Manatee Chamber and Sarasota County EDCs with CEO Nexus and GrowFL to co-host CEO Nexus Forum June 7 at the Hoveround Corporation in Sarasota

SARASOTA, Fla. --- The Economic Development Council of the Manatee County Chamber of Commerce and The EDC of Sarasota County in conjunction with CEO Nexus and GrowFL will co-host a CEO Nexus Forum Tuesday, June 7 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Hoveround Corporation, 2151 Whitfield Industrial Way in Sarasota.

Steve Quello, president of CEO Nexus– a firm that works with public and private organizations to serve growing businesses – said Hoveround Corporation Chief Executive Officer Tom Kruse will be the featured speaker for the program.

Kruse, who began his career 30 years ago, today heads the largest direct-to-consumer manufacturer of maneuverable and compact power chairs in the U.S. He will tell the unique story of how he built a thriving company based on a need he identified.

The CEO Forum is open to business owners and CEOs who are leaders of established second-stage businesses, Quello said. Admission is free.

The program will begin with networking opportunities from at 5:30 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Kruse will take the stage from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. for a presentation and Q&A, followed by a post-forum networking session until 7:30 p.m.

For more information, to qualify and RSVP contact Joan McGill 941-309-1200 ext. 107 or Jmcgill@edcsarasotacounty.com by June 2.

About CEO Nexus

CEO Nexus is an organization that works in concert with public and private organizations interested in providing business leaders—owners, CEOs and presidents—with practical tools and techniques designed specifically for growing second-stage companies. Sponsors include the Edward Lowe Foundation, the Florida High Tech Corridor Council, the University of Central Florida Office of Research & Commercialization, Rollins College Center for Advanced Entrepreneurship, Economic Development Council of the Manatee Chamber of Commerce, Economic Development Corporation of Sarasota County, and GrowFL.

CFCAR to host Forum on Jobs and Impact on Commercial Real Estate Sept. 9 at Orlando Fashion Square

ORLANDO - The Central Florida Commercial Association of Realtors (CFCAR) will host a community forum on Sept. 9 at Orlando Fashion Square titled, “Job Growth - How it Will Affect Our Industry.”

John Crossman, president of Crossman & Company, the Orlando commercial real estate firm that serves as exclusive leasing agents at Orlando Fashion Square, said the event is scheduled from 4:30 to 7 p.m. and the cost of admission is $25.

Speakers include Jerry Ross, executive director of the Disney Entrepreneur Center, which is relocating to Orlando Fashion Square; Thomas Chatmon, executive director of the City of Orlando’s Downtown Development Board and Rick Fraser, president of the Workforce Development Board of Flagler/Volusia-Center for Business Excellence.

“Employment and job growth is the single most important issue facing the commercial real estate industry,” Crossman said. “The CFCAR forum will discuss several major efforts under way to stimulate job growth and what we can do to support and enhance those efforts,” he said.

To find out more or to register for the forum, contact CFCAR Executive Shirley Knapp at 407-816-7368 or visit http://www.cfcar.net.

For more information contact: Molly Delahunty, Crossman & Company, 407-581-6220 mdelahunty@crossmanco.com; John Crossman, CCIM, President, Crossman & Company, 407-581-6218, jcrossman@crossmanco.com

Rollins College Center for Advanced Entrepreneurship, CEO Nexus to Host Forum for CEOs on growing established local companies to next level

Rollins College Center for Advanced Entrepreneurship, CEO Nexus to Host Forum for CEOs on growing established local companies to next level

Full Sail University CEO Ed Haddock is Guest Speaker at invitation-only event

WINTER PARK, Fla. - The Rollins College Center for Advanced Entrepreneurship in collaboration with CEO Nexus will host the CEO Nexus Forum, part of a program series that brings together leaders of established, second-stage businesses to meet and learn from CEOs who have successfully grown their companies into a more advanced stage of business development.

Cari Coats, newly appointed executive director at the Center for Advanced Entrepreneurship, said Ed Haddock, co-chairman and chief executive officer of Full Sail University, will be the guest speaker at the invitation only event that begins at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 9 in the Crummer Graduate School of Business Bush Executive Center.

The business community and Rollins are embracing and helping to lead the “economic gardening” strategy fostered by CEO Nexus that growing our own local companies is a vital part of job creation.

Providing an opportunity for mentoring the CEOs of often underserved second-stage businesses is a priority not only for the Center for Advanced Entrepreneurship but for the CEOs of successful third and fourth-stage companies who realize the need to invest time in a confidential setting to advise and share growth strategies.

Haddock, along with his two partners and a talented team of executives built Full Sail University into one of the largest and most innovative entertainment, media and arts universities in the world. From the start of Haddock’s involvement in 1991, the school has grown from 300 to 7,700 students and the campus has grown to 190 acres with 801,000 square feet of studios, sound stages, media development and other support facilities.

Haddock and partners also expanded Full Sail’s post-secondary education portfolio to include The Los Angeles Film School, The Los Angeles Recording School and Rocky Mountain College of Art & Design.

Additionally, in 1973 Haddock was a founding partner, serving as chairman and managing partner of the law firm, Swann and Haddock, P.A., which by 1990 became one of Florida’s preeminent law firms. During the 1970s and 1980s Haddock was also a founding principal of financial institutions, insurance underwriting companies, homebuilding companies and real estate developments.

The Sept. 9 Forum is another in a series of events designed for second-stage CEOs and supported by the Rollins College Center for Advanced Entrepreneurship, University of Central Florida’s Office of Research and Commercialization and the Florida High Tech Corridor, said Steve Quello, president of CEO Nexus.

“These events will all focus on ways companies can accelerate their growth and development in these challenging economic times,” Quello explained.

About Rollins College Center for Advanced Entrepreneurship:
The Rollins College Center for Advanced Entrepreneurship located within the Crummer Graduate School of Business is a catalyst and thought leader in the advancement of successful entrepreneurship. Core to its mission is to prepare the advanced students of the Rollins MBA program for entrepreneurial thought and action, and to connect them in a meaningful way with advanced entrepreneurs. This real-world insight provides advanced experiential learning which is critical to the Center’s success. The Rollins MBA Entrepreneurship program is ranked 24th in the nation by Entrepreneur Magazine and the Princeton Review.

About CEO Nexus:
CEO Nexus is a public-private initiative that provides second-stage business leaders—owners, CEOs and presidents—with practical tools and techniques designed specifically for growing second-stage companies. Sponsors include The Rollins College Center for Advanced Entrepreneurship, the Edward Lowe Foundation, the Florida High Tech Corridor Council, the University of Central Florida Office of Research & Commercialization, Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission, Enterprise Florida and the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce.

For more information, contact:
Cari Coats, Executive Director, Rollins College Center for Advanced Entrepreneurship, 407-646-2067, ccoats@rollins.edu

Steve Quello, President/Principal, CEO Nexus 407-590-6101, squello@ceonexus.com

Dr. Tom O’Neal, Associate Vice President for Research and Commercialization at the University of Central Florida, 407-882-1120, oneal@mail.ucf.edu

Larry Vershel, Larry Vershel Communications 407-644-4142; lvershelco@aol.com

John Crossman to Moderate ICSC Forum on Future of Commercial Real Estate in Central Florida July 28 in Maitland

John Crossman to Moderate ICSC Forum on Future of Commercial Real Estate in Central Florida July 28 in Maitland

ORLANDO, Fla. - John Crossman, president of Crossman & Company, one of Florida’s largest and most active retail property companies, will moderate an ICSC expert panel discussion on the future of commercial real estate in Central Florida on Tuesday, July 28 at The Village at Lake Lily, 925 S. Orlando Ave. in Maitland.

Crossman & Company was recently named exclusive local leasing broker at Orlando Fashion Square near downtown Orlando, and currently has over 16 million square feet of commercial space under leasing and/or management.

Crossman said expert panelists include Randy Anderson, chairman of the UCF Real Estate Department; Chris Brockman, a partner at the Holland + Knight law firm in Maitland; Lonnie Peterson, chairman of Cuhaci & Peterson architects in Baldwin park which designs more than a million square feet of retail space annually throughout the U.S.; and Declan Reiley, vice president of business development for the Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission.

The program, entitled, “Central Florida---Where It Is, Where It Is Headed,” is being hosted by the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) Orlando Local Program Committee.

“Our panel of local industry insiders will be discussing what the key indicators to watch as the commercial real estate market begins to turn, and also the significant role that public policy will play in the real estate market over the next 12 months,” said Crossman.

Registration begins at 4:30 p.m. and the panel discussion begins at 5 p.m., followed by tours of the Village at Lake Lily project.

Admission to the event costs $30 in advance or $45 at the door for ICSC members, $45 in advance or $60 at the door for non-members.

Call 646-728-3800 to register for the event.

For more information please contact:

John Crossman, CCIM, President, Crossman & Company, 407-581-6218, jcrossman@crossmanco.com

Justin Greider, Senior Associate, Crossman & Company/ICSC Florida Next Generation Chair, 407-423-5400 jgreider@crossmanco.com

Larry Vershel or Beth Payan, Larry Vershel Communications, 407-644-4142, lvershelco@aol.com

About Crossman & Company:

Crossman & Company is one of the largest third-party retail leasing and management companies in Florida with over 16 million square feet under leasing and/or management. Founded in Orlando in 1990, Crossman & Company is a full service commercial real estate firm that advises its clients in leasing, management, development and investment sales of retail and office properties and serves clients including Publix Super Markets, Inc., Lake Nona, PREIT, and LaSalle Investment Management. Please visit http://www.crossmanco.com/, or call 407-423-5400 for more information.

Entrust Administrative Services Chief Executive Officer Glen Mather tells Miami Finance Forum to Stick to the Fundamentals

Entrust Administrative Services Chief Executive Officer Glen Mather tells Miami Finance Forum to Stick to the Fundamentals

LAKE MARY, Fla. – Entrust Administrative Services president Glen Mather recently told the Miami Finance Forum that most small investors have learned that financial scandals and a general economic downturn have put more emphasis on individual control of investment decisions and a return to fundamental investment principals.

The recent Miami Finance Forum discussion topic---Crisis in the Financial Markets, How to Protect Yourself and Your Company in a TARP and Post-Madoff World---invited four panelists, including Mather, to offer their perspectives on financial strategies.

The breakfast session, which was open to Miami Finance Forum members and guests, focused on how corporate money managers are dealing with the recession.

Mather, whose offices in Lake Mary, Boca Raton, Chicago and Jacksonville administer more than 2,000 self-directed retirement accounts with assets worth more than $200 million, said he is already seeing a change in the markets.

“Individual investors have learned that you can’t just trust funds managers,” Mather said. “They are studying their investment opportunities closely, and they are following the fundamentals. They are taking control, and they are smart enough to know they have to learn their way around investment strategies before they take a position,” he said.

Mather said small individual investors want documentary evidence from investment managers.

“These investors want to know track records, their manager’s ability to report, how they are regulated how they are managed and how they protect investors assets,” Mather said. “They aren’t interested in blindly trusting money managers,” he explained.

For more information, contact:
Glen Mather, President Entrust Administrative Services, Inc. 407-367-3472 gmather@entrustfl.com;
Larry Vershel, Larry Vershel Communications 407-644-4142 lvershelco@aol.com