Lee-Collier Runner-Up 4

Lee-Collier Runner-Up 4

Todd Gates

President and CEO, Gates McVey

At the end of every staff meeting, Todd Gates tells his employees they have three choices: make things happen, wait for things to happen or sit around and have no idea what happened.

The choice is obvious and it's one that Gates, 44, has pursued relentlessly since he came to Naples in the early 1980s to work as a construction laborer for concrete company Krehling Industries: He made things happen.

Rising through the ranks of the company, Gates and four other employees eventually bought out Krehling and grew the company to 350 employees. Because the employees didn't have financing or large bank accounts, owner Hank Krehling financed the deal.

In 1993, Gates sold his share in the Krehling company, which had since been renamed Wall Systems. "I wanted to control my own destiny," he says.

By then he had enough funds to start his own general contracting firm and in 1995 formed Gates McVey with partner James McVey. Today, Gates McVey is one of the leading development and construction companies in Southwest Florida.

"I enjoy succeeding when they tell me it can't be done," Gates says.

His advice to budding entrepreneurs is to keep things simple. For example, analyzing a potential market doesn't have to entail difficult and extensive research. In Cape Coral, for instance, the city has 450,000 platted lots but only 3% of the area is zoned for commercial development. If people keep moving to the region, common sense dictates developers should acquire land and start commercial development in Cape Coral.

"Never, ever give up, no matter how hard it gets," Gates advises. The first two or three years in business were so tough that Gates says he would wake up sick in the middle of the night and drive to work. Once he got to work, problems that loomed large weren't nearly as insurmountable as they had seemed earlier.

Reflecting his Virginia roots, Gates says another key to success is to treat everyone respectfully. "Always be polite and always be clean," he says, repeating his mother's advice.

-Jean Gruss

Revenues 2003: $35 million 2004: $75 million 2005: $150 million

(114% increase) (100% increase)

Average annual growth: 107%

EMPLOYEES 2004: 40 2005: 65 2006: 85