meet the POWER WOMEN in town

WHETHER SHE'S STRATEGIZING A corporate initiative, managing resources and mobilizing volunteers for a nonprofit, raising money and awareness for charity or listening and responding to her constituents, a power woman's work is never done. Just ask any of the CEOs, executive directors, philanthropists and public servants who've been selected as Florida Weekly's 2009 Power Women.

They come from a variety of backgrounds and fill myriad positions of importance. And they pour equal energy, expertise and commitment into whatever task is at hand, whether it's for the betterment of their colleagues, their families or their communities.

At the end of every busy day, they've helped make a difference for everyone who lives and works in Southwest Florida. And lucky for us, they're not done yet.

Brenda Kinnaman:

ALL ABOUT CAUSES

In youth it is not uncommon to hear people say they want to change the world, live in a place where freedom reigns and everyone is equal.

Unfortunately, many of these idealistic dreams never come to fruition. People grow up get jobs, come home, turn on the TV and spend the rest of their evening complaining about all of the injustices.

Brenda Kinnaman: ALL ABOUT CAUSES

But Brenda Kinnaman never had a desire to sit by and watch things she didn't like or agree with happen and then lament in helpless despair.

Ms. Kinnaman is one of those who made her dreams of living in a fairer, healthier world come true.

Ms. Kinnaman, a Sanibel resident, is president of Kinnaman Consulting, a national public relations firm. Her company, founded 20 years ago, does public relations, marketing, public affairs, fundraising, candidate, and issues campaign management. Most projects the firm represents have a large political or governmental focus.

Her career in politics started early. As a teenager, Ms. Kinnaman was put her energies into political races.

Throughout her career, Ms. Kinnaman has used her intellect, courage and compassion to help get hundreds of candidates elected in tough campaign races. Her win ratios more than 90 percent. Many of her candidates have been young, women, or minority candidates that were firsts, groundbreaking elections.

Some of these successes include electing the first African-American mayor of St. Louis — Freeman Bosley Jr. — in 1993. She also said that she helped elect Judith Moriarty, the first female attorney general secretary of state in Missouri and get the first African-American judge on the bench in Arkansas.

And most recently she worked to help elect President Barack Obama — the nation's first African-American president.

"I did a lot of firsts," she says.

Ms. Kinnaman says she has always been inspired to use her skills to effect positive change. Currently, her company is working on a variety of projects.

Ms. Kinnaman has been working for 10 years on green energy and has two cutting-edge projects under way.

Ms. Kinnaman has also agreed to serve as a consultant to a leading international stem cell project. Part of her mission is to advance available treatments and research in the United States .

And on the entertainment front, Ms. Kinnaman has been an advisor to many companies in the entertainment and gaming industries. She is currently serving as a consultant regarding the changes in Illinois and Florida gaming laws.

And the multi-tasker is also gearing up to give major support to Sen. Dave Aronberg, who is running for Florida attorney general.

Reaching out for causes, from electing good leaders to saving the environment, is what means the most to this political consultant.

— E.I. Rottersman

Dr. Mary Kay Peterson:

BATTLING BREAST CANCER

Dr. Mary Kay Peterson: BATTLING BREAST CANCER

Dr. Mary Kay Peterson is not afraid to use her woman's intuition in help guide her in treating her patients.

In fact, the seasoned and well-respected radiologist counts on it. Dr. Peterson views woman's intuition as an amazing source of power and strength.

"You really need to follow your gut," she says. "We have a special gift."

Dr. Peterson spends her days caring for and diagnosing patients as the director of imaging at the Radiology Regional Center.

Every day she looks at detailed images of the breasts of mothers, students, teachers, professionals, non-professionals and grandmothers.

But it does not matter what they do for a living or who they are. They all mean the same to Dr. Peterson. Their lives mean everything to the smart and warm-hearted doctor.

She blends her powerful sense of intuition and medical artistry to help patients diagnosed with breast cancer survive.

"The emotion and power that the words breast cancer holds is lessened when the patient is able to believe that they will survive, in part through the confidence of her/his caregiver team," she says.

But it's the strength and powerful sense of denial that many women go through in regards to caring for their health that inspires her to do what she does. It was during Dr. Peterson's radiology residency that her life's path would be drawn. Two patients came to her with such advanced cases of breast cancer that she was shocked at how bad their diseases progressed without any care.

"I was so taken back by the human strength of denial, that the flame of my passion to beat this disease was ignited," she says. "It was then that I knew I had to make a difference, I had to get involved."

Getting involved for Dr. Peterson means work does not end at 5 p.m. Not for this passionate physician. She has taken it upon herself to make sure all women have the chance to get access to breast health care. She is heavily involved with the Southwest Florida chapter of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure organization.

"I'm a very hands on person, a leader, a doer," she says. "I appreciate the privilege to make a difference in patients' lives — not just by diagnosing their breast cancer, hopefully early in its course, but also by sharing their smiles of relief when I relay that their mammogram is 'normal' this year, seeing the 30-something mom recovered from bilateral mastectomies at school dropping off her kids, to the 10-year-survivor grandma in church and knowing that I was able to help them in one way or another, is a gift not only to me, but to everyone else that benefits from that woman's recovery."

And this doctor doesn't consider herself a one-woman show. She attributes her success and triumphs to her dedicated staff as well.

"I couldn't function without all of the people around me," she says. "From front desk staff, to the technologist, to the assistants at my side, to the scheduler that works to fit that panicked patient in — it's a team effort. When I'm speaking at a community event or walking in a fundraiser, they're right there with me and my family."

— E.I. Rottersman

Barbara Mann, Berne Davis and Madeline Taeni:

LADIES OF ENDURING SPIRIT

Barbara Mann, Berne Davis and Madeline Taeni: LADIES OF ENDURING SPIRIT

Have you ever attended one of the Broadway shows at the Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall or bought books for your classes at Madeline R. Taeni Hall on the Edison State College campus in Fort Myers? Have you seen the transformation of the old post office downtown? For many years the historic gem sat empty and fell into disrepair, but it's now the Sydney & Berne Davis Art Center.

But who are these three powerful women — Barbara Mann, Madeline Taeni and Berne Davis — with large, beautiful buildings named after them?

"That would scare me to death if somebody thought I'm different from them," Mrs. Davis says. "I'm not."

The ladies came of age in the Roaring '20s and the Great Depression. They pursued lives with husbands whom have passed on. And they continue to live in Lee County and enrich all our lives through their patronage of the arts, education, and as an example of the enduring female spirit.

"When you get past a certain age, age doesn't mean anything," Mrs. Davis says. "Age is so relative. You've seen people old at 19, boring and dull; and other people are still vibrant and alive at 90."

Mrs. Davis' donation in 2003 helped make the new Art Center possible. "It's such a pretty building," she says. "We're so lucky to have it."

The building was dedicated in 1933 as a post office, the same year Mrs. Davis graduated from Fort Myers High School. That's also where she met Mrs. Mann, who was a few years older and working as a secretary there when Mrs. Davis was a student.

"I thought she was very glamorous," Mrs. Davis says, "very attractive. She was young and wore high heels and we all thought high heels were wonderful at that age, and when we wore them we had a hard time standing up."

The ladies' paths have often crossed at events like the reception for Southwest Florida Symphony's conductor, Michael Hall; to meet scholarship students they've supported at Edison State College; or for a question-and-answer session with students at the PACE Center for Girls in Fort Myers. Mrs. Taeni has often sponsored groups at Barbara Mann Hall, like the State of Russia Ballet, the first act to perform at Mann Hall's 2009 Community Concert series.

Thankfully, the three women are still here, an inspiration to generations young and old. But for them many of their own role models are now distinct memories. Mrs. Davis, who was the oldest of three sisters and also had two brothers, counts her mother as a great inspiration.

"My mother always said set your goals high and work toward that," she says. "I had a wonderful mother. We didn't have much, and I'd come home and tell her my friends had all these things and all these pretty clothes. She'd say 'how can we make our own lives better?'"

— Evan Williams

Dr. Noreen Thomas:

EDUCATION'S BIG PICTURE

Dr. Noreen Thomas: EDUCATION'S BIG PICTURE

Dr. Noreen Thomas looks after nearly 10,000 students on Edison State College's Lee County campus and helps run the school's other two campuses, too. Such broad, wide-ranging influence means seeing education's big picture. And she does.

But for Dr. Thomas, the school's Lee County campus president and executive vice president, her favorite part of the job is meeting students and teachers on a daily basis.

"Every day, there's a different aspect to campus life," she says. "As a campus president, I very much like to be aware of what's going on and hearing the dialogue. A typical day is being out and about and listening and engaging in conversations."

She also loves sitting in on classes.

"What I see is the learning that's going on with the students and their engagement with the subject matter," she says. "It really helps me stay in touch. It's understanding where we are as an organization."

Edison's growth as a school has continued to skyrocket since Dr. Thomas was hired three years ago. She grew up in Buffalo, N.Y., and went to school near there for accounting, then made a transition to higher-level education.

She spent 33 years as an administrator at community colleges in Detroit, Mich., before moving to Fort Myers with her husband who is retired.

Dr. Thomas estimates 50 percent of this new wave of enrollment was due to the weak economy. The other half is because Edison became a state college and focused on strengthening many programs such as the arts, associate degrees, as well as four-year degree programs.

She credits the school's president and staff as making the growth "seamless," although her own influence has been broad.

"I've helped the college navigate their pathway," she says. "What we were able to do was not just add 'state' to our name. We want to grow the good reputation we have. I think Edison has emerged as a key provider for higher education in the community."

Dr. Thomas says other women paved the way for her.

"I'm a product of the early-'70s work environment," she says. "When I think about when I graduated and the limited opportunities and inequalities in position and salary just in general, it's changed dramatically today."

She sees Southwest Florida as welcoming to women and providing "an open mindedness to good talent" in general.

"I know Edison has done a wonderful job of promoting people with talent: male, female, it doesn't matter. I see that in this general region; there's not a bias. So if a person is capable and competent, gender won't hold them back."

She adds that complete gender equality hasn't been achieved yet in society as a whole.

"I don't think we've achieved that in our society, but I think we're getting closer to it," she says. "I think we've made some great strides."

— Evan Williams

Pamela Templeton:

THRIVING IN A MAN'S WORLD

Pamela Templeton: THRIVING IN A MAN'S WORLD

As co-owner of Fort Myers Toyota, Pamela Templeton thrives in what most consider a man's world. When asked what it's like to hold a position of power in such a testosterone-driven industry, this female dynamo says, "It's interesting. It really depends on who you're dealing with, as to the comfort level. The same attribute of firmness or assertiveness which is appreciated in a male is not appreciated in a female."

Ms. Templeton is well-known in the community, and is very involved in the restoration of the Sydney and Berne Davis Art Center. She works with the American Cancer Society on the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer campaign, and is on the board of the Southwest Florida Symphony. Her dealership sponsors a plethora of local events, including the Barbara B. Mann Community Concert Series.

Ms. Templeton considers three other power women her community mentors: Barbara B. Mann, Berne Davis and Madeline Taeni. "I love them dearly," she says, "and they like me too. We do have some fun together."

Ms. Templeton was raised in Virginia, where her father had a car dealership. She worked for him in high school, and when he semi-retired, he picked up a Toyota dealership in Sarasota which led to the acquisition of Fort Myers Toyota. His daughter honed her business chops watching dad.

By age 20, she owned an aircraft cleaning business, servicing planes at Washington Dulles, Washington National (now Reagan) and even Andrews Air Force Base. After five years of success, she swapped snow for sunshine and began managing her father's affairs. Ms. Templeton now lives, as her secretary says with a laugh, "a spud-gun throw from the dealership."

Regarding the economic events in her industry this past year, the selfproclaimed fiscally conservative Ms. Templeton says the "Cash for Clunkers" program has been a shot in the arm for sales.

"I've seen a lot of older people getting out of these huge, gas-guzzling 'boats,' and they're thrilled," says the self-proclaimed fiscally conservative Ms. Templeton. "But the paperwork has been ghastly. Many dealers are flipping out because they're dealing with a bureaucracy to get their money back. We have over 200 'clunkers' on the lot, which is about $900,000 or so. We've only been paid for two. A lot of these other dealerships can't handle that kind of receivables; we're fortunate that we can. But they only gave us the rules they day the program started, and the rules keep changing."

Ms. Templeton's own ride is a Toyota Venza. "It's the first Toyota conceived, designed, engineered and solely created in America," she says. "It's fabulous. You put those seats down, you could probably get 25 bags of mulch back there."

On the rare days she's not working, Ms. Templeton likes to travel to visit her family. But she's definitely giving 110 percent to the dealership at this point in life. "I haven't been scuba diving in years," she says of a favorite pastime.

—Libby McMillan

Cyndie Kottkamp:

LT. GOVERNOR'S 'HELPER'

Cyndie Kottkamp: LT. GOVERNOR'S 'HELPER'

Cyndie Kottkamp's power lies in her faith.

She may be the wife of Southwest Florida's first lieutenant governor in at least 100 years, but the Fort Myers native emphasizes more that she is a wife of a man who spent nearly a month in a coma flirting with death in 2004. She's the mother of a boy who took seven years to conceive and then who came into the world amid pregnancy complications at the same time Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp was ill. It was also the same time Hurricane Charley blasted Lee County.

"It's all about the loved ones and not the material things," she has been quoted many times as saying. "Be thankful for life. It's quite a gift."

Today the 43-year-old Fort Myers High School graduate lives in Tallahassee with her son and husband. Jackson, 4, and yellow Labs Jeb and Buddy are the center of her days. Events with the lieutenant governor occupy her calendar. The family still frequents Lee County, but with the couple's North Fort Myers home infested with Chinese drywall, they're spending more time at the capital.

Being the wife of a lieutenant governor offers a front-row seat to Florida's problems and solutions, she says. "So many things break your heart, and in other cases you see so many places where people are helping others," she says via cell phone from Tallahassee.

Her role as the lieutenant governor's wife? "I just kind of help Jeff when he needs me," she says.

Although her "main job is Jackson," Ms. Kottkamp's passion also lies in raising funds to build kennels for pets at domestic violence shelters throughout Florida. Through the Florida Coalition of Domestic Violence, she's working to help raise $1 million, with $100,000 already in the kitty.

"We just want to give that woman one less reason to stay in a bad situation with her child," she says. "Seventy percent of households with domestic violence also have animal abuse."

The fourth-generation Floridian said she's just trying to pick one piece of the puzzle and help. "If you look at all the problems in the state, it's overwhelming," Ms. Kottkamp says.

— Betsy Clayton

Julia East:

COMMUNITY CONNECTOR

Julia East: COMMUNITY CONNECTOR

When Julia East explains her job to grade-school students, she tells them the Southwest Florida Community Foundation works to help us all have a stronger community by providing grants and scholarships to nonprofit organizations such as the Harry Chapin Food Bank and to students in Lee, Charlotte, Collier, Hendry and Glades counties.

It's a mouthful, but it's a tough job to explain.

"When you do something day in and day out, it's hard to step back and explain because it's intuitive and intrinsic," says Ms. East, the foundation's president and CEO since 2007, taking over from former longtime leader Paul Flynn.

A certified fundraising executive, Ms. East previously served as director of corporate and foundation relations for Clarion University of Pennsylvania before she moved to Southwest Florida in 2001.

It's not an overstatement to say she's flourished here.

Two years ago, she was a presenter at the National Community Leadership Association conference, speaking about effective community leadership. Since then, the tools and methodology she developed for measuring community leadership efficacy have been shared with programs in more than 15 states.

She was the only community foundation representative of a U.S. and Canadian delegation of fundraising professionals on a 2008 trip to China. She's also an adjunct professor for IMPAC University and participates in the school's program with the Vietnamese National University. She's president of the Planned Giving Council of Lee County and serves on the Legacy Family Office Advisory Board.

Not too shabby for the daughter of a systems analyst and an English teacher from rural Virginia who dreamed of becoming a prima ballerina until she was 16 and blew out her knee. As a girl, she used to visit her great aunt, Ruby Berry, in Fort Myers-Cape Coral and learned much from her aunt, who was "a pioneering woman who … attained higher education and balanced community life, work life and family life."

Today she's a fan of theater, ballet and live music as well as nibbling dark chocolate and playing with her yellow Lab, Miss Teak. Yes, her significant other — Miss Teak's daddy — is in the yacht business. Together Geoff Campbell and Ms. East enjoy time with Mr. Campbell's daughter, Alexandra.

Ms. East, 48, admits she feels more comfortable talking about the achievements of others and of the foundation than herself. The foundation has $51 million in assets and has issued more than $40 million in grants and scholarships since its inception 33 years ago. It was founded with just $500.

"I very much enjoy the opportunity to help people and organizations connect with one another," she says. "Lots of folks have great ideas and don't know who to talk to. I like putting together synergistic relationships. No day is the same; there's always the sense of newness and excitement."

— Betsy Clayton

Sarah Owen:

FIGHTING HUNGER

Sarah Owen: FIGHTING HUNGER

Sarah Owen doesn't consider herself a powerful person, but she notes that it's "powerful to watch people's lives change."

As CEO of the Community Cooperative Ministries Inc., she leads the umbrella agency for The Soup Kitchen, Meals on Wheels, Faith in Action Senior Transportation, Hands & Hearts Montessori Preschool and two United Way Resource Houses.

Put another way, the 45-year-old "nearly native" Floridian says, "I have revolving role models."

"I'm inspired by the transformation our customers make in their lives," Ms. Owen says.

She doesn't take credit for it. She makes people aware of the community's needs, educates them and then the people themselves are inspired to reach out and help those customers Owen's CCMI serves.

It's a different job than the nonprofit leader visualized for herself. As a girl, she thought she'd be Julie McCoy, the cruise director on "The Love Boat" when she grew up. Instead, she launched a successful career in public relations and corporate communications. She worked for publicly traded companies on the New York Stock Exchange as well as private companies throughout the Southeast.

Then a career stop in Richmond, Va., changed all that. She discovered a passion for community service working for an organization that advocated for rights of people with mental disabilities. Back in Southwest Florida three years later, she committed to working for a nonprofit agency and helping those who couldn't help themselves. She recently was named a Tyson Hunger Relief All-Star.

In addition to her CCMI work, Ms. Owen wrote and founded, "What's Next? A Support Group for Singles Mothers and Their Children," a program that is now widely used in churches and communities throughout the Northeastern United States.

Ms. Owen is married to husband David and has three children, two of whom they recently nudged out of the nest and off to college. Now it's time to focus on their 8-year-old son — and for Ms. Owen to keep learning from her revolving role models at work and get them the community support they need.

"I don't consider myself powerful or influential, but I do try to inspire and influence people to change the community," she says.

— Betsy Clayton

Teri Hansen:

ALL ABOUT PRIORITIES

Teri Hansen: ALL ABOUT PRIORITIES

Teri Hansen derives her strength from the three things she holds most dear: her faith, her family and her job.

The founder, president and creative director of Priority Marketing, Ms. Hansen employs 19 people in what began as a one-woman operation run from home.

A Fort Myers native, she graduated from Cypress Lake High School and earned her bachelor's degree in business at the local branch of the University of South Florida. She went on to work as WINK-TV's director of community services then as director of marketing for Westinghouse, which developed Gateway.

But when her daughter was born, she didn't want to work 12 hours a day anymore.

"I'm very much about priorities, having an ordered life and keeping in perspective what's most important," she says.

When her daughter, Anna, was 2 months old, Ms. Hansen launched her own company, calling it Priority Marketing. Her first client was her former employer, Westinghouse. Next came Realtor Denny Grimes, who remains a client 17 years later.

Six years after she began, the business threatened to overtake her home. With her daughter starting school full-time, she moved in to an office building on College Parkway. She's still there, although the firm now occupies more space.

While keeping up with the industry's rapid changes and managing a team of 19 employees, Ms. Hansen still finds time for her other passions.

High on the list is her 17-year-old daughter, who plays a variety of sports, which necessitate traveling to practices and games. The family also has a 17-year-old Lithuanian exchange student living with them so Ms. Hansen and her husband drive him to basketball practice, games and other activities as well.

She's active in her church, teaching a women's Bible class and singing with the worship team. She's also involved with Builders Care, a nonprofit organization that provides free emergency home repair to those in need.

And as if that's not enough, she competes on the national competitive ballroom circuit, a pursuit that requires physical and emotional strength.

"It's such a fantastic expression of who I am, combining music, rhythm, athletics and performance," she says. "It's a perfect fit for my personality. The intensity of the work is physical, not mental, so it creates a wonderful balance to a busy work life."

She believes her life has gone according to a divine plan and attributes much of her success to others.

"I have an awesome, supportive family and am blessed to work with a phenomenal group of professionals," she says. "I really believe things don't happen by accident. I believe God has a plan for our lives. I pray for wisdom."

— Karen Feldman

 

Jill Turner:

CHILDCARE ADVOCATE

Jill Turner: CHILDCARE ADVOCATE

Helping injured children from broken families and preventing further abuse is a difficult and often intense job. But even after 29 years in the trenches, Jill Turner has a bright energy that along with highly-trained staff, and a new headquarters on Evans Avenue, is a counterpoint to often-tragic situations.

She founded Children's Advocacy Center of Southwest Florida in October 1981, in her hometown, Fort Myers. Even after these years of working on behalf of thousands of children, individual cases remain distinct in her memory.

"There are still some cases that bother me a lot," she says. "(Only) some I can look at objectively. I can still remember the first kid I worked with that was burned. I can still picture him and that was probably 30 years ago. There are some cases that don't ever leave you."

Last year, the center served nearly 4,000 children and their families in Lee, Charlotte, Hendry and Glades counties. When she founded the center, there was no local therapy program for sexually abused children. As a result, some of the same children she saw then grew up and continued the cycle of abuse. Because of programs at the center, that's changed.

Ms. Turner has grown the nonprofit organization over the years from a staff of one to 72.

"I give (the staff) all the credit," she says. "That's why we're successful."

It's also due to some of her design initiatives.

Ms. Turner, 62, was once an interior design and art history student at Florida State University. She used her talent to help create the lobby's hospitable atmosphere. It is filled with curvy, kid-sized furniture, toys and bright colors. There are also exam rooms used to gather forensic evidence that are designed to be kid-friendly places.

"It's much less scary for them," Ms. Turner says.

After college, she worked for the Department of Children and Families for eight years before founding the center.

"I took the job to pay the bills, and I got hooked," she says.

— Evan Williams

Lauren Stillwell Bernaldo:

SHAPING NEWS COVERAGE

Lauren Stillwell Bernaldo: SHAPING NEWS COVERAGE

Lauren Stillwell Bernaldo says she is too introverted to be comfortable working in front of a camera as a television news anchor. But Mrs. Bernaldo's behind-the-scenes work as executive producer of special projects for Waterman Broadcasting, which owns WBBH (NBC2) and manages WZVN (ABC7), is crucial to how major local news stories are presented to and perceived by the viewers of those stations.

"I never was that interested in being on-air," says Mrs. Bernaldo. "I'm a little introverted, and I just don't have the amazing talent that good anchors have to be relaxed and authoritative in front of a camera. But I do love to write, and I love helping to shape how major news stories are covered."

Mrs. Bernaldo, 38, leads a team of about eight reporters, producers and photojournalists that is called into play for significant events — things like hurricanes, elections, investigative pieces and long-term projects.

A recent example of her work was the acclaimed retrospective the stations aired on the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Charley.

Mrs. Bernaldo did not set out to be a journalist. In fact, it took a failure of sorts to lead her into the news business.

She originally enrolled at DePauw University in Indiana as one of the school's prestigious Management Fellows. Her grades in the required business and economics courses were not high enough to sustain the fellowship, however, and she gravitated to the school's recently opened Media Center, where she quickly found a home.

Following graduation, she worked at the NBC affiliate in Columbus, Ohio, and then moved on to New Jersey and a producer's job with MSNBC. It was at MSNBC that she met her future husband, Matt Bernaldo, who currently oversees the online news content for WBBH and WZVN. The couple has three children, ages 5, 3 and 1.

"I really missed local news," Mrs. Bernaldo says of her time at MSNBC. "I missed the immediacy and the feeling that what you do really does make a difference in your community."

Mrs. Bernaldo came to Fort Myers 12 years ago after she and her husband visited the state and decided it was the place they wanted to live and raise a family. She began as an executive producer and advanced to assistant news director before being promoted to her current position after the birth of her second child. She says she has no regrets about leaving the national platform that MSNBC provided.

Of course, being in Florida has allowed her to cover stories that not only are significant locally but also national in scope — Hurricane Charley and the state's 2000 presidential vote fiasco being two prominent examples.

Looking back, Mrs. Bernaldo says it is ironic that failure as a business student led her to a profession that seems perfectly tailored to her talents and interests.

"I learned that it is OK to fail," she says. "Sometimes failure opens your eyes to things that you otherwise might not see."

— Bill Cornwell

Carol Hudler: A CHANGING INDUSTRY

Carol Hudler: A CHANGING INDUSTRY

Publisher Carol Hudler has thousands of employees relying on her good decision making. As publisher of The News-Press and 15 other papers in the southeastern United States, she also has nearly two million readers who can only enjoy their local paper and morning coffee if she makes good business decisions, and keeps her papers viable in an evershifting economy. This requires attention to advertising revenues — which pay the bills — and editorial content, the way papers gain and retain readers. Ms. Hudler lives with a foot planted in both worlds.

"There are very few jobs like the publisher role, where you get to play in so many arenas," she says. "It's the one job where you are comfortably seated in the business side and the editorial side. I really like all aspects. I have to build the business plan to make this work."

The publisher is "the president of the company," explains Ms. Hudler. "My involvement in content includes that I'm the editor's boss. Some publishers are very active on the editorial board. Others are hands off and get involved in the big stuff; that's more what I do. Editors usually give me a heads up if there's something that's a hot point for me, and I'll read it ahead of time, and give them input," she says. "I could veto any editorial, but I don't use that power very often. I argue with the other members of the editorial board, just like everybody else."

Technology now allows Ms. Hudler to travel for work far less often than she used to, and any relaxation time is often spent biking, or beaching it with family (including her husband, novelist Ad Hudler).

Ms. Hudler was raised in a Midwestern farm community and decided early on that business appealed more than being a farmer's wife. She aspired to her father's profession of law, but college journalism struck a chord.

Gannett is the parent company of Ms. Hudler's papers; about half its publishers are female. "Gannett was an earlyadopter at promoting women," she says, "so many of us are in senior roles now. Sometimes I have to make decisions that I don't like to have to make," she says of her lofty position. "And sometimes you have to have pretty tough skin," she says. But I've had that for a while."

Ms. Hudler, a publisher for 14 years now, places great stock in one personal philosophy. "I think that power tends to corrupt even the best people," she says, "and I see it all the time, people having delusions of their importance. I think it's very important that anybody in a position of power stay tethered to people who will tell them the truth, whether they're going to like it or not. People start getting too comfortable in their position of power, and confuse their own importance with the importance of the position."

— Libby McMillan

Eva Worden: GREEN AND PROUD

Eva Worden: GREEN AND PROUD

Eva Worden could have spent life safely ensconced in academia, teaching horticulture at the University of Florida.

Instead, she left that behind and, with her husband and infant son, set out to do what experts said wasn't possible: create a successful subtropical organic farm.

"We like a challenge," says Ms. Worden. "Having our first child made it clear to us that we wanted the farming family lifestyle," the life she had while growing up in Coral Gables and spending weekends at her parents' tropical fruit grove near Homestead.

In 2003, she and her husband, Chris, bought 55 acres in Punta Gorda and founded Worden Farm, applying techniques they'd learned while attending graduate school at Yale University in Connecticut. They transformed the pastures and citrus groves, digging ponds, building barns, installing irrigation and improving the soil.

They planted 8 acres the first season, selling their vegetables and herbs at the Sarasota farmers market and through farm memberships to consumers from Sarasota to Lee counties.

This year, they are planting 20 acres and will supply more than 400 members plus countless shoppers at multiple area farmers markets.

But Ms. Worden feels driven to do more. The farm has an apprentice program, hiring four to six aspiring organic farmers a year from a nationwide pool of applicants.

"We are looking to train the next generation of organic community farmers," she says.

Ms. Worden inspires a still younger set by helping tend a garden at her son's Montessori school in Port Charlotte.

She educates consumers through farm tours, workshops on food preservation, home dairying and cheese making, and periodic farm dinners, where people bring dishes to share, get acquainted with the farm's animals and even take a hayride. She's also a founding board member of Slow Food Southwest Florida, a nonprofit organization dedicated to healthy food and fair wages for farmers.

"We are the intersection of nature and culture," she says. "It gives people a safe place that's comfortable to appreciate the natural world and bring it into their lives in a way that's meaningful to them. When they eat our food, they are doing something healthy for themselves in a physical sense, but it also gives them mental and spiritual well-being."

To Ms. Worden, farming isn't a business, it's life.

"I feel like it's an essential part of being human to know where food comes from and that farming is an important part of a sustainable community," she says. "Being organic is working in partnership with the natural world and being a community farm means we are integrated with the human part of the ecosystem. It's a fully integrated system."

— Karen Feldman

FGCU Eagles:

NATIONAL POWER

FGCU Eagles: NATIONAL POWER

Coach Karl Smesko is surrounded by power women each day he spends in Alico Arena at FGCU. He is head coach of the enormously popular and wildly successful Eagles basketball team, which has a loyal (and noisy!) fan base here in Southwest Florida, and rightfully so. The Eagles won no less than their conference championship last year, going 17-3 with only one loss at home, and were 26-5 overall for the season.

In conference games, the team's two superstars, Michigan-born Adrianne McNally and Colorado native Chelsea Lyles, averaged over 14 points each in the 08-09 season. Both return this year, and fans vividly remember watching the respective 36.5 percent and 37.7 percent success-rate these gals hit when attempting the team's signature three-point shot.

"Their offense is probably one of the best offenses I've ever had the privilege of watching," says FGCU Information Director Mike Hill.

Fans agree, and eagerly pour into Alico Arena toting paddle signs printed with large number 3s, knowing they'll get many, many opportunities to yell "three, three, three," while waving their signs prior to, during and after the constant bombardment of three-point shots the Eagles lay on the competition. In fact, 10 of 12 Eagle players averaged .333 or better on three-pointers last year, with three players shooting upwards of .405. One standout, Kelsey Jacobson of Minnesota, hit nearly half her big-point shots, earning a whopping .443 average.

Ms. Jacobson, Ms. Lyles and Ms. McNally all return to the FGCU and the team roster this year, and will be coached once again joined by Coach Smesko and Assistant Coaches Nathan Daume, Erika Haney and Kate Schrader. New assistant coach Robert Boldon has worked with Coach Smesko in the past, and will help hone the players as they enter year three of the four-year wait for Division 1 conference tournaments and NCAA tournaments, after moving up from Division II.

The Eagles' first home game is Nov. 13 against University of Texas at El Paso; this is a pre-season WNIT tournament game. Conference play fires up on December 5 at Stetson University. At press time, the box office was firming up ticket prices and season ticket packages. Ms. McNally, who made 50.5 percent of her field goals last year, justifies this year's ticket price, but her fellow Eagles all give honor to the green and blue.

— Libby McMillan

Dena Geraghty:

LONG-TERM RECOVERY

Dena Geraghty: LONG-TERM RECOVERY

A few years back, Dena Geraghty penned for The News-Press a searingly honest article that detailed her struggle with and eventual triumph over alcoholism. The account, with no punches pulled and no excuses offered, is typical of straightforward manner in which Ms. Geraghty approaches her life and her civic responsibilities.

With 23 years of sobriety to her credit, Ms. Geraghty has turned her personal travail into a story of redemption and triumph that resonates with others facing addictive disorders.

"Hope is the big thing," says Ms. Geraghty. "Whether it is in recovery or just in life itself, hope is the glue that holds everything together."

Ms. Geraghty combines personal experience with her professional training as a nurse in her endeavors, which include memberships on the board for Southwest Florida Addiction Services and the Pace Center for Girls. She also is a member of the Lee County Human Services Board, the Local Advocacy Council and Florida Lawyers Assistance, which deals with attorneys who are struggling with substance abuse or mental health issues. She recently was selected to be a citizen member of The News-Press editorial board.

But it is her work with the Lee County's Juvenile, Dependency and Drug courts that Ms. Geraghty finds most fulfilling.

"My Drug Court work allows me to bring the voice of long-term recovery into the legal system," she says. "I would like to think that I can help the legal community better understand the complexities of addiction."

Her court work involves evaluating and counseling parents who have lost custody of their children as a result of addiction and juveniles who have run afoul of the law for the same reason.

"We like to call it 'therapeutic justice,'" she says. "It seeks to address these problems in a therapeutic-justice setting rather than a strictly legal setting."

While Ms. Geraghty personally relates to the struggles of substance abusers who find their way into the courts, she has a well-earned reputation as a tough — but fair — counselor who is difficult to deceive or con. In short, she knows the games that addicts play and is quick to call them to account when they at tempt to play them.

Ms. Geraghty said she hopes that her story will continue to serve as an inspiration to others.

"Recovery has totally shaped my life," she says. "I was always a giving, caring person, but through recovery I have been able to truly use those traits to the best of my ability. Long-term recovery has allowed me to accomplish things that never would have been possible while I was drinking. I never lose sight of that. It is a wonderful gift."

— Bill Cornwell

Elinor C. Scricca:

PASSION FOR EDUCATION

Elinor C. Scricca: PASSION FOR EDUCATION

Elinor C. Scricca has spent more than 50 years in the field of education, and she has no plans to slow down, retire or abandon her goal of introducing foreign language instruction into the curriculum of Lee County's elementary schools.

"It is a wonderful thing to be involved with children and their learning," says Dr. Scricca, who in 2002 was elected to represent District 5 on the Lee County School Board. "In my mind, there is no higher calling than the education of our young people, and there probably is no more important job, either."

Dr. Scricca, who is 78 years old and holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from Case Western Reserve University in her native Ohio, has a special passion for promoting the instruction of foreign languages in our schools. She has worked in virtually every aspect (teacher, principal, superintendent) of primary and secondary education.

She believes that many school districts, Lee County included, should teach foreign languages early in elementary school. Currently, Lee County students must wait until their high school years to begin a second language.

"Part of my agenda is to see what I can do to introduce foreign languages in elementary school," says Dr. Scricca, who speaks fluent French, Italian, Spanish and, of course, English. "I also realize that we currently face fiscal challenges which make it hard to realize that goal. But just because we can't do something at this very moment doesn't mean that we should abandon the idea altogether."

This desire to continually improve the educational experience is why Dr. Scricca says she will seek another fouryear term in 2010.

"I've had a number of people say, 'Surely you are going to run again,'" Dr. Scricca says. "I tell them that I surely will run again. My work is not finished, and as long as God gives me health, I will continue."

She believes that she will see a time when her goal of early instruction in foreign languages is realized.

"I don't know when that time will be, but it will come, and I will keep pushing for it," she says. "Our world is growing smaller, and it is essential that our young people have the tools to compete with young people who are being educated in other nations."

Dr. Scricca is fond of paraphrasing Napoleon, who remarked that a person who knows another language is worth two people.

If that as true, then Dr. Scricca — fluent in four languages — is worth eight people.

"I've been told by some people that I seem to do the work of eight people," she says with a laugh. "I don't know about that, but I do know that my life has been richer, more fulfilling and more successful as a result of studying languages other than my own."

— Bill Cornwell

Sharon MacDonald:

WAGING WAR ON CANCER

Sharon MacDonald: WAGING WAR ON CANCER

Sharon MacDonald's power is tangible — over the past two decades she's led successful drives to construct three cancer centers and a women's medical center, first in California, then Boston and, finally, Fort Myers.

Lee Memorial Health System lured her south 11 years ago to expand its cancer program. As vice president of oncology services, she opened the state-of-the-art Regional Cancer Center on Colonial Boulevard last October.

An impressive achievement even in good times, building such a facility at the height of a recession required highpowered diplomacy to bring together all the stakeholders.

Ms. MacDonald says her strategy involved "bringing all the parties to the table and laying out the vision. The other piece was that I always did what I said I would do."

She began in 1998 by analyzing the state of cancer care and defining what Lee Memorial needed to improve.

"Cancer care is not something you can dabble in," she says. "Either you do it with the best quality and access you can or let somebody else do it."

Seeing her successful track record elsewhere, the hospital board invested $5 million in her vision, and she began a decade-long campaign to create a comprehensive treatment facility. The result: the new cancer center, which offers medical care as well as balm for the soul through a healing garden, soothing water features, complimentary lunches and a boutique where patients learn to look and feel their best.

While growing the cancer center, Ms. MacDonald also took on the role of chief philanthropy officer, overseeing the hospital foundation on an interim basis. That was eight years ago. Since then, the foundation has raised about $40 million, which has enabled the hospital to provide specialty treatment for which people previously had to travel to Tampa or Miami.

The key to tapping that generosity, she believes, has been "helping people understand how their dollars touched a patient, how it made a difference in the life of a child, of a family."

Dividing her time between her philan thropic duties and the front lines of the cancer battle, she knows both are vital to improving the community's overall quality of life.

"I've come to the conclusion that part of my destiny was to create places that would help remove the barriers and stress from patients and families dealing with cancer," she says. "You don't have to let every doctor's appointment, every CAT scan, every X-ray define who you are. People want to be able to look to the future, plan for their children growing up. We owe it to everybody to help people pass through that journey and come out the other side as full and productive human beings."

— Karen Feldman

Victoria Stephan:

ALL ABOUT KIDS

"There is always room at the top."

Victoria Stephan: ALL ABOUT KIDS

That is the message that Victoria Stephan, president of Junior Achievement of Southwest Florida Inc., carries to nearly 10,000 students in grades kindergarten through 12 in Lee, Charlotte and Collier counties who participate in the program.

"Young people need to know that anyone with the right skills and knowledge can be successful," says Ms. Stephan, who has headed Junior Achievement since 2001.

"Junior Achievement is about presenting real-life situations to students and teaching them about work readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy," she says. "It is a means to broaden their education, to show how the skills they acquire in school are important outside the classroom."

A native of Coral Gables, Ms. Stephan received her undergraduate degree from Agnes Scott College in Atlanta. After college, Ms. Stephan and her husband, Bruce Stephan, a high school tennis pal, moved to Salem, Ore. The couple missed the Sunshine State and returned. Ms. Stephan taught in middle school, and she began to become involved in local civic work. She served as executive director of the Ronald McDonald House, was president of the Junior League and also development director of the Alliance for the Arts. She worked as a freelance writer and also founded a business - Stephan and Associates, which was a nonprofit business management firm. But she says she never lost her desire to help educate and enlighten young people.

The number of students reached by Junior Achievement in Southwest Florida has increased 500 percent during the eight years that Ms. Stephan has headed the organization.

"The rewards of working with kids through Junior Achievement are immense," she says. "I look at Junior Achievement as the reality piece of education. It is learning firsthand about the challenges and rewards of entrepreneurship and the business world. We look at what we do as giving balance to the educational process, providing something that schools cannot provide themselves."

Ms. Stephan believes the skills learned in Junior Achievement are even more valuable during these trying economic times. Participants gain an early insight into the workings of the business world and that can give them an edge in a highly competitive job market.

Her two sons, now 26 and 30 years old, began businesses detailing cars and boats before they became teenagers. Her husband is an entrepreneur.

"The things we stress in Junior Achievement were never theory in our household," Ms. Stephan says. "Our family has lived and practiced everything Junior Achievement stands for."

— Bill Cornwell

Trudi Williams:

INDOMITABLE SPIRIT

Trudi Williams: INDOMITABLE SPIRIT

Never give up. That one phrase is what motivates State Rep. Trudi Williams, R-Fort Myers, to overcome challenges and succeed as both a politician and owner of a top engineering firm.

Rep. Williams has spent her life fighting for what she believes. She muscles her way through any obstacles created by working in her male-dominated positions.

"It's not easy being a woman engineer," she says.

Rep. Williams began her career in 1981 with a degree in civil/environmental engineering. She started TKW Consulting Engineers Inc. as a one-person operation in 1989.

She is CEO of one of a top premier civil, structural, and environmental engineering firm in Florida. She has won prestigious awards for her engineering work, including Engineer of the Year in 2006.

In 2004, she ran for that state legislature and won. In 2006, she won a second term, running unopposed.

She manages to run her more than 50-employee business while helping put laws in place the support and protect the environment.

"I am huge on water policy, I am big on agriculture," she says. "I like to protect it at all costs."

In 2006, she got legislation passed to preserve 74,000 acres on Babcock Ranch, a large swath of land that straddles Lee and Charlotte counties.

Smart growth with the environment in the forefront is key to Rep. Williams. But none of her engineering awards or legislative successes would be possible without her can-do attitude.

"It's just so easy to throw in the towel," she says. "If you got the passion in your belly, never, ever, ever give up."

— E.I. Rottersman