VICTOR M. ORTEGA,
President Attribute Marketing Corp.
407.421.5447
victor@attributemarketing.com

The Idea of the BOSS was originally conceived by Victor M. Ortega as the outgrowth of a simple, but powerful referral he made to local business owners while serving as a City of Mineola Councilman. "When these five entrepreneurs called me during the first half of 2009 to share with me, that the simple action of pointing them in the right direction helped them to get working capital and start their own business... that's when I realized we needed to do something more organized to help business owners..." said Victor in a recent interview. At first, Victor wanted to provide a forum for local businesses in the Minneola area to help them get access to business training and other information resources. He did some research and sought out help with Jerry Ross, Executive Director of the Disney Entrepreneur Center... "You need to talk to James Spencer at UCF Business Incubator in Leesburg..."

JAMES SPENCER
Small Business Development Center at UCF, Area Manger
UCF Business Incubation Program-Leesburg, Site Manager
352.315.1846 | jspencer@bus.ucf.edu and jspencer@mail.ucf.edu,

James Spencer was the person who structured "The Idea" and started connecting the dots. James greeted Victor and his "Idea" with enthusiasm and passion, but immediately saw that the need extended well beyond the City of Minneola. He expanded the scope of Victor's initial vision to include South Lake County, identified the potential long term impact and immediately became the BOSS backbone. As a "serial entrepreneur" and active mentor to small businesses, James was able to readily identify with local businesses' needs, and he bridged the gap between them and regional service providers,

DOROTHY KEEDY
Director, Lake County Economic Growth and Redevelopment
352.343.9866
dkeedy@lakecountyfl.gov

Shortly after James and Victor agreed to increase the scope of "The Idea" to include South Lake County, Dorothy "Dottie" Keedy was immediately consulted. It did not take long before Dottie convinced James and Victor that the event should be regional, and should include all of Lake County! Dottie joined the team and quickly became an instrumental supporter of "The Idea." She provided the regional economic development perspective and kept a very dynamic team focused on the big picture of bringing business, government and service providers together in an innovative and powerful way for the specific benefit of Lake County businesses.

SHELLY M. WEIDENHAMER
Director, Lake County Regional Office Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission
352.435.6329
Shelly.Weidenhamer@OrlandoEDC.com

Concurrent with Dottie joining the group, Shelly Weidenhamer came aboard and represented the perspective of regional economic development. Shelly's enthusiasm, assertiveness, creativity and experience in working with municipalities and businesses in economic development, boosted "The Idea" to yet another level. With Shelly's help, the mission of the group expanded and now included assistance for not just entrepreneurs and small business owners, but the group would also address the needs of the "high-middle, and top-end" of the local business spectrum. Thanks to Shelly, BOSS included organizing resources for high growth second stage companies who have been shown to be the driving force of new job creation.

TIMOTHY W. GREEN
President Green Consulting Group, Inc.
352.357.9241
tgreen@greenconsultinggroup.com

Within the first few meetings, Victor, James, Dottie and Shelly realized that an event - and possible ongoing program - of the magnitude they envisioned, would be incomplete without representation from the local Chambers of Commerce in Lake County. Devoted Lake County native and business owner, with over 28 years helping the community and working with government, Tim Green engaged in "The Idea" from the start. He recognized the need to develop a "resource hub" such as -would later become- the Business Owners Success Summit (BOSS). As an active business owner and president of the Lake County Chamber Alliance, Tim was the natural candidate to keep the goals of the program on-track with the unique needs of Lake County Business owners, and the networking groups that tie them together. Tim's 28 plus years conducting business in Lake County served BOSS with the perfect point of view for its success.

KENNTH L. THOMAS

Director, City of Leesburg Housing & Economic Development
352-728-9708,ken.thomas@leesburgflorida.gov

Ken Thomas joined the Team around the same time as Tim Green, and rounded out the group with the perspective of local (City) Economic Development. Ken has personal experience as a small business owner, but also manages the economic development program for the City of Leesburg. Ken's perspective offered balance to the group's regional perspective, and assured that the mission, goals and objectives of the effort remained sensitive to the needs of "North Lake County" businesses as well as "South Lake County." Ken's business experience and objectivity in combination with his knowledge of regional economic development helped strengthen "The Idea" and helped give it strong, deep roots.

STACEY DUSCHARME-SCHMIDT

Associate Director, UCF Office of Research & Commercialization
407.823.6384,sschmidt@mail.ucf.edu

Stacey Duscharme-Schmidt joined the team shortly after Ken Thomas. Stacey had been instrumental in the preparation and submission of the the University of Central Florida, Office of Research & Commercialization's proposal to form an Economic Gardening Institute to service the growth needs of second stage businesses in Florida. The UCF Team won the coveted contract with the State of Florida, and Stacey lent the group her expertise in the formulation of the refined BOSS Mission, Goals and Objectives. The research she performed during the preparation of what has become "GrowFL" gave her a unique perspective on what worked in providing measurable results to growth businesses. Stacey's contribution to the planning of the BOSS really refined its perspective and extended it's utility.