Entrepreneur 2005: Judges Choose Finalists

Entrepreneur 2005: Judges Choose Finalists

By Sean Roth

Real Estate Editor

It was a struggle, but the field of top executives has been narrowed to 10 for the 2005 Entrepreneur Award. Last week, the Review revealed the 25 nominees who stood out in a field of impressive business candidates. This week's decisions were tougher yet.

Making the top 10 was no easy task. Our judges based their choices first on the financial performance of each company and then on each nominee's accomplishments in the marketplace.

This is the final list before the big show on May 20 when one entrepreneur will win the top spot and two others will take runner-up positions. The awards ceremony will be at a noon luncheon at the Hyatt Sarasota, 1000 Boulevard of the Arts. The event will also serve as a tribute to Mary Fran Carroll, John Clarke and Rex Jensen, the architects behind the economic giant master-planned community Lakewood Ranch. Tickets are $35. For more information, call (941) 308-0714.

We'll see you there.

Jim Abrams

VenVest Inc., Sarasota

Business Line: consultant, employee trainer, retailer, consolidator and franchiser for several home-services industries (heating, ventilation and air conditioning; electrical; and plumbing services)

Wow factor: VenVest is striving to break Sarasota's reputation for stinker public companies. The seven-year-old company is the brainchild of two home-service industry experts: Jim Abrams and John Young, who started a Nashville-based HVAC business consolidator, Service Experts Inc., and took it public in the '90s. After leaving Service Experts, they started VenVest in St. Louis. It was profitable in its first full year ($700,000 in profits in 1999), and the company has continued to grow.

The VenVest business model allows the company to offer multiple service options and pursue several business opportunities. The consulting, franchising and retailing services gives the company a key understanding of what it takes to run one of the home service businesses properly, which means VenVest know when it's time to buy a particular service business.

From 2004 to April of 2005, the company has acquired no less than 20 home service companies. Other acquisitions are on the way.

Tom Brown and Jay Tallman

U.S. Assets Group, Sarasota

Business Line: developer

Wow factor : It seemed certain from the start that real estate developers Tom Brown and Jay Tallman were a winning combination. Their first project, en Provence on Longboat Key, set a new standard for condominium development. The developers sold 21 units in three weeks for a sellout value of $52 million. That was followed up in 2002, when the two introduced the $62-milion, 17-story Beau Ciel.

In December 2002, U.S. Assets started the $110-million Orchid Beach Club development on Lido Key. Fifty-one of the 54 units have been sold in the development slated for completion later this year.

In March 2004, Tallman, Brown and Fred Starling broke ground on The Founders Club, a $400 million, 700-acre gated community of 262 single-family homes nestled around a private golf course. The project was 50% sold-out in 13 months.

Vernon Buchanan

Buchanan Enterprises, Sarasota

Business Line: automobile dealership chain, real estate, retail, insurance, aviation and more

Wow factor: Vernon Buchanan began his entrepreneurial rise with the founding of American Speedy Printing, which grew to 720 outlets worldwide before he sold it in 1989.

In 1990, he relocated to Florida where he founded Buchanan Enterprises, a collecion of diverse companies dominated by the automobile dealership business, Buchanan Automotive Group. Buchanan Enterprises also has business interests in aviation, real estate and investments.

Over the past year, Buchanan Automotive Group has experienced tremendous growth in sales and revenue; the company jumped from 42nd to 27th in the Automotive News annual Top 100 Dealership Groups in the United States. In addition, Buchanan Automotive Group has expanded to include 18 automotive dealerships in Florida, Kentucky and North Carolina.

In 2004 alone, Buchanan Automotive Group purchased four dealerships: Ford and Chevy dealerships in Black Mountain, N.C.; University Chevrolet in Tampa; and a Toyota dealership in Elizabeth City, N.C. The company is slated to acquire another dealership in Atlanta in August.

In February, Buchanan was inducted into the Tampa Bay Business Hall of Fame. And he also serves as chairman of the board of directors of the Florida Chamber of Commerce.

Buchanan was a finalist for the Review's top entrepreneurial award in 2001.

John Cannon

John Cannon Homes Inc., Sarasota

Business Line: home builder

Wow factor: John Cannon Homes is one of three large-scale Sarasota-based home builders (along with Lee Wetherington Cos. Inc. and Neal Custom Homes). The company, founded in 1989 by Cannon and his wife, Phillipa, caters to the custom home building niche.

In 2002, Cannon stepped outside his home base of Sarasota and Manatee counties by beginning construction on the 750-acre Mirabay development in Hillsborough County's Apollo Beach.

In 2003, the company was named one of the nation's top 50 Best Residential Builders to Work for by Professional Builder Magazine.

Late last year, John Cannon Homes started construction on a new 50,000-square-foot corporate office for the company in Lakewood Ranch.

In addition, Cannon is a founding director with the The Bank of Commerce. He was also a finalist for the Review's top entrepreneurial award in 2003 and a runner-up in 2004.

Virginia Dorris and Dori Rath

The Nelco Cos., Bradenton

Business Line: professional employer organization

Wow factor: Ginny Dorris and Dori Rath multitask. They have to. They operate the 17th largest PEO in the United States, run two accounting firms, an insurance agency, a company that backs small businesses by covering their accounts receivables, a spray-on tanning salon, a costume jewelry retailer and TeenArriveAlive - a company that tracks teenage driving.

Dorris started Nelco in the early '80s as National Employee Leasing, which focused on payroll and employee benefits services for small businesses. The company has since expanded to include accounting, workers' compensation and technology.

Workers' compensation is a pivotal profit center for a PEO. NELCO handles all underwriting and claims management in-house for workers' compensation - historically accounting for as much as 80% of the PEO's net profit.

Mike Miller

Waterford Cos., Venice

Business Line: developer

Wow factor: Venice developer Michael Miller has continued to ramp up the growth of the Waterford Cos. the past three years. Recently, the 18-year-old Waterford Cos. has started to build for the pre-retirement market in mixed-use residential communities.

The new format is proposed primarily for its Laurel Road project that will include residential properties, shopping centers, movie theaters and a YMCA branch with childcare.

The Waterford Cos. has also expanded its development market outside of Venice and is developing more commercial and mixed-use projects. The company is adding luxury condominiums in Palmetto - The Palms at Riviera Dunes - and new single family homes in Englewood.

As of the beginning of the year, Miller was juggling the construction of no less than nine large-scale developments.

Pat Neal

Neal Communities/ Neal Custom Homes, Lakewood Ranch

Business line: home builder

Wow factor: What did a 35 year-old company do differently in 2004? In the case of Neal Communities, the home builder refocused itself on preservation for the future. The lifeblood of home development is finding affordable land in local markets, and to hedge the problem Neal and his partners have focused on acquiring 8,000 vacant lots, more than four times the holdings of his nearest competitor.

There appears to be little to no slow down in the effort. Neal hired his son John Neal with the main goal of creating a geographic information system to find land worth pursuing. Like other home builders, 2004 was a record year for Pat Neal's company; the business sold 264 homes. The company is building in eight communities: Edenmoor, Greystone Heatherfield, Silverwood, The Harborage, University Park, Wisteria Park and Wexford.

The former two-term Florida state senator is also closely involved in influencing politics as chairman of the Christian Coalition of Florida. He was a finalist for the Review's top entrepreneurial award in 2003.

Michael Saunders

Michael Saunders & Co., Sarasota

Business Line: real estate agency

Wow factor: The most dominant Sarasota real estate company didn't let up last year. In 2004, Michael Saunders & Co. exceeded $2.56 billion in sales, an increase of more than 28% from 2003. The company brought the buyer to the sale 73% of the time for $1.86 billion of the $2.56 billion. It sold 16.45% more units than 2003 and captured 17% of the overall market share for Charlotte, Sarasota and Manatee counties.

Last year, Michael Saunders & Co. formed an alliance with Christie's Great Estates-a subsidiary of Christie's, the oldest art auction house in the world - to gain global exposure for our luxury properties.

Last year, the company budgeted $4 million to market listings in 2005, and it expanded its in-house technology department to enhance online property searches and protect its computerized network.

In June, she was named an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year for Florida in Real Estate.

DAVID SESSIONS

Willis A. Smith Construction, Sarasota

Business Line: general contractor

Wow factor: What's the value of writing a clear corporate strategic plan? According to David Sessions, it has meant the world to Willis A. Smith Construction.

After 9/11, Sessions says he wrote a strategic plan for the company that focused on acquiring certain repeat high-demand clients, internal structural changes, technology changes and more with a set schedule. Coming off a $30-million fiscal year, Sessions watched as the company's private projects disappeared because of financial uncertainty.

Today, Willis Smith is much more proactive and in control of its growth and future. And its growth has been explosive since 2002.

John Williams

Gould & Lamb LLC, Bradenton

Business Line: medical-financial services focused on worker's compensation

Wow factor: Gould & Lamb has experienced exponential growth since 2001 when gross revenues were $400,000. This year's growth is expected to deliver revenues of $21 million, or 52.5 times the company's size four years ago.

The growth was primarily fueled by Gould & Lamb's distinction as one of the industry leaders in providing insurers Medicare Set-Aside Services.

The company's main challenge has been in planning and managing growth. For example, staffing for Gould & Lamb has increased from 70 employees in 2003 to more 150 employees today.

For the future, company officials hope to place Gould & Lamb offices in 24 cities throughout the U.S. by year's end. The company is hiring more than 50 new employees and will be growing its existing facility at least another 24,000 square feet in the next 12 to 15 months.

Last year, the Manatee Chamber of Commerce and the Economic Development Council recognized Gould & Lamb with the Industry of the Year Award for companies with less than 100 employees.