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Results for:

  • By Andrew Warfield |
  • July 5, 2019
Students get an early taste of business success

A student-operated benefit corporation that doubles as a business training program is giving teens a rare education opportunity. Some big business growth challenges are the next obstacle.

  • Leadership
  • By Mark Gordon |
  • April 28, 2023
Daughter’s drug overdose fuels insurance exec’s new life mission

Michael Ortoll scaled the peaks of the insurance industry for 30 years. But the challenge that brought him to his knees didn’t come from work.

  • Leadership
  • By Louis Llovio |
  • April 19, 2023
As more multimillion-dollar homes enter market, Realtors look to cash in

Despite the price tag, luxury agents say the skills needed to sell a mansion are not so different from those needed to sell an average house.

  • Strategies
  • By Business Observer Staff |
  • March 24, 2017
Vacation Rentals vs. Home Rule

The explosion of the online vacation rental business has many year-round residents wondering how their cities can protect their neighborhoods and sense of community.

  • Opinion
  • By Kevin McQuaid |
  • August 26, 2016
Bounce back

Like many developers, Chris Deveso suffered through the recession last decade. But he also learned a valuable lesson about the value of timing and good customer service.

  • Manatee-Sarasota
  • By Business Observer Staff |
  • October 16, 2015
Michael Lake, 33

Director of sales, Turbine Generator Maintenance

  • Class of 2015
  • By Elizabeth King |
  • August 12, 2024
Forget pickleball: Entrepreneur brings indoor padel to Sarasota-Manatee

The Pad Sarasota offers space to play padel, a racket sport that is growing worldwide in popularity.

  • Manatee-Sarasota
  • By Laura Lyon |
  • May 8, 2025
Beck Besecker scaled $20M 3D software firm through grit, perseverance

"The reason we do this is we like to build things. That's pretty intoxicating, getting to kind of build stuff all the time." –Beck Besecker, 3D Cloud

  • Tampa Bay-Lakeland
  • By Elizabeth King |
  • May 17, 2024
Softball bat maker plans to double workforce, add baseball bats

The owner of Pure Sports Technologies moves to Manatee County with his eye on the ball — baseball — as he expands his bat manufacturing business.

  • Manatee-Sarasota
  • By Mark Gordon |
  • October 30, 2023
Sarasota has a YMCA again, behind major nonprofit merger announcement

A no-quit group of volunteers and deep-pocketed donors, paired with some like-minded nonprofit executives, rejoice over the news Sarasota is no longer a city without a Y.

  • Manatee-Sarasota
  • By Elizabeth King |
  • December 5, 2025
Water filter manufacturer in Manatee, with new product, in expansion mode

After building a local supply chain, Epic Water Filters is poised for growth. Plans include moving to a larger facility and doubling its payroll.

  • Manatee-Sarasota
  • By Business Observer Staff |
  • November 3, 2006
Coffee Talk

American Banker honors Orion Bank's Jerry Williams Michael Saunders & Co. is going Hollywood - for a day, anyway. The real estate firm's founder, Michael Saunders, recently flew out to Beverly Hills, where she was a top speaker at a Christi's Great Estates conference on innovative marketing for small residential projects or large-scale developments. Sarasota County Commissioners recently approved giving the EDC $60,000 to create a Film and Entertainment office.Analyst says Chico's stock may jump The Review's 2006 Entrepreneur winner, Amscot Financial founder Ian MacKechnie, was named "Person of the Year" by an industry trade group.Home sales down across the boardTech Forum award finalists announced Sun Coast Industry Expo postponed

  • News
  • By Business Observer Staff |
  • January 5, 2007
Corporate Report

Source Interlink delay could risk NASDAQ listingFlorida employees feeling more confidentVIP Realty Group buys Harvey & AssociatesBancshares of Florida changing to Bank of Florida Corp. Chico's founders retiring, leave boardAnderen Bank of Tampa Bay files state charterMorgan Beaumont changes its name, ticker

  • Industries
  • By Business Observer Staff |
  • November 16, 2007
Customer Repo

A Sarasota auto-related business hopes to plug up its quarterly and yearly losses by buying a competitor. Big potential brings big risks.

  • Entrepreneurs
  • By Business Observer Staff |
  • September 13, 2007
WALSH: REVIEW & COMMENT

Should we take bets on whether the Seminole Tribe will gain permission to offer Las Vegas-style slot machines and blackjack?Or would that be illegal gambling, subject to arrest by the Rubio State Morality Police?This whole debate over how much gambling the state should or shouldn't allow the Seminole Tribe is an amusing drama of hypocrisy, of the arrogance of "the state" as the arbiter of moral behavior and of the greed of "the state" for money.

  • Opinion
  • By Adam Hughes |
  • October 7, 2005
Real Estate Briefs (Lee/Collier)

Starwood Capital Buys Assisted-Living FacilityBuilder plans homes over waterWisconsin developer buys riverfront land in Fort MyersLuxury homebuilder buys lots at Shadow Wood Preserve Buyer: Harbourside Custom Homes Inc.Minnesota developer plans Fort Myers condosLee Memorial Health System plans cancer center

  • Charlotte–Lee–Collier
  • By Adam Hughes |
  • July 22, 2005
Real Estate Briefs (Sara/Mana)

Albritton Fruit, Attorney Buy Longboat's Village PlazaNew owners buy Chevron, plan upscale carwashLee Wetherington Cos. buys property in ParrishSarasota Heart partners start sleep centerNewport Homes buys new officeManatee Fruit Co. buys golf course

  • Manatee-Sarasota
  • By Adam Hughes |
  • April 1, 2005
Recipe for Growth

From 52 to 200 in three years, Rick Akam prepares the ingredients to grow the First Watch restaurant chain.

  • Entrepreneurs
  • By Business Observer Staff |
  • June 19, 2008
Looking Inland

Lehigh Acres is one of the areas of the Gulf Coast hardest hit by the real estate bust. So why is a group of investors betting a new bank will succeed there?

  • Entrepreneurs
  • By Business Observer Staff |
  • August 29, 2003
Cautiously Optimistic (Tampa Bay Area real estate forecast)

Office and industrial construction aren'twhat they once were in the Tampa Bay area.But residential and retail remain hot.

  • Opinion
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