Scott Crossman founded Crossman & Co., a retail leasing and management company in Orlando, in 1990 and built it through the years with strong central Florida business contacts. A key player in the firm’s rise is Scott’s younger brother, John, who had helped close more than $1 billion in deals for a major national firm. John Crossman is now president of Crossman & Co., which has more than 20 million square feet of space under lease or management in six Southeastern states.

John Crossman says the family’s approach to running the firm has been guided by values handed down by his father, the late Kenneth Crossman, a Methodist pastor and civil rights activist in central Florida during the 1960s.

The company’s core business values, he says, reflect Crossman family values: “Demonstrate servant leadership. Practice kindness, openness and humility.”

Mentoring, education, promoting opportunities for women and minorities are part of the company’s culture, he says.

The Crossman family, with the help of friends, established the Reverend Kenneth C. Crossman Endowed Scholarship for students attending Bethune-Cookman University, a historically black United Methodist college in Daytona Beach, in memory of Rev. Crossman after his death in 2004. Crossman and his wife, Cecily, were longtime supporters of the school.

The company also supports a number of non-profits, including Grace Medical Home for uninsured and underinsured central Floridians, the Samaritan Village for at-risk women and the Feeding Children Everywhere program.

Crossman offers its 24 employees regular outings, stress management workshops, personal development seminars and “flex hours” to attend to personal matters. In the past few years, the company has made all employees, including part timers, eligible for bonuses.
“We seek to influence the industry,” John Crossman says, by setting high standards and supporting the community.