The new top dog

Eshenbaugh Land Co. has instituted a plan for a new top dog to take over the Tampa-based land brokerage firm.

Ryan Sampson, who has been with the company for more than a decade, has been named its principal. In time, it's expected he'll take the helm from Bill Eshenbaugh, aka “The Dirt Dog,” who founded the brokerage in 1992 following a stint at the Resolution Trust Corp. and remains its managing broker.

“We're simply expanding Bill's vision for the company,” says Sampson, 33, who joined Eshenbaugh in 2005 a week after graduating from Florida State University with a degree in real estate.