Sarasota-Manatee Runner-Up 3

Sarasota-Manatee Runner-Up 3

Mike Miller

President and CEO, Waterford Companies

In 2004, Mike Miller looked smart for changing the focus at his development firm from commercial projects to residential, just prior to the boom.

Now that there is a slowdown in the residential market, Miller, head of the Waterford Cos., is trying to be smart again. This time, he's being more diverse in the places he chooses to do projects, the products he sells and the prices he sets those products at. For example, an average sales price in the mid 400,000s, which is what can be seen in some parts of Sarasota County, is just too high, he says.

Miller, 50, is used to adapting. He's worked through several recessions and downturns in his nearly 30 years in the development business.

He first learned construction from his father, who was a general contractor. But when Miller graduated from college in 1977, the Gulf Coast was in the midst of a recession. There weren't many job opportunities.

"The only place that was booming was Houston," Miller says, "so I moved there."

He took a job as a superintendent of construction for a development company.

By the early 1980s, Miller was back in Southwest Florida. And with a loan from a Texas bank, he bought the 400-acre Waterford Champion Golf Course community site for $4.6 million, creating Waterford Homes. It was the first of many deals for the firm.

Like other development firms, Waterford does more than build. It also has a real estate brokerage and a mortgage arm. Still, Miller attributes much of the success to thoughtful planning.

"We've been successful because we've stayed local," Miller says, "where we know the governments and how to get things approved."

-Sean Roth

Revenues 2003: $44 million 2004: $84 million 2005: $117 million

(90.8% increase) (39.2% increase)

Average annual growth: 65%

EMPLOYEES 2004: 107 2005: 115 2006: 140