News

Eric Rosenthal, CEO Florikan LinkedIn Profile Eric Rosenthal, CEO of Florikan, a manufacturer and distributor of controlled release fertilizers, took over the family business before turning 35 and has grown it due in part to strong strategic planning and goal setting. "We were introduced to the economic gardening concept through the Sarasota EDC," he said. "We worked with GrowFL in their Strategic Research program, which helped get me [...]

Nancy Crews, founder Custom Manufacturing and Engineering LinkedIn Profile Dr. Nancy Crews, founder of Custom Manufacturing & Engineering, Inc., spun the company out of a Lockheed Martin operated nuclear weapon component plant in Pinellas County. "At the end of the Cold War, they were in the process of downsizing the nuclear weapons complex in Florida and were looking at people to help them take those technologies and commercialize [...]

David Karins, Founder Karins Engineering Group LinkedIn Profile David Karins, founder of Karins Engineering Group, Inc., became interested in entrepreneurship in high school while working at his father's company. He kept his eye on that goal consistently and as a result was well prepared to strike out on his own when the opportunity presented itself. Due in part to that focus, Karins was a rarity in the engineering [...]

Joann Elardo, founder, Wicked Dolphin Rum Distillery In 2010, while reading about the Florida sugar industry, JoAnn Elardo started thinking about manufacturing a Florida product, using Florida ingredients. She wanted to create something that would be distributed and sold in Florida, then expand to other states, and to bring people to Southwest Florida—so began Wicked Dolphin Rum Distillery. In 2012, she purchased a 7,200-square-foot, foreclosed building in Cape [...]

https://youtu.be/2oyTVH1Weuk CSI Specialty Group is a WBE Certified leadership, strategy and talent consulting firm dedicated to helping clients drive sustainable, accelerated growth while continually elevating the specialty pharmacy industry. Our award-winning success has placed us among the top leadership and talent consulting firms; and clients of all sizes successfully leverage our teams, networks, and insight to develop customized programs tailored to meet their unique goals, from specialty pharmacy build outs [...]

Photon-X is an imaging technology company focused on Spatial Phase Imaging (SPI) research and core products. Formed in 1999 as a company solely focused on research and development of optical products, services and solutions, Photon-X staff consists of technologists and engineers providing technical expertise in a variety of areas including optics, imaging, sensors, photonics, physics and computer science. Photon-X has experience designing and developing complex electro-optical systems, state-of-the-art sensors, photonics [...]

Founded in 1996 by CEO and president Brian D. Rist, The Smart Companies employs more than 150 people within its family of enterprises of Storm Smart Building Systems, Storm Catcher and GoEnergySmart. The corporation has its main offices and headquarters at 6182 Idlewild Street, Fort Myers; a showroom at 11040 Plantation Road, Fort Myers; and a Naples showroom at 2400 Vanderbilt Beach Road, Unit 102. Subscribe

Penny Lewandowski, Senior consultant on external relations, Edward Lowe Foundation The Edward Lowe Foundation's entrepreneurship initiatives are focused on second-stage companies — growth-oriented firms that have moved beyond startup but haven’t yet reached maturity. Their peer learning, leadership education and strategic information programs are geared to help these companies continue growing. They also educate communities about the challenges second-stagers face and how to work with them. To scale [...]

Joe Parris, co-founder of VALiNTRY Services, is a serial entrepreneur in the staffing space who started VALiNTRY for the chance to innovate again. “When we sold our travel therapy staffing company, we sold to a company that is owned by the largest IT staffing company in world and we stayed on to manage our division,” Parris said. “However, we lost all our resources and ability to innovate. We believe innovation [...]