Captain Larry

When Larry Kiker was an executive at IBM, he cajoled an ornery older employee into sharing what eventually became a $100 million idea for the company.

Kiker's secret: “You have to be able to learn to be a skilled listener.”

It's that kind of skill that helped Kiker defeat longtime Lee County Commissioner Ray Judah in a shocking political upset earlier this year. Kiker's pro-business message of lower taxes and more efficient government clearly resonated with voters.