Large Silicon Valley tech firm moves headquarters to region

In wooing a Silicon Valley cybersecurity company to move its headquarters to Tampa, the region both swatted away heavy competition and a rebuffed a long-standing myth about the Sunshine State.

On the former, Benny Czarny, founder and CEO of the company that relocated its headquarters from San Francisco to Tampa, OPSWAT, says the firm looked at North Carolina and other sites. On the latter, Czarny, with experience working in Israel, California and other worldwide locales, says Florida isn’t what some non-Floridians might think — at least as a place to grow a business. “Florida is not just a retiree state,” Czarny tells Coffee Talk. “Tampa is actually a pretty cool place.”