Osceola County

Building on the county’s proximity to Walt Disney World’s ESPN Wide World of Sports, Osceola is marketing itself as a Mecca for amateur sports and is looking to bring in more businesses and events to use the county’s facilities. The area also is riding the entrepreneur wave with this year’s opening of a UCF incubator in St. Cloud and another being considered in Kissimmee.

Person to Watch

» With Florida State University’s Energy & Sustainability Center moving this year from Tallahassee into the eco-friendly community of Harmony, Anjaneyulu Krothapalli and his team of five employees and 15 doctoral students want to start an incubator for alternative energy companies that would employ 1,000 by 2016.

Businesses to Watch

» U.K.-based Diagnosys, which manufactures electronic circuit testing equipment for defense, mass transit and other industries, added 14 jobs with an average salary of almost $35,000 to its U.S. headquarters in Kissimmee this year, bringing its national staff to 38.

» Based at Florida Hospital Celebration, the Nicholson Center for Surgical Advancement received a $4.2-million Department of Defense grant this year to continue developing its robotics surgery program.

Lake County

Biofuel, agritech and medical services remain the county’s strongest-growing industries. Meanwhile, Lake is continuing to target new small businesses and is filling its UCF incubator spots in Leesburg with an eye toward opening another site in or near Clermont. Also, officials are planning a business expo and exploring the idea of a small-business resources program in Mount Dora.

People to Watch

Charles Mojock

» Charles Mojock, president of Lake-Sumter Community College in Leesburg since 2002, sits on the board of the Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission, where he chairs a council examining how and where to expand the region’s workforce. He also has created a New Vision Council to explore taking the 4,800-student college to a four-year institution.

» Two-time Olympic U.S. softball gold medalist Dot Richardson leads the 300-acre National Training Center in Clermont that has brought in more than 160 sports teams to train and play at the facility, creating an economic impact of more than $6 million. Richardson, an orthopedic surgeon, is leading the charge to make the sports, health and fitness facility a destination for sports medicine.

Dot Richardson heads the National Training Center in Clermont. [Photo: Kelly LaDuke]

» Boston-based alternative energy company Smart Fuels transports restaurants’ used cooking oil to its tank farms, where the waste is then turned into fuel. Its new biodiesel refinery in Fruitland Park — part of a growing cluster of biofuel businesses in Lake County — has 12 employees with plans for adding eight. Another biofuel company, meanwhile, has been working to secure state permits to move 18 jobs to Lake County.

» Treadway Industries in Leesburg, which builds architectural details for residential and commercial buildings and facades for film sets, had to lay off workers locally but has announced plans to add eight high-wage jobs this year. The company also has offices in Malaysia and Japan.

Tags: Central