Big Book Of Business 2025

BIG BOOK OF BUSINESS 2025

“The

“The

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Food for Thought

An abundance of

MARK GORDON MANAGING EDITOR

If data-driven decision-making is something you do at your organization, then consider the Big Book of Business an extralarge heaping pile of your favorite comfort food.

Not only comfort food, but this issue — the fifth consecutive year we have published a Big Book of Business — is also good for you, and, of course, your business or nonprofit.

For starters, the 2025 edition of the Big Book has more than 25 charts, with easy-todigest information on jobs and employment rates in key sectors in our nine-county coverage area; housing supply and starts; commercial real estate vacancies; and more. Then there are more than 20 rankings, from the largest private companies in the region to the top 10 employers in each county we cover. More than 300 companies are on those lists, including corporate titans like Publix, Raymond James and Hertz, to name just a few. Most of those lists have detailed information on these entities, too.

Beyond data, the Big Book of Business has personality. That lies in a series of profiles we call change-makers. The 2025 edition features six change-makers. The list ranges from the patriarch of a billion-dollar family conglomerate investing a hefty sum into what

some believe to be a dying business — newspapers — to an architect at the forefront of a movement to rethink how we design spaces. That family business leader, David Hoffmann of the Hoffmann Family of Cos., embodies the spirit of the 2025 change-makers.

In talking about the newspaper industry’s shift from a print product to a digital delivery system, Hoffmann believes there is an appetite for both, where there can be a “happy balance.“

“And I’m betting big on that,” he says. (See Page 44 for the full story.)

“I’m betting millions and millions of dollars that I’m right. To the tune of more than a half-billion, I think. And I’m pretty confident in my investment.”

But wait, there’s more. This comes from the Florida Scorecard, a deep dive into dozens of data points produced and updated regularly by the Florida Chamber of Commerce Foundation in Tallahassee. We looked at the Scorecard’s Talent Supply & Education tab, which analyzes topics like college affordability, high school graduation rates and eighth grade math and reading proficiency.

Data, as we all know, must be used in the proper context, and sometimes making a solid business decision requires a reliance on your gut. That, in some ways, also describes the Big Book of Business.

For more than a decade, this issue was called the Top 500, and before that, the Top 250. Those annual issues were essentially one list: the largest private companies in the region by revenue. And while valuable — check out the 2025 Top 50 private companies list on Pages 19-20 — we took the pandemic as an opportunity to rethink this publication.

We are confident the result of that strategy shift, and the 2025 Big Book of Business, will prove to be a valuable resource for months to come.

As in past years, if we missed something or you have ideas about other topics or data points we can cover, please let us know. Email me at MGordon@BusinessObserverFL. com.

Publisher and President Emily Walsh, EWalsh@YourObserver.com COVER PHOTO

Executive Editor and COO Kat Wingert | Kwingert@BusinessObserverFL.com

Managing Editor Mark Gordon | MGordon@BusinessObserverFL.com

Deputy Managing Editor Louis Llovio | LLlovio@BusinessObserverFL.com

Sarasota-Manatee Writer Elizabeth King | EKing@BusinessObserverFL.com

Tampa Bay Writer Anastasia Dawson | Adawson@BusinessObserverFL. com

Editorial Design / Jess Eng, Nicole Thompson

Advertising Sales / Kathleen O’Hara | KOHara@BusinessObserverFL.com; Thomas Waples | TWaples@BusinessObserverFL.com

Director of Legal Advertising / Kristen Boothroyd KBoothroyd@BusinessObserverFL.com

Director of Creative Services / Caleb Stanton | CStanton@YourObserver.com

Chief Financial Officer / Laura Strickland |LStrickland@YourObserver.com

Subscriptions/Customer Service Team Subscriptions@BusinessObserverFL.com

POSTAL INFORMATION

The Business Observer (ISSN#2325-8195) is published weekly on Fridays by the Gulf Coast Review Inc./DBA Business Observer, 1970 Main Street, Floor 3, Sarasota, FL 34236; Periodicals Postage Paid at Sarasota, FL, and at additional mailing offices. The Business Observer is circulated in Charlotte, Collier, Hillsborough, Lee, Manatee, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk and Sarasota counties.

POSTMASTER: Please send changes of address to the Business Observer, 1970 Main Street, Floor 3, Sarasota, FL 34236.

Special Section Published August 2025

The Residences at 400 Central tower in downtown St. Pete is one of the largest residential towers on the Gulf Coast. (Photo by Mark Wemple.)

JOBS

You can go ahead and stop wondering when restaurants and hotels will start hiring again. As much as any component of the latest economic data for the region, leisure and hospitality jobs are showing clear signs of having settled into a new normal.

As a refresher on how bad things

got, recall that in the Tampa MSA, leisure and hospitality jobs plummeted from nearly 165,000 in February 2020 down to 88,000 just two months later, in April. It took until the end of 2022 for that industry to return to its previous level.

Since then, growth has been tepid. According to the latest available data,

employers in the Tampa market have only added another 10,000 leisure and hospitality jobs in the two-and-a-half years since. The Sarasota-Manatee market has seen even less growth, having added only 1,000 positions since before the pandemic rocked the job market.

Fortunately, this trend around hos-

pitality jobs looks more like a market reallocation than a broader problem. For example, construction employment has continued to climb in every Gulf Coast market, and unemployment rates have been back in prepandemic territory for years now.

— Alex Walsh

Tampa-St.Petersburg-Clearwater North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton Punta Gorda

Cape Coral-Fort Myers

Naples-Immokalee-Marco Island KEY

HOUSING

Before throngs of cooped-up northerners decided to move to Florida in summer 2020, it was a lot easier to buy a house on Florida’s Gulf Coast. In the North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota metropolitan statistical area, for example, there were roughly 7,000 active listings on the market, with a median list price of slightly more than $350,000. Two years later, “Good idea buying in Florida!” turned into “Good luck with that!” as inventories plummeted (down to about 1,500 listings in North Port-BradentonSarasota) and prices skyrocketed as the median list price rose to nearly $600,000. Had those trends continued, the median price for a listing would have cleared $1 million after another two years — assuming there were any homes left to buy.

Of course, that’s not what happened. According to the latest available data, the number of active listings in the Sarasota-Manatee market cleared 10,000 for the first time in early 2025, and remains near that level now. And as is typically the case, higher supply has led to lower prices, with the median list price in Sarasota down to around $500,000 in the latest available report.

Similar trends have played out in other Gulf Coast markets, as shown in the data.

— Alex Walsh

INVENTORY

Tampa-St.Petersburg-Clearwater

North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton

Punta Gorda

Cape Coral-Fort Myers

Naples-ImmokaleeMarco Island

6/1/1812/1/186/1/1912/1/19 6/1/2012/1/206/1/2112/1/216/1/22

MEDIAN LISTING PRICE

$200,000 $300,000 $500,000 $700,000 $900,000 $100,000 $400,000 $600,000 $800,000

6/1/1812/1/186/1/1912/1/19 6/1/2012/1/206/1/2112/1/216/1/22

PERMITS ISSUED

Note: Sarasota permit data is for number of structures, rather than units.

COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE

OFFICE SQUARE FT. ON THE MARKET

INDUSTRIAL SQUARE FT. ON THE MARKET

RETAIL SQUARE FT. ON THE MARKET

AVAILABLE MULTIFAMILY UNITS

BANKING

The status of Florida’s banks is the same thing you’d like to hear from your pediatrician about your kids: healthy and growing.

The state’s banks increased assets under management by $24 billion in the first quarter of 2025 as compared with the end of last year, a substantial uptick relative to recent changes. At the same time, banks managed proportional increases in the scale of their loan portfolios. Put another way: The ratio of net loans to assets stayed essentially level. At the same time, net interest margin rates were level, as well, indicating banks were able to achieve an increase in quantity of assets and loans, with no apparent sacrifice in quality.

— Alex Walsh

BUSINESS CREATION

The number of new LLCs created in Florida decreased 6.4% in 2024, with 526,475 new domestic limited liability corporations created. That’s down from 562,716 in 2023 but still far above pre-pandemic levels. Since 2021, Florida has seen more than 500,000 LLCs created every year for a total of 2.15 million created in the four years since 2020. The number of domestic for-profit companies formed, however, has continued a steady decline, falling to 76,373 created in 2024. The 10-year peak was in 2021 when 104,625 were created. The differences between an LLC and a corporation lies mostly in taxation and management.

— Louis Llovio

The number of bankruptcies filed in Florida went up for the third straight year in 2024. The total number of business cases rose to more than 1,000, a 33% increase from 2020 and a 65.49% increase from 2021. The biggest number of business bankruptcies continues to be Chapter 7 liquidations, with 689 companies turning to the courts to wind down. The number of personal bankruptcies increased 33.57% in 2024 to 20,747. That’s slightly more than the 19,956 filed in 2020. The biggest number of personal bankruptcy filings were Chapter 7s with 15,922, 114 fewer than in 2020.

— Louis Llovio

BANKRUPTCIES POPULATION

It’s not just retirees from New York who have been putting pressure on home prices. Florida’s population overall has grown substantially from 2020 to 2024 as the state has added more than 1.6 million people. That’s an increase of more than 7% over that time period.

But not every part of Florida has grown at the same pace — and in some places, the story takes some detailed explaining. For example, in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater MSA, the population is up nearly 8%, essentially in line with the statewide trend. But Pinellas County’s population is essentially flat over that same time period, while Pasco and Polk have grown more than twice as fast as the state overall.

One oddity that shouldn’t be overinterpreted: Charlotte, Lee and Collier counties are reported to have grown substantially in population, while the

COUNTY POPULATION GROWTH, 2020-2024MSA GROWTH, 2020-2024

Tampa–St. Petersburg–Clearwater Panama City–Panama City Beach

Pensacola–Ferry Pass–Brent

Miami–Fort Lauderdale–West Palm Beach

Lakeland–Winter Haven

Port St. Lucie

Cape Coral–Fort Myers

Naples–Marco Island

Deltona–Daytona Beach–Ormond Beach

Punta Gorda

Palm Bay–Melbourne–Titusville

Gainesville

Crestview–Fort Walton Beach–Destin

Tallahassee

area’s MSAs appear slow (e.g., Cape Coral-Fort Myers up just 3%). The likely culprit here: MSA borders are frequently adjusted, and therefore more fungible than county lines. The ultimate conclusion here is that the Gulf Coast’s population is growing.

— Alex Walsh

8TH

FLORIDA CHILDREN AND A

t first glance, a report on families, children and Florida’s education landscape has little to do with business climate. But a deeper look reveals some important nuggets many businesses look at in terms of hiring, relocation, expansions and other key decisions. One positive trend is high school graduation rates, which have climbed from less than 70% to nearly 90% in a decade. The child poverty rate in the state is declining, as well. On the flip side, a big negative is how Florida ranks in eighth grade reading and math. In math, particularly, the drop is severe, from being among the top 20 as recently as 2020 to now being in the bottom 10. The data comes from the Florida Scorecard, which is produced by the Florida Chamber Foundation.

— Mark Gordon

HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION RATES

CHILDREN IN POVERTY

Source: Florida Department of Education PK-12 Education Information Portal

FLORIDIANS WITHOUT HEALTH INSURANCE COVERAGE

Source:

FAMILIES SCORECARD

CHILD HEALTH RANKING

HOUSING COST BURDENED (RENTERS)

Source: Annie E. Casey Foundation

TRANSPORTATION

While it won’t be confused with California or Colorado, Florida surpassed an EV milestone in early 2025: The state passed 10% (10.07%) in market share of lightduty vehicle registrations being electric in the 2025 first quarter, according to the Alliance of Automotive Innovation. California, after briefly ceding first place to Colorado, again

leads the nation in EV sales, with a 23.7% market share of new light-duty vehicle registrations in the Golden State in the first quarter of 2025. Michigan made the biggest gains in EV market share, increasing 3.6 percentage points year-over-year; the second-biggest increase belongs to Florida, with a 2.5 percentage point year-over-year increase.

—Mark Gordon

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

1.

4.

5.

6.

AIRLINE MARKET SHARE

TOP PRIVATE COMPANIES

1 Publix Super Markets Inc. 3300 Publix Corporate Parkway Lakeland 33802; 863-688-7407, publix.com

2 Morgan Automotive Group 3031 N. Rocky Point Drive, Suite 770 Tampa 33607; 813-434-1982, morganautogroup.com

3 Frank Crum 100 S. Missouri Ave., Clearwater 33756 727-799-1229, frankcrum.com

4 Coca-Cola Florida 10117 Princess Palm Ave., Unit 100, Tampa 33610 813-327-7285; cokeflorida.com/

5 Bealls Inc. 1806 38th Ave. E., Bradenton 34208 941-744-4309; beallsflorida.com

6 Gettel Automotive Inc. 5959 E. State Road 64, Bradenton 34208 941-417-5003; gettel.com

7 Manhattan Construction Group 3705-1 Westview Drive, Naples 34104 239-435-3827; manhattanconstructiongroup.com

8 Power Design Inc. 11600 Ninth St. N., St. Petersburg 33716 727-210-0492; powerdesigninc.us

9 Gulfeagle Supply Inc. 2900 E. Seventh Ave., Tampa 33605 813-636-9808; gulfeaglesupply.com

$1,931,000,000 $1,931,000,000 0.00% 14,6501915

$1,872,570,422 $1,575,598,126 18.85% 1,1681998

Retailersretail apparel, home goods and gifts

$1,800,000,000 $1,784,535,360 0.87% 8991896 Larry Rooney president Contractors construction management, general building, design-build, preconstruction, concrete, road and bridge, specialty construction

$1,300,000,000 $1,200,000,000 8.33% 2,8501989

$1,300,000,000 1,100,000,000 18.18% 1,7001973

10 FCCI Insurance Group 6300 University Parkway, Sarasota 34240 941-907-3224; fcci-group.com $1,216,670,000 $1,129,068,000 7.76% 8801959

11 Automated Petroleum & Energy Co. Inc. 1201 Oakfield Drive, Brandon 33511 813-681-4279; automatedpetroleum.com

12

Creek Logistics 3010 Saddle Creek Road, Lakeland 33801 863-665-0966; sclogistics.com

13 BlueGrace Logistics LLC 2846 S. Falkenburg Road, Riverview 33578 800-697-4477; mybluegrace.com

Ordnance 2150 Whitfield Ave., Sarasota 34243 941-549-8388; globalordnance.com/

15 Neal Communities of Southwest Florida LLC 5800 Lakewood Ranch Blvd. N., Lakewood Ranch 34240 941-328-1111; nealcommunities.com

Brad Resch president Distributor/ Wholesalers distributor of roofing and building material products

$1,060,980,183 $1,145,905,408 -7.41% 501981 Bill McKnight president Retailerspetroleum

omnichannel fulfillment and transportation

$831,000,000 $831,000,000 0.00% 6352009

522013 Marc Morales CEO Defense, Military commercial sale of ammunition, firearms, and complimentary equipment

$787,704,954 $905,000,000 -12.96% 3111970

16 Anchor Glass Container Corp. 3001 North Rocky Point E., Suite 300, Tampa 33607 813-884-000; anchorglass.com $700,000,000 $700,000,000 0.00% 1,7501997

17 Homes by WestBay 4065 Crescent Park Drive, Riverview 33578 813-938-1250; homesbywestbay.com

18 Scotlynn USA Division 9597 Gulf Research Lane, Fort Myers 33912 239-210-3000; scotlynn.com $664,066,897 $587,646,932 13.00% 3942010

19 Ripa & Associates LLC 1409 Tech Blvd., Suite 1, Tampa 33619 813-623-6777; ripatampa.com

20 DeAngelis Diamond 6635 Willow Park Drive, Naples 34109 239-594-1994; deangelisdiamond.com

21 Sunz Holdings LLC 1301 Sixth Ave. W., Bradenton 34205 941-306-3077; sunzinsurance.com

22 Ajax Building Corp. 425 Commercial Court, Suite J, Venice 34292 813-792-3900; ajaxbuilding.com

23 Stock Development 2639 Professional Circle, Suite 101, Naples 34119 239-292-2721; stockdevelopment.com

Nipesh Shah President and CEO Manufacturing manufactures glass containers in consumer packaging for the beer, beverage, spirits and food industries

Ryan Carter president Otherlogistics

$646,000,000 $493,000,000 31.03% 1,1351998 Chris LaFace president and CEO

$590,000,000 $430,000,000 37.21% 2671996 John DeAngelis president

$503,700,000 $714,400,000

24 Owen-Ames-Kimball Co. 11941 Fairway Lakes Drive, Fort Myers 33913 239-561-4141; owen-ames-kimball.com $414,000,000 $436,000,000 -5.05% 671891

25 J.H. Williams Oil Co. Inc.

423 S. Hyde Park Ave., Tampa 33606 813-228-7776; jhwoil.com $353,536,000 $356,561,000 -0.85% 141945

TOP PRIVATE COMPANIES BIG BOOK OF BUSINESS

26 RNR Tire Express (SPF Management Co. LLC dba

Tire Express), 13922 Monroes Business Park, Tampa 33635 813-977-9800; rnrtires.com

27 Gold Coast Eagle Distributing 7051 Wireless Court, Sarasota 34240 941-650-3139; gceagle.com

28 SCP & Co.

777 S. Harbour Island Blvd., Suite 400, Tampa 33602 813-318-9600, spcandco.com

29 Brooks and Freund LLC 5661 Independence Circle, Suite 1, Fort Myers 33912 239-939-5251; brooksandfreund.com

30 B&I Contractors Inc. 2701 Prince St., Fort Myers 33916 239-332-4646; bandiflorida.com

31 Willis A. Smith Construction 5001 Lakewood Ranch Blvd., Sarasota 34240 941-366-3116; willissmith.com

32 Sun State International Trucks LLC 6020 E. Adamo Drive, Tampa 33619 813-621-1331; sunstateintl.com

33 FineMark National Bank & Trust 8695 College Parkway, Fort Myers 33919 877-461-5901; finemarkbank.com

34 Premier Sotheby’s International Realty 4001 Tamiami Trail, Suite 350, Naples 34103 239-262-4242; premiersothebysrealty.com

35 S-One Holdings Corp. 1605 Main St., Suite 300, Sarasota 34236 800-453-9538; sone.com

36 Creative Contractors Inc. 620 Drew St., Clearwater 33755 727-461-5522; creativecontractors.com

37 Connor & Gaskins Unlimited 1998 Trade Center Way, Suite 2, Naples 34109 239-260-5068; cgunlimited.com

38 Crowther Roofing and Sheet Metal 2543 Rockfill Road, Fort Myers 33916 239-337-1300; crowther.net

39 Hawkins Construction Inc. 1430 L&R Industrial Blvd., Tarpon Springs 34689 727-938-9719; hawkinsnet.com

40 NDC Construction Co. 1001 Third Ave. W., Bradenton 34205 941-747-1062; ndcconstruction.com

41 Schellman 4010 W. Boy Scout Blvd., Tampa 33607 866-254-0000; schellman.com

42 Park & Eleazer Construction LLC 2363 Gulf to Bay Blvd., Clearwater 33765 727-216-6591; parkeleazer.com

$198,898,886 $190,000,000 4.68% 2261994

$195,000,000 $194,000,000 0.52% 1051974

$186,000,000 $173,000,000 7.51% 1062010

$181,390,000 $176,439,206 2.81%

Ron Simkins president and CEO

Manufacturing provides materials, equipment, technical support in the printing industry

Alan Bomstein CEO Contractorscommercial construction

and general contractor

Roofing, sheet metal, light-gauge metal trusses, lightweight insulating concrete, and HVAC

$175,000,000 $195,000,000 -10.26% 881975 Miguel Leyva president Contractorscommercial construction

$174,000,000

$171,500,000

$165,430,000

43 KHS&S Contractors 5422 Bay Center Drive, Suite 200, Tampa 33609 813-628-9330; KHSS.com $153,700,000

44 The Bank of Tampa 601 Bayshore Blvd., Suite 100, Tampa 33606 813-872-1200; bankoftampa.com

45 Sanwa Food Group 2801 E. Hillsborough Ave., Tampa 33610 813-642-5159; sanwafoodgroup.com

46 Halfacre Construction Co. 7015 Professional Parkway E., Sarasota 34240 941-907-9099; halfacreconstruction.com

48 Summit Design + Build 100 S. Ashley Drive, Suite 320, Tampa 33602 813-549-6060; summitdb.com

50 Frank Winston Crum Insurance 100 S. Missouri Ave., Clearwater 33756 727-799-1150; fwci.com

multifamily, academic and hospitality construction

Services federal, payment and health care, cybersecurity and privacy assessments; ISO certification

Andrew Park, Forrest Eleazer managing partners Contractorscommercial construction

Michael Cannon CEO/chairman

$147,492,000

$138,438,000 6.54% 2841973 T. Corey Neil president, CEO

Interior/exterior construction, themed construction, specialty finishes, rockwork, lean construction, design-assist, BIM and prefabrication.

Banking/Finance/Investment financial services

Distribution

products to restaurants, markets, theme parks, casinos, etc. and retail farmers market

Your Leadership Podcast

PUBLIC COMPANIES

1 TD Synnex (SNX) 16202 Bay Vista Drive, Bay Vista Business Park Clearwater 33760; 510-668-3400; tdsynnex.com

2 Jabil Inc. (JBL) 10800 Roosevelt Blvd. N., St. Petersburg 33716 727-577-9749; jabil.com

3 Raymond James Financial Inc. (RJF) 880 Carillon Parkway, St. Petersburg 33716 727-567-1000; raymondjames.com

4 Crown Holdings Inc. (CCK) 14025 Riveredge Drive, Suite 300, Tampa 33637 215-698-5100; crowncork.com

5 The Mosaic Co. (MOS) 101 E. Kennedy Blvd., #2500, Tampa 33602 800-918-8270; mosaicco.com

6 Hertz Global Holdings Inc. (HTZ) 8501 Williams Road, Estero 33928 239-301-7000; hertz.com

7 Roper Technologies Inc. (ROP) 6496 University Parkway, Sarasota 34240 941-556-2601; ropertech.com

8 Bloomin’ Brands Inc. (BLMN) 2202 N. West Shore Blvd., Suite 500, Tampa 33607 813-282-1225; bloominbrands.com

9 Herc Holdings (HRI) 27500 Riverview Center Blvd., Suite 100, Bonita Springs 34134 239-301-1000; hercrentals.com

10 SouthState Bank (SSB) 1101 First St. S., Winter Haven 33880 863-293-4710; southstatebank.com

11 MarineMax Inc. (HZO) 501 Brooker Creek Blvd., Oldsmar 34677 727-531-1700; marinemax.com

12 Kforce Inc. (KFRC) 1150 Assembly Drive, Suite 500, Tampa 33607 813-552-5000; kforce.com

13 The Baldwin Group (BRP) 4211 W. Boy Scout Blvd., Tampa 33607 866-279-0698; baldwinriskpartners.com

14 ConMed Corp. (CNMD) 11311 Concept Blvd., Largo 33773 727-392-6464; conmed.com/en

15 HCI Group Inc. (HCI) 3802 Coconut Palm Drive, Tampa 33619 813- 849-9500; hcigroup.com

16 First Watch (FWRG) 8725 Pendery Place, Suite 201, Bradenton 34201 941-907-9800; firstwatch.com

17 Lazydays (LAZY) 4042 Park Oaks Blvd., Suite 350, Tampa 33601 813-246-4999; lazydays.com

18 Slide Insurance Holdings Inc. (SLDE) 4221 W. Boy Scout Blvd., Suite 200, Tampa 33607 800-748-2030; slideinsurance.com

19 Heritage Insurance Holdings Inc. (HRTG) 1401 N. Westshore Blvd., Tampa 33607 727-362-7200; heritagepci.com

20 Helios Technologies (HLIO) 7456 16th St. E., Sarasota 34243 941-362-1200; sunhydraulics.com

21 Pacira Biosciences Inc. (PCRX) 5401 W. Kennedy Blvd., Tampa 33609 813-553-6680; pacira.com

22 NeoGenomics Inc. (NEO) 9490 NeoGenomics Way, Fort Myers 33912 239-768-0600; neogenomics.com

23 Superior Group of Cos. (SGC) 200 Central Ave., Suite 2000, St. Petersburg 33701 727-397-9611; superioruniformgroup.com

24 Webull Corp. (BULL) 200 Carillon Parkway, St. Petersburg, 33716 917-725-2448; webullcorp.com

$58,452,436,000

$57,555,416,000 1.56% $689,091,000 Patrick Zammit, CEO Technology leading distributor and solutions aggregator for the IT ecosystem

$28,883,000,000

$34,702,000,000 -16.77% $1,388,000,000 Michael Dastoor, CEO Manufacturing global manufacturing, engineering and supply chain solutions provider

$12,821,000,000

$11,619,000,000 10.35% $2,063,000,000 Paul C. Reilly, Chairman and CEO Banking/ Finance/ Investment wealth management

$11,801,000,000

$12,010,000,000 -1.74% $424,000,000 Timothy Donahue, President and CEO Packaging packaging for consumer goods and industrial products

$11,122,800,000

$13,696,100,000 -18.79% $174,900,000 Bruce M. Bodine Jr., CEO, President and Director Agriculture concentrated phosphate and potash crop nutrient mining

$9,049,000,000 $9,371,000,000 -3.44% -$2,862,000,000

$7,039,200,000

Gil West, CEO Business/ Consumer Services leases vehicles and equipment

$6,177,800,000 13.94% $1,549,300,000 L. Neil Hunn, President and CEO Technology software and engineered products and solutions

$3,950,475,000

$4,168,160,000 -5.22% -$52,036,000

$3,568,000,000 $3,282,000,000 8.71% $211,000,000 Lawrence H. Silber, President, CEO and Director Business/ Consumer Services equipment rental supplier

$2,472,890,000 $2,261,950,000 9.33% $565,300,000 John C. Corbett, CEO and Director Banking/ Finance/ Investment loans and other financial services

$2,431,008,000 $2,394,706,000 1.52% $38,066,000

$1,405,308,000 $1,531,756,000 -8.26% $50,414,000

William Brett McGill, CEO, President and Director Retailers boat retailer

Joseph J. Liberatore, President, CEO and Director Business/ Consumer Services professional staffing and solutions firm providing strategic partnership in technology and finance and accounting services

$1,389,037,000 $1,218,555,000 13.99% $41,081,000 Trevor Baldwin, CEO Other private risk management, personal insurance, Medicare, family office, commercial risk management, employee benefits, asset and income protection

$1,307,015,000 $1,244,744,000 5.00% $132,423,000 Patrick Beyer, President and CEO

$1,083,220,000 $765,512,000

$1,004,355,000 $877,092,000 14.51% $18,925,000 Christopher A. Tomasso, President, CEO and Director

technology company that designs and sells surgical devices and patient monitoring products

Restaurant daytime cafe serving breakfast and brunch

PUBLIC COMPANIES

25 American Coastal Insurance Corp. (ACIC) 570 Carillon Parkway, Suite 100, St. Petersburg 33716 727-633-0851; amcoastal.com

26 Beasley Media Group Inc. (BBGI) 3033 Riviera Drive, Suite 200, Naples 34103 239-263-5000; bbgi.com

27 American Integrity Insurance Group Inc. (AII) 5426 Bay Center Drive, Suite 600, Tampa 33609 813-880-7000; aii.com

28 Sila Realty Trust Inc. (SILA) 1001 Water St., Tampa 33602 813-287-0101; silarealtytrust.com

$186,856,000 $189,065,000 -1.17%

29 BayFirst National Bank (BAFN) 700 Central Ave, St. Petersburg 33701 727-440-6848; firsthomebank.com $143,228,000 $118,270,000 21.10%

30 Rumble Inc. (RUM) 444 Gulf of Mexico Drive, Longboat Key 34228 941-210-0196; rumble.com

31 Zeo Energy Corp. (ZEO) 7625 Little Road, Suite 200A, New Port Richey 34654 727-375-9375; zeoenergy.com

32 Innovative Food Holdings (IVFH) 9696 Bonita Beach Road, Suite 208, Bonita Springs 34135 239-596-0204; ivfh.com

33 Apyx Medical Corp. (APYX) 5115 Ulmerton Road, Clearwater 33760 727-384-2323; apyxmedical.com

34 Alico (ALCO) 10070 Daniels Interstate Court, Suite 200, Fort Myers 33913 239-226-2000; alicoinc.com

35 SRX Health Solutions (SRXH) (formerly Better Choice Company Inc.) 13553 State Road 54 Suite #237, Odessa 33556 212-896-1254; srxhealth.com

36 Cryo-Cell International Inc. (CCEL) 700 Brooker Creek Road, Suite 1800, Oldsmar 34677 813-749-2100; cryo-cell.com

37 Upexi Inc. (UPXI) 3030 N. Rocky Point Drive, Tampa 33607 701-353-5425; upexi.com

38 Wellgistics Health Inc. (WGRX) 3000 Bayport Drive, Suite 950, Tampa 33607 844-203-6092; wellgistics.com

39 Naples Soap Co. (NASO) 14601 Jetport Loop, Suite 180, Fort Myers, 33913 (239) 325-8263; naplessoap.com

40 LM Funding America (LMFA) 1200 Platt Street, Suite 100, Tampa 33602 813-222-8996; lmfunding.com

$48,102,000 $52,349,000 -8.11% -$23,463,000

$46,643,000 $39,846,000 17.06% $6,973,000

Robert William Bennett, CEO and Director Distributor/ Wholesalers wholesaler and retailer of perishables and specialty food products

Charles D. Goodwin, CEO and Director Technology, Health Care Helium plasma technology

John E. Kiernan, Director, President and CEO Agriculture land management, agriculture, mining and development

$34,975,000 $38,592,000 -9.37% -$168,000 Kent Cunningham, CEO Health Careprovides healthcare solutions

$31,986,106 $31,343,695 2.05% $402,095 David Portnoy, Chairman and Co-CEO Health Carestem cell blood bank and related research

$26,000,652

$36,441,695 -28.65% -$23,658,438 Allan Marshall, CEO and Chairman

Banking/ Finance/ Investment develops, manufactures, and distributes consumer products, and has a cryptocurrency portfolio

$18,128,831 $0 N/A -$6,856,226 Brian Norton, CEOHealth Care provides pharmacies with innovative and cost-effective distribution solutions

$12,400,000

$10,999,648

41 Generation Income Properties Inc. (GIPR) 401 E. Jackson St., Suite 3300, Tampa 33602 813-448-1234; gipreit.com $9,762,636

42 Invo Bioscience (INVO) 5582 Broadcast Court, Sarasota 34240 978-878-9505; invobioscience.com

43 OriginClear (OCLN) 13575 58th St. N., Suite 200, Clearwater 33760 727-440-4603; originclear.com

44 Procyon Corp. (PCYN) 164 Douglas Road, Oldsmar 34677 727-447-2998; procyoncorp.com

45 Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc. (OMEX) 205 S. Hoover Blvd., Suite 210, Tampa 33609 813-876-1776; odysseymarine.com

46 Scienture Holdings Inc. (SCNX) 6308 Benjamin Road, Suite 708, Tampa 33634 800-261-0281; scientureholdings.com

47 TuHURA Biosciences Inc. (HURA) 10500 University Center Drive, Suite 110, Tampa 33612 813-875-6600; tuhurabio.com

48 Oragenics Inc. (OGEN) 1990 Main St., Suite 750, Sarasota 34326 813-286-7900; oragenics.com

$6,532,000

$3,020,575

$4,984,433

Deanna Wallin, CEO and founder Retail, Lifestyle, Personal Care

Sells personal care products, including soaps, bath bombs, hair care, facial care, scented candles and essential oils

Bruce M. Rodgers, Chairman, CEO and President Banking/ Finance/ Investment technology-based specialty finance company offering unique funding solutions to community associations

David Sobelman, CEO and Chairman Real Estate Investment Trust REIT that builds generational, sustainable wealth through high-quality, single-tenant properties across retail, industrial, and office sectors

Care medical device company focused on creating simplified, lower cost treatments for patients diagnosed with infertility

self-reliant water revolution, connecting investors with water projects, commercializes modular, prefabricated, filter-free advanced systems for sanitation

Justice W. Anderson, Director and CEO Health Care manufactures and markets skin and wound care supplies

D. Gordon, CEO and Chairman

Suren Ajjarapu, Chairman, CEO, and Secretary Health Care pharmaceuticals

immuno-oncology company developing novel technologies to overcome resistance to cancer immunotherapy

Joseph Michael Redmond, Interim CEO and President Health Care developing drugs and therapies focused on nasal delivery of pharmaceutical medications in neurology with a primary focus on concussions

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or Forbes. For more information, see www.SHOOKresearch.com. The Bellwether Group at Morgan Stanley 2 North Tamiami Trail, Suite 1100 Sarasota, FL 34236 941-363-8515 advisor.morganstanley.com/thebellwe

Natalia Levey

FOUNDER, HI HOSPITALITY GROUP

Natalia Levey is fond of saying that in the restaurant and hospitality business, you are constantly “fighting for every second” of efficiency. That could be an internal software program that makes it easier for customers to pay checks. Or maybe something as simple as a better process for washing wine glasses. That watch-every-second mentality has driven Levey, a native of Russia who moved to the States in 1999, to some lofty heights in the restaurant business. The Tampa-based company, Hi Hospitality Group, owns and operates four brands in the SarasotaManatee area. The list includes a pair of Speaks Clam Bar locations, one on St. Armands Circle in Sarasota, one in east Manatee County; Kojo, a modern Asian restaurant on Palm Avenue in downtown Sarasota that includes the company’s Bar Hana concept; and Palm Avenue Deli, a New York-style deli next door to Kojo. (“Think matzo ball soup that feels like a warm hug,” says the Palm Avenue Deli website.)

In addition to those locations, Hi Hospitality is working on its biggest project yet: Central Park St. Pete, a food hall on Central Avenue in the Sunshine City that spreads 28,000 square feet over five levels. Central Park will have 10 dining concepts, a rooftop bar, private dining, event spaces and a members-only club. Customers, again with efficiency as the north star, will be able to order online, from a kiosk or with the help of a hospitality ambassador. That ranges from quick to-go service to a business lunch and leisure dining to watching a sporting event on the ginormous video wall TV that measures 22 feet wide by 12.4 feet tall. Central Park is expected to open some time this year, Levey says.

With all the locations, Levey, 47, says one overarching mission at the company is to bring people together.

“What we do is so much more than food and hospitality,” she says. “We’re

Natalia

BE THE CHANGE

Natalia Levey says her aim is to “co-create environments where we have fun and fearlessly implement new ideas, where team members feel valued and grow, where food is always delicious and where connections are meaningful.”

trying to create a better community.”

In addition to running the company, with some 260 employees, Levey is a forward-thinking change agent in the hospitality and food world. She’s been a chef, author and keynote speaker, among other roles. She graduated from the Art Institute of New York, where she “learned how to properly char things in fancy ways,” she quips on her LinkedIn page; was a James Beard Foundation Women’s Leadership fellow in 2021; wrote a book, “Cravings Boss: The REAL Reason you Crave Food and a 5-Step Plan to Take Back Control,” in 2016; has traveled to more than 40 countries, many times on foodie-related trips; and is an advisory member of the The School of Hospitality and Sport Management at USF.

“Curiosity has always driven me forward,” Levey said during a TedX Talk she presented at TedX Ocala in 2021. Her talk was entitled The Surprising Connection between Gut and Happiness. “I like formulas, recipes, blueprints, methods, procedures, algorithms. Clear paths to clear results.”

Her talk focused on using your gut not only to make decisions about life or work or family, but to feed it a diverse array of healthy and natural foods, akin to food as medicine.

“Culinary medicine is the future,” she said in her talk. “We can transform our kitchen into a happy playground.”

Levey has her eyes on other changes in the food and hospitality industry.

On Hi Hospitality, for starters, she has long sought to create a top place to work. “We spend so much time

Levey looks to elevate just about anything she is involved in, from cooking to creating five-story food halls.

at work, you want to be proud of the people you work with and the place you work,” she says.

The intersection of hospitality and technology is also a key driver. Hi Hospitality has worked with St. Pete-based Haddy, an AI-powered 3D printing manufacturer. Haddy has made planters, bussing stations and decorative pieces for the company, and Levey expects to do more of that in the coming months and years. And at the School of Hospitality at USF,

Levey has been working with professors and researchers on cutting edge 3D food manufacturing technology. As important as technology is to the now, and future, of hospitality, Levey says part of the mission at Hi Hospitality is to not lose sight of providing a warm and inviting place for people to gather for food and drinks. “Restaurants will remain a central hub for human connection,” she says, “for at least the next 100 years.”

— MARK GORDON

KNOWLEDGE IS POWER

Jerel McCants

FOUNDER, JEREL MCCANTS ARCHITECTURE INC.

Segregation and Jim Crow laws have been justifiably relegated to the trash bin of U.S. history, but their specters remain present in some of the country’s built environments. Case in point: Tampa’s Union Station, which opened in 1912 and was constructed in an Italian Renaissance Revival style. But it also had a wall that segregated passengers according to their skin color.

“The wall was about 8 to 10 feet tall,” says Jerel McCants, a Tampa architect whose firm, Jerel McCants Architecture Inc., is leading a $6 million restoration of the station. “There were separate water fountains on both sides. There were separate ticket counters, separate bathrooms. The left side was colored; the right side was whites only.”

Yet, once the train arrived, all passengers exited into an open communal embarkation space, where everyone mixed, proving that “sepa-

rate but equal” policies weren’t about pragmatic use of space.

“It made no sense,” says McCants, who also serves as vice president of Friends of Tampa Union Station, a nonprofit formed in 2008 to preserve the historic building. “It doesn’t hold up to any scrutiny.”

Tampa isn’t the only city reckoning with the injustices of its built environment. In Lexington, Kentucky, to cite one example, the 155-year-old Capitol has come under fire for its “bathroom disparity.” The Kentucky Statehouse’s third floor, home to the state’s House and Senate chambers, offers a measly two bathroom stalls for the Bluegrass State’s 41 female legislators, while restrooms for men are plentiful. A $300 million renovation project for that facility is underway, expected to be finished in 2028.

McCants, 52, has written and published a book, “Architecture of Segregation: The Hierarchy of Spaces

and Places,” about how the built environment can reinforce but also break down societal divisions. He says he’s always been fascinated by public spaces and how people interact with them, but conversations with his grandfather during his formative years inspired him to think more critically about the social underpinnings of architecture.

“He would talk about how he grew up and places where he could go and couldn’t go,” McCants says. “He had to go through the back door of some places. If he was sick and had to go to the doctor, the white patients would be seen first, and then they would get around to seeing the Black patients later.”

He adds, “That wasn’t my experience growing up, but it stuck with me through my developmental years.”

The Union Station overhaul, according to McCants, should be complete in early 2027, but the station, he says, “will remain functional while renovations are going on.” The

BE THE CHANGE

Jerel McCants wants to restore Tampa’s historic Union S tation to its former glory while removing one key component: the segregation-era wall that divided whites and Blacks. The $6 million project is part of his effort to expose and reckon with the architecture of segregation, and to encourage other architects and property developers to rethink how our built environment can promote connection rather than division.

building — which fell into disrepair in the 1970s and ’80s, closing to the public in 1984 as interstate and air travel eclipsed rail — was previously renovated in 1998 to make it a viable Amtrak depot once again. Other modest upgrades, such as a 2002 restoration of the station’s baggage building, followed, but the notorious wall remained.

The new and improved Union Station, McCants adds, won’t ignore or

downplay the building’s checkered past.

“We have some signage and placards (from that era),” he says. “We might do a little artifact box. We

Thinking

have old photos and drawings that we might mount on the walls where passengers wait.”

For Jerel McCants Architecture Inc. — which was founded in 2010,

grossed $1.5 million in revenue in 2024 and has seven employees, including four architects — Tampa Union Station is somewhat of an outlier in the firm’s portfolio: It mostly

A Tampa architect is on a mission to showcase how architecture can play a big role in how the built environment can positively shape society and societal norms.

does new commercial and residential builds. Some of its previous projects include St. Petersburg’s Par Bar, 81Bay Brewing Co. in South Tampa, Taps Restaurant, Bar & Lounge in Fort Lauderdale and CTV Capital headquarters in New Port Richey.

McCants, however, says his favorite projects are residential in nature:

“Residential, even though it doesn’t make a lot of money, it’s always a unique building type, because it’s the only place where you can live comfortably, work and entertain, all in the same structure. You don’t want to live in your office, your church, your community center, or other spaces that have a defined use. The house is the most flexible of all uses to me, and so they are the most interesting (to design).”

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David Hoffmann

CHAIRMAN, HOFFMANN FAMILY OF COS.

While much of the conversation about newspapers in the past 20 years has centered on job cuts, contraction and falling readership, there is an entrepreneur in Naples who sees a way to breathe new life into the troubled industry.

And he is putting his considerable wealth and the heft of his business empire behind it. That man is David Hoffmann, chairman and founder of the Hoffmann Family of Cos.

Since 2022, Hoffmann has bought 14 media companies covering 30 markets, including in Michigan and Florida. Late last year, the company bought a 5% share of DallasNews Corp., the parent of The Dallas Morning News. And in June, the company bought The Missourian, Hoffmann’s hometown

newspaper in Washington, Missouri.

The company is also one of the leading — top two — shareholders in Davenport, Iowa-based Lee Enterprises, which owns The St. Louis PostDispatch, among other publications, including 350 weekly and specialty publications. Hoffmann is trying to buy the newspaper chain outright.

And the company plans to continue growing its media holdings, with the goal of being “at worst, the second biggest newspaper chain” in the country.

“I think newspapers are the fabric of America,” Hoffmann says.

“When I first got into it, I thought even if I don’t make money, this is something that I want to do because I’m passionate about it and I can afford to not make millions of dollars on everything I invest in. But, to be hon-

David Hoffmann, who grew up in a small town with a strong local paper, believes the newspaper industry can bounce back with strong local coverage and sound business practices.

est, this investment has worked out beautifully.”

What Hoffmann has bought into is an industry well into a transformation from physical printed newspapers into digital delivery systems. This, at a time when readers have both more choices of where to get their news from, and who are engaging less with traditional media.

To say the shift has been difficult is an understatement.

Since 2005, more than 3,200 newspapers have closed in the U.S. according to an October report from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism’s Local News Initiative.

And, during the year the report covers, the authors write, “500 of the largest daily and weekly newspapers in the United States have lost an estimated 2 million print and digital readers.”

Circulation, overall, has decreased by more than 60% since 2005. So, given those realities, why would anyone willingly invest in the industry?

Hoffmann admits even his two sons

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BE THE CHANGE

David Hoffmann wants to build the largest — at worst second largest — newspaper chain in America. He says the Hoffmann Family of Cos. is well on its way to meeting that goal, having more than doubled the size of his company’s media holdings since i ts first purchase in 2022.

— co-CEOs of the family-run company — weren’t initially happy when he announced his plans.

But Hoffmann, who built an empire that currently owns more than 120 companies and employs 17,000, believes it is the right time to invest in the business and has a plan for it to rebound.

“Everything has a cycle. Everything has a bottom and things have a top,” Hoffmann says. “I think we’re at the bottom right now.”

What Hoffmann is banking on is that local residents still care about what is going on in their communities and that no one can deliver that news better than local, community

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newspapers.

sources to allow them to do their jobs.

To be profitable, he says, advertising salespeople are incentivized with lower base salaries and bigger commissions and the company consolidates real assets. There are also small efficiencies that help turn a paper profitable. A small example is copy machines. If a paper operating out of a single floor has leases on four copiers, Hoffman gets rid of three of them.

There’s a lot the company does to make a paper profitable, Hoffmann says — and it isn’t all about cuts, either. Unlike many in the industry, Hoffmann’s papers are hiring journalists and — to his knowledge — have avoided layoffs. These hires are critical investments to do the kinds of reporting that will attract readers.

The focus on local coverage drives bigger-picture decisions as well.

“That’s why Lee is so interesting to us,” Hoffmann says.

smaller communities is really what we’re after. That’s what Lee offers us.”

As for the fundamental question about how readers want to read the stories created by his publications, Hoffmann believes people want that news both digitally and in print.

Many will read the news digitally, but Hoffmann can’t imagine a world where people aren’t interested in picking up a newspaper and seeing a picture of a local kid who just scored a touchdown or a local young woman who won a golf tournament.

While the frequency of when print editions are published may have to change, “as long as I’m around whatever newspapers we own there’s going to be a printed version along with the digital version of that as well.”

“I think the difference with our philosophy is that we think you can have both and there’s a happy balance,” he says.

To that end, Hoffmann says the company is empowering local editors and publishers to make decisions based on their community’s specific needs and providing them the re -

Readers, he believes, can get national and international news from several larger outlets. What they can’t get from anywhere other than a local paper is news about what’s happening on city and county councils, at schools, businesses and in courtrooms.

The chain’s largest papers are in Omaha and St. Louis. These papers, and others in the chain, are in smaller cities and communities hungry for coverage and “shouldn’t be trying to compete with the New York Times.”

“The smaller newspapers in the

“And I’m betting big on that. I’m betting millions and millions of dollars that I’m right. To the tune of more than a half-billion, I think. And I’m pretty confident in my investment.”

— LOUIS LLOVIO

Sylvia Dorisme

PRESIDENT, ZEAL TECHNICAL INSTITUTE

The 2008-2009 housing recession was a turning point for Sylvia Dorisme. Then a recent college graduate, she felt the impact of the economic crisis personally.

“I found myself unemployed and lost in the world,” she says. “I was either overqualified with a bachelor’s degree or underqualified.”

And she was not alone. “I saw the suffering in our community, where everybody was panicking and most of the community were suffering.”

After losing her job as a student services director at a technical school, she decided to start her own business. She researched different industries, looking at which were hiring — even during a recession. “Health care was that one industry where it doesn’t matter what happens, they still need health care professionals,” she says.

On her 25th birthday, she announced that she was going to open a technical school focused on health

care careers. Her friends doubted her plan, but this wasn’t the first time Dorisme had tackled challenging situations. She grew up in Haiti and St. Maarten, migrating to the U.S. as an unaccompanied minor just shy of turning 14.

“I started from the very, very bottom and without any guidance,” she says. “But I came from a really good family who were believers in God and who, I have to say, did a really good job with my childhood, where I could handle myself at such a young age.

“I grew up with my grandmother, who was a businesswoman in our community and literally built herself up from ground zero and was one of the most respected figures in our community,” Dorisme continues.

“One of the things that I’ve learned from her was to give back. I grew up with that in my system. So it was very natural for me when I started my entrepreneurship journey that whatever

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I do, it needed to have some sort of impact in the community.”

With that as a backdrop, Dorisme started Southwestern Vocational Training in September 2009 in Cape Coral. Now based in North Fort Myers and called Zeal Technical Institute after a rebranding in 2020, the school has trained almost 8,000 students to become phlebotomy technicians, home health aides, medical administrative assistants, patient care technicians, medical assistants and mental health technicians.

“The need for health care professionals is constantly, constantly growing,” says Dorisme, 40. “It’s been a privilege for us to be able to contribute to the solution for that.”

Dorisme places emphasis on helping underserved communities get the training needed for careers in health care. The school helps students in financial need find resources to pay for training and has a scholarship fund at the Collaboratory in Fort Myers.

“Our goal is to provide as many

BE THE CHANGE

To help underserved residents of Southwest Florida get the training needed for entry-level careers in health care — and inspire them to continue their education further.

resources available to our students, so when they come to us, we don’t turn them away if they don’t have the funds,” says Dorisme. “We want to always have resources available … We wanted to be a part of the solution that provides more opportunities to underserved communities and those who may not be interested in college.

“We are very community-focused in terms of how we do business,” she continues. “We say students over profit, and we sincerely mean that.”

College isn’t the right path for everyone, and Zeal Technical Institute helps students embark on career pathways that don’t require college degrees. But Dorisme has also seen students complete their studies at Zeal Technical Institute and then continue their education.

Sylvia Dorisme has gone from unemployed and “lost in the world” to setting up thousands for solid health care careers.

day. “I felt like I would be a failure if I did not make something out of myself,” she says.

Her grandmother and her approach to business as the owner of a small grocery shop loom large over the way Dorisme operates Zeal Technical Institute today. “I remember the key thing was how she treated people,” she says. “She was getting repeat business because of how she treated people. They’d skip someone else and come back to her, so I held that close to my own journey.

Dorisme herself is the first member

“We have so many wonderful stories of students who came through the doors just to do a two-week class and now they’re in nursing school,” she says. “That’s the impact we wanted to make, and I think that has become a reality for us. We have students who graduated 12 years ago, 13 years ago, and now they’re physicians. It’s a pretty good feeling to know that we were part of their journey.”

of her family to graduate from college, earning a bachelor’s in business administration from Hodges University, and it’s the sacrifices her parents and grandmother made to help her succeed that continue to inspire her to-

“This is why you have students from 13 years ago, 10 years ago, stop by and ask for Miss Sylvia, just to give me a hug or to say hi,” she continues. “Because I never wanted them to leave with just a diploma. I wanted them to leave with a positive memory of who we were and what we represent.”

— BETH LUBERECKI

WHERE VISIONS BECOME REALITY

Jennifer Rominiecki

PRESIDENT AND CEO,

MARIE

SELBY BOTANICAL GARDENS

When Jennifer Rominiecki, a Manhattan native, was named president and CEO of Marie Selby Botanical Gardens a decade ago, her goal was focused on big changes. She essentially sought to transform the garden, long a prominent gem in Sarasota cultural and tourism circles, into a global masterpiece, and in doing so secure the nonprofit’s future.

This ongoing change is happening through a three-phase project at Selby’s main downtown campus, on 15 acres off the Sarasota Bay on Mound Street. Phase one, a $51 million project, is complete, and phase two is expected to begin by the end of 2025. That $60.9 million phase includes a conservatory to house one of the world’s largest scientifically documented and diverse collections of orchids and bromeliads.

Rominiecki previously spent about two decades at established cultural

institutions, including the New York Botanical Garden and the Metropolitan Opera.

At Selby, she saw a chance to make exciting changes. Phase one of the transformation opened in January 2024. It includes a new parking structure, the Living Energy Access Facility or LEAF; a new restaurant, gift shop and welcome center; and new research and office facilities. The LEAF nearly doubled parking from 270 spaces to 450, and the project includes a solar array atop the structure that makes it the first net-positive energy botanical gardens in the world.

But getting to groundbreaking wasn’t easy. Rominiecki had to unite neighbors, many of whom initially protested the expansion, and build consensus. That took a number of meetings, sessions and conversations with a variety of groups and officials. Project plans were tweaked multiple times.

On the customer experience side, meanwhile, Rominiecki worked with other museum curators to bring international exhibits to Selby, pairing famous art by Marc Chagall, Paul Gauguin and Andy Warhol with air plants of the world

Selby also trademarked “The Living Museum,” to describe the changing exhibits to encourage repeat visitation. That proved to be a shrewd move.

“We want to ensure visitors to Selby Gardens always have a reason to return,” she says. “We’re always giving people a reason to come back.”

And that seems to be happening: Attendance has doubled under her tenure to 310,000 annual visitors.

Rominiecki, 51, has led other areas of growth for the gardens, which were founded in 1973. That’s when Sarasota resident and passionate gardener Marie Selby bequeathed her former home and property, according to the organization’s website, “for the enjoyment of the general public.” The organization had $98.93 million in assets and

BE THE CHANGE

Marie Selby Botanical Gardens President and CEO Jennifer Rominiecki seeks to complete a $100 million-plus transformational three-phase capital project primed to remake the organization’s 15-acre downtown Sarasota campus. Phase 1 is complete, while Phase 2 is expected to get underway by 2026.

$22.72 million in revenue in its most recent fiscal year, public filings show. The new operating model Rominiecki instituted, say officials, has also led to a 128% increase in membership and a 135% gain in overall earned revenues.

In 2024, Time magazine named Selby — with its air plants, Banyan trees and mangroves — one of the world’s 100 greatest places. Articles about Selby have been published in other national publications, including USA Today, which named it one of the best botanical gardens of 2025.

The Wall Street Journal named Selby’s completed first phase as one of the best architectural projects of 2024.

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“The centerpiece is the Morganroth Family Living Energy Access Facility, which, according to Selby, contains a garden-to-plate restaurant, a new gift shop, vertical gardens and a nearly 50,000-square-foot solar array,” states the WSJ article.

Rominiecki has received accolades

and praise for her efforts locally, too.

Visit Sarasota County named her the Voice of Sarasota, for example, during National Tourism and Travel Week last year.

More recognition, a bit more unusual, came from inside Selby this past May. That’s when Rominiecki

had a new species of a flowering plant named for her, the Drymonia rominieckiae. The honor stems from a Marie Selby Botanical Gardens botanist who discovered four new species in the African violet family, or gesneriaceae, while researching plant species on the eastern slopes of the Andean

Jennifer Rominiecki has helped shine a national spotlight on a Sarasota cultural landmark, leading it to even brighter days.

rainforest in South America.

Sarasota Chamber of Commerce

President and CEO Heather Kasten says Rominiecki — chair-elect of the chamber — is the just-right leader at the just-right time for Selby.

“The impact Jennifer has had on Marie Selby Botanical Garden is absolutely unparalleled,” Kasten says.

“People want to come from all over the world to Selby.”

Lakewood Ranch-based Willis A. Smith Construction President and CEO John LaCivita, contractor for the Selby expansion, also praises Rominiecki for her long-term vision. “Selby has never had (this) kind of recognition before,” LaCivita says.

While Rominiecki is known for building consensus, she’s also not known to take no for an answer, LaCivita adds. More importantly perhaps, he says, she “delivers on her promise.”

— JANET LEISER

DR. MIGUEL RIVERA talks about topics such as brain fog, medications and how sleep impacts cognition on his YouTube channel, Dementia Doc.

Dr. Miguel Rivera

DEMENTIA DOC

It was a chance phone call that led Dr. Miguel Rivera to his professional passion. He was figuring out his next steps after his Sarasota-based integrative health practice had failed to take off when he got a phone call from Dr. Bruce Robinson, chief of geriatrics at Sarasota Memorial Hospital.

Rivera had rotated through Robinson’s service during his psychiatry residency at the University of South Florida, where the latter had been a professor. Now Robinson wanted to see if he would do some consultations at local nursing home facilities.

That was how Rivera began treating people with dementia in the SarasotaManatee area — and it has remained his focus for almost two decades, where he’s picked up the nickname “Dementia Doc,” working both out of his Lakewood Ranch office and as a mobile physician.

“All these people were like my grandpa and my grandma,” he says. “I just felt this connection to them. Through the years I’ve gotten very close to so many of my patients and

their families. For me, it hasn’t been just seeing a patient. It’s definitely that connection that develops with the patients with dementia that’s been instrumental in me continuing to do this kind of work.”

Beyond specific patients, Rivera has also facilitated some changes in dementia care, from a renewed focus on caregivers to the legal side of helping patients. He has an active YouTube channel, Dementia Doc, with videos on topics such as brain fog, medications and how sleep impacts cognition. Rivera also has spoken worldwide about dementia management, caregiving and prevention, according to his website, traveling across the U.S. and in Europe, China and Taiwan.

When seeing patients, Rivera, 62, typically starts by assessing the medications they are taking. Sometimes a medication for another condition can have impacts on a patient’s cognitive function. “I am always looking to min-

BE THE CHANGE

Improving the quality of life for dementia patients and their families.

Dr. Miguel Rivera seeks to not only help his patients directly, but help others — from caregivers to first responders — understand aging cognitive issues.

kinds of holistic interventions don’t take the place of antipsychotic medications, Rivera notes that they can decrease the frequency at which they are prescribed.

Rivera’s work became personal when his father was diagnosed with Lewy body dementia. “I have firsthand knowledge of this disease, having been a caregiver for my dad and now for my mom (who’s experiencing some dementia-related issues),” he says. “And what I always share when people ask me about my experience is that being a dementia practitioner did not prepare me for how difficult and challenging it was to transition into being a dementia caregiver.” (Rivera’s dad died in 2018 at 86 years old, according to the physician’s website.)

imize the use of medications and trying to identify medications that could conceivably be making things worse,” he says.

He also incorporates holistic and alternative therapies with patients.

He first explored aromatherapy, massage and music after the FDA issued a “black box” warning around the use of antipsychotic medications in the elderly — the most serious warning placed on a prescription drug’s label.

“I remember opening up that email and being a little bit floored, going ‘What am I going to do?’” he recalls.

“It was just this upending in the way in which I’d been taught to manage all these things. So I immediately, right then and there, got on the computer and Googled holistic ways to manage dementia-related symptoms.”

Hearing familiar songs, especially from their youth, has helped his patients relax and communicate. “There is definitely something magical about music,” says Rivera.

Aromatherapy has also proved helpful for many of his patients (and maybe even for other health care staff who work with them). While these

That’s why he emphasizes dementia is a family disease, and that family members need just as much support as the patients themselves. “I think the biggest challenge was that I stopped taking care of myself,” he says. “My wholehearted recommendation for anybody whose loved one is diagnosed with dementia is to get some help … Acknowledge that in order to be able to take the best care possible of your loved one, that you need to take care of yourself.”

While Rivera wants people to understand that dementia is “relentlessly progressive,” he also encourages family members and other caregivers to notice changes in patients and mention them to their medical team. “An early intervention gives the opportunity for better outcomes,” he says.

He also sees the need for further education about the cognitive condition for first responders, emergency room staff, law enforcement and others. He saw this need when he did a consultation for a patient who was being mistreated by a caregiver. But because she had dementia, no one she’d told prior had believed her.

“I think sensitivity training or something along those lines is so important as our society continues to age,” he says.

— BETH LUBERECKI

Welcome Daniel Medina.

LMCU is proud to welcome Daniel Medina as our newest Vice President Commercial Lender in Florida. Daniel has spent well over a decade establishing himself as an action-oriented partner for business owners looking to grow.

Now, Daniel will leverage that expertise, alongside LMCU’s ever-expanding suite of personalized commercial loans, to develop flexible lending solutions that will drive results and help local businesses thrive.

Looking to expand, build, purchase property, or finance equipment?

Reach out to Daniel at (239) 591-2282 or Daniel.Medina@LMCU.org.

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