Executive learned business from ground up

Following a year of working in the Fort Myers office of air conditioning, plumbing, electrical and appliance repair company Home-Tech, Pam Marino found herself opening the Port Charlotte office of the company with Mike Marino, her then-husband.

Mike Marino's brother, Steve Marino, was the CEO back then, in 1990. The brothers both thought Pam Marino had leadership potential but lacked experience. She got that experience — and more — on the job. “That was 10 years before Google,” Marino says. “If I was to learn, I had to learn on my own. You couldn’t just Google it.”