Construction. Accounting. Real estate. Golf and yacht club management. Angel investing. Ben Wagner’s career has been nothing short of eclectic, so it’s all too appropriate that he now finds himself working for HSK Industries, one of the region’s most diversified companies.
Owned by entrepreneurial brothers David and Jeffrey Koffman, HSK Industries’ portfolio includes bagel shops; a glass and mirror manufacturer; a kitchen and bath installation firm; a Tennessee-based maker of foam products; a tile, stone and cabinetry business; a golf club and ski/waterpark resort, both in New Jersey; and Ride Entertainment of Sarasota, which organizes festivities such as the Winter Spectacular event on St. Armands Circle.
Wagner, a Chicago native and avid golfer, double-majored in accounting and finance at Columbia College in Columbia, Missouri, before moving to Sarasota, lured by the opportunity to play golf year-round. It didn’t hurt that he was no stranger to the area.