today, I prize and embrace those characteristics.”

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BAY CORRIDOR

BECCA HARDIN

Recently named one of the top 50 economic developers in the United States, Becca Hardin has been on the ground floor of helping to bring some major projects to the areas where she has worked. But she didn’t start out as an economic developer. Her first job was as a television weekend anchor and reporter, covering politics, the Georgia Legislature and crime.

“It was a great learning experience,” she now says. “But in a market the size of Columbus (Georgia), you don’t make much money.” Still, she adds, she learned valuable lessons that included meeting deadlines and building trust and credibility with community leaders.

Hardin, 51, ended up in economic development completely by chance, eventually helping Georgia to bring Kia to the Peach State and getting five suppliers for the auto manufacturer to locate in Columbus.

“I went to Seoul four times, and there were intense negotiations,” she recalls. “There was a language and cultural barrier, and it was an anomaly for them to work with a female in a decision-making role. I had to work to earn credibility, but we got the deal together.”

Nearly two years ago, she moved south to become president of the Bay County Economic Development Alliance, replacing her friend and mentor, Neal Wade. Hardin spent the first year focused on bringing aviation, logistics, distribution and manufacturing jobs to the county. Now she is focused on “singles and doubles,” trying to lure small to medium-size companies that will bring up to 100 jobs to the area. And she wants to make sure the community understands what the Economic Development Alliance does and how it needs to be able to operate in a competitive global marketplace.

“We need to show our return on investment,” she says. “We’re one of the only types of agencies that can do that. We can show dollar for dollar what it takes to get a business here.”

“Don't burn bridges.

Work on building relations.”

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GAYLE F. OBERST

A tireless advocate for Bay County, Gayle Oberst earlier this year left her post as mayor of Panama City Beach after a 10-year run. During her time in office — the first woman to serve as mayor — she led her city through historic growth, a major economic downturn, the BP oil spill and its aftermath, and a string of spring break controversies.

When she entered the local political arena in 2000, Panama City Beach had a population of about 4,500, most of them business owners.

Residents who wanted a stronger voice in their government approached her to run for the city council.

“All people knew was that I was this woman and I was a retiree, and what did I know about tourism and running a resort town?” Oberst remembers. In all honesty, she admits, she had never thought about politics.

Oberst’s first career was at Troy University, where she served in a succession of high administrative posts, including vice president for finance and administration. The best advice she ever received? “You can be anything you want to be … it just takes work.” Her work ethic was inspired by her mother and grandmother, both hardworking small-business owners.

Oberst, 72, wanted to go to work when she was about 14 because her older friends were able to work, earning money to buy themselves clothes. When her mother turned down the request, saying she was too young, “I pitched a fit,” Oberst recalls. After her mother relented and she did get the weekend job, she quickly regretted it.

“Talk about terrible. I worked 8 to 8 and made $3.72 after taxes,” she says. She wanted to quit. “My mother said, ‘Oh no, there is no quitting.’ She made me work a whole year.”

“You can be anything you want to be ... it just takes work.”

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EMERALD COAST CORRIDOR

DEBBIE CALDER

Banking wasn’t her first choice when Debbie Calder started on her career path.

“I went to school and studied business, but at that time of my life I thought it was pretty boring,” she remembers.

Instead, she set her sights on becoming a flight paramedic. That career choice, however, was short-circuited when she was diagnosed with severe motion sickness while riding in the back of an ambulance with patients.

That’s when Calder, 56, turned her attention to banking and credit unions. Today she is the executive vice president of Pensacola operations for Navy Federal Credit Union — the largest credit union in the world, with 6 million members and $76 billion in assets. And she is overseeing an expansion of the credit union’s presence in Northwest Florida — going from 850 employees in 2007 to 5,100 today, with plans to reach 10,000 by 2020.

“I don’t think a lot of people plan on what their careers will be. Hopefully they will find something they love doing,” she says now.

Calder’s first job was as a Ponderosa Steak House cashier.

“That’s when I learned I have the attention span of a gnat, so I volunteered to cook, run orders, make salads,” she recalls. “It made my job a lot more interesting.” And her advice to other young women starting out is to be willing to do things outside of their comfort zone.

“Do your best in every job, and don’t anticipate that you will have barriers,” she says. “If you do have barriers, think of them as great opportunities to learn from.”

The best advice she ever received came from her dad, a career Army officer she says was her role model as she embarked on her career. When she was a teenager, he said simply: “Make sure your brain is in gear before you engage your mouth.”

“ Do your best in every job, and don’t anticipate that you will have barriers.

If you do have barriers, think of them as great opportunities to learn from.”

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RISHY STUDER

When she was a high school sophomore, Rishy Studer’s typing instructor recommended her for a clerical position with a downtown Chicago furniture store, where she also operated a plug-in switchboard and learned how to run a manual freight elevator.

“At the age of 16, I learned the importance of being on time, working hard, accuracy in billing and the value of coffee,” she says. “I think I grew up from being a 16-year-old to someone who was work-ready. I also learned the importance of being part of a ‘work family’ at each job.”

Studer came to Pensacola in 1996, when her husband, Quint, became president of Baptist Hospital. And the two have since been inextricably entwined with the growth and increased prosperity in the region. She helped him start The Studer Group, a consulting company for health care organizations, and soon was actively involved in the drive to build a downtown baseball stadium and attract a minor league team to the city.

“We started to do more investments in downtown, and I decided that’s where I should spend my time,” she says. At the stadium, she ran concessions and a gift shop and learned how to make T-shirts by screen printing them and then selling them for only $5 to help keep stadium outings affordable for families.

Then she turned her sights to a couple of buildings at Palafox and Olive streets that had been hit hard by Hurricane Ivan.

“We didn’t feel those two corners should represent what Pensacola should be,” explains Studer, 66. “We had to come up with something to do with them.”

That was the beginning of Bodacious Olive and a coffee shop, which was recently named the best in town. The Studers are also starting construction of 250 apartments in the downtown area.

Her advice now to young women is: “Believe in yourself. You can do it. And enjoy what you do.”

“ Believe in yourself. You can do it. And enjoy what you do.”

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CAPITAL CORRIDOR

LINDA BOND EDWARDS

The idea of changing careers was no real challenge for Linda Bond Edwards. After working in the corporate world for more than 10 years, she decided to go to law school at age 35.

“I learned that a start is just that, a start,” she says.

“Where you end up may not be where you start. Another wise woman told me not to get stuck on start.”

Today, she is an attorney and partner at the law firm of Rumberger, Kirk and Caldwell. But right out of college, her first job was doing shift work in a Sylvania manufacturing plant that made flash cubes for cameras.

“I saw a job advertised for a production supervisor,” Edwards, 59, remembers. “When you don’t have a job, that sounds super. I needed a job and I took it.”

In less that two years, she was recruited for an associate development program for GTE telecommunications. She took it and traveled throughout the country to spend time with different units and learn about the company. In the early 1990s, however, she decided it was time for some personal development and considered going for an MBA. It was during a meeting when she had an “aha” moment in which she realized an MBA would be incremental, but law school would be a drastic change.

“Going to law school was always in my spirit to do, but I didn’t know how it would fit into my life,” says Edwards. She was accepted into Florida State University’s law school, sold her Connecticut home in four days and then said to herself, “Lord, you’re really serious about this.”

As an African-American woman, she has experienced discrimination.

“But I decided I can’t be bothered by what people think my limitations might be,” she says. “It’s in your head, but you just push through it.”

Her advice to young women today? “Be prayerful.

Get to know who you are and do not set limits on where you want to go, but trust God to lead you to your purposeful place.”

“ Be prayerful. Get to know who you are and do not set limits on where you want to go, but trust God to lead you to your purposeful place.”

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SARALYN GRASS

Becoming a beer maven wasn’t really in Saralyn Grass’ original career plan. But that she is, as co-founder of Grasslands Brewing Company, which has become a bright light in the development of Gaines Street and the expanding circle of local breweries in Tallahassee.

Grass, 34, simply adhered to the best advice she ever received: You’ll always regret what you didn’t do rather than what you did.

Her passion has been working to ensure that children’s programs are doing what they are meant to do (she has a doctorate of education in education policy and program evaluation), but while she and her husband, Gabe, were pursuing their doctorates at Florida State University, he announced that he would like to start home-brewing beer. Not too long after, he wanted to open a brewery.

“It was his passion, and I helped as much as I could,” she says while admitting that starting a small business was more difficult than they had expected. Planning for the brewery began in 2012. In August 2015, Grasslands started producing its own brew.

“It’s worked out to be a partnership,” she says.

“Things are going well, and we will be distributing to restaurants and bars in the Tallahassee area in November. It really has been a dream come true. And it’s great to have opportunities to help others. Our passion is trying to improve the community, and it’s nice to have this venue to help do that.”

Now that the business is taking off, Grass, who is the Help Me Grow FL Statewide Coordinator at the Children’s Forum Inc., is turning back to children’s issues again and the couple’s 16-year-old adopted daughter, who she met through the Guardian Ad Litem program.

Her advice to a young woman starting out in her career today? “I would tell her never to give up on herself and to never get down on herself for making a mistake or changing her mind. If your heart is in the right place and you are doing the best you can, things will always work out.”

“I would tell her never to give up on herself and to never get down on herself for making a mistake or changing her mind. If your heart is in the right place and you are doing the best you can, things will always work out.”

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SPECIAL PROMOTION

850 BUSINESS MAGAZINE’S 2016

PINNACLE AWARDS HONORING THE OUTSTANDING WOMEN BUSINESS LEADERS OF NORTHWEST FLORIDA

Pinnacle Awards Pensacola Hosts Successful Luncheon HONOR. COURAGE. INSPIRATION. Those words capture the emotions and the message shared during the third annual Pinnacle Awards luncheon held at the Greenhut Auditorium at Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola on Aug. 19, sponsored by Sacred Heart Health Systems, Gulf Power and ResortQuest.

The Fish House provided a grand spread for the occasion, HONORING WOMEN and a lucky door-prize winnerTHE tookOUTSTANDING home a three-day/two-night Emerald CoastBUSINESS stay, courtesy of ResortQuest, and to the LEADERS OF NORTHWESTtickets FLORIDA South Walton Beaches Wine & Food Festival at Grand Boulevard.

Presented by 850 — The Business Magazine of Northwest Florida and Rowland Publishing Inc., the Pinnacle Awards honor and showcase women who have distinguished themselves in business and as community leaders. Following a morning photo shoot, 10 remarkable women from throughout Northwest Florida were celebrated in front of their friends and families, work colleagues and area business executives.

At the luncheon, former Pinnacle Award winner Carol Carlan, president of the Sacred Heart Foundation, spoke about the need for individuals to be courageous in life, no matter the circumstances they face.

Carlan’s message of courage was also “Each of these one of inspiration as she introduced through a video a young man, Drew Barefield, individuals has who was snorkeling in Choctawhatchee demonstrated Bay when he was struck by a boat, which numerous caused life-threatening injuries. accomplishments in Over the course of 75 days, Drew, of Crestview, would endure 13 surgeries. He leadership, corporate relied on his faith as he pushed through and community treatments and physical therapy. Now stewardship, and 14 years old, Drew was named Florida’s are known in their 2016 Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals Champion. As Drew’s story played out over community as ‘real the monitor, few dry eyes could be found in good people.’ ” the Greenhut auditorium.

— Brian Rowland, president The Pinnacle Awards luncheon and publisher of Rowland dramatically demonstrated that courage, Publishing Inc. inspiration and honor can be found in every walk and stage of life.

PINNACLE AWARDS

PRESENTED BY

SPONSORED BY

DETECT | PORT PANAMA CITY | DEMOGRAPHICS | ALIGNMENT BAY COUNTY | EDUCATION | MICA SPECIALTIES | PIER PARK | MILITARY | SPECIAL PROJECTS

2016 BAY COUNTY BUSINESS JOURNAL AN 850 BUSINESS MAGAZINE SPECIAL REPORT

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CONTENTS |

PRESIDENT/PUBLISHER BRIAN E. ROWLAND

CREATIVE CREATIVE DIRECTOR Lawrence Davidson DIRECTOR OF PRODUCTION AND TECHNOLOGY Daniel Vitter SENIOR ART DIRECTOR Saige Roberts ART DIRECTOR Jennifer Ekrut PUBLICATION DESIGNERS Charles Bakofsky, Shruti Shah GRAPHIC DESIGNERS Meredith Brooks, Sarah Mitchell DIGITAL PRODUCTION SPECIALIST Chelsea Moore SALES & MARKETING VICE PRESIDENT/ CORPORATE DEVELOPMENT McKenzie Burleigh Lohbeck DIRECTOR OF NEW BUSINESS Daniel Parisi AD SERVICES COORDINATORS Lisa Sostre, Tracy Mulligan ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Bess Grasswick, Darla Harrison, Lori Magee, Rhonda Murray, Dan Parker, Linda Powell, Paula Sconiers, Sarah Scott, Brianna Webb EVENTS AND SPECIAL PROJECTS COORDINATOR Leigha Inman INTEGRATED MARKETING SPECIALIST Jennifer Ireland INTEGRATED MARKETING COORDINATOR Bria Blossom MARKETING AND EVENTS ASSISTANT Mackenzie Ligas EVENTS AND MARKETING INTERN Maddy Cloud OPERATIONS CORPORATE CLIENT LIAISON Sara Goldfarb STAFF ACCOUNTANT Jackie Burns ACCOUNTING ASSISTANT Lisa Cleaves ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT Lisa Snell RECEPTIONIST Katherine Marshall

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COURTESY PORT PANAMA CITY

EDITORIAL DIRECTOR OF EDITORIAL SERVICES Steve Bornhoft EDITOR Linda Kleindienst SENIOR STAFF WRITER Jason Dehart EDITORIAL COORDINATOR Rebecca Padgett EDITORIAL INTERNS Joseph Zeballos-Roig, Reeves Trivette COPY EDITOR Barry Ray PROOFREADER Melinda Lanigan

4 D eTECT

15 M ICA SPECIALTIES For

7 P ORT PANAMA CITY

18 PIER PARK Pier Park, on

Increasingly, individuals have become concerned about the possibility that they may under surveillance by operators of drones. Gary Andrews is here to help. He has developed a drone-detecting app, available for free.

Expansion underway at Panama City’s deepwater port has been projected to generate an annual economic benefit of more than $125 million and create 63 jobs. In store is a new forest products terminal.

8 DEMOGRAPHICS 1 0 A LIGNMENT BAY COUNTY

Patterned after a similar initiative in Nashville, a group made up of business leaders and educators is working to improve the chief product of Bay County schools: high school graduates.

12 EDUCATION Florida State

University-Panama City, Gulf Coast State College and Haney Technical Center are all working to gear curriculum and degree and certificate programs to the anticipated needs of employers.

anyone seeking a more formidable online presence, Mica Specialties is a one-stop shop. The business offers services ranging from website design and digital advertising to search engine optimization and social media marketing.

Panama City Beach, bills itself as the premier shopping, dining and entertainment district in Northwest Florida and one that has had both financial and social impacts.

20 M ILITARY Defense activities

play a major role in Bay County’s economy — and that contribution is expected to grow. Overall in 2014, the military accounted for about $2.4 billion or 30.6 percent of the total gross regional product.

22 J ELLYFISH HEALTH

The health care technology company, Jellyfish Health, has plans to create 100 news jobs with an average salary of $70,000 — and to do something about those insufferable lines in doctor’s offices.

ON THE COVER: For people and businesses who believe that they may be beset by drones, DeTect, a Bay County business led by CEO and president Gary Andrews, pictured here, has taken to market an app that uses smartphone Wi-Fi to detect low-flying objects — other than birds. PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY MICHAEL BOOINI

2016 B A Y C O U N T Y B U S I N E S S J O U R N A L / 3

DETECT |

DRONE DETECTIVES

DeTect develops a free phone app to protect your privacy

by LINDA KLEINDIENST

A

woman comes in with a problem.

She’s concerned her neighbor is spying on her with a drone. But she can’t afford to spend the thousands it would cost to buy a commercialgrade drone detection system.

What do you do? Develop an app, of course.

And that’s exactly what the tech experts did at DeTect, a Panama City company that specializes in applied, intelligent radar and related remote sensing technologies and systems that are used by governments, businesses, airports and others for aviation 4 / 2016 B A Y C O U N T Y B U S I N E S S J O U R N A L

safety, security and surveillance, drone defense, environmental protection and renewable energy.

“Inquiries (about drone surveillance) have come in from individuals the last couple of years,” said Gary Andrews, DeTect’s president and CEO. “These drones can be bought off Amazon and be flying within 20 minutes after coming out of the box. People are concerned about neighbors peeking in their windows.”

Founded in 2003, DeTect began by manufacturing and selling radar systems to protect aircraft from damaging bird strikes

that can result in crashes and fatalities. The company’s first customer was the U.S. Air Force, which purchased eight systems that have saved millions of dollars in damage costs. Even NASA has used the system during shuttle launches. The same technology is being used to protect birds flying into wind farms (by shutting down the turbines when flocks arrive and restarting them when the birds leave) and warning birds away from toxic industrial waste ponds (a system being used in Canada). Other products developed by DeTect include security and surveillance radars and wind-speed

“For individuals worried about drones around the house, they can now download the app for free. We now have it out in 32 countries, including places like South Africa, Egypt, Australia and Brazil.”

— GARY ANDREWS, DETECT’S PRESIDENT AND CEO

MICHAEL BOOINI

Senior technician Tim West tests a connection. He is among 55 employees of DeTect, which is finding new, practical applications for radar technology.

measurement technology. More than 290 radar systems are operating worldwide.

Andrews said the global economy has kept the company’s revenues flat the past couple of years, but “the exciting thing is that drone (detection) will become a superhigh-growth market for us.”

DeTect has 55 employees who earn an average of $55,000 to $56,000 a year. Some of them have worked together for 20 years.

The drone detection app, called DroneWatcher and available on Google Play, was developed by using smartphone Wi-Fi to detect low-flying objects. Because of the

company’s longtime experience with radar, it is able to filter out birds while scanning out from one-quarter to a half mile for an intrusive drone. The app records the drone type, its ID number and other information that can be used by law enforcement to apprehend and prosecute wrongdoers.

“For individuals worried about drones around the house, they can now download the app for free,” Andrews said, although he added that in exchange for getting the free program, the company will be collecting the data. “We now have it out in 32 countries, including places like South Africa, Egypt, Australia and Brazil.”

If multiple phones are using the app at a sporting or entertainment event, they can create a network that covers a wide area that can provide displays and early warning of drone incursions, with visual and audible alerts and text messaging. DeTect is already planning to use the system at two college football games this fall. Security and parking lot attendants will be given phones with the app to develop the network.

“Terrorism is a concern, but they’re more worried about someone doing stupid things, like trying to get a picture of the game from over the field or flying a drone into and hurting someone in the stands, or recording a live show and then selling the video,” Andrews said.

A more sophisticated version of the program that customers will pay for is able to detect more than 95 percent of the commercially available drones on the market out to as much as 2 miles. This could be a tool that a customer such as a prison could use.

“It’s a Wild West out there with drones,” Andrews explained. “Prisons are experiencing a lot of instances where drones are being used to drop contraband, even weapons, in prison yards.”

The company is also setting up a system along Panama City Beach as a test that

would allow police to more easily monitor drone activity along the beach and at nearby condominiums, where residents are worried about snooping drones that could invade privacy and cause damage.

While the free drone app is the most exciting recent news, Andrews said the company’s biggest seller remains its bird radar. And it is developing a new product called an aircraft-detection lighting system.

The idea is to better regulate airport warning lights on the tall turbines at wind farms.

When the system detects an airplane within 10 miles of a turbine, it will track it until it gets within 3 miles. At that point the lights will be activated. They’ll be turned off again when the plane is out of range.

“We’re ahead of this market,” Andrews said. “One customer in the Midwest wants it installed on 19 wind farms. We already have them in Arizona, New Jersey and Canada.

And three will be installed in Sweden later this year.”

CEO and President Gary Andrews

2016 B A Y C O U N T Y B U S I N E S S J O U R N A L / 5

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In Panama City, this campaign will encourage our students and faculty to raise their sights even higher and help them excel both in and out of the classroom. Whether your gift supports academic programs or student scholarships—a priority of our Panama City campus—you can help us Raise the Torch for our campus and, ultimately, our community.

Join us today at raisethetorch.fsu.edu 6 / 2016 B A Y C O U N T Y B U S I N E S S J O U R N A L

PORT PANAMA CITY |

The addition of a forest products terminal at Port Panama City is projected to create 63 jobs. The project will include construction of a 250,000-squarefoot warehouse.

EXPANSION PORT Port Panama City seeks to expand its capacity

by JASON DEHART

COURTESY PORT PANAMA CITY

T

wo ports are better than one in Bay County. Today, Port Panama City is doubling down on its capacity with the recent purchase and upcoming development of a modern “forest products” terminal on a nearby 41-acre industrial waterfront tract formerly owned by WestRock.

The port acquired the mostly vacant land on May 3 from the company, which operates a corrugated packaging mill on adjoining property. More to the point, the deal comes with a 920-foot ship berth and 160,000 square feet of warehouse space.

Plans call for development of a state-of-theindustry forest products terminal, including the construction of a new, 250,000-squarefoot warehouse for wood pulp, kraft linerboard and other goods. The terminal will also feature a 48-car-capacity rail yard, a renovated berthing area with a 38-foot draft and reinforced bulkhead, and a 10-acre storage area, according to port director Wayne Stubbs.

“This is a huge step forward in enhancing Port Panama City’s already impressive abilities to handle forest product cargos,” Stubbs said. “Exports of paper and wood pellets helped propel Port Panama City to a record year in 2015, with more than 2 million tons of cargo moving across our docks. This acquisition and terminal project position our port to handle sustained growth for many years to come.”

Port Panama City bought the 41 acres for $13.6 million. The deal was financed through the Florida Department of Transportation’s State Infrastructure Bank, and the port has secured an option to buy an additional 27 acres for another $6 million.

“We’re starting with a blank page,” Port Authority chairman Don Crisp said. “It’ll be a real good opportunity to bring some jobs to Bay County.”

Stubbs estimated that the expansion will provide an economic benefit of more

than $125 million annually and bring in 63 direct jobs and another 130 indirect jobs.

The project is expected to almost double the working acreage of the port.

The port has the support of a $4.25 million Florida Department of Transportation grant and is proceeding with $12 million of first-phase terminal projects. An additional $9 million, half from FDOT, is earmarked for bulkhead work and rail and roadway improvements.

Meanwhile, a $10 million effort to deepen the channel from 32 to 38 feet has received approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Half of the money is federally funded, and the work is expected to be complete in 2018.

Grieg Star Shipping, a longtime shipper of forest products via Port Panama City, is enthusiastic about the developments.

“We at Grieg Star are very excited about the port’s investment in a breakbulk forest-products terminal and the necessary dredging to help fulfill its potential,” said Andy Powell, Atlanta-based vice president and general manager of Grieg Star Shipping. “We know that this has been a lot of work for Wayne and his team to bring things to this point and really applaud their efforts.”

2016 B A Y C O U N T Y B U S I N E S S J O U R N A L / 7

DEMOGRAPHICS |

BAY COUNTY DEMOGRAPHICS POPULATION JULY 2015 (ESTIMATED) — 181,635 PERCENT CHANGE FROM 2010 — 7.6 percent UNDER 18 YEARS — 21.6 percent 18-64 YEARS — 62 percent 65 AND OVER — 16.4 percent VETERANS — 22,869 PERCENT IN POVERTY (ALL AGES) —15.8 percent

EDUCATION

(Persons age 25+ years) HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATE OR HIGHER — 87.6 percent BACHELOR’S DEGREE OR HIGHER — 21.6 percent BAY COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT STATE GRADE — B

IN CIVILIAN LABOR FORCE, PERCENT OF POPULATION 16 YEARS+ —60.7 percent

Neil Patterson, a retired saturation diver now employed at the Naval Surface Warfare Division, Panama City Division, readies equipment for diving bell training procedures.

TOTAL EMPLOYER ESTABLISHMENTS (2014) — 4,461

TOP 15 MAJOR EMPLOYERS

TOTAL EMPLOYMENT (2014) — 60,513 UNEMPLOYMENT (JUNE 2016) — 4.7 percent AVERAGE ANNUAL WAGE (2014) — $38,857 (Florida — $44,803)

Tyndall Air Force Base Naval Support ActivityPanama City Bay District Schools Bay Medical Center Walmart and Sam’s Club

Bay County Board of Commissioners Eastern Shipbuilding Gulf Coast Medical Center Gulf Coast State College City of Panama City

Sources: Bay County Online, U.S. Census Bureau

8 / 2016 B A Y C O U N T Y B U S I N E S S J O U R N A L

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2016 B A Y C O U N T Y B U S I N E S S J O U R N A L / 9

ALIGNMENT BAY COUNTY |

ALIGNMENT BAY COUNTY

Initiative has begun the work of building a better high school graduate

by STEVE BORNHOFT

J

amie, a Jinks Middle School student in Panama City who is built like onetime Chicago Bear William “The Refrigerator” Perry, was stuck in eighth grade. He had repeated that year and, even at that, had catch-up work to do during his summer break in order to qualify for a promotion to high school.

10 / 2016 B A Y C O U N T Y B U S I N E S S J O U R N A L

Jamie, however, lacked the tool — a computer with internet access — that he needed to complete the remediation task and thus was at risk of being held back again.

That is, until he met up with Bay County School Board member Ginger Littleton at a SeaPerch competition coordinated by Littleton in her role as a tireless promoter

of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education.

SeaPerch, a program of the U.S. Navy and the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International, involves building a submersible, remote-controlled platform.

Jamie stood out for Littleton given his large size — and his adeptness with a soldering

Alignment Bay County vice chairman and Bay County School Board member Ginger Littleton has found that opportunities to participate in activities including STEM camps may stimulate students — and reveal talents — in ways that classroom instruction does not. Here, students put submersible robots through their paces at the conclusion of a SeaPerch summer camp, a program of the Office of Naval Research.

U.S. NAVY PHOTO BY MASS COMMUNICATION SPECIALIST 1ST CLASS CHRISTOPHER OKULA/RELEASED

In identifying goals aimed at improving K-12 public education outcomes in Bay County, Alignment Bay County is starting with the fundamentals.

Attentiveness is desirable, of course, but it can’t happen without attendance.

iron. She took an interest in him and became familiar with his circumstances.

“There was no way that Jamie was going to go back to the eighth grade again,” Littleton said. “Unless we made it possible for him to advance, we were going to lose him.”

Littleton saw to it that Jamie was supplied with a surplus district computer and an AirCard, connecting him with a far brighter future than he otherwise would have had.

Stories like Jamie’s have led Alignment Bay County, which Littleton sees as a “product improvement initiative,” to establish connectivity as a focus for its Middle and High School Committee. Patterned after a comparable 10-year-old program in

Nashville, Tennessee, the fledgling Alignment Bay County is uniting business leaders, educators and public officials in an effort to enhance “school success, children’s health and the success of the community as a whole.”

“Our premise is that if we get the education system humming, other good things will follow,” Littleton said. “Attractive businesses will not want to move to Bay County if the education system sucks.

Ramping up education is the place to start.”

Littleton is the vice chairman of Alignment Bay County’s governing board of directors, which is chaired by Guy Tunnell, a former Bay County sheriff who is now a county commissioner.

Turning out widgets is one thing, Littleton said, but producing high school graduates prepared to serve their community as assets is quite another.

“It gets complicated,” Littleton said.

“Students have baggage that may include health issues, poverty or parents who are not equipped to be parents. We’re all in this together, we’re all invested in the product, so let’s all figure out what we can do collectively to make it the very best product possible.”

That can mean getting children to school in the first place. Combating absenteeism is the chief goal of Alignment Bay County’s

early education and elementary education committees.

“We have a huge number of students who fall by the wayside because they simply are not in class,” Littleton said. “And a truancy officer can do only so much. We need posters and media campaigns, and we need to incentivize students to come to school.

We need to create a culture in which the business owner who finds little Johnny in his store at 10 in the morning takes action and asks him, ‘Where should you be?’ ” To date, Alignment Bay County has received funding from the Bay County Commission, the school district, Gulf Coast State College and private foundations. Littleton said the effort has completed its start-up phase and has matured to the point where it is “grinding out the work.” Still, Alignment Bay County is looking for committee members who are prepared to “bring something to the table other than their checkbook.”

Anyone interested in helping out is encouraged to visit alignmentbaycounty. org and click on the “Participation” tab.

“We have the resources in this community to see to it that Jamie doesn’t get lost and instead winds up enrolled in, let’s say, the new Unmanned Vehicle Systems program at Gulf Coast State College,” Littleton stressed.

2016 B A Y C O U N T Y B U S I N E S S J O U R N A L / 11

EDUCATION |

BUILDING A WORKFORCE GCSC, FSU-PC and Haney Technical anticipate employers’ needs

by STEVE BORNHOFT

J

ohn Holdnak ruminates about programs that Gulf Coast State College is adding at its Advanced Technology Center, and he finds himself reflecting on the Tom Swift adventure novels he read as a boy.

Tom, the boy inventor, was into science, technology, engineering and math long before STEM education became cool and his creators, the writers who contributed volumes to the Tom Swift collection from 1910 to 2007, have proved startlingly prescient.

Remarkably, “Tom Swift and His Photo Telephone” was published in 1912.

Today, Gulf Coast has received the necessary accreditation and sign-offs from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and is adding associate degree programs in unmanned vehicle systems and additive manufacturing, essentially 3-D printing.

“I recently met a 19-year-old entrepreneur who was making a good living with his aerial photography business, but his mother felt that he should pursue college,” Holdnak said. “When he became aware of FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) requirements for drones and the fines for

non-compliance, he decided that our UVS program might be a good idea.”

The program, which is the first in Florida, will address unmanned vehicles suited for air, land and sea. Students, Holdnak said, will learn how to program and use the vehicles and to outfit them with cameras and various sensors. Applications include search-andrescue operations, wildfire suppression, identifying navigation hazards, SWAT team exercises and “finding things that fall off ships.”

So it is that GCSC is working with law enforcement agencies, the Department of Defense, the Army Corps of Engineers and other entities in creating and refining the program, which enrolled its first students this fall.

Unmanned vehicle systems, Holdnak believes, have the potential to be transformational, as “disruptive” as smartphones have been.

The Additive Manufacturing Program is part of an effort, Holdnak said, to ensure that Bay County is geared up to provide employees equipped to work for high-tech manufacturers known to be coming to town. Haney Technical Center and Florida State University-Panama City will be part of the same effort.

“The 3-D printers we have in place at the ATC are baby steps compared to what’s coming,” Holdnak said. “We’re talking about equipment that can produce airplane parts. What’s next is an ability to print with polymers and metal at the same time. It will be possible to print and engine with all the wiring in place making them lighter An FSU-PC student uses a micrometer to measure blood spatters to determine the place of origin.

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and providing for greater efficiency. This seems like science fiction, but it’s real. We intend that Bay County become a hub for additive manufacturing innovation.”

Gone soon will be the days when manufacturers had to retool. Instead, they will find themselves simply keying in another set of codes.

Across Collegiate Drive from GCSC, Florida State University, too, has new degree programs including Nurse Anesthesia and Crime Scene Investigation.

Charla Perdue, who heads up the CSI program, is not just a resident faculty member — one of the more than 40 that FSU-PC now employs — but is as homegrown as they come.

She graduated Bay High School, earned an associate’s degree at Gulf Coast State College, then collected a certificate in underwater crime scene investigation, a bachelor’s degree (criminology) and a master’s degree (criminal justice studies) at FSU-PC. Perdue refers to a FARO Focus 3-D Laser Scanner as casually as most might mention a microwave. FSU owns such a device, which, Perdue explains, “takes a 360-degree picture of everything it sees.” The tool is used to precisely document and measure crime scenes and to produce animated presentations for use in court proceedings.

Bay County area law enforcement agencies lacking FARO Focus know to call on Perdue, who meets their documentation needs as a public service. In such a way, she has gotten to know police departments and sheriff’s offices that today supply her with many of her students. The CSI program, she said, attracts both officers looking to burnish their credentials and students looking to enter the field of law enforcement.

CSI students complete their book learning remotely and take five labs on campus or in the field. Activities include investigating a shooting scene, viewing an autopsy, excavating

COURTESY CHARLA SKINNER PERDUE/FSU-PC

a burial site and cataloging skeletal remains.

In all of that, Perdue impresses upon her students the words of forensic scientist — and Manhattan Project participant — Paul L. Kirk, who found that “physical evidence cannot be wrong, cannot perjure itself and cannot be wholly absent. Only human failure to find it, study it and diminish it can diminish its value.”

The addition of a highly specialized major such as CSI and master’s degree studies in nurse anesthesia at FSU-PC has influenced recruiting efforts because the programs are capable of drawing students from around the country, said Erica Martin, a campus marketing coordinator. And the programs have influenced the campus to commit to the construction of its first dormitory, expected to be ready for students in 2018. Launched along with CSI in 2015, the nurse anesthesia program, in its first year, attracted students from Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Texas and Washington, D.C. FSU-PC’s status as a four-year institution, effective with the fall 2013 semester, has led recruiters to spend more time on high school campuses. “We don’t have a larger freshman class, but our freshmen are of an extremely high caliber and they come here knowing exactly what they want to achieve,” Martin said.

At Haney Technical Center, too, nursing is a factor in growing enrollment. In March, Gov. Rick Scott signed a budget that included $1 million for the expansion of Haney’s licensed practical nursing (LPN) program.

The money will be used to renovate an existing campus building to add LPN classrooms and labs and double enrollment in the program to 100. Demand for the program is high.

Currently, 60 percent of applicants are turned away due to limited space.

Haney also is tuning up its aviation academy. In August 2015, the campus took delivery of a retired F15-C Eagle from Tyndall Air Force Base; the aircraft is being used as a teaching tool for aviation students. In December of last year, Haney renovated an old welding classroom, transforming it into a new airframe lab. And in June, Haney and Embry Riddle signed an articulation agreement that will grant college credit to Haney students completing FAA certified airframe and power plant certificate programs.

The investment in aviation, said Haney Director Ann Leonard, reflects the anticipated arrival in Bay County of employers in the aerospace industry.

A rapidly changing world, said Holdnak, led GCSC to establish a Navigator Program,

Crime Scene Investigation students at FSU-PC inventory skeletal remains as part of a field laboratory exercise. Students learn to document and preserve evidence.

which will place career counselors employed by the college on five Bay County high school campuses and in Gulf and Franklin counties.

The counselors will work with high school students and middle school students and their parents to “help our young people figure out what they want to do when they graduate high school,” said Holdnak. “If you’re serious about a career in science, medicine or technology, you need to make sure in middle school that you are taking the right sequence of math courses.”

In some cases, preparing for such careers starts even earlier.

Holdnak stopped by a summer STEM camp conducted at GCSC and listened to a student who would be entering the fourth grade in August speak about what he took away from the experience.

“He used terms like buoyancy and displacement — and he used them correctly,” Holdnak said. “The only prompt he needed was to speak louder so that the parents in the back could hear him.”

And learn something.

2016 B A Y C O U N T Y B U S I N E S S J O U R N A L / 13

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14 / 2016 B A Y C O U N T Y B U S I N E S S J O U R N A L

MICA SPECIALTIES |

Most businesses today find that a robust digital presence is indispensable. Mica Services customizes its services to its customers after determining the best way for them to market themselves online.

GOOGLE GURU

Mica Specialties helps Bay County businesses embrace technology and Google by MATT ALGARIN

CASTLESKI / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

I

t’s Google’s world and we’re just living in it. Well, that may not be 100 percent true, but for business owners who want customers to find them online, it all comes down to their Google presence — and that’s where James Clemens and his team at Mica Specialties comes in.

“A business today has to be online and has to be on that first page (of Google’s search results), if possible,” says the 46-year-old Clemens, who formed Mica Specialties with his wife, Gina, in 1992.

Based in Panama City, Mica Specialties offers technology consultancy and IT services, as well as website design and digital advertising. When you dig a little deeper into the services offered by Mica Specialties, they are wide-ranging. From search engine optimization and search engine marketing

to digital and social media marketing, Mica Specialties is your one-stop shop for a complete online presence.

When you start talking about how search engines work, it can be overwhelming to the average business owner. With terms such as meta tags, alt tags, anchor text and H1 tags, it can all sound like a foreign language. Clemens and his team in essence become a Google translator.

“We offer a free consultation where we will go through the nuts and bolts of a company to see exactly what we can do for them,” Clemens said. “There are so many ways to do something for a business and so many ways for a business to be online.”

At Mica Specialties, digital is the name of the game. When you talk about digital, it really doesn’t get much bigger than

Google. Think about it: How many times have you gone on the internet to search for something? Most people are going to use Google to search for a business, product or local restaurant.

And when you think about your own search habits, you can attest to the fact that more than likely, you are not going to click through page after page of search results. As Clemens said, a business really wants to appear on the first page to page-and-a-half of results.

That can be challenging when you think of how expansive the web is and how many businesses are out there trying to achieve the same results. Clemens has spent years mastering his craft and studying the ins and outs of Google, which is ever-changing, and how it works.

Clemens, who has an infectious laugh, is essentially a Google guru. He and his colleagues at Mica Specialties are proud owners of The Google Partner badge, which means they have passed the Google AdWords product certification exam and are up-to-date on the latest in product knowledge. AdWords is essentially Google’s advertising system, which allows advertisers to bid on certain keywords in order for their 2016 B A Y C O U N T Y B U S I N E S S J O U R N A L / 15

MICA SPECIALTIES | clickable ads to appear in search results. Clemens said being badged by Google is an achievement that only about 5,000 companies in the world have earned. That’s pretty impressive for a business in Panama City.

In addition to the Google Partner badge, Mica Specialties is an official Google GYBO (Get Your Business Online) partner for Panama City and Panama City Beach.

The goal is for Clemens to make sure every business in the community is included in the “Let’s Put Our Cities On The Map” initiative. GYBO allows businesses to be listed on Google Maps free of charge, which includes assistance from Mica Specialties.

It may sound a bit like a latenight infomercial, but wait, there’s more. Clemens has also been recognized as a Google For Work partner, which means he can help a business better understand and take advantage of Google products so they can be more productive with professional email, online storage, shared calendars, video meetings and more.

In July, Clemens was honored by Google as a “Rising Star” within the Top Contributors program. To earn this honor, Clemens had to display a long history of providing expert help to fellow Google product users in a friendly and professional manner that’s up to par with a level of high expectations and quality standards.

The love of technology has always been something that’s pulsed through Clemens’ veins. As a 9-year-old in 1979, Clemens vividly remembers being at a garage sale with his parents and coming across a word processor that, plugged into the television, displayed words on the screen.

“That really planted my love of technology,” he said.

The rest is history. That love of technology still drives Clemens to continue learning and adapting to new trends in his field.

“It’s a great field to be in because it’s always changing,” he said. “I love to learn.”

While he works more than 60 hours a week, Clemens said he has no plans to slow down anytime soon. Given his good health and desire to help better his community, you will not hear the word retirement come out of his mouth in the near future.

To learn more about Mica Specialties, visit micaspecialties.com.

In addition to the Google Partner badge, Mica Specialties is an official Google GYBO (Get Your Business Online) partner for Panama City and Panama City Beach.

16 / 2016 B A Y C O U N T Y B U S I N E S S J O U R N A L

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PIER PARK |

PIER PARK

One-stop shop has contributed to increased revenues and visitation in Bay County

I

n 2008, Panama City Beach introduced Pier Park and thus began an evolution of Bay County. Owned by Simon Property Group — one of the country’s leading commercial real estate groups that specializes in malls — Pier Park stretches over 900,000 square feet of land from U.S. Highway 98 to Front Beach Road. Now home to 124 stores, the al fresco shopping center by the beach has become the Emerald Coast’s one-stop shop for clothing, home goods, entertainment, dining and grocery needs.

The centralized hub has helped reduce traffic congestion throughout the county by creating a large enough site for people to gather, with plenty of space to spare.

“Panama City Beach is a long, skinny island, so before Pier Park, a lot of shops were spread out along a wide area,” says David Demarest, public relations manager at Visit Panama City Beach. “Pier Park has really helped Panama City Beach become a tourist destination.”

Demarest notes a sharp increase in visitation to the area through event tracking alone. One of the major events in Pier Park happens to be the New Year’s Eve Beach Ball Drop, an event that attracted 15,000 spectators when it began in 2008. Over the

18 / 2016 B A Y C O U N T Y B U S I N E S S J O U R N A L

past two years, attendance has grown to more than 40,000 celebrants. With other events such as the Pirates of the High Seas Festival and the Mardi Gras and Music Festival, Pier Park continues to attract more visitors each year.

In conjunction with increased tourism, Pier Park has furnished the county with revenue. The gross receipt tax collected in Pier Park from the 2008–2009 fiscal year was just over $1.5 million. From 2014 to 2015, gross receipt taxes reached more than $2,135,000 — constituting about 18 percent of Panama City’s business tax receipts.

Corresponding gross receipt taxes from other businesses within the city have grown from approximately $7,312,000 to $11,874,000 in the same 2008–2015 time period. The upward trends have contributed to a 10.58 percent increase in revenue to Panama City Beach over the past two budget years.

In 2013, Pier Park expanded to nearby Back Beach Road, bringing restaurants, a sporting goods store and more shopping to a “Pier Park North.”

“Pier Park North is part of the city of Panama City Beach and is not tracked

separately,” City Manager Mario Gisbert points out. “The additional retail square footage from Pier Park North has contributed to the increased revenues, as noted in double-digit growth in 2013–2015.”

According to Michael Kerrigan, director of marketing and business development at Pier Park, the real impact Pier Park has had on the Bay County community has less do to with facts and figures.

“All of the development that has taken place over the last 10 years has solidified the Pier Park area as Northwest Florida’s premier shopping, dining and entertainment district,” Kerrigan says. “Sales tax revenues, job creation and increased visitation are the first benefits that typically come to mind because they are easy to see and easy to measure. The social benefits, however, are equally impressive. Pier Park serves as the central socializing destination for Bay County, similar to the way a downtown would function within a community.

People come here to take a break, enjoy time with friends and family, and to shop and be entertained. We are just as proud of that accomplishment as we are of the economic success that Pier Park has been able to sustain for the past eight years.”

SCOTT HOLSTEIN/ROWLAND PUBLISHING FILE PHOTO

by HANNAH BURKE

Take your next step with Regions.

Every accomplished goal starts with a first step. At Regions, we’re here to help support our Bay County community in taking those steps, through a strong leadership team, helpful guidance and friendly associates. We put our knowledge and resources to work each day, finding ways to help move you toward your financial goals. Our team is dedicated to Bay County and we will work tirelessly to help you get where you want to go.

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Left to right: Steven Aase, Market President; Robin Striblin, Mortgage Production Manager; John O’Mera, Consumer Banking Manager

© 2016 Regions Bank. Regions and the Regions logo are registered trademarks of Regions Bank. The LifeGreen color is a trademark of Regions Bank.

2016 B A Y C O U N T Y B U S I N E S S J O U R N A L / 19

MILITARY |

U.S. NAVY PHOTO BY MASS COMMUNICATION SPECIALIST KEVIN B. GRAY/RELEASED

Military installations in Bay County include Naval Support Activity Panama City. Here, Navy rescue swimmers ascend a winch attached to a MH-60S Seahawk helicopter assigned to the Dragon Masters aviation unit at the Naval Surface Warfare Center located in Panama City Beach.

FIGHTING TRIM

The military plays a huge role in the economy of Bay County compiled by JASON DEHART and STEVE BORNHOFT

B

ay County’s defense sector is a significant portion of the local economy and, as sabers continue to rattle across the globe, the U.S. Air Force and Navy bases stationed here aren’t going anywhere anytime soon.

The defense sector will continue to provide jobs and paychecks for the foreseeable future.

Bay County’s military bases also serve as a catalyst for attracting a strong cluster of research activity, defense contractors and aviation and aerospace-related companies and supplies. Nearly every nationally recognized defense contractor, approximately 60 companies, has a presence in Bay County.

Historically, air superiority and naval

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power have been used to project the nation’s power abroad, and Bay County is at the tip of the spear that keeps those two components ready for action.

Tyndall Air Force Base, located in the southeastern part of the county, teaches the art of aerial warfare and is home to the 325th Fighter Wing, which trains F-22 Raptor fighter pilots and support crew. The 53rd Weapons Evaluation Group also calls Tyndall home and conducts air-to-air and airto-ground weapons testing and evaluation.

Meanwhile, Naval Support Activity Panama City provides research, development, test and evaluation, and in-service support for expeditionary, amphibious warfare, diving, maritime special operations, and mine warfare,

according to the Florida Defense Industry Economic Impact Analysis for 2015.

According to the Bay Economic Development Alliance, The Naval Support Activity center accounts for $498 million in annual economic impact. It boasts 2,872 jobs and spans 657 acres with 234 buildings. The Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division accounts for $273 million in annual economic impact, provides 2,290 military and civilian jobs, features 862 scientists and engineers (381 of whom have advanced degrees), and occupies 74 buildings on 650-plus acres. Tyndall Air Force Base boosts the economy with $614.2 million, provides 6,471 jobs and spans 29,000 acres.

All told, the defense aspect put an estimated 22,561 people to work in 2014 and forecasts predicted that number would rise to 23,861 in 2016. Tyndall got a boost in 2014 when 1,000 new jobs were added due to the arrival of a combat-coded F-22 squadron.

According to the Florida Defense Industry Economic Impact Analysis published in 2015, defense activities play a substantial role in the Bay County economy.

U.S. AIR FORCE PHOTO/SENIOR AIRMAN CHRISTOPHER REEL

Procurement accounted for the largest share at 34.1 percent or roughly $343 million of the $1.02 billion total. Salaries accounted for 33.2 percent, and transfers accounted for 32.3 percent. Overall, the military accounted about $2.4 billion in total gross regional product, which is roughly 30.6 percent of the county’s estimated 2014 Gross Regional Product. The total impact for the county is forecast to continue to grow between 2014 and 2018.

Here’s the big picture. There are seven U.S. military installations within the 16-county area of Northwest Florida, all offering a stabilizing economic influence. Aside from the Tyndall and Naval Support Activity, there is a U.S. Coast Guard Station in Panama City, and Eglin Air Force Base, the largest base in the U.S. Air Force, is in nearby Okaloosa County. Other naval and aviation-related installations include Hurlburt Field, Naval Air Station Whiting Field, Naval Air Station Pensacola, Corry Field and Saufley Field.

Approximately 35 percent of Northwest Florida’s Gross Regional Product is attributable to defense activities. According to the 2015 Florida Defense Factbook compiled by Enterprise Florida, defense activities in Northwest Florida generate an estimated 181,564 jobs and account for over $20.4 billion in gross regional product. The bulk of the impacts are generated by direct federal military (and civilian) employment, which accounts for nearly 54,000 direct jobs, followed by federal military procurement and transfer payments. The National Guard and Coast Guard account for 3,861 and 1,461 total jobs, respectively, in this region. Statewide, defense-related spending accounted for 775,000 jobs and a total gross state product of $79.8 billion. There are 60,155 military personnel and 30,358 civilians employed in the defense sector statewide.

As Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) processes started to hit close to home some 20 years ago, the communities of Bay County faced a pretty big economic hit if its military industry disappeared. Community leaders realized early on, though, that Northwest Florida makes significant contributions to national defense. Fortunately, the Department of Defense came to the same conclusion — thanks in no small part to the efforts of the Bay Defense Alliance, a coalition of local economic leaders. The alliance made sure that national defense decision-makers realized the value of the region’s resources, including the massive Gulf of Mexico military ranges, and a coastal littoral region that provides a training analog for certain areas of the Persian Gulf.

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The last of the 314 QF-4s aircraft produced since 1998 landed at Tyndall Air Force Base in Bay County in November 2013. The QF-4s are used as unmanned full-scale aerial targets during training exercises.

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SPECIAL PROJECTS |

IMPROVING HEALTH TECHNOLOGY Jellyfish Health plans expansion in Panama City

by LINDA KLEINDIENST

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Florida Department of Economic Opportunity, said the company’s expansion is great news for job seekers looking for hightech opportunities in Northwest Florida, adding that innovative solutions like those provided by Jellyfish Health are “providing jobs and growing our economy while improving the lives of patients.”

To help with the expansion program, jobs that will focus on software development, the company received a $750,000 grant from the Industry Recruitment, Retention and Expansion Fund administered by the University of West Florida Office of Economic Development and Engagement.

The program, funded through the Oil Spill Recovery Act sponsored by Sen. Don

Gaetz of Niceville, has already resulted in 9,000 new jobs in the state.

“The medical software field brings exactly the kind of business expansion we need in Bay County,” Gaetz said. “The company has a national market and has the potential to grow, prosper and contribute substantially to our community.”

State Rep. Jay Trumbell of Panama City added that by companies like Jellyfish Health creating new jobs, it keeps Florida at the forefront of technology and “that makes us a top destination for business and talent.”

Florida boasts one of the nation’s largest software and computer systems industries, with 14,100 firms that employ more than 84,400 industry professionals.

COURTESY BAY COUNTY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

J

ellyfish Health, a health care technology company based in Bay County, has plans to create 100 new jobs with an annual average salary of $70,000 — more than 200 percent of the average wage in the county — and give a mighty boost to the local economy.

Located in Panama City, Jellyfish Health uses technology to bring transparency to waiting times at health care facilities. The software allows patients to use their mobile devices to gauge whether a doctor or health care provider is running late on appointments. The program reduces wait times for patients, automates workflow for health care staff and boosts loyalty to health care facilities by creating a better patient experience.

“Let’s face it, waiting sucks. And, what’s worse is it’s totally avoidable,” said Dave Dyell, president and CEO, in making the announcement. “Jellyfish Health is all about helping make life easier for patients and the caregivers that take care of them.”

Clint Mizell, chairman of the Bay County Economic Development Alliance, applauded the company’s decision to expand its operations in Panama City. “This is a company that could have expanded anywhere,” he said. “The fact that they are creating a significant number of high wage technology jobs in Bay County is a great win for our local economy.”

And Panama City Mayor Greg Brudnicki said the new workers will “help to add energy to our downtown area, aiding our revitalization efforts.”

The project was made possible through partnerships between state and local agencies and governments.

Cissy Proctor, executive director of the

Jellyfish Health, a health care technology company, is in the efficiency business. The company has developed software that reduces wait times for patients at health care facilities and automates workflow, thereby making for improved client experiences and customer loyalty.

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I-10 CORRIDOR

Northern Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa + Walton Counties and Holmes, Washington, Calhoun, Jackson + Liberty Counties

The Vintage Queen

How one woman turned her passion for antiques into thriving businesses

By Tabitha Yang

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SCOTT HOSTEIN/ROWLAND PUBLISHING FILE PHOTOS

C

indy Poire has always been a collector. As a young girl in Sarasota, she would do housework for retired folks in exchange for antique items they owned that caught her eye.

She was especially fascinated by Victorian mourning apparel, such as black silk mourning dresses and brooches decorated with braided pieces of the deceased’s hair — not the typical things most children are fascinated by.

“It seems unusual,” Poire acknowledges, “and probably if I had been in the ’90s it would have been considered gothic.”

But the history of the pieces fascinated her — the rituals of an era in which grieving was not rushed over a few days or months but was a process that women engaged in for years. She has always been enthralled by personal histories.

“You know, as a little kid, I loved older people,” Poire says. “I loved my great-grandparents; they were Norwegian immigrants. And I loved listening to the stories that they would tell.”

and Madison + Taylor Counties

None of her immediate family ever understood her preoccupation with old things. Asked about her parents, she says, “Oh, they were not interested at all. In fact, my father used to say, ‘If you bring home one more old piece of anything, you can keep it (only) if it will fit in your room!’”

Undeterred, Poire would drag home French doors, tables and lamps. Her personal collection of vintage clothing has attracted the notice of prestigious entities such as the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, which offered to purchase her collection of Victorian clothing a few years ago.

Poire refused, saying she was not yet ready to part with it.

She still loves searching for vintage and antique treasures. Today, at nearly 60 years old, Poire says the best thing about owning her stores in Madison, Florida, is scouring

flea markets, estate sales and antiques wholesalers to find pieces for her inventory.

“I’m a professional shopper!” she declares with a smile.

Bringing Business to Madison Poire owns two successful downtown stores, the Madison Antiques Market and Interiors and Marketplace of Madison. The bulk of what the Madison Antiques Market carries is antique American furnishings and women’s vintage clothing and accessories, though she throws in a few new items for customers who might come in out of curiosity but aren’t that interested in buying something pre-owned. At the Marketplace, she sells vintage men’s clothing and a mix of antique and contemporary furnishings, books and tools.

Madison Antiques was the store she opened first, 10 years ago on her birthday

ANTIQUE TROVE Step into a bygone era with trinkets and treasures still in pristine condition. Madison Antiques Market owner Cindy Poire’s promise is to only sell items that appear fresh out of yesteryear.

in November. She and her husband had started coming to Madison several years before that for weekend getaways, when he would go deer hunting and she would relax. She had a commercial design business in Sarasota, and he was working as an underground contractor. Before the Great Recession, sensing that a financial downturn was nigh, they decided to sell up and relocate to Madison, where Poire decided to open her stores.

“But everything was empty,” she recalls.

“Everything downtown — there (were only) two stores open. We bought this building first. It had probably sat empty seven or eight years and needed an extensive

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A COLLECTOR’S CLOSET From luxurious fur coats to Victorian-era lace-up boots to snazzy 1930’s fedoras, Madison Antique Market’s clothing selection mirrors stepping into closets from previous decades. You can play dress up or incorporate as everyday wear.

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renovation. So we worked on this building for almost two years before I opened in 2006.”

Since then, downtown Madison has seen growth and revitalization.

“We’ve had three boutiques open, we’ve had two coffee shops open, we’ve had two more restaurants open,” Poire says.

And all this within the past two years.

Madison City Manager Tim Bennett noted in an email interview that “like most small cities, we struggle to keep our downtown businesses alive and well. Cindy’s businesses have helped us survive.”

Poire has also worked to bring more out-of-town shoppers to Madison. Four years ago, she approached a woman in South Florida who periodically puts on an outdoor market called the Fancy Flea and convinced her to come set up a second market in Madison. The Fancy Flea Market was an immediate success and now runs for a weekend every May and November in Madison. This past May, it attracted more than 70 vendors and a large crowd of out-of-town attendees.

Putting Her Business Savvy to Work In order to keep her business alive and thriving, Poire advertises her store on television station WCTV, has an Etsy shop online and has hired a woman to help her with social media marketing. She sells a lot of her vintage clothing online to customers in Europe and Australia.

Poire says vintage clothing is more popular there than it is domestically, although interest in the trend is growing in the United States. At the Madison Antiques Market, she has racks upon racks of high-quality period clothing, ranging from peach silk lingerie from the 1930s to button up leather boots from the Victorian era.

“You’ll find that most of my stuff is 90 to 95 percent perfect,” she notes. “Because if it isn’t, it doesn’t go on the racks. I dryclean it, I launder it. I repair it. I want you to be able to take it back home and use it or wear it right then.”

SCOTT HOSTEIN/ROWLAND PUBLISHING FILE PHOTOS

Earning Trust The high standards she has for the quality of her clothing also applies to Poire’s decisions on parting with merchandise.

“If I don’t think it’s going to a good home, I won’t sell it,” she says. “And believe me, I’ve gotten into some real arguments with people. I’m like, ‘You’re not going to take care of it. You don’t appreciate it.’”

Her principles have won her a following among those of the older generation who have unique items they don’t use anymore but value because of the memories they hold.

“That’s why people bring things in to Cindy,” says Shirley Bushee, a Madison local who has sold Poire several antique items. “Because we know that she cares about what we bring in and that she will sell it to someone who will care for it.”

Poire recalls that during the Fancy Flea fair in May, a woman in her 80s came and sold her a beautiful 1950s mink-trimmed vintage coat she had worn in her younger days.

The woman told her, “I didn’t want to part with it because it had so many memories … but you will take care of it and you will sell it to someone who will love it.”

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FORGOTTEN COAST CORRIDOR

Gulf, Franklin + Wakulla Counties

A Blank Canvas A port, a railroad and plenty of infrastructure give Gulf County a boost in its drive to grow the local economy

By Kathleen Haughney

C

hris Holley is one of the state’s most experienced county administrators, with more than 30 years’ experience working as a manager and administrator for some of Florida’s fastest-grow-

ing counties.

In 2015, he retired from the Florida Association of Counties after serving as executive director for 10 years. But retirement didn’t last long, as he recently took up a role with the Gulf County Economic Coalition, trying to spur development in the tiny county of about 15,800 people.

We talked to him about his new role and what he sees as the future for Gulf County.

850: What is your job? How would you describe it?

CH: I’m the executive director of the Gulf County Economic Coalition. Economic development in our county has evolved. The county commission took it over a couple of years ago. When I retired from the Florida Association of Counties and came down to Port St. Joe, the county manager asked if I would help get the ball rolling for the office. That’s what I’ve been doing for the last year.

850: You moved from the Association of Counties, where you had to worry about all the counties and the policies that might affect them, to worrying about one. How would you describe that change?

CH: Both opportunities were great. I loved working on a statewide basis. Florida is a very diverse state, with large, medium and small counties and communities. The legislative policy aspect of the job was a big challenge, and 10 years of doing it was probably long enough.

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I’d been a county administrator for several other counties — I was in Okaloosa for 13 years.

I enjoy county work. You’re involved more in the community. You’re very close to what you’re trying to do. Statewide is statewide, but county, you touch and feel things a lot easier. Gulf is just a unique situation because of its history as a port town and the assets that are here, and I thought it was a neat opportunity to help.

COURTESY FLORIDA ASSOCIATION OF COUNTIES

850: How would you describe the economic health of the area?

CH: Well, we have evolved. If you know the geography, we have Cape San Blas that protects a natural harbor, and because of that, Port St. Joe has been a port town since the mid-1800s. It was a thriving cotton import and export entity for many years, and then The St. Joe Company operated a paper mill for some 60 years. There were close to a thousand jobs associated with the mill and the other businesses that spun off of the mill. When that closed, it was a very dramatic change in the economy and the community.

The good news is that, like a lot of coastal areas in Florida, tourism has been growing slowly over a 20-year period, and we enjoy the same summer visitors you have in Panama City and Destin and Pensacola and other communities off to the west.

Tourism is thriving, and we hope it stays that way.

But I think what the oil spill showed us all is that diversifying the economy provides for a much healthier economy. And tourism jobs are not the most high-paying jobs. The community wants other businesses to come here. They want the port to function and to employ people. They want an economy that is diversified and not solely based on tourism.

850: There are some challenges in the area — the oyster decline in the past few years, for one. Unemployment is fairly low, but 23 percent of residents are living in poverty and only 14.7 percent have a bachelor’s degree or higher. How do you deal with some of those challenges when you’re trying to convince businesses to come to Gulf County?

CH: Workforce is certainly a challenge. Workforce housing is a challenge. You hope that businesses that come here will not only hire current folks but also bring in outside folks and allow our community to grow.

We want to develop workforce training programs in partnership with the education community — the community college that we have here and workforce programs that serve us.

We want to be ready when a company comes to say we can help recruit and train a workforce here.

The port has some infrastructure needs. The channel needs to be dredged. We have permits and funds to bid that project out (and) hopefully, we will dredge the channel in the next five years or so. We’re also fortunate that we’re served by the A&M railway — the rail that runs from Gadsden County connects to the CSX line that goes east and west and connects down to our port. There’s some repair work that needs to be done on the rail, and we’re working with our state partners to obtain some grants to repair it.

There’s a lot of site work that goes on in economic development: identifying sites, site readiness issues, how and where the utilities are located. We got a grant from the Duke Foundation for $26,000 to do site work, identifying some 20 sites in our county that have potential for development. We obtained a technical assistance grant through (the Florida) Department of Economic Opportunity for $65,000 for the coming year to do an intermodal strategic plan that connects the port by rail with the airport in Franklin County and Apalachicola and (reaches) up through Liberty and Gadsden counties to the interstate system and the CSX rail line. The region will benefit greatly from an operating port facility.

It will help all those counties north of us — Washington, Holmes, Liberty, Jackson, Gadsden — if we can get businesses along that intermodal system, along the rail. That’s our goal.

850: Is there any type of business you’d like to target as you start going through these projects, so you can say to a business, “Hey, you should come here”?

CH: We’re very sensitive to the quality of life that we have here. We don’t want industry that would deteriorate our current environment. That’s foremost. A lot of what we’re entertaining right now — and this is our history — is related to timber and wood products. We have a lot of timber in our region — that’s why the paper mill was here. We’ve had interest from wood chip folks and folks who convert wood to energy or to petroleum or plastics. Wood is a very important resource, and

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a lot of technology has gone into converting it into products that used to be produced in other ways that weren’t so environmentally friendly.

850: Would you say that’s something that makes the area unique in Florida?

Is that part of the pitch?

CH: I’m not an expert on all parts of Florida, especially as it relates to timber. But it’s one of the things that Florida has a lot of. There are mills located along that rail that I mentioned. Yes, it’s an advantage. There’s a paper mill over in Panama City. We think it’s a great opportunity for folks who have products that use wood as a resource to locate here, and we’re actively trying to recruit those folks.

850: Panama City has been described as one of the fastest-growing metro areas in the country.

What impact might that have on Gulf County, since you’re so close?

CH: A lot. Panama City is our neighbor, and a lot of people work over there and commute. You have Tyndall Air Force Base. That’s another asset for workforce — retirees coming out of the military — that we’re trying to focus on. We have some road projects that would enhance the net worth. Gulf Coast Highway would connect us up to the airport, and you would not have to travel on Highway 98. Anyone who travels on 98 these days knows it gets pretty congested.

We get a lot of folks that are coming over here looking for real estate that used to go to Bay and Walton counties, but it’s getting a little too crowded.

So folks who like the smaller getaways — we’re getting more and more interest from them. Rising tides float all ships. So as Bay County grows and develops, the benefit to Gulf County is there.

Both counties have to be careful how they manage growth as we go forward. But we’re excited about things that are happening in and around the (Northwest Florida Beaches International) airport.

The airport is expanding over there, and we’re trying to get our port up and running. We’re strategically located along the Gulf in terms of the new, expanded Panama Canal, and port activity and shipping seems to be growing.

We’ve got this unique situation where all of the infrastructure that was here for the mill is still here.

Duke Energy has power grids that are still here from the mill operation. There were gas lines brought in; there’s a freshwater canal that was dug from the Chipola River down to the port; massive sewer capacity was built. So lots of infrastructure challenges that smaller communities have were built here 30, 40, 50 years ago and still remain. So that’s the unique opportunity. The infrastructure is in place, and it’s kind of a blank canvas.

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CAPITAL CORRIDOR

Gadsden, Jefferson + Leon Counties

Big Boy Toys Bring the bling with your customized golf cart

By Jason Dehart

G

olf carts are no longer relegated to the task of moving golfers and their clubs around 18 holes. They’re practical, easy to use and can be highly customized to fit any need or personal taste. This means you can now find them down on the farm or hunting lease, tooling around the neighborhood, or anywhere people might need a more convenient mode of transportation.

According to a 2015 report on Golfcartsforsale.com, a website devoted to all things golf cart, the global market for the

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electrical variants in 2012 was a staggering $83.5 billion. North America had 38.3 percent of that market. So it’s a safe bet they’re here to stay.

In Tallahassee, José Mateo, 48, owner of B and V Custom Carts, does a booming business in golf cart repair and customization — something he has built a reputation for since he opened his shop in 2008.

The success of the business hasn’t ceased to amaze the former South Florida resident.

“It’s taken off a little bit,” Mateo said in an understated manner. “Customers like all

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THE WHEEL DEAL Sound systems, tricked-out lighting and fancy wheels are among the extras that adorn B and V golf carts.

the little extra stuff like the stereos, remotecontrol stereos, remote-control neon lights, stuff like that, and it’s just taken off. The repairs keep us going between customizing jobs, so I’m thankful for that.”

B and V offers custom paint, engines, rims, wheels, dashboards, lights and can even fit the oversized customer behind the wheel.

Mateo has found that burly professional football players, for example, have a hard

COURTESY B AND V CUSTOM CARTS

“YOU KNOW, A LOT OF GUYS LIKE TO TINKER AROUND IN THEIR GARAGE ON THE WEEKENDS, AND WE’RE ACTUALLY, I GUESS, PRIVILEGED, THAT WE GET TO TINKER AROUND EVERY DAY ON THESE TOYS. ’CAUSE THEY’RE BIG-BOY TOYS.” JOSÉ MATEO, OWNER OF B AND V CUSTOM CARTS time squeezing into the confines of a standard golf cart.

Not a problem for this shop.

“You can get a football player who is 6 feet, 7 inches and 350 pounds, and he doesn’t fit behind the steering wheel. So you have to actually cut the golf cart and stretch it seven or eight inches,” he said. “We do that type of customizing, and it’s been really good for us.”

Mateo’s custom cart clientele runs the gamut from average people to NBA players and rap stars. The quality of his work travels by word of mouth in those higher circles.

“Everybody wants to compete with each other, and so it’s like ‘Hey, Jim got a golf cart and he’s 6-foot-7, 375 pounds, and he fits! He went down to Tallahassee and had this guy do his golf cart.’ So it’s spread by word of mouth among the guys,” Mateo said.

But he also has a number of clients closer to home in Tallahassee and surrounding communities. College and beach themes are popular around here, but it could be anything else, including M&M characters.

If you can dream it, he can do it.

“We do the custom seats and the paint job and all the little gadgets, so we do a lot of themes,” he said. “We do a lot of beach themes for the beach communities. They might want a little Margaritaville-type of theme, and we do stuff like that.”

Mateo’s custom work isn’t limited to fanciful artistic creations. Many customers turn to him to modify their carts into something akin to work trucks. People who have big properties use them to check the mailbox, carry animal feed or haul landscape tools. They’ve become workhorses.

“They’re getting real popular among the hunters now, too,” he said. “Because they’re quieter, there are less fumes, and they get the job done. They can go up to their tree stands and stuff like that. Most of the hunters require a lifted chassis. They don’t need all the pretty paint jobs or the pretty rims or nothing like that. They just need a lifted (frame), you know, with a back seat on it or a bed so they can carry their tree stands or guns and lunchboxes and just get out there.”

Perhaps the most obvious places to find them today are golf cart-friendly communities, where golf carts are becoming the new family car. Just downsized a bit.

“The 5 o’clock walk now is the 5 o’clock golf cart drive. The family jumps on and goes for a little neighborhood drive,” Mateo said. “You would not think that it would be a necessity to have one. But once you own one, and it breaks down, they call me saying, ‘Hey, you’ve got to come get it and fix it right away.’ It becomes a ‘got to have’ once you own one.”

When Mateo first came to Tallahassee, he worked for a company that sold golf carts, horse trailers and other vehicles. At the time, the golf cart business seemed an unlikely bet. But he said he liked the “golf cart aspect” of the job, took a chance and created a niche for himself with his own business. It has paid off over time as more and more people are buying the handy buggies — and personalizing them.

“In 10 or 12 years, I’ve seen an explosion and it’s like, wow,” he said. “I still stay shocked sometimes. Where the heck did all these golf carts come from? It’s a constant flow of golf carts, and they just keep coming in and coming in. It’s good for business, but you’d be shocked, you know, where are all these golf carts coming from? It’s a pretty wild business.”

Mateo and his two-man crew work on about 30 to 40 golf cart repairs any given week. But they only receive two or three custom projects a month.

“They’re very time-consuming,” he said.

“You have maybe 200 hours in them. We strip them down to the bare chassis. Then we start building from the chassis on up.

You know, a lot of guys like to tinker around in their garage on the weekends, and we’re actually, I guess, privileged, that we get to tinker around every day on these toys. ’Cause they’re big-boy toys. Every day is a different scenario, a different story, different project … you never know.”

Work has been so lucrative that B and V will soon move from its current rental space on Tallahassee’s Capital Circle Southwest to its own facility in nearby Crawfordville.

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Coastal Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa + Walton Counties

There’s No Such Thing as Happiness Made-to-Order A titan of American industry spills the beans on the recipe for success — but not for his famous chili

By T.S. Strickland

SERVE IT UP Bert Thornton began his career on the grill and quickly moved up the food chain to president and COO of Waffle House.

COURTESY BERT THORNTON

S

cattered, smothered and peppered. That’s how Bert Thornton orders his hash browns these days. The 71-year-old Escambia County resident and former chief operating officer of Waffle House skips the chili, a surprise considering he invented the stuff.

“My wife loves it,” Thornton said in July, while eating his Texas Cheesesteak Sandwich. “She puts it on her salad. I like it, but when I was working I tasted it everywhere I went.”

Thornton had good reason to be vigilant: After all, his name was on the stuff, and — as he put it — “There are a lot of ways to screw that chili up.”

Thornton retired from Waffle House as president and COO in 2011, after 40 years on the job. During that time, he helped grow the breakfast chain from humble beginnings into a financial and cultural powerhouse.

Today, the chain boasts more than 2,000 locations and sells more than 11 million servings of Bert’s Chili each year. Thornton’s smiling face, holding a steaming bowl of his

namesake concoction, adorns the diners’ walls from coast to coast. There’s even a song named after him. (Google it.)

At the height of his career, Thornton was responsible for this whole empire — from griddle to gleaming griddle. These days, though, he spends less time taste-testing chili and more time dishing out advice to would-be business executives.

Thornton retired to Perdido Key, a laidback island community a half-hour west of Pensacola. There, he recently self-published a book titled “Find an Old Gorilla: Pathways Through the Jungle of Business and Life.”

A slim 60 pages, it is classic business philosophy, packed full of sage advice distilled from decades on the front lines of American industry. Thornton pours his wisdom out generously, like a waitress with a full pot of coffee.

Anyone who’s ever met a Waffle House waitress will tell you, though: At some point, the folksy charm gives way to stern insistence, and you’ve got to stop drinking the coffee and start paying the rent. That is to say, success never comes made to order.

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“AT THE END OF THE DAY, IF YOU’RE NOT WORKING AS HARD AS THE PEOPLE AROUND YOU, THEY WILL PASS YOU BY. IF YOU’RE NOT LEARNING AS FAST AS THE PEOPLE AROUND YOU, THEY WILL PASS YOU BY. THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING IN THE WORLD THAT TAKES THE PLACE OF HARD WORK AND PERSEVERANCE.” BERT THORNTON, 71-YEAR-OLD ESCAMBIA COUNTY RESIDENT AND FORMER CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER OF WAFFLE HOUSE Thornton began his career at Waffle House in 1971. He had graduated from Georgia Tech three years earlier, served a brief stint in Vietnam and then worked as a computer salesman for NCR, an early competitor to IBM. “All my life, I’d been told I was going to make a great salesman,” Thornton said. “But I found out I just didn’t like it.”

As fate would have it, an old fraternity brother of Thornton’s was facing a similar predicament. His name was Joe Rogers Jr., and his father had started Waffle House in the 1950s.

Joe Rogers Sr. never imagined his little breakfast chain becoming what it is today, and his son never imagined himself running the family business. He had joined the Air National Guard after graduating from Georgia Tech and then went to Harvard to study finance, with the goal of becoming an investment banker.

“He came back, took a look at the Waffle House model, and said, ‘I can do better with this model than I can as a banker,’” Thornton remembered. “That, of course, has been very prophetic.”

Rogers asked Thornton to join him.

“Next thing I knew, I was flipping eggs and turning hamburgers,” he said.

Thornton joined the company as a manager trainee. Within four years, he had become a vice president. In the 1980s, while he was working for the company in Texas, Thornton was tasked with developing a new recipe for Waffle House’s chili. The rest, as they say, is history.

‘A Lot of Waffle House Napkins’ Throughout his career, Thornton was a careful student of those around him and had many mentors. He credits Rogers with being among his best.

Through the years, he kept two folders, one for bits of wisdom he found in books

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or magazine articles and one for notes he would jot down during conversation with Rogers or others — little bits of insight he wanted to hold onto for later.

“A lot of Waffle House napkins,” he said.

As he grew older and more successful, others began to come to Thornton for advice, and he found himself referring constantly to his files. Eventually, he internalized them.

“One day, I looked up and realized I was never going to be able to sit down across the table from everyone who had questions I could answer,” he said. “So that’s when I wrote the book.”

Work Hard and Persevere The premise of the book — as reflected in the title — is simple. “Navigating the jungles of business and life is tricky business,” Thornton writes. “But there are old gorillas out there who can help. They are the ones who know where all the pathways are — as well as the quicksand.”

The book offers advice on how to find the right “old gorilla” and maintain a productive mentoring relationship. Thornton also lays out some basic laws of success gleaned from his own experience in business and life. At the heart of it all are two admonitions: Work hard and persevere.

“You have to create value before you can expect a reward,” Thornton said, mopping the last drops of Thousand Island dressing from his plate. “We live in a society today in which many people think the world owes them a living.

“I used to tell my guys a story about a fellow who sat in front of an empty fireplace in the dead of winter. He said, ‘Show me some heat, and I’ll go get you some wood.’ Of course, it doesn’t work that way.

You have to chop the wood and start the fire before you get the heat. Reward follows performance. It never precedes it.”

Thornton acknowledged that the reward

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wasn’t always immediate but insisted that, in the end, people get what they deserve.

“In the big leagues,” he said, “we look at trends. You’ve got to step back from the last time you got screwed in a deal or the last time you were so happy you could hardly stand it. You’ve got to ask, ‘Overall, is my life trending in a good direction?’”

Thornton paraphrased the famous business writer Jim Rone, a personal favorite, saying, “I think it’s very important for people to work half a day. You can either work the first 12 hours or the last 12.”

He laughed and ate the last bit of his sandwich.

“At the end of the day, if you’re not working as hard as the people around you, they will pass you by. If you’re not learning as fast as the people around you, they will pass you by. There is absolutely nothing in the world that takes the place of hard work and perseverance.” B

COURTESY BERT THORNTON

‘Flipping Eggs and Turning Burgers’

CHILI CHAMP Bert Thornton put his knowledge in the kitchen to the test when concocting the now iconic Waffle House chili.

An unbiased look at Northwest Florida candidates: General Election Candidate Forums Live Broadcast 7pm Tues–Wed, Oct 25–26 An election cycle tradition going back to the 1970s, RALLY is produced by WSRE in cooperation with the Okaloosa County and Pensacola Bay Area Leagues of Women Voters. Races to be covered: U.S. Congress District 1 Florida Senate District 1 Florida House Districts 1, 2 and 4 Okaloosa County Commissioner District 1 Santa Rosa County: Sheriff, County Commissioner Districts 1 and 3 Escambia County: Sheriff, County Commissioner Districts 1 and 3, School Superintendent, Tax Collector A community service of WSRE. Hosted by Mollye Barrows and Sandra Averhart.

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The Last Word

Most importantly, he tried and never gave up running. In fact, he slipped and fell on the wet pavement just as he approached the finish line. But he managed to get his palms over the finish line — and then did a couple of pushups.

Med Keflezighi was born in Eritrea and remembers eating dirt as a child to ease hunger pangs. At the age of 12, he emigrated to the U.S. and eventually became a citizen. Today, he is the oldest Olympic marathoner in our history and a class act.

Some amazing stories came out of this year’s games in Rio. One of my personal favorites was the $4,500 horse who with his owner/rider finished just outside the medals in fourth place in freestyle Grand Prix dressage — beating out competing horses that are worth in the hundreds of thousands. In nearly every sport, there were stories of years of hard work and sacrifice and perseverance with the goal of one day appearing on an Olympic medal stand.

Those Olympians discovered their passion and they worked hard to achieve it. The same can be said for the women we have featured in this issue, winners of the 2016 Pinnacle Award, all of whom have made outstanding contributions to the 850 region.

These women are part of the heart and soul of our various communities, leaders who have worked to make Northwest Florida a better place for all of us who are lucky enough to call this area our home.

As in past years, I had not met these honorees before chatting with them. Each was gracious enough to share her thoughts, history and hopes with me. I couldn’t include everything they told me on the pages of the magazine, but I hope we have given you enough information to demonstrate their mettle and their drive to succeed in business and their personal lives.

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What I found particularly interesting this year is how several of these women began working at a very early age. Some changed careers along the way to follow their true passion.

But all put their heart and soul into what they do. They love the career path they have chosen, from helping to guide an expansion of the largest credit union in the world to helping a spouse achieve his dream of opening a brewery. And all have made an impact on their community.

Once more, as I do in every October issue, I’ll harken back to the words of Sojourner Truth, the African-American abolitionist and women’s rights advocate who was born into slavery but managed to escape to freedom with her child.

“If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these together ought to be able to turn it back and get it right side up again.”

As we go about our personal and professional lives, it helps to sometimes take a step back and reflect on what we do. Is this our passion? Do we want to put in our all to succeed? Do we whine and blame others for our lack of success? Or do we put our heart and soul into what we do to be the best we can be?

The Olympics is over now, and many of the athletes who took center stage in Rio for two weeks will either go into a welldeserved retirement — Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt immediately come to mind — or start training for the summer games in Japan four years from now. But hopefully we have learned some lessons from these games and these athletes — and from the amazing women who are our Pinnacle winners this year.

KAY MEYER

As I’m writing this, the last day of the Olympics is playing out.

I watched this morning as a 41-year-old American tried his best to win the marathon. In prior years, he had won races in New York City and Boston, a silver medal in Athens in 2004.

But this time he came in 33rd.

LINDA KLEINDIENST, EDITOR lkleindienst@rowlandpublishing.com

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