Alexis Yarbrough, 39
Shane Strum, 40
 [Photo: Ray Stanyard] |
He: Governor's chief of staff
She: General counsel for the Florida Department of Transportation, where she heads a team of 78 lawyers
» Career Highlights:
He: Named Deputy Secretary for the Florida Department of Management Services in January 2007. Ten months later, he became deputy chief of staff for Florida Gov. Charlie Crist.
She: Worked for Fort Lauderdale law firm Tripp Scott, where she focused on commercial litigation matters and constitutional issues. She represented the Florida Senate in 2002 in defending a legal challenge to Florida's congressional and legislative redistricting as part of the team that tried the case before a three-judge panel.
» Education:
He: Bachelor's from the University of Alabama, MBA from Nova Southeastern
She: Bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Miami, law degree from Nova Southeastern
» Family: Welcomed their first child, Kate Delaney Strum, on Oct. 19
» How They Met: Through mutual friends on Oct. 20, 2001. Six years later to the day, they got married on the beach in Fort Lauderdale.
» Keeping the Balance: With workdays that often stretch into the late evening hours, the couple tries to share at least one meal every day, sans BlackBerries. "The balance part hasn't been that difficult, in part because we're both working at the same pace. We don't have to try to explain to the other person why what we're doing is taking time away from the other person. We both just understand it," says Yarbrough.
» Weekends: "We've totally explored the entire Panhandle. We've been to every little small town. We've kayaked the Wakulla, the Wacissa, last weekend the Chipola."
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Kathy Baughman McLeod, 41
Andy McLeod, 50
 [Photo: Ray Stanyard] |
He: Director of government affairs, The Nature Conservancy (Florida chapter)
She: Director, public policy group, Bryant Miller Olive
» Career Highlights:
He: Served as the Florida director of government affairs for the Trust for Public Land from 2004-07. Also served as the director of the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, assistant and deputy secretary of the California Natural Resources Agency and press secretary to former Sen. John Chafee (R-R.I.) and Lowell Weicker (R-Conn.)
She: As deputy chief of staff to Florida CFO Alex Sink from 2007-09, McLeod was a key player in initial efforts to develop sustainability policies. Also held positions with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, the Florida Department of Community Affairs, The Nature Conservancy and the Trust for Public Land
» Education:
He: Master's of public administration from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University; master's from Georgetown University; bachelor's from George Washington University
She: Bachelor's in international relations, master's in geography — both from Florida State University
» Family: Fiona, 10; Jillian, 6
» How They Met: As colleagues at the Trust for Public Land: Kathy was based out of Tallahassee, and Andy ran the group's conservation campaign out of Boston. "I can remember hearing a very engaging voice on conference calls from Tallahassee and thinking I've got to meet this woman." Andy eventually moved to Tallahassee, and they married in 2004.
» A Family Affair: The McLeods make an effort to include their kids in as many of their professional and civic activities as they can. When Kathy recently traveled to Sweden for the World Biomass Conference, she was accompanied by daughter Fiona, who learned a bit about currency exchange, picked up a few words in Swedish and soaked up some Swedish history in the museums.
» Weekends: They like to take in the local history with visits to museums, plantations and other historical sites unique to north Florida. "It tickles me as a New Englander to be living in the old Confederacy," says Andy.
R.Z. "Sandy" Safley, 64
Robin Safley, 47
 [Photo: Ray Stanyard] |
He: Special consultant to Pennington Moore Wilkinson Bell & Dunbar law firm
She: Consultant; regular on the Sunday political talk show "The Usual Suspects;" triathlon competitor
» Career Highlights:
He: Executive assistant to Lt. Gov. Ray C. Osborne, 1969-1970. Elected to the Florida House in 1988 and served five terms before returning to the private sector
She: After a brief stint in private practice, became general counsel to then-state Sen. Ander Crenshaw. Also served as general counsel for the Florida Department of Commerce, chief of staff to Sen. Jim Scott and chief of staff to Charlie Crist during his tenure as education secretary.
» Family: Robin has two daughters, ages 18 and 20, from a previous marriage. Sandy has a 30-year-old son and 27-year-old daughter from a previous marriage.
» How They Met: After being introduced by a mutual friend, the couple realized in short order that they were "two peas in a pod separated by 18 years." The couple eloped while vacationing in Taos, N.M., in 1999.
» Balance: Each morning, the Safleys take time to enjoy a cup of coffee together and reconnect. "That's our moment. I tell Sandy we've got our relationship and then we've got the Safley Corp., which are all the things — grocery store, bills, things it takes to run a corporation or a business. We really save that morning time to just really talk about us or life," says Robin. BlackBerries are banned from the bedroom.
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Sam Bell, 71
Betty Castor, 69
 [Photo: Ray Stanyard] |
He: Shareholder at Pennington Moore Wilkinson Bell & Dunbar law firm; chairman of the advisory board for the College of Public Health at the University of South Florida; president of the Florida Public Health Foundation; a member of the Florida Children's Home Society
She: Education adviser at Pennington Moore Wilkinson Bell & Dunbar
» Career Highlights:
He: State representative for Volusia County from 1974 to 1988; chaired the Rules Committee, the Commerce Committee and the Appropriations Committee; served as majority leader
She: Elected to three terms in the Florida Senate in 1980s and early 1990s; Senate president from 1985 to 1987. Served as education commissioner, president of the University of South Florida and president of the Virginia-based National Board for Professional Teaching Standards and director of the Patel Center for Global Solutions at USF
» Family: Castor is the mother of U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Tampa), Frank Castor, a Palm Beach County judge, and Karen Castor Dentel, a teacher. Bell has three sons: Sam, David and Douglas, who works with him at Pennington Moore Wilkinson Bell & Dunbar. Bell has four grandchildren, and Castor has six.
» How They Met: In the Legislature, when Castor was commissioner of education and Bell controlled her budget. "He was the chair of the Appropriations Committee for the House, which was a pretty powerful position, so I had to go hat-in-hand to try to get the budget for schools and colleges approved. We sometimes got into debates," Castor says chuckling. Bell says the first time he "realized what a neat person" Castor was when they were invited by a former president of FSU to a dinner honoring regents from the University of San Jose in Costa Rica and ended up sitting across from each other. "That's the first time we'd been in a social situation, and I found out Betty actually read books and liked to play to tennis and a few things like that," recalls Bell. They married in 1989.
» Table Talk: Dinner conversation is "fun" but "also very much about public policy discussions," says Castor, who starts the day by reading several newspapers.
» Life in the Fast Lane: Balancing the demands of their personal and professional life is "tough," says Castor, and often means you "just keep going." Bell agrees. "We stay busy all the time. Even when we're sort of on vacation, we're up early ... reading the papers. I run into town and get the New York Times, and we read online several papers and we're in communication with the office early. So even when were out planting flowers in the yard, we're talking politics and thinking about campaigns and our issues."
» Common Ground: Sharing the same personal beliefs and values, Bell says, is critical to keeping their union strong. "Since we hold such strong beliefs, it would be very difficult if we didn't agree on the basics. We'd probably kill each other."