Reinforcements: Two college programs target vets in need

Two college programs target vets in need. Two new programs at Florida State University and Tallahassee Community College are providing veterans with career counseling, educational opportunities and legal assistance.

Richard Moore, an attorney and veteran, and his wife, Karen Moore, have endowed a Veterans Success Center at Tallahassee Community College. The center is designed to help vets transition to civilian life and help ensure their academic success at TCC.

The couple, owners of Tallahassee-based marketing and communications firm Moore, also have endowed the Moore Veterans Leadership Academy, a six-week program that helps vets find work in the private sector following their graduation from TCC.

Meanwhile, FSU College of Law professor Jennifer LaVia has created the Veterans Legal Clinic program, which offers law students an opportunity to counsel vets facing legal issues or bureaucratic red tape, such as loss of a driver’s license.

“It has been so inspirational to see our students go way above and beyond what’s expected,” says LaVia, a former defense and appellate lawyer who started teaching at FSU in 2002. “The students in my class are so excited to do something that helps real people. They actually go into court and file documents. It’s valuable experience for them.”

PLAYERS

• Tom VanOsdol is the new CEO of Sacred Heart Health System in Pensacola and St. Vincent’s Health- Care in Jacksonville. Sacred Heart spokesman Mike Burke says VanOsdol’s new role is the result of a restructuring that unites St. Louis, Mo.-based Ascension’s seven Florida hospitals under one management structure. Previously, VanOsdol was CEO for St. Vincent’s HealthCare and a longtime executive with Ascension’s hospitals in Indiana.
• Hancock Whitney Bank market President Emory Mayfi eld is the 2018-19 chairman of the Tallahassee-based Florida Bankers Association.

Business Briefs for Northwest Florida

PANAMA CITY

• American Airlines, Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport’s newest commercial carrier, now offers non-stop daily service to Charlotte, N.C., and Dallas-Fort Worth.

PENSACOLA

• The city is asking Triumph Gulf Coast for a $130-million grant to help fi nance an expansion of its existing facilities at Pensacola International Airport. While expressing initial support, Triumph board members say the proposed project must secure about $70 million in additional funding to be considered for a grant. Triumph consultant Rick Harper says the city’s proposed airport project has the potential to create more than 4,000 aircraft maintenance jobs.
• Local developer and philanthropist Quint Studer has pledged to donate a portion of his 19-acre downtown property for the development of an indoor sports facility. The property is adjacent to Community Maritime Park, home to Studer’s Blue Wahoos AA baseball team. A recent study estimated the proposed sports facility could generate more than 50,000 additional hotel stays and create an annual $15-million economic impact.

PERRY

• Amrouch Snacks President Mahmoud Amrouch says the company’s newly acquired plant in Perry will become U.S. headquarters for Super-Pufft Snacks. Super-Pufft is a national manufacturer of private label and store-branded snacks. The plant previously was operated by snack manufacturer Snyder’s Lance, which closed in 2017.

ST. MARKS

• Sam Shine, a Midwestern manufacturing executive, recently donated 6,200 acres of forest and wetlands to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The land adjoins the 68,000- acre St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge, which occupies parts of Wakulla, Jefferson and Taylor counties.

SANTA ROSA/ OKALOOSA COUNTIES

• The 2019 National Defense Authorization Act includes $10 million for a new air traffi c control tower at NAS Whiting Field near Milton. The act also authorizes $28 million for a new student dormitory at Eglin AFB and $34.86 million for a F-35 integrated training center academics building also at Eglin.

TALLAHASSEE

• Marriott International is building a $30-million, sevenstory, 154-room hotel with more than 5,000 square feet of meeting space that will overlook the 24-acre Cascades Park site near downtown Tallahassee. Miamibased private equity fi rm Lloyd Jones Capital is the new owner of Westcott Apartments near Tom Brown Park. The fi rm paid $57.8 million for the 444 units. The company also recently acquired Jackson Square Apartments. Lloyd Jones Capital focuses on multi-family and senior housing properties throughout Florida and the Southeast.

VALPARISO

• Allegiant has added six non-stop fl ights at Destin-Fort Walton Beach Airport. The new fl ights will serve Bentonville, Ark.; Evansville, Ind.; Lexington, Ky.; Nashville; Charlotte; and Raleigh/Durham, N.C.

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