Environment -- The Florida Audubon Society, which has combined with the National Audubon Society, tapped Stuart Strahl as president and CEO. He takes over from Clay Henderson, who spent five years in the post. Strahl remains Florida State Director for the National Audubon Society. He will split his time between Miami and Winter Park.
Manufacturing -- Tallahassee-based GTO Inc., a maker of automatic gate openers, named Joseph A. Kelley to be president. Former President Chuck Miller remains as CEO and assumes the role of chairman. Since 1992, Kelley, 41, has been president of the Tallahassee Area Chamber of Commerce and the Economic Development Council of Tallahassee-Leon County.
Reptron Electronics, a Tampa manufacturer and distributor of electronic components, promoted Paul J. Plante, 41, to be president. He remains chief operating officer. Plante joined the company in 1986 after his previous company, K-Byte Manufacturing, was acquired by Reptron.
Mining -- The Florida Phosphate Council tapped Mary Lou Rajchel, 49, as president, replacing retiring leader David L. Batt, 65. Rajchel, a lawyer, has been the council's vice president of regulatory affairs since 1992. Previously, she was director of the Office of Cabinet Affairs for State Education Commissioner Betty Caster and assistant general counsel at the Florida Department of Commerce.
Restaurants -- Checkers Drive-In Restaurants named Daniel J. Dorsch its CEO and president. He takes over from Jay Gillespie, who resigned in October. Dorsch, 47, is a long-time owner of various restaurant franchises, including KFC, Taco Bell and Papa John's. In another move, Ted Abajian, 36, replaces Richard Peabody as senior vice president and CFO.
Technology -- David Williams, 49, moves up to president and CEO of Orlando's Cirent Semiconductor. He replaces Peter Panousis, who becomes strategic partnerships vice president for Lucent Technologies, parent company of Cirent. Williams, most recently Cirent's vice president of manufacturing, joined Lucent's Bell Laboratories research and development operation in 1981 and moved to Orlando in 1991.
AT&T veteran George Foyo joins Galaxy Latin America as president. Galaxy is a Hughes Electronics subsidiary that provides DirecTV satellite service to Latin America. Foyo, 53, spent 30 years with AT&T, most recently as the Miami-based president and managing director for AT&T's Caribbean & Latin America region.
Fort Lauderdale-based Citrix Systems tapped John P. Cunningham as senior vice president, finance and accounting and CFO. He replaces James J. Felcyn, who left the software company at the end of 1999. Cunningham moves to Citrix from Getronics, formerly Wang Global, where he was executive vice president and CFO.
Obituaries -- Tampa homebuilding pioneer James W. "Jim" Walter died of complications from lung cancer on January 6. He was 77. Walter, who founded what is now known as Walter Industries in 1946, began building and selling unfinished "shell" homes for modest sums to families in the post-World War II economic boom. He grew the business to more than $1 billion in sales by the time of his retirement in the mid 1990s. Since its inception, Walter's original business, Jim Walter Homes, has sold and financed more than 330,000 single-family, detached homes in 24 states.
Allen K. Breed, chairman emeritus of Lakeland's Breed Technologies, died December 13 after a long battle with cancer. He was 72. Breed, who developed his first airbag sensor in 1968, founded Breed Technologies in 1987 to develop, design and manufacture crash sensors and airbag systems. A mechanical engineer by training, he earlier worked at RCA and started several other engineering and defense products companies.