Greg Ruggiero, 28

Sales executive, Bouchard Insurance

By Business Observer Staff
| 12:50 p.m. October 14, 2016
| 2 Free Articles Remaining!

Class of 2016

Greg Ruggiero relocated to Florida six years ago, and fell in love with St. Petersburg. His dream was to work in sports, so when he moved down, he networked his way to a position selling season tickets with the Tampa Bay Rays.

Five years ago, he decided to leave the sports industry and start working with Bouchard Insurance, going after “more of a career than a job.”

This month, he’s taking the next big leap in his career, relocating to Sarasota to help grow and manage the Sarasota area for the firm as a sales executive. “I was looking to move up … and this opportunity opened for me,” Ruggiero says.

Since moving to St. Petersburg, Ruggiero has become active with the community. He is leadership co-chair of St. Pete Young Professionals, leading roundtable Q&As with CEOS, politicians and other influential people. “I’m the moderator, so I get to feel like Jimmy Fallon for a bit,” Ruggiero says. He’s also participated in Leadership Pinellas.

Ruggiero has worked with a lot of nonprofit organizations to set up insurance programs, like setting up health insurance for PARC in St. Petersburg, which assists individuals with developmental disabilities.

When Ruggiero moves to Sarasota, he will take over for a Bouchard sales team, previously led by Keith Mercier, that has grown that region’s book of business to $6 million.

Ruggiero’s goal is to get involved in the Sarasota community right away. Persistence is a key trait to success in sales, he says. “You’re going to be told, ‘no,’ one, two, three times in a row. It’s that fourth, fifth or sixth time that if you are persistent, it will eventually be the right time” for that client, he adds.

— Traci McMillan Beach