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Dan Sacco, Senior Vice President,
Central Florida Health Alliance
“Providing Great Health Services” (PPT 3.1MB) -
Jacob Stuart, President and CEO,
Central Florida Partnership
"Hot Survey Results” (PPT 1.8MB) -
Gary Earl, President and CEO,
Workforce Central Florida
Sergio Leon, Hiring Event Manager,
Workforce Central Florida
"Employer Help in Hard Times" (PPT 1MB) -
Robert Smith, City Manager,
City of Wildwood (PPT 10.4MB)
Andrew Cripps, Exec. Dir,
Sumter County Chamber of Commerce
Doug Smiley, COO and VP Bus. Dev,
E5solutions, Inc. (PPT 9.7MB) -
John Bankey, Project Manager,
Florida Manufacturing Extension Partnership
“Mfg Training and Assistance” (PPT 6.9MB)
Summit Presentations
Photo Gallery
The 2011 Sumter Business Summit on Wednesday, April 27, presented facts that prove Sumter County is on the move! One attendee publicly announced “this is the most dynamic such event I’ve ever experienced.” The program merged the development of Great Health Services with T&D’s Success Secrets, mixed in special help for employers in Hard Times, and combined it all to reflect Sumter’s emerging and vital role in Central Florida’s Open for Business Hot Survey Results! All this, plus the mobile Manufacturing Training Assistance and Workforce Help for Employers and employees mobile unit, delivering a single morning of Sumter pride and uncontested proof of Sumter business progress today and for the future.
The 2011 Enterpriser of the Year was Marshall Chernin, President and CEO of Central Beef Industries of Center Hill. Central Beef, founded in 1999, is now the prime economic engine on the south side of Sumter, employing more than 200 county residents. The number of employees is expected to grow dramatically as their multi-million dollar expansion moves forward to completion.
Congratulations, Marshall “Enterpriser” Chernin! Sumter County is grateful.
Rick Dodge, Summit program host, introduced keynoter Dan Sacco of the Central Florida Health Alliance. Sacco clarified the employee and employer benefits being brought here through new education and research agreements with the University of South Florida, Moffitt Cancer Center and others. These partnerships give birth to jobs, training and benefits that will transform Sumter into a whole new world of citizen opportunity in wellness and healthcare services. The Health Alliance is currently adding 150 employees per year, and estimates that every job in healthcare creates another supporting job in the community. Sacco continued that the Alliance is dedicated to economic development in the county. Although their third hospital is building to reality, and they will soon require 60 – 70 more primary care physicians, they are not just a hospital system. They are a system of care, reaching out to partners and relationships, for education, technology and training, for business possibilities and opportunities and economic advancement through workforce development. In closing he cited that 16 percent of the GNP (moving fast to 20%) is related to healthcare and that healthcare is a great recruiting tool for new business and new residents.
Jacob Stuart next took the podium. Jacob is President of the Central Florida Partnership, an eight county combine for economic and jobs advancement. Stuart cited that 66 percent of all future job growth in Florida will be generated through the eight counties of the Central Florida Partnership (however, he sadly cited the 7,000 space jobs that will be eliminated within six months). He shared visual results from his Open for Business survey, with 900 respondents, that told a vivid story of past, present and future business performance in the region, which geographically includes Sumter County. He shared the survey-justified foundation upon which future business relationships will be built and barriers to growing job opportunities removed. Stuart stressed we must work together as partners, not isolated entities to achieve growth and opportunity. His three key factors to economic success, Life, Growth, Opportunity, and Sumter ranks supreme in one key area, showing the survey’s highest ranking, far ahead of all the other counties in his survey - you named it, QUALITY OF LIFE!
The President and CEO of Workforce Central Florida, Gary Earl, shared WCF’s employee training opportunities and employer assistance programs, now even being brought directly and conveniently to Sumter County to serve workforce employment, via their mobile services vehicle. Attendees toured the visiting SV (services vehicle) parked outside the meeting room. Vehicle education services include a computer lab with satellite internet link, online job bank, resume building, career assessment, labor material library, personalized training and instruction, job search and application assistance.
Sumter planning, networking and Wildwood strategic development progress were featured by Wildwood’s City Manager, Robert Smith; the new Sumter Chamber Executive Director, Andy Cripps; and e5Solutions Vice President & COO, Doug Smiley. Each on the panel shared their development programs and the importance of strategic planning for new and existing business growth.
Then came Terry and Glendora Yoder, the 2010 Enterprisers of the Year, entrepreneurs supreme, who built their T&D Concrete, T&D Supply, T&D Pool & Spa Service, T&D Patio & Pool, T&D Screen Enclosures and T&D Contributions businesses from scratch, with hard work and core values of quality, performance, economy and honesty, with an extra emphasis on Thrift. Terry, and his wife Glendora, are “handshake” enterprisers, who’s companies now employ approximately 300 Sumter County residents. Terry’s Success Secrets are legendary, yet basic. His prime advice: Listen to others; be assertive and aggressive, remain debt free; take care of what’s behind you before you take on more and practice hard work and honesty. Plus, they say, you must all read and practice what’s written in the following six books: QBQ! Question behind the Question, by John G. Miller; The Go-Getter, by Peter B. Kyne; The Leader had no Title, by Robin Sharma; Who Moved my Cheese, by Spencer Johnson, M.D.; Rhinoceros Success, by Scott Alexander; and The Legend of the Monk and the Merchant, by Terry Felber. Terry and Glendora Yoder say if you read and practice what’s in these books, you’ll be successful!
Florida’s Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP), our generous Summit luncheon sponsor, with Project Manager John Bankey, revealed the detailed services available in their visiting SV (services vehicle), and reminded the audience of the decline of manufacturing and the critical role it will play as the Florida economy improves. The MEP mobile training center was toured by many Summit attendees. A tour through the vehicle showed the range of training subjects, including machine operation, assembly, quality inspection, shop math, blueprint reading, metrology, lean to green manufacturing and more. This Mobile Outreach Skills Training vehicle can be scheduled to visit your facility. Call e5solutions to arrange, or direct request to the MEP, 800-MEP-4MFG, or www.floridamep.org.
