Economic Development - The Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce installed Barry Johnson as chairman for 1997-1998 and Jay Malina as chairman-elect. Johnson, 45, is AT&T's director for corporate affairs for Florida. Malina, 55, is president of Xebec Trade Finance Corp.
Conglomerates - Republic Industries in Fort Lauderdale named Gale M. Butler to vice president of corporate affairs. Butler, who previously worked for Republic Chairman H. Wayne Huizenga at Blockbuster Entertainment, will establish and direct community affairs and charitable contributions programs. The programs will focus on issues concerning women, children and the environment.
Education - The Florida Prepaid Postsecondary Education Expense Board, which administers the Florida Prepaid College Program, tapped Thomas J. Wallace as executive director. He succeeds William Montjoy, who left in December. Wallace, 43, has been assistant director of Florida's Agency for Health Care Administration since 1992.
Ron Logan, 59, was promoted to executive vice president for Walt Disney Entertainment, where he is in charge of creating, casting and producing all live entertainment at Disney's theme parks in California, Florida, Japan and France as well as for Disney Cruise Lines and special events worldwide. A 19-year Disney veteran, Logan also is a professional trumpet player and singer.
Servico Inc., a West Palm Beach-based owner and operator of 59 hotels, recruited Karyn Marasco to be executive vice president and COO. Marasco, 39, previously was an area managing director of Westin Hotels and Resorts for four Midwestern states.
Insurance - Sarasota-based Riscorp Inc., which sells managed care workers' compensation insurance products, tapped Frederick M. Dawson as CEO, replacing company founder William D. Griffin, who remains as chairman. Dawson, 57, a 30-year veteran of the insurance and financial services industry, most recently ran his own crisis management firm in Windermere. Riscorp also reconstituted its board of directors with fewer company officers. Shareholders are suing Riscorp, certain officers and directors, and underwriters of its 1996 initial public offering, alleging they violated securities laws by issuing false and misleading statements.
Investments - Coral Gables financial planner Harold Evensky will chair the 1998-1999 Board of Governors for the Denver-based Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, the industry's primary licensing organization. Evensky, 55, is a partner with Evensky, Brown, Katz & Levitt.
Law - Alan S. Becker, 51, senior shareholder in the Fort Lauderdale-based firm of Becker & Poliakoff, has become the first Florida attorney admitted to the bar in the Czech Republic. He also serves as the honorary consul general for the Czech Republic in Florida. Becker was among more than 100 foreigners who took the Czech bar in April, the first time that bar membership was opened to foreign lawyers since pre- Communist days. Becker & Poliakoff has an 8-lawyer office in Prague, where the firm represents numerous Czech and German interests as well as U.S. companies with Czech subsidiaries. Becker says the country's nearly "cold turkey" switch to a free-market economy has created lots of demand for commercial lawyers.
Retail - Susan Kronick replaces Howard Socol as chairman and CEO of Burdines, the Miami-based retail chain owned by Federated Department Stores. Before her appointment, Kronick, 45, was president and COO of Federated's Atlanta-based Rich's/Lazarus/Goldsmith's (RLG) division, which has 76 stores. She joined Federated in 1973 as an executive trainee at Bloomingdale's, where she held a variety of executive posts until her move to RLG in 1993. Socol, 51, who led Burdines for 13 years, is leaving the department store chain in order to travel around the world. He hasn't ruled out a return to Federated in the future.
Jack B. Chadsey, 49, resigned as president and CEO of struggling Sunglass Hut International, the Coral Gables retail chain. Once a Wall Street darling, investors have hammered the company over the past year for weak sales growth. Sunglass Hut recently reported first quarter 1997 earnings of $292,000 on sales of $138.3 million. Comparable-store sales for the period fell 3.3%. Sunglass Hut Chairman James N. Hauslein is serving as acting CEO and president until Chadsey's replacement is selected.
Tire Kingdom, operator of 147 tire and auto service stores, named James F. Wright as president and CEO of the Riviera Beach company. He replaces Thomas W. Garvey, acting president and CEO since the retirement of Tire Kingdom founder Chuck Curcio last summer. Wright, 47, previously was executive vice president for stores of Western Auto Supply Co., the Kansas City-based retail chain of 600 stores.
Utilities - Florida Progress Corp. promoted President and COO Richard Korpan, 55, to CEO, succeeding Jack B. Critchfield, 64, who remains chairman. Korpan takes over as the company confronts problems at its Crystal River nuclear plant, escalating operating and maintenance expenses and weak stock performance. Company veteran Joseph H. Richardson, 48, replaces Korpan as CEO of Florida Power, the St. Petersburg utility owned by Flirida Progress.