April 2019 Southwest Florida Business Today

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Talmage shares vision for Lee County Special to SWFBT Submitted by Karen P. Moore, Publisher

Law & Security

billstaggs@officepride.com

As the new Lee County Economic Development Office director, John Talmage is digging right in to his position. In a recent presentation to the Real Estate Investment Society, he noted, “The goal of the Lee County Economic Development Office is wealth-building and well-being.” “You’re the front lines,” he told his audience. “So you shouldn’t be coming to the government first; you should be going to commercial real estate professionals and commercial lenders first.” He added, “Finance and real estate

plus workforce equals economic development.” “The goal of the Lee County EDO,” he stated, “is to give a hand to the local community for its rapid development and to pay attention to the Talmage existing business community. We do this with good zoning and easy permitting.” It is exciting, Talmage shared, that so many businesses in Lee County are growing. “Our office receives two to three calls per day from site selectors

and companies looking to come here.” He then asked, “So to that end, what does the future for the Skyplex and ITEC look like? What can they be when they are built out with companies like Alta Resources, NeoGenomics and others coming with 10,000 jobs?” He indicated 25 tracts in Florida are identified as Opportunity Zones, including Lehigh Acres and North Fort Myers. “North Fort Myers is going to be my focus: 337 new business licenses were issued there in 2018 with quiet development activity occurring both on 41 and Old 41.” TALMAGE See page 14

COMBINING CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION Commercial Real Estate

SWFBT’s annual edition is a comprehensive overview of the SWFL market’s plans, projects and partnerships.

IN THE NEWS

Ink appointed chair of Lee planning agency

James Ink of Waldrop Engineering was appointed as chair of the Lee County Local Planning Agency. Ink has served three terms with the LPA beginning in 2016. The LPA authority reviews and provides recommendations to the Board of County Commissioners concerning determinations of Lee Plan consistency, as the Lee Plan relates to proposed land development regulations and ordinances. CHAIR See page 3

Sprickit Digital agency launches in Naples

Sprickit Digital, a new digital marketing agency, has launched in Naples. The new digital marketing agency offers its clients digital marketing technology integrated into a proven foundation of strategy, creativity and results. This integration also involves a keen understanding of consumer motivations and behaviors. The digital marketing agency offers programmatic advertising, website design, email marketing, content marketing, storytelling, social media management services, search engine optimization and pay-per-click services. SPRICKIT See page 14

Hackathon students Matthew Perdomo, Jason Leiker presenting.

Hertz hosts annual Hackathon

Hertz in February hosted its “5th Annual Hertz Hackathon” at the company’s global headquarters in Estero. More than 80 students representing Florida Gulf Coast University, Florida Polytechnic University, University of Central Florida and University of South Florida participated in the event: “The Hackathon is a special event. It provides college students from across Florida the opportunity to help Hertz solve real-life problems that are important to our customers,” said Opal Perry, Hertz executive vice president and chief information officer. “Equally as important, it offers students the chance to learn firsthand from one another and their employee-mentors—all of whom Hackathon console & Hertz 100-year Anniversary Corvette remember what it’s like to be a college student, but also pany’s strategic partners, including Amazon Web Serwhat it’s like to be starting your professional career. It’s vices, Deloitte, IBM, Salesforce, Mulesoft, Thumbprint, really phenomenal to see the ideas, creativity and energy Southwest Florida Regional Technology Partnership, the students bring to the event.” XTIVIA, Brierley + Partners, Microsoft, Infor, Teradata The Hackathon is a 24-hour, non-stop innovation and and VergeIT. technology event led by Hertz Marketing and InformaHACKATHON See page 14 tion Technology and supported by several of the com-

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