Soundbytes: Business updates from around the 850

New beginnings, name changes, local honors and appointments by Gov. Scott

Capital Corridor

Local Honors

• Leon County Tax Collector Doris Maloy was installed as president of the statewide Florida Tax Collectors Association during its annual conference and education forum in Orlando last fall. In her capacity as president, Maloy will lead tax collectors from each of Florida's 67 counties. In Florida, tax collectors are independently elected constitutional officers.
• David Faulkenberry, president of FBMC Benefits Management, has been appointed to serve as secretary/treasurer of the Florida Sterling Council. He has served as deputy secretary of the Florida Department of Management Services and CFO of the Florida Lottery and has owned a private consulting firm. FBMC Benefits Management Inc. is a national employee benefits broker and administrator.
• The Association of Florida Colleges (AFC) was recently recognized as Association of the Year during the annual meeting of local, state and national associations headquartered in Florida's capital city. The award recognizes an organization that has demonstrated outstanding efforts, excellence and innovation related to its ongoing or special programs and services, which benefit their industry, profession or the public at large. AFC is the professional association for member institutions of the Florida College System, their boards of trustees, employees, retirees, associates and the Division of Colleges.
• Two of Ajax Building Corporation's projects were named to the list of winners in the ENR Southeast's 2012 Best Projects competition. Conducted annually, the competition recognizes the industry's best construction and design achievements. Both winning entries are for Florida projects — Lynch Replacement Elementary School for Pinellas County Schools in St. Petersburg and the University of North Florida Science and Humanities Building in Jacksonville.
• The graduate program of the Department of Interior Design at Florida State University has been named the most admired program of its kind in the country in a national survey of 122 deans and department chairs.
• Richard A. Greenberg of Rumberger, Kirk & Caldwell has been selected as "Lawyer of the Year" by Best Lawyers in America in the area of Criminal Defense: Non-White Collar.
• For the fourth consecutive year, Carlton Fields has received a perfect score – 100 percent rating – on the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) 2013 Corporate Equality Index (CEI). Carlton Fields is one of 71 law firms in the country that scored 100 percent. CEI provides an in-depth analysis and rating of large U.S. employers and their policies and practices pertinent to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees.

New Beginnings

• Sarah Bascom, president and owner of Bascom Communications & Consulting LLC, was recently named to the board of the Economic Club of Florida. Bascom was also recently announced as a co-host of the syndicated political talk show "Usual Suspects." Kristen Bridges has been promoted to senior vice president of BCC. She will continue her role as a lead communications consultant for Bascom and will also oversee the Web & Graphic Design Division and serve as a member of the firm's senior leadership team.
• After serving three years as president of the Florida Chamber Foundation, Dale Brill left his post at the beginning of the year to start an economic development practice.
• Beth Kirkland has left her post as executive director of the Economic Development Council of Tallahassee/Leon County after serving for 10 years. Sue Dick, president of the Greater Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce and EDC, will assume the executive director responsibilities until a replacement is identified. A search committee is being chaired by EDC chair Karen Moore.
• Andrew McClenahan has been named public safety director of the U.S. operation of SmartWater CSI, LLC™, a high technology company with an established track record of crime deterrence and theft reduction in the United Kingdom. McClenahan served in various capacities with the Tallahassee Police Department before joining the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. Prior to joining SmartWater CSI, he retired as an investigative captain in the Office of the Inspector General for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
• Following four years as managing director of Tallahassee-based CoreMessage, Jennifer Fennell has been promoted to vice president. She also recently earned her Certified Public Relations Counselor credential through the Florida Public Relations Association. Jamie Mongiovi has joined CoreMessage as an account executive. She previously served as a spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Education.
• Michael Campbell is the new director of the North Florida Outreach Initiative for The Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship at Florida State University. A financial advisor and entrepreneur, he is the former owner of Statement Analysis Corp. and Trusteria Services Inc.
• Fort Lauderdale-based public relations pro Stan Smith, who helped create MyFlorida.com, is working with award-winning television producer Steve Hull to open a new office of Smarter Story LLC in Tallahassee.
• Bass Pro Shops is opening a 70,000-square-foot Bass Pro Shops Outpost® store in Tallahassee. The new store will be located in the Fallschase Development at the intersection of Mahan and Buck Lake Roads and is targeted to open in 2013.
• Ian Macdonald has joined the Tallahassee office of Clark, Partington, Hart, Larry, Bond & Stackhouse. His practice area is focused in commercial litigation, creditor's rights and real property litigation.
• Pam Monnier has been hired as director of Resort Events and Promotions at Honey Lake Plantation Resort & Spa. She most recently served as director of meetings and events at Tallahassee's Hotel Duval.
• Dr. Lisa Conti has been named deputy commissioner and chief science officer at the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. She most recently worked with Global One Health Solutions on educational services focused on improving human, veterinary and environmental health.
• Ellen Anderson, most recently chief of staff to state Senate Minority Leader Nan Rich, is the new director of state advocacy for the Florida Hospital Association.
• Former state insurance regulation official Claude Mueller has joined the lobbying and law firm of Colodny, Fass, Talenfeld, Karlinsky, Abate & Webb, where he will work with clients on regulatory compliance and legislative lobbying.
• After 22 years as the executive director of Tall Timbers Research Station & Land Conservancy and the Tall Timbers Foundation, Lane Green has retired to pursue his passions: time with family, hunting, travel, playing baseball and managing his family land.
• Charles D. Johnson has been named vice president of human capital management at Citizens Property Insurance. He came from American Express Inc., where he led human resources support for approximately 15,500 employees throughout North America and 15 other countries,
• Monte Stevens has been hired by the Florida Medical Association as director of payment advocacy. He comes to the doctor lobby from the Office of Insurance Regulation, where he had served as director of governmental affairs since 2008. Rebecca Matthews has assumed the governmental affairs role while continuing as the agency's deputy chief of staff.
• Christa Calamas, the chief health policy staffer in the Florida House of Representatives and a former secretary of the Agency for Health Care Administration, has been appointed to the First District Court of Appeal Judicial Nominating Commission.

Appointed by Gov. Scott

• Charles L. Frank, 47, of Crawfordville, an operation review specialist at the Florida Division of State Fire Marshall, to the Florida Building Commission.
• Daniel E. Nordby, of Tallahassee, general counsel for the Florida House of Representatives, to the Supreme Court Nominating Commission.

Emerald Coast

Local Happenings

• Innisfree Hotels has broken ground on a new $25 million, 152-room Holiday Inn Resort development beachfront on Air Force property on Fort Walton Beach, marking an unprecedented collaboration of regional hotel development powerhouse Innisfree Hotels, Poarch Creek Indians, regional credit unions and the US Air Force. Revenue generated from the lease will be contributed to the Eglin Air Force Base budget and the resort will contribute approximately 4,000 discounted room nights to active duty and retired military members.
• Navy Federal Credit Union, the world's largest credit union, is expanding. The Brian L. McDonnell Center Campus, where 2,700 of the company's employees are already based, will grow by 700 new jobs, thanks to the credit union's additional $6.75 million investment in the area.
• Gulf Winds Federal Credit Union has merged with SCORE Federal Credit Union in Tallahassee. On Jan. 1, SCORE FCU became Gulf Winds. The merger will add more than 5,500 members and three branch locations in the Tallahassee area to Pensacola-based Gulf Winds.
• L-3 Crestview Aerospace plans to create 340 jobs within two years through the expansion of its aircraft manufacturing operations in Okaloosa County. The project marks an investment of more than $13.7 million, which will include $7 million in facilities upgrades and the retrofit of hangar space at Bob Sikes Airport in 2013 and 2014.
• Summit Bank has formed a five-person advisory board to help guide the bank's Pensacola growth. Members of the team are: Tommy Tait, Pensacola market president; Steve Jernigan, FAIA, Bay Design Associates Architects; John L. Hutchinson, director of Public Affairs and Economic Development, Gulf Power Co.; Justin Beck, president, Beck Property Company; and Bill Wein, IMS ExpertServices.
• Trauma Intervention Program of Northwest Florida has been awarded the 2013 "Goodworks" grant from Ideaworks Inc., which will provide in-depth support — strategy, public relations, graphics, interactive marketing and social media. Ideaworks, now 17 years old, picks one nonprofit per year to help with total marketing support. TIP serves Escambia, Santa Rosa and Okaloosa counties, training volunteers to answer calls from emergency responders who need additional support for victims or survivors of traumatic events.

New Beginnings

• Larry Sassano has been named interim president of Florida's Great Northwest, the 16-county regional economic development organization for Northwest Florida. Sassano formerly served as president of the Economic Development Council of Okaloosa County. He has 31 years of experience in economic development in Florida, including 13 years with the state as a supervisor for the Bureau of Industry Development. The organization has relocated its offices to the Northwest Forida State College Niceville campus.
• Hilton Sandestin Beach Golf Resort & Spa, the largest full-service beachfront resort on Northwest Florida's Gulf Coast, has named J. Brian Lee as regional sales manager.
• Robert McFarlane has joined The St. Joe Company as a senior vice president leading sales for the company's commercial real estate, residential real estate and rural land sales segments.
• Melinda Crawford, director of the city-owned Pensacola International Airport, plans to leave this month to take a position as the executive director of Charlottesville Albemarle Airport in Charlottesville, Va. The city is expected to launch a national search for her replacement.
• Fort Walton Beach Medical Center, an affiliate of HCA, has named Mitch Mongell, FACHE, as chief executive officer. Mongell brings more than 30 years of hospital administration experience to the role.
• The Emerald Coast Association of Realtors® has selected Anne C. Rendle as its new association executive. She will start in her new role on Feb. 18. Rendle has been the chief executive officer for the Northeast Association of Realtors® in Westford, Mass., since 1998.
• Brut Campbell-Work has joined the Pensacola office of Clark, Partington, Hart, Larry, Bond & Stackhouse. His practice focuses on assisting clients with estate planning and administration of trusts and estates, as well as real property matters.
• James A. Natalie, a board-certified physical medicine and rehabilitation physician, has joined the Andrews Institute and Baptist Medical Group team of experts.

Local Honors

• Legendary Marine, the Gulf Coast's largest boat dealership with sales and service locations in Destin, Fort Walton Beach, Panama City and Gulf Shores, Ala., was named as 2012 "Dealer of the Year" by Boating Industry magazine. The award is presented annually to only one dealer during a gathering of the marine industry elite.
• In December the state awarded $1,581,245 in Defense Infrastructure Grants to local community organizations that support Florida military installations. The grants work to protect a $60 billion economic impact and more than 686,000 direct and indirect jobs. Among those receiving grants were: Bay County Board of County Commissioners, Santa Rosa County, Greater Pensacola Chamber of Commerce and Okaloosa County Board of County Commissioners. (Okaloosa received awards for both Hurlburt Field and Eglin Air Force Base.)
• Two local businesses were winners of the 2012 Governor's Innovators in Business Awards. They are: Santa Rosa County's AppRiver — Governor's Export Excellence Award for Florida companies with new or significant increases in documented export sales in 2011; and Escambia County's Hewes & Company, LLC, Allan Bell, partner — Governor's Innovators Under 40 Award, a new award that recognizes Florida residents under 40 who own or lead a Florida company with annual revenue of $1 million or more and who have created at least 10 jobs since January 2011.
• Caldwell Associates Architects and Greenhut Construction Company's recently completed renovation of Building 1500 at Pensacola NAS has been selected for a "Platinum Award" by Building Design & Construction magazine's 29th Annual Reconstruction Award Program. The project was submitted because it exemplified the collaboration and partnering required to deliver a complicated renovation to a historic structure. The 63,000-square-foot, four-story structure, which is the old Navy School of Photography Building, was renovated for use as the new Command Headquarters for Pensacola Naval Air Station.
• Hilton Sandestin Beach Golf Resort & Spa has been honored with the 2012 ConventionSouth Readers' Choice Award — the third year it has received the award.
• Sacred Heart Hospital on the Emerald Coast in Miramar Beach has earned The Joint Commission's Gold Seal of Approval® for its Joint Replacement Program by demonstrating compliance with the commission's national standards for healthcare quality and safety orthopedic joint replacements.

Appointed by Gov. Rick Scott

• Sam Seevers, 74, mayor of Destin and owner of Life's A Beach Publications, to the Florida Commission on Community Service.

Forgotten Coast

Appointed by Gov. Rick Scott

• Samuel "Bo" R. Spring, 36, of Port St. Joe, to the Governing Board of the Northwest Florida Water Management District. Spring is the managing member of Big Fish Construction LLC and Cape Concrete LLC. He currently serves as director of the Port St. Joe Downtown Redevelopment Agency and chairs the Gulf County Planning, Development and Review Board.

Bay County

New Beginnings

• Jennifer Conoley has left the Bay County Economic Development Alliance to join Gulf Power Company as an economic development representative for the Bay County region. She will work with local, regional and state economic development organizations to focus on recruiting new businesses to the region as well as help existing businesses be successful.
• Leida Bilby, a 25-year mortgage lending professional, has been named by Summit Bank NA to head up its mortgage lending team and now serves as vice president/mortgage loan officer. Headquartered in Panama City, Summit Bank NA is a community bank that offers a full range of banking services and has offices in Pensacola, Crestview and Fort Walton Beach.
• Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport has named John Van Etten as the new deputy chief of police. He has 28 years of experience in law enforcement, including the past eight years as police chief for the Panama City Police Department.

Local Happenings

• The Panama City Port Authority last fall held a groundbreaking ceremony for its Intermodal Distribution Center on Hwy 231 for a $6 million, 150,000 square foot state-of-the-art distribution warehouse.