May 6, 2024
Feature
Opening Doors
To an outsider, it may have seemed like the wrong time for Raul Duarte to embark on an MBA. The pandemic forced the world into lockdown, his industry was imploding and he was planning to launch his own company, a full-time job in itself.
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Published on 3/26/2024
Overcoming Obstacles
There's no mistaking the redevelopment appeal of the 800,000-sq.-ft. Galleria at Fort Lauderdale. The lagging mall sits in a prime spot to capture the dollars of tourists and affluent homeowners nearby with its front on heavily traveled Sunrise Boulevard, between Federal Highway (U.S.1) and beach road A1A, just across the bridge from the famed city beach. It has water views, is just a short ride to downtown and is about a third the size of the city's central business district.
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Published on 3/25/2024
A Wild Journey
During his tenure with Zoo Miami, Matt James knew he wanted to be more than just the guy who worked with animals. Following stints at Marinel-and Dolphin Adventure in St. Augustine and ZooTampa, James felt like he wasn't doing enough.
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Published on 3/22/2024
Lessons in Leadership
Launched in the fall of 2023, the University of West Florida's executive leadership MBA program is being led by retired Navy Capt. Timothy “Lucky” Kinsella, a man whose leadership skills have been tested to the extreme.
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Published on 3/22/2024
St. Joe's Agenda
With a 169,000-acre footprint in five counties, the St. Joe Co., headquartered in Panama City Beach, is the largest private landowner in Northwest Florida and also its largest commercial developer. CEO Jorge Gonzalez shares with Florida Trend his outlook for the company's growth in 2024 and beyond.
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Published on 3/22/2024
Tackling Global Challenges
Marina Lopez enjoyed all the benefits of a global MBA program without leaving home.
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Published on 3/21/2024
Mastering the Cyber Industry
In the global cybersecurity wars there are no borders, no battlefield front lines, no rules of engagement and there is no immunity from attacks.
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Published on 3/21/2024
Cultivating Insurance Industry Talent
Fraud is one of the most significant problems facing insurers in Florida and the nation. Each year, according to the FBI, more than $40 billion is lost to fraudulent non-health insurance claims. The estimated cost to the average family is between $400 and $700 in increased premiums.
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Published on 3/21/2024
Expanding Options
The most dominant trend among Florida's more than 40 public and private MBA programs is the robust expansion of diverse specialty graduate courses.
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Published on 3/20/2024
Car Talk
Traffic is cruising along an interstate at highway speed when a sudden, unexpected event forces drivers to slam on the brakes. Some motorists dive onto the shoulder to avoid rear-ending the car ahead of them. There's a good chance you've either seen it happen during an anxious glance in your rearview mirror or done it yourself.
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Published on 3/18/2024
Jazzing it Up
The struggling University Mall in Tampa was a sad scene, with empty anchor stores, dusty potted plants and stained carpets beneath the benches. JCPenney left in 2005, followed by Dillard's in 2008, Macy's in 2017 and Sears in 2018. Built in 1974 just west of the University of South Florida campus, the mall had acquired a seedy reputation.
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Published on 3/14/2024
Big Fish
Halfway down the Florida Keys, a bit before the city of Marathon, the busy Overseas Highway for a short stretch becomes a road amid the rustic. No gas stations or supermarkets, no souvenir shell stores, no sandal shops. The dense vegetation sometimes gives way to glimpses of the Florida Straits to the south or Florida Bay to the north.
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Published on 3/12/2024
Adapting Anchors
Fifteen years ago, Michele “Mik” Oca was living in his native Italy and working in entertainment marketing and design when he got a call from the White House. Incoming President Barack Obama was toying with the idea of replacing the bowling alley at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. with a basketball court — and Oca, who'd carved out a niche for himself designing bowling products and alleys, was invited to submit a redesign plan to convince the president to keep the lanes.
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Published on 3/11/2024
Good Vibrations
Blake Richardson created a vibrating wristband that gently rouses firefighters when they get an emergency call. The device is designed to reduce the stress of traditional fire alarm systems, which can take a toll on first responders' health.
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Published on 3/11/2024
Revving Up
Each spring, hundreds of thousands of motorcycle enthusiasts roar into Daytona Beach for a 10-day street party known as Bike Week.
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Published on 3/8/2024
Florida Icon: Jacqueline Quinn
Environmental engineer at Kennedy Space Center who holds 12 U.S. patents, many involving soil contamination technology; inductee in the Florida Inventors Hall of Fame and the National Inventors Hall of Fame, Titusville; age 56
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Published on 3/8/2024
Ballpark Upgrades
The Daytona Beach City Council agreed to spend $30 million on upgrades as part of a new 20-year lease with the Daytona Tortugas, the minor league class A affiliate of Major League Baseball's Cincinnati Reds. The agreement includes a pair of five-year renewals.
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Published on 2/29/2024
Gulf Cable Expansion
Gulf Cable, one of Northwest Florida's largest and fastest-growing manufacturers, is getting much larger.
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Published on 2/28/2024
Building Blocks
Palm Springs in central Palm Beach County became the debut site for Renco USA's first housing complex — four buildings totaling 96 units — made with molded, interlocking blocks the company calls “Lego-like.” Miami-based Renco says its building method is cheaper, faster and 23 times stronger than concrete.
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Published on 2/27/2024
A Growing Need
Lynda Neuhausen was walking with her family up the stairs to their seats at Tropicana Field to watch the Tampa Bay Rays play when her symptoms first began. “I got to the top and had turned gray,” she recounts, “I couldn't breathe ... and I felt like I was going to pass out.” That moment in 2005 was the beginning of a long journey towards diagnosing and treating hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a genetic heart disease, which culminated in a heart transplant in 2021.
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Published on 2/27/2024
Unlocking Stem Cells' Cardiac Benefits
More than 20 years ago, University of Miami heart transplant cardiologist Joshua Hare became convinced that stem cells infused into heart attack patients would turn into new, healthy cells to replace damaged ones. So far, that hasn't happened. But Hare, founding director of the university's Interdisciplinary Stem Cell Institute, still believes that stem cells represent a future in which cardiac care involves less medication and fewer surgeries.
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Published on 2/26/2024
Conservation Boost
The U.S. Department of Agriculture awarded the Gainesville-based Alachua Conservation Trust $25 million for its Lake to Lagoon conservation program in Flagler, Lake and Volusia counties. The award will help support the use of research-based management practices and advance land protection in the region.
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Published on 2/26/2024
A Second Chance at Life
One Friday night in 2019, Roy Reid fell asleep on the couch while watching a movie. “At about two in the morning, I wake up with the worst pain I've ever had in my life — as if someone had punched a hole through my chest,” Reid says. “I run into the bedroom, wake up my wife and say, ‘I think I'm having a heart attack, we need to get to the emergency room.'”
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Published on 2/26/2024
Knight's New Leader
A veteran journalist and Miami native has been tapped as the president and CEO of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Former USA Today publisher Maribel Perez Wadsworth spent more than 30 years working as a journalist, starting as an editorial assistant for the Associated Press in 1994. She spent 26 years with Gannett, moving to its corporate offices in 2009 to work on digital and audience transformation.
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Published on 2/22/2024
Fine Arts
An international center for the arts is coming to Naples. Theater in the Garden, a multipurpose space featuring a 900-seat indoor theater and outside amphitheater in a landscaped setting, will be the first location of the Luciano Pavarotti Foundation outside of Italy.
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Published on 2/21/2024
