Florida's Cheer Leader

Accomplished equestrienne. Cancer survivor. Working mother. Influential lobbyist. Carol Dover, who manages the 10,000-member Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association, is all that and more. And in the wake of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, she has now become an outspoken evangelist for Northwest Florida and what the region has to offer the world.

Cheer Leader Carol Dover, Tallahassee, President/CEO Florida Restaurant & Lodging Association By Linda Kleindienst Originally published in the Apr/May 2011 issue of 850 Business Magazine

Accomplished equestrienne. Cancer survivor. Working mother. Influential lobbyist. Carol Dover, who manages the 10,000-member Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association, is all that and more. And in the wake of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, she has now become an outspoken evangelist for Northwest Florida and what the region has to offer the world.

“I think if there was a silver lining in the oil spill … Northwest Florida was a little bit of a secret, a lot of people had no idea it was there,” says Dover, 53. “But now, with the millions of dollars that were pumped into marketing the region, I believe that will help us in years to come.”

Dover has helped bring some of that money to the area. Her organization partnered with the region’s tourist development agencies on a marketing campaign designed to bring visitors back to the Gulf Coast, from Port St. Joe to Pensacola.

Now Dover’s group has kicked off a new website, GreatFloridaEvents.com, to give visitors the full scoop on Florida before they get here — from events and things to do to restaurants and hotels. The first region to go online: Northwest Florida.

“It will be one-stop shopping to find all the special deals.”

1. Reading: “Decision Points” by former President George W. Bush.

2. Lifelong dream: I feel I’m fulfilling it. I always wanted to have a good marriage, be a mother. It’s all about quality of life.

3. Social media: I’m terrible on Facebook. I live on email. That’s my world.

4. Personal Hero: My mother. She taught me an impeccable work ethic. Life dealt her some difficult cards. We lost dad when he was 49 and she was 49. She raised three kids and they all went to college.

5. Admire: The Bush Family, Condoleezza Rice and Billy Graham.

6. Hobbies: I work out and ride my horses (dressage).

7. On the road: I’m probably away from home on the average of three days a week.

8. First job: I was the front desk clerk at the Holiday Inn off Lee Road in Orlando in high school and college. During college I worked for the Brown Derby.

9. Lesson learned: How hard the people in the restaurant and lodging industry work for a very small return, maybe a 3 percent profit margin. They are the salt of the earth of our economy.

10. Like to meet: Ann Romney. She’s the wife of Mitt Romney and a grand prix dressage rider who has been dealt some serious health issues, like I was, but who was able to reach her goals.

11. Studied: Hotel and Restaurant Management from the Florida State University Dedman School of Hospitality.