Entrepreneur takes on double duty

Here's a subtle sign the economy is on the mend: Tom Darrow, a former Gulf Coast resident and entrepreneur who moved to Connecticut, has returned to the region — and business is good.

Darrow, who ran a commercial landscaping firm in Ridgefield, Conn., didn't only move back to Florida for the weather. He mostly moved so he could help build his business, a franchise-based company that repaves parking lot stripes, into a national success.

“We want to be able to do any job from Maine to Miami,” says Darrow, who previously lived in Venice and now lives in Naples. “But we realize we have to have the hubs to do that.”