tampa-bay
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Greg Bryant and the bank you can’t buy
After Bay Cities Bank was sold, Greg Bryant began again in Tampa Bay. His next chapter at ServisFirst puts a familiar banking question to the test: how much of a business lives in the people who know its customers?
Karla Jo Helms and the trouble with being believed
She learned public relations where the stakes were immediate and the clock was unforgiving. Now the founder of JOTO PR Disruptors is asking a quieter question: what makes a good business credible before it needs a rescue?
Stu Sjouwerman and the Trouble Between the Keyboard and the Chair
After building antivirus software, Stu Sjouwerman found a problem the code could not solve: people could be persuaded to let attackers in. That observation became KnowBe4, and his next venture asks another question about human behavior - what customers really mean when they speak.
Jack Callahan and the Business of Making Room
Before he founded Advanta IRA, Jack Callahan advised real-estate investors and small-business owners. His next business gave them a way to hold alternative assets inside retirement accounts.
Scott Riley Found a Second Business Inside the First
Fintech paid the bills. Scott Riley saw what the bills could tell him - and found students who could help. His next investment was in the people coming after him.
Arnie Bellini and the problem of disconnected things
He spent decades connecting the moving parts of IT businesses. After ConnectWise, Arnie Bellini began applying the same instinct to Florida’s talent, digital defenses and disappearing wild places.
Samyr Qureshi and the question that changed who paid
Knack began with students buying help from other students. Samyr Qureshi spent a decade turning that idea into university-funded tutoring, then handed the CEO seat to someone else.
Himanshu Anand and the business of being useful
After engineering, technology and investment banking, Himanshu Anand founded Anplify to help other people execute their deals. His story turns on a practical question: who does the work before the handshake?
Ryan Bradbury and the business of keeping a promise
Before Ryan Bradbury began buying pest control companies at Rockit, he helped sell the one his parents built. His career turns on a question every family business eventually faces: what should survive a change of ownership?
Tampa Bay Wave opens doors without taking equity
Its startups have raised more than $2 billion. The useful story is how a Tampa nonprofit turned a meetup into a system for getting founders into the right rooms.
Nelson Miranda Has Been Hired to Keep Vacation Weird - and Make It Bigger
After three decades inside P&G, Revlon and Not Your Mother's, the engineer-turned-brand operator has accepted an unusually sunny brief: build a larger company without bleaching the color from it.
ChappellRoberts Turned Tampa Bay Into Its Own Best Pitch
For nearly five decades, this Ybor City agency has done something harder than making ads: it has turned local identity into measurable action, from stadium seats to patient visits to a food bank reborn as a hub of opportunity.
The Publicist Who Learned to Speak Pentagon
Brian Butler started Vistra at home because no one would hire him. The business took off when he stopped treating communication as decoration and started treating it as operational infrastructure.
Brian Butler Built a Second Career by Listening First
After 22 years in the Army, a White House policy post and a bruising civilian transition, Brian Butler started over at home. He built Vistra by carrying one military habit into business: listen before you lead.
Jennifer Lorenzo Makes the Back Office Worth Looking At
After years of marketing payroll, people operations and professional employer services, Jennifer Lorenzo has learned the quiet craft of making complex work feel clear - across brands, borders and buying committees.
Laurie Morylak Turned Field Marketing Into a Seat at the Cybersecurity Table
She built her career in the rooms where customers actually show up. At ReliaQuest, that field instinct became a global brief: make a complicated security platform clear, credible and useful.