Elia recently decided to sell the Pizza, Bar and Tapas locations to further focus on fine dining while indicating new concepts, locations and ventures are ahead.

After accomplishing his mission of bringing authentic and high-quality Italian dishes to South Florida, his business success transformed into helping the local community, which has become instrumental in his endeavors. Elia has made giving back to the South Florida community a significant part of The Angelo Elia Group’s platform. The extensive list of philanthropic work includes supporting cancer foundations, including the Pink Angels Memorial Foundation, volunteering culinary assistance for Nova Southeastern University’s yearly Celebration of Excellence, working with the renowned James Beard Foundation, supporting the Funding Arts Broward organization and hosting annual fundraisers for the Pace Center for Girls of Broward County.  

Who’s been your biggest influence in the restaurant industry?

I’ve been involved in the restaurant industry since I was 12 years old with my mom. She was my best influence in everything I was doing. She was very particular and very tough.

What did you learn from her?

I learned the basics, which are the most important things in real Italian cuisine. She taught me everything you needed to be successful: the traditional sauces, the stock, the chicken broth, the homemade pasta, the fresh ingredients, the fresh meat and fish, everything.

What inspired you to open your first restaurant?

I left my house in Italy when I was 14 years old and never came back because I wanted to prove that I could do it on my own. I went to New York and stayed there for about 17 years, then moved to South Florida to open my first restaurant.

What were some of the challenges opening over 25 years ago?

I was one of the few Italian restaurants to open when I got here; most people didn’t know what a lot of the food was. They didn’t know what a burrata was. I was one of the first ones to start bringing all the best cheese and ingredients and it was a risk because people didn’t know. It was a challenge trying to bring traditional Italy back to South Florida because it was all fettuccine alfredo and things like that. If you do something the right way, people will come back.

What do you think has been the key to your success?

Be stable. Be reliable. Use the best quality ingredients and treat our guests right. I try to be the best every day. Every day is a journey; every day is a challenge in life and my wife has supported me every single day.

How do you manage such a large, loyal staff?

Treat everybody the way I like to be treated. Respect everybody and give them great pay so they can support their family and not have to look for a different job. We are like a small family company because my wife and I are the only owners, but my employees and I are like a family at the end of the day. We like each other; we respect each other. Everybody wants to work at Casa D’Angelo because even if we have a couple of bad months a year, we’re still the best and busiest restaurant in town and I feel very confident to say that. Employees want to feel comfortable and enjoy working and I want everyone to be treated right, so that’s why I’m involved in all the roles at the restaurant.

What are some of your favorite Casa D’Angelo dishes?

The Fiori Di Zucca with zucchini flowers. The veal chop is the best. The white truffle in the winter and the black truffle in the summer are always favorites.

What’s your favorite Italian dish?

I love a good dish of pasta. I love the basic tomato-based pasta. It’s one of the great things in life. I think Italian is all about simplicity. If you want to have a real beautiful piece of fish, all you need is a little bit of olive oil and lemon, not a million little items.

Which local charities are you involved in?

I’m involved with many of them, but the most important to me is PACE [Pace Center for Girls Broward]. We’ve raised over a million and a half so far. Every year, we close the restaurant and have a big party for them to raise about $100,000 each time. I’m also involved with Nova Southeastern University’s Night of Excellence, cooking for 500-600 people.

How did you get involved with PACE?

Many years ago, I won a thousand dollars in a raffle. When I went to pick up the money, I saw their beautiful center. I took the money and gave it back to do something to help this beautiful facility grow.

Why do you think it’s so important to be involved with charities?

God gave me a good life and I like to give it back.

How does it feel to see your influence used in positive ways?

It feels great. You accomplish so much in your life and to do something like that is really amazing.

Who has influenced you to help give back?

My wife really pushed me to do so much with the community. We also have a lot of good customers who come here and like to give back, so they help me with a lot of charities.

What do you enjoy about the South Florida community?

I love everything about South Florida. I found my home, my wife and my family here. I have my son and daughter, who are the joys of a lifetime. This is my home and where I found my success in giving back. It’s been a journey. I still feel like a 30-year-old man. I look forward to opening new restaurants and keeping the journey going and growing my reputation day by day.

Photography by Eduardo Schneider

The post Angelo Elia’s Model for Success: Giving Back appeared first on Lifestyle Media Group.

One example of Visit Lauderdale’s creativity will be a takeover of The Sphere in Las Vegas during the second week of October when 13,000 travel and meeting planners are attending IMEX America, the largest trade show for global meetings, events and travel incentives.

Images of the Greater Fort Lauderdale area will be splashed all over the inside and outside of The Sphere and Visit Lauderdale will have a space on the trade show floor as well.

“We’ll be doing four days of appointments, regularly scheduled eight to 10 hours a day. We’ll be talking to travel planners and then we’ll also be mentioning to them, ‘Hey, did you see The Sphere? What do you think about The Sphere?’ And a lot of them will be going to The Sphere because it’s such an amazing, huge tourist attraction in Vegas.”

Another example of creativity was during the Tournament of Roses Parade at the beginning of the year, with a float depicting the county’s many attractions and its open arms to all visitors, which is a hallmark of the agency under Ritter’s direction. It resulted in a front-page article in the Los Angeles Times.

“That’s the kind of thing that I like to do, these big projects with lots of different puzzle pieces,” Ritter says. “When you finally come together and complete the puzzle, you get this really amazing picture.”

Making a big splash during the New Year’s Eve countdown in Times Square on Dec. 31, 2025 is another big project under consideration. Visit Lauderdale is looking at ABC and CNN coverage of the festivities and aiming for some cutaways that show parties in Fort Lauderdale as well.

“Key West has the live remote. Now we want to take it from Key West,” she says.

Lifestyle also wanted to get to know the other side of Stacy Ritter, the longtime public figure, and asked what she likes to do. Her first answer was learning to paint with watercolors during the pandemic.

“I have a big picture window in the front of our house and I set my easel up with my paints and one of my dogs sits on the couch next to me and just stares at me while I attempt to create something. I really love to do that. I listen to podcasts while I paint. It’s an opportunity for me to catch up on my geeky side. I’m a big history buff. I was a history major in college and the stuff that I used to have to read, I now read for fun,” she says. One of her favorite podcasts is “Behind the Bastards,” which is sometimes likened to Cliff Notes about some of the worst people in human history as it exposes the bizarre realities of their lives.

No surprise, that the head of a visitors bureau likes to travel, too. During the first five years of her current role, she used to travel a lot for business, but now her team can handle a lot of that load. She and her husband, public affairs guru Russell Klenet, love to take cruises and have a fondness for Italy and Vermont.

One of their favorite spots in Vermont is Manchester, which doesn’t quite have the brutal winter cold of northern Vermont. “It’s 6,000 people in the entire town. There’s one road in and one road out. It’s just a completely different vibe and we find it very relaxing,” she says.

She says her husband loves winter even though he was born and raised in Miami Beach.

Relocating to a Sleepy Town

Ritter was born in Washington, D.C. and moved to South Florida in 1974 when she was 14.

“It was sleepy, slow, not heavily populated, cheap. I came of age during the heyday of spring break. So, thank God, there were no cell phone cameras back then,” she says. Was she a wild child? “Well, wild was so relative back then. I mean, wild was belly flop contests and the drinking age was 18.”

Fort Lauderdale back then was white, conservative and male dominated.

“The beauty of it is that 50 years later this place has changed drastically from that. Back in the ’70s and ’80s, a gourmet meal was chicken fingers. Look at how it’s changed. You can eat around the world here. You can find amazing fine dining or you can get chicken fingers and there’s everything in between. The change from a conservative place to a progressive place where people are open-minded and welcoming – I just think that’s amazing,” she says.  

Ritter graduated from Piper High School, earned a history degree at Rollins College and obtained her law degree from Nova Southeastern University in 1985.

Her mother was a legal secretary and would take her to work sometimes.

“I was just fascinated by the law books that I’d see on the shelves and the lawyers that she worked for. It started when we were in D.C.; she worked for a really big law firm. I remember her telling me that the law firm was on the corner of a street with big picture windows where you saw John Kennedy’s caisson at his funeral go by,” Ritter says. While Stacy’s friends had Barbie dolls who were flight attendants, Stacy’s dolls were lawyers.

After two stints at law firms, however, she realized she didn’t really like being a lawyer.

“Clients are awful. The other lawyers are awful. The judges are awful. The bailiffs are terrible… I had a bailiff who used to call me ‘Little Stacy,’ and I know he wasn’t doing that to the male lawyers and I just hated it. I got pregnant and I thought, you know what? This is a good opportunity for me to figure out something else. So, I quit the practice of law.”

She went back briefly, part-time after her second child was born, but also became involved in social organizations, including The National Council of Jewish Women.  Ritter was interested in its advocacy arm.

Her interest in public policy went back to her childhood when Chet Huntley, David Brinkley and John Chancellor were giving the news and her fathered railed about Richard Nixon.

In 1996, she was in Tallahassee for the council’s Legislative Day and State Rep. Steve Geller pointed out a seat that was opening up.

“Geller said to me, ‘You should run for this seat. You’re young, you’re Jewish, you’ve got young kids, you’re fairly attractive,’ she says. “So, I’m like, OK, what the hell? I’m not supposed to win, so what’s the worst that could happen?”

Ritter said she worked very hard during an eight-week campaign against someone who twice won election to the school board.

“I think she took me for granted. I knocked on doors every day,” she says. “And I won. Nobody was more shocked than I was.”

The statehouse changed during her time.

“Even though there were some partisan issues, we would get together socially. My first speaker, Dan Webster, was the first Republican speaker since reconstruction. It was the year that the Republicans took over the house in 1996. He made freshmen Democrats and Republicans get together on a regular basis to get to know each other because you find that regardless of your party affiliation, you all have the same issues. You’ve got small kids. You’ve got aging parents. You’ve got bills to pay. While you may differ on the issues, at the end of the day, we’re all just people with the same baggage, the same frustrations, the same joys and the same sorrows.”

In 2006, Ritter was looking to run for state senate, but she was also getting tired of fighting battles over social issues like reproductive rights. A county commission seat opened up when Ben Graber decided to run for state senate. Ritter won.

She loved being on the county commission and counts getting the south runway built at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport as one of the biggest achievements during her tenure. While she was vice mayor, the commission also got a new courthouse built.

One of her predecessors as a county commissioner told Stacy by her sixth year that she would start to get tired of being on the commission. That turned out to be true.

Ritter says she didn’t feel the need to find a steppingstone to the next elected office.

She knew the leader for the CVB, former county commissioner Nicki Englander Grossman, was talking about retiring.

“My husband said to me, ‘You know what, Stacy, you could do that job. That’s just one big cocktail party. You know how to do cocktail parties,’” she recounts. “And I thought, you know what? I can do cocktail parties.”

 Getting the job was like another campaign. She put together a cabinet that would talk about tourism, but she actually knew a lot already because the county commission has control over the CVB. She faced opposition from many in the local tourism industry who didn’t want another elected official running the CVB. She also had the somewhat awkward experience of interviewing with county administrator Bertha Henry, who reported to the commission but would end up being her boss.

Ritter got the job and she rates her biggest accomplishment as rebranding a mouthful of words, the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention and Visitors Bureau, to the much simpler Visit Lauderdale.

The tagline of “Hello, Sunny” was dropped. “We changed it to ‘Everyone Under the Sun,’ because it was really important to me that we reflected the destination both as a CVB and the people who work here,” she says. “You have to recognize that everyone under the sun visits here. We are an international destination, but equally important is everyone under the sun lives here.”

“While our mission here is to bring visitors, our calling is to keep people employed because when visitors stop coming, people lose their jobs,” she says.

Ritter says people come up to her when she’s traveling for business and say the rebranding speaks to them and that it has elevated the Greater Fort Lauderdale area as a place to visit. Now, she’s doubling down on diversity and inclusion in a state where that’s not always welcome.

“We’ve really gone on a limb,” she says. “Sometimes I look back and I’m sure that there are people who were sawing me off that limb, but I’ve been around a long time. I’m used to that. I don’t care. It doesn’t bother me. I think I know we’re doing the right thing.”

“That diversity embraces those with disabilities. Just because you have a disability or a physical limitation doesn’t mean you want to stay home all day,” she says, “but you do want to go to a place where you feel welcome, where you can be accommodated and where you’ll be safe.”

“We’ve decided to create an entire department around accessibility and encouraging the stakeholders within the destination, the hotels, the attractions, the restaurants, to train their staff to be more accommodating to people with disabilities, recognizing that not everybody’s going to come to your reception desk in a wheelchair; sometimes you won’t be able to see what their disability is,” she explains.

In April, the Broward County Convention Center became the first in North America to partner with the Hidden Disabilities Sunflower program. The sunflower is displayed on lanyards, name badges, pins, wristbands or a retractable sunflower ID card holder to let staff know that additional traveling support may be needed. Hidden disabilities can range from temporary cognitive conditions to physical, visual, sensory and processing difficulties, to chronic health conditions such as arthritis and diabetes, chronic pain and sleep disorders.

Paralympic swimmer Abbas Karimi, who was born without arms, is now an ambassador for Visit Lauderdale and at the time of Ritter’s interview in July was set to be a participant in the Paralympics in France.

“We are sponsoring him, which gives us some advertising that will be both at the Olympics here in July on NBC and then the broadcast of the Paralympics in August in Paris as well. It’s just one of those things that lets the public know that we recognize that accessibility is a huge issue,” Ritter says.

Beyond the big picture vision, Ritter is also focused on the day-to-day work of Visit Lauderdale.

“We have a global trade department that travels the world, that talks to travel advisors and travel agents to spread the word about us. We have a long struggle with the 800-pound gorilla to the south of us and the one to the north. Everybody knows Palm Beach, everybody knows Miami, and we’re right smack in the middle of both of those.”

A major plus will be completion of the 801-room Omni Fort Lauderdale Hotel connected to the convention center. That will allow bigger conferences to book meetings after it opens in late 2025.

In 2026, Greater Fort Lauderdale for the first time will host the U.S. Travel Association’s IPW, the premier international marketplace for travel to the United States.

Ritter expects 6,000 international travelers, meeting planners, travel agents and media. Many of them, especially from Asia, have never been to Greater Fort Lauderdale. They will find out that Greater Fort Lauderdale has a different, more laid-back vibe than Miami.

“We are in a friendly competition with Miami, but there are plenty of tourists to go around between the three-county area,” Ritter says.

So, what’s next for Ritter? “I’m in the DROP program – the Deferred Retirement Option Pension program – because I’m in the Florida retirement system. So, I’ve got two to three years left here. If I’m still breathing, I will figure it out as I go along. I’ve got some ideas kicking around in the back of my head. I certainly don’t want to do nothing all day long.”

Portrait photography by Nick Garcia

The post Stacy Ritter’s Visitor Vision appeared first on Lifestyle Media Group.

Lifestyle Group Editor-in-Chief Kevin Gale got the lowdown about the ship from Ken Muskat, Managing Director Scenic Group USA | Scenic Luxury Cruises & Tours | Emerald Cruises, who works with his team in Hollywood.

The Emerald Kaia ship is already generating a buzz, so it’s not too soon to think about booking trips for its inaugural season before prices increase.

Emerald’s success with existing ships has been attracting younger, working-age cruisers beyond the stereotype of retired travelers, Muskat says. They want to be active, get social and enjoy the unique destinations and experiences that Emerald offers.

“We all saw what happened during COVID and nobody wants to be locked away again and told that they can’t go somewhere,” Muskat says. “So, people are taking advantage of these opportunities now to get out there.”

Here is a transcript of the interview with Muskat, which has been edited for clarity and brevity.

You really seem to be aiming for the best experience in cruising.

We’re very, very excited about the launch of Kaia because she joins her two sister ships, Azzurra and Sakara, in what we believe is truly a class of their own. There’s really nothing else out there like it for the consumer to be able to book that is ultra luxury. In this case, 128 guests and the guest-to-crew ratio is nearly one-to-one, with 92 crew.

But most importantly, any other small ships are typically older ships, whereas ours are brand new. They started coming out in 2022 and 2023 and Kaia debuts in 2026. So, that brings this next generation of ultra luxury ships to a whole ‘nother level.

We’re also very excited about the fact that we’ve made a number of enhancements to her versus her sister ships.

We’ve made a 50 percent size expansion on the wellness area and the spa area in the main deck. We’ve increased the ceiling height up to 10 feet. So, a lot of people think some of these smaller luxury ships feel small when, in reality, the beauty about the Emerald superyachts is that they really feel big when you’re inside — high ceilings, all windows, big open suites, big open lounge areas. You really feel like you get the benefits of a beautiful big cruise ship in a very small, ultra-luxury superyacht that almost feels like it’s completely private, all for yourself. We made a number of other enhancements, including the culinary aspects. Of course, the benefit of these ships is they get to go to unique ports that larger ships can’t go to, which really brings you the exclusivity and the uniqueness of them. We don’t really believe there is competition in this area.

The chairman and founder of Scenic, Glen Moroney, says that the Kaia builds on the strength of the Sakara and the Azzurra. Talk about that evolution.

We’re always listening to guest feedback. In the cruise industry, you build one ship and then you learn what things you could do better or improve upon.  We really pushed the design elements as it relates to taking advantage of all spaces onboard the ship. This ship is a little bit longer, a little bit wider, and it allows us to do some unique things. We bring more space to accommodations, 50 percent larger health, wellness and spa areas, unique features like the expanded Sky Deck and the innovative Marina Deck. The observation Sun Deck is absolutely incredible and there are some new culinary experiences, including the New Night Market Grill, which the other ships don’t have.

I like how The Sky Deck and the Sky Lounge meld the outside and the inside.

This is a central focal point for daytime and nighttime activity. A lot of it during the daytime is just around rest and relaxation and enjoying the environment, enjoying the sea; at nighttime, it becomes a major entertainment hub where you could watch the sunset and have drinks and enjoy the entertainment. One of the things that we’re really excited about is the integration of the indoor and outdoor. We like people to still feel very connected with the sea when they’re outside. You are on a superyacht sailing in some of the most unique beautiful locations in the world. To have this ability to be inside and have the luxury lounge experience and the bar experience, just step a few steps away and have this outside area with the lounge chairs and the Jacuzzi area and the entertainment that we have up there really brings that connection to the sea. It allows us to work in all-weather environments and allows us to offer the luxury experience inside and then more of a casual and lounge-y and ocean experience on the outside. It’s the best of both worlds.

I did some research on the meaning of Kaia and found it had the meaning of pure life, in the sea. How was the name selected?

The name of the ship usually comes from our owner, Glen, and his wife, Karen. It means exactly that: pure life, the sea. It’s also walking away with extraordinary memories that we provide. It is a true once-in-a-lifetime experience. It is a pure experience. You’re connected with the sea and you’re going to walk away with memories that are like nothing you’ve ever had before.

Talk about the all-inclusive aspect of the Kaia.

We include everything from airport transfers, breakfast, lunch and dinner on board. The Night Market Grill is a little bit extra for a nominal fee because it only holds eight people, but it is an incredible alternative. The drink packages are new for us to be all inclusive. Drinks include a selection of wine, beer, cocktails, sparkling wine, soft drinks, juices and the mini bar. We also have state-of-the-art coffee machines and tea stations around the ship. Because we’re focused on sustainability, we’ve got our thermos that we provide in every suite that you can refill with water, in lieu of plastic and single-use bottles

We also include the excursions with very knowledgeable guides, complimentary high-speed WiFi via Starlink, gratuities and the Go Cycle electric bikes on board. So, not included are spa treatments or if you want to really upgrade to a significantly expensive wine or alcohol. We like the ability for people to come on board and not have to think about anything and not have to put down their card every time they want to get a drink.

What sort of pampering can your guests expect?

For a lot of people, pampering means just leave me alone in my cabana up on the top deck, let me feel like this is my own luxury superyacht and bring me a drink every 15 minutes. For other people, it’s all around the actual amenities on board. The pampering also just comes from the outstanding service our crew provides. There is crew everywhere taking care of you to the extent that you want to be taken care of.

We have stateroom attendants for all of the suites that everybody can easily get in touch with to get anything done. We have a concierge in the main lounge area who can take care of anything for you. We also have great interactive TV on board in the suites. With only 128 guests, there’s never a line, never a time that you’re on hold on the phone. It’s super personable and super easy to get whatever you need.

What’s behind making the wellness space 50 percent bigger? 

We know people like to indulge on our cruises and relax and enjoy the culinary experience and the beverage experience and all the destinations we go to, but we also know that they want to have that balance with wellness. So, it’s important for us to build facilities that can give them that balance. Our spa will have a KLAFS Infrared Sauna, as well as larger spa treatment rooms for the gym. We’ve redesigned the entire look and feel of the gym. We’re going to offer this ability to connect with the outdoors with a new indoor/outdoor workout space. When the ship is not in motion, the watertight door will open to create an open platform that allows you to go on the platform and do yoga or Pilates or stretching. When you’re done with that, you can easily just jump right in the water. We also took the spa and gym area and connected it with the new indoor lounge of the marina and the outdoor marina. It’s really a great, great setup.

The state room sizes seem to be bigger as well.

The nice thing about this ship is she is slightly larger than her sister ships, which allows us more space to play with. The suites are about a 10 percent larger floor plan than what we have on some of the other ships. This really allows extra comfort in both the bedroom, the bathrooms and more amenities. The lowest cost balcony suites are 332 square feet, which is a very nice size. The owner suite features a Jacuzzi and measures up to 1,200 square feet. We’ve got a number of different categories in between. Because our ships are brand new versus the competition in this size, this allows us to say we have some of the largest suites at sea.

What will the dining area designs and cuisine be like?

La Cucina and the Night Market Grill offer unique dining experiences that focus on high-end regional cuisine. La Cucina, which is the main area, will have an open galley design. Our guests love to see the chefs cooking. The Night Market, which is sort of attached to La Cucina, is an eight- person venue. It will provide an Asian-inspired dining experience showcasing fresh and exotic flavors. Both venues are designed to foster a sense of community and delight with the senses.

You do build a great sense of community with everybody on board. You will really enjoy the culinary experience with different menus every night, different experiences. We also have the alfresco light refreshments up where the pool is, available breakfast, lunch and dinner

How do reservations work at the restaurant?

We’ve got open dining times and you can come in whenever you want. We do recommend reservations, especially for larger groups just to make sure that we can get you in at the appropriate time. The Night Market Grill does require reservations, which can be coordinated onboard.

What’s the dress expectation?

Very comfortable. We have people who dress in a sort of country club, comfortable attire day and night, while some people choose to get a little bit more dressed up, but we are by no means formal.

What areas of the ship are designed for entertainment and having cocktails?

There’s all these little nooks and crannies where you can enjoy a drink and be perfectly relaxed, but some of the bigger areas are the Sky Bar and Spa Pool on the Sky Deck. These are great for enjoying the daytime experience and the sunset and the cabanas that we have up there with a cocktail. We also have the Marina Lounge and the Observation Sun Deck. The Observation Sun Deck on this ship particularly is a whole new concept and is really going to be a great outdoor lounge space area day and night, especially when you’re seeing the sun go down, for drinks and lounging around and enjoying your fellow guests. We also have the indoor main lobby lounge where we’ve got a beautiful bar and we do a lot of nighttime entertainment there, activities and games. That’s where you’ll usually find a guitar player or somebody who may be singing and providing some entertainment. We also do that up on the Skybar and Sky Pool.

The marina really seems like it connects guests to the water. The slide looks like you just plunge right into the sea.

The marina is an area that you can go to whenever the ship is anchored out at sea — that’s when all the water sports are available. We did add this slide, so that’s one of those enhancements that guests were asking for and we wanted to provide this incredible slide that goes from deck three all the way right into the water. But we also have a number of other water toys including NautiBoys inflatable platforms, trampoline floats, Seabobs, paddleboards and kayaks. Seabobs are super adventurous, battery-operated and you can dive down into the water and pop back up and go as fast as you want to go.

A lot of the big ships have to go into big ports that may not have the best water quality. Sounds like the Marina experience offers not only great views, but great water quality.

Absolutely, a hundred percent. You’re going to places like St. Bart’s and Jost Van Dyke [an island in the British Virgin Islands] and some unique ports in Puerto Rico that most people have never heard of. The water is unbelievably clear and beautiful. Kaia is going to the Seychelles, so you can only imagine what the water’s like there. So, the ability to use these water sports and these places that are very much untouched, that big ships cannot get to, is a whole other aspect of the beauty. You go out there in a kayak, sit there for a second, look at the ship and the surroundings and it’s just breathtaking.

Tell us about the sun deck.

The new observation sun deck on the bow is beautifully designed. This is a space that we took full advantage of that we hadn’t taken full advantage of on the previous ships.  Because of the way the ship is built, it offered a whole new space for us to have lounge chairs. We’ll have umbrellas when the ship’s not moving to protect from the sun, tables, chairs and a relaxation area. It’s great for groups to get together. It’s great for cocktail parties, great to just hang out and read a book. It’s super tranquil and relaxing. These ships do really, really well with groups, families and some larger parties. The types of furniture that we’re going to be using is just over the top comfortable and relaxing with the best views you’re going to see anywhere.

Do you have a differentiation on your land excursions?

They’re all very unique and immersive. We have Emerald Plus and Emerald Active programs and you can enjoy activities that go off the beaten path, such as guided hikes, bike rides and cultural experiences. They’re all led by very knowledgeable local guides who provide amazing insights on the destination, the history of the destination and what you’re seeing, so you’ve got a fulfilling, enriching experience. You’ve got the ability to go off on your own if you want, and you also have the ability to do some very incredible shore excursions that teach you quite a bit about where you are. These can be as active or as passive as you want them to be.

What are some of the initial destinations?

She’s going to begin her superyacht experience in the Mediterranean and the Adriatic. 2026/2027 sailings include Greece, Italy, Croatia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the Seychelles. We’ve also added new itinerary options, including a new seven-night round trip to Venice, a seven-night to Istanbul and an Istanbul to Paros [an Agean Sea island] option and new voyages sailing to Malta.

What sort of feedback and buzz are you getting, including bookings?

We announced this a few months ago and immediately the response from our travel agent partners was incredibly strong. They’re very familiar with the Emerald Cruises brand and love it. They were super excited to see Kaia and now take it to the next level. Our guests that have sailed with us on Emerald cruises, especially those that have sailed on Azzurra and Sakara, gave us excellent feedback and immediately started booking. So, the demand has been exciting and strong.

Can you give our readers an idea of what it costs to sail the Kaia and are there some specials?

Pricing always fluctuates based on time of year, destination and supply and demand. Pricing for the eight-day Tropical Charms of the Seychelles itinerary is beginning at $5,055 per person and from $8,400 for the 13-day itinerary in the Seychelles.

We do offer regularly two-for-one fares plus up to $3,000 in flex credit, which means $3,000 that you can use either towards a discount off the cruise price or you can put that towards air to get all-inclusive air.

Now is the best time to book because the farther out you book, the better. Prices will be going up. I highly encourage guests to talk to their travel advisor or get onto our websites to see the latest promotions, which we will have for Black Friday and Cyber Week.

Go to emeraldcruises.com, sign up for the newsletter and you’ll get any of our offers, any of our promotions, all of our emails with the latest and greatest information.

Are all your cabins double occupancy or do you have singles?

They are all double occupancy. We do have promotions that allow for singles to come without having to pay 200 percent. In more cases you may pay 145 percent or 150 percent so you get a discount.

The post Emerald Kaia Introduces Exciting New Features to Enhance the Luxury Superyacht Experience appeared first on Lifestyle Media Group.

He was interviewed by Lifestyle Group Editor-in-Chief Kevin Gale at the system’s headquarters in Miami. The following Q&A was edited for brevity and clarity.

So, we’re in an elevator and I ask you to tell me why to entrust my child to Nicklaus Children’s Health System. How do you quickly win me over?

I start by saying, we’re the first and only specially licensed children’s hospital in South Florida. Everything we do is about kids – all the way from the equipment, the facilities, the people, everyone is subspecialty trained in pediatrics and it makes a difference. I would bring my kids here and grandkids here. I believe in the place that much.

With approximately 850 attending physicians, including more than 500 pediatric subspecialists, what does that say about the scope and quality of care that you are able to offer?

We’re in the people business and what we do is take care of kids. We do that with great people, great nurses, great doctors, and so really, it’s size and scope and also the quality of what we do. We can do everything from the bumps and bruises and sniffles all the way to the most complex surgeries—heart surgeries, cancer surgery and everything in between. Our size and scope matter, but it’s also about the quality. We are all the way from Homestead to up to Jupiter and all the way over to Naples. That breadth and depth of services that we offer really is due because of our size.

So, it sounds like they sort of feed off of each other. You get to a critical mass and you can financially afford to have more specialists in different areas.

Yes, and doing a lot of these complex surgeries is a big difference than if you only do a few per year.

Why would you recommend taking your child to a children’s hospital as opposed to a more general hospital that also treats adults?

The easiest way I can think about it is kids are not small adults. They’re kids for a reason. A  children’s hospital has everything that you need to take care of kids and only kids—all the way from the low dose x-ray machines, to special facilities, the MRIs and the invasive procedure areas, but it’s also around the people. All of our physicians are pediatric subspecialty trained. Our nurses go back to school and have extensive work in pediatrics. Everything from facilities to equipment to people, it’s all about kids.

Tell our readers about the scope of locations and services that the Nicklaus system offers.

We have over 30 different locations in Miami-Dade, Palm Beach, Broward and Collier counties. We see kids from every county in the state, even outside of our geographic region. It’s really around being where the kids are. Care can be local. No kid should have to leave their community for the majority of the care. When they need us for the high-end, super sub-specialized stuff, that’s why we’re here in Miami-Dade, but our geography and our reach is important to be where the kids are.

Has this geographic spread been more of a recent phenomenon or has this happened over quite a period of time?

It’s been probably a couple of decades. We opened our Nicklaus Children’s Dan Marino Outpatient Center in Weston about 25 year ago. So, we’ve had a geographic presence for a long time. We’ve seen more in the last couple of years as we’ve expanded services, particularly over to the west coast and up into Palm Beach County.

What’s ahead in terms of locations and new services?

We’re going to continue to expand in all four counties that we provide services in. We’re going to see some intentional growth in those areas, specifically around the high end, high acuity complex care.

What are the advantages to having your child see a primary care physician who’s part of your network versus one who may not have an affiliation with a children’s hospital at all?

Once you get into the network at Nicklaus Children’s, all of that information is shared. Everybody is rowing in the same direction for taking care of kids. We believe the right care at the right place at the right time is important. So, primary care and our community physicians are truly part of that complex delivery of care model. But, once you get in, things are seamless.

Are your primary care physicians pretty much throughout the three-county area?

Yes, across all three counties there’s a heavy population of primary care and they are great community partners with us.

Talk about Jack Nicklaus, the golfer, and his wife, Barbara, and their relationship with the hospital.

Every time I think about Jack and Barbara, I get a smile on my face. As you can see, they are two champions for children’s healthcare, for pediatric healthcare. They believe in the mission, they believe in taking care of kids. They were introduced to the hospital probably eight or 10 years ago and are truly inspirational for people across the country. It started with a pretty significant gift, but it goes beyond that. It goes around their championing pediatric healthcare across the country. Barbara is a wonderful, wonderful person. She talks about our physicians being angels and Jack, he’ll talk about golf and pediatric healthcare and he’ll say, taking care of kids and doing what we do is much more rewarding than any four-foot putt that he ever did.

It seems like hospitals are getting squeezed between rising costs and the need to take care of patients versus reimbursement rates. Where are we now and what could make things better?

Just like any other industry, any other hospital currently, reimbursements and rising costs, inflation, that’s part of what we have to deal with. Dealing with that day in, day out, year in, year out is just something that we do like everybody else. What we want to do, though, is focus on delivering care. We take any child regardless of the ability to pay. While it’s important and we need to keep our eyes around the fundamentals and operational efficiencies, it’s much more important to make sure that we do high quality care and take care of every kid that comes through our doors.

Talk about the importance of people in the community supporting you in terms of donations. Do you have a foundation for people to contribute?

We have a separate foundation, the Nicklaus Children’s Hospital Foundation –(give.nicklauschildrens.org). We’ve had successful years over the last couple of years around capital campaigns, capital contributions, but it’s also more than just the money. It’s around the community involvement, the community seeing the benefit of a freestanding children’s hospital, and then the philanthropy follows. We’ve seen a lot of interaction, a lot of commitment by the communities, more donors than we’ve ever had.

Nicklaus does very well in a lot of the US News and World Report rankings, but none of the children’s hospitals in Florida were ranked in the top three in the southeast. Is that something you aspire to and what would it take to get there?

I like to look at what’s behind those rankings. What are those characteristics of those top children’s hospitals? That’s really what we’re chasing. You think about the breadth and depth of programs and services that some of the top five children’s hospitals have across the country. That’s what we’re chasing. Across all of the different programs and services from cancer to orthopedics, we do a lot of the same things as those top ranked children’s hospitals do. Of course, we’d like to see that ranking rise, but it’s also around what’s behind it.

You went right into the healthcare field in 1992 as a management engineer at the Ohio State University Medical Center when you were apparently getting your bachelor’s degree at the university. Was that a conscious decision to get in the healthcare field or was it something you just sort of fell into and built a career on?

I wish I had the sexy answer to this one, but it was truly by accident. It was a summer job and it turned into something that I stayed on after the summer and then I just really got the healthcare bug.

How would you describe your career progression?

There’s a lot around mentorship and people that I’ve been able to look up to and that has helped me along the way. I do believe that there’s this balance between operations and finance and strategy. So, when you look back at my career, I started in operations, did a lot of day-to-day running of the business, but then got exposed to the finance side. I think some of the best things that I can help bring to the table is bringing those two together. Operations can’t survive without finance and finance can’t run the business. I like bringing those two together along with strategy and then physician relationships and growth.

What drew you to Nicklaus as CFO in 2018?

I’ve worked at a couple children’s hospitals in the past, one in Memphis and one in Cleveland, and then got in the adult world. I wanted to get back in pediatric healthcare. As I was looking in the 2017-2018 time period, I was very conscious about looking for a freestanding children’s hospital.

What was it like making the transition to president and CEO in 2019?

What do they say? Don’t be afraid to take that leap of faith or something along those lines. It’s ironic when you look back, you realize what you didn’t know. When you look at it from a finance perspective, you have a certain lens. When you look at it from the president/CEO perspective, you have a different lens. Bringing those two together was the best thing that ever happened to me. Part of it is because I’m able to do the things that I love. I love finance, I love operations obviously, but as CEO, being able to bring those two together is wonderful and you really do that through hiring great people. In my role now, I am able to do that much more so than in my prior roles.

How did the organization get through the challenges of the pandemic and is it still having a long tail impact?

When you look back, who could have predicted the pandemic then? Who could have predicted how long and the impact it had? I remember sitting in the office, we were kind of trying to plan for this, and we all thought it was going to be some small event, short period. Who knew? And then we woke up and it was, what, two years later? The pandemic for us, really brought people together. There was a common purpose. It was scary back then. Very scary, very scary, especially at the beginning. But, because we had great people and great purpose, we’re able to do that. Unlike the adult side, it had a different impact on kids. Adult hospitals were full, pediatric hospitals were basically empty overnight. So, our ability to respond to that and do the things that we needed to was huge.

I remember sitting, probably in this room, and thinking about the impact of a pandemic. Once you look at it 50 years down the road, we’re going to view it as having the same impact as other big events in history, the Great Depression, the plague, all of those things that were a century or two ago. I believe the pandemic has changed us fundamentally as a country, as a world, and in healthcare. Telehealth is now present. Things that work remotely are now present. None of that would’ve happened without an external event like the pandemic.

What other major challenges, if any, have you had since becoming CEO and how are you addressing them?

We see some of the same challenges everybody else sees: rising costs, reimbursements, talent, and we really focus on those at the core every day, focus on the fundamentals. One of the things that we did five or six years ago was kind of reintroduce this idea of focusing on the fundamentals. We have to do things right every single day, every single week, every single month, every single year. You look at access and how we deliver services—are we hitting on all cylinders? One of our biggest things that we had to respond to over the last two to three years is responding to growth. We have grown significantly over the last couple years, and so scaling is important, hiring people in the right places is important, and really managing that growth has been something that we’ve been focused on.

Talk a little bit about your family, any hobbies, how you try to balance work and personal time.

Like for most executives, it’s important to make sure that there is a balance. I have a wonderful family. I married my high school sweetheart, Lisa. We’ve been married for 31 years this year. Super happy about that. That’s really what drives me. I have two wonderful kids, Cody and Abbe, who are now adults and two wonderful grandchildren. What I tell folks is what we do here is super important, not just because of the kids that walk through our doors, but because our kids need these places too. My daughter actually had to go to a  children’s hospital at some point early in her life, and it was different. I never missed one of my kids’ events, whether it was a baseball game, volleyball game, golf match, and that was because that happened when I was growing up. My mom never missed a thing. I do believe we have to make sure we make that a priority. What we do is super important, and I love what I do, but I also love being a husband and a father and a grandfather too.

What fields are your children in?

My son is super successful. He works in a machine shop in Youngstown, Ohio. My daughter just entered healthcare.

What kind of degree is she getting?

She has an undergrad in business and just finished with the MBA healthcare focus.

Sounds a little like she could follow dad’s footsteps there. Is there anything we haven’t talked about that you would like to share?

I really believe that you have to do what you love and that makes things so much easier all the way around from coming into work, staying late, whatever it is. But also from a personal perspective, it makes you a much happier person. And so doing what you love and being happy is absolutely an important part of what we all do. And there’s nothing I’d rather be doing than taking care of kids and running Nicklaus.

The post Matthew Love: Behind the Growth of Nicklaus Children’s Health System appeared first on Lifestyle Media Group.

As Scherer celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Conrad & Scherer law firm, he has three of his children as members: Executive Partner John J. Scherer has been with the firm for 20 years and is also president and owner of Gulf Building. Last year, John was joined by Senior Partner William R. Scherer III, who returned from his own practice, and Partner Elizabeth Scherer, who finally joined the firm last year after handling over 75 cases as a prosecutor and gaining national attention as the judge who presided over the Parkland shooter trial.

Conrad Scherer is a firm with a bright future, but the paternal member shows no signs of slowing down.

The kids talk

Scherer says he was a normal dad who dressed nice and told them about law growing up. But he is also a bit of a prankster and has been an adrenaline junkie when it comes to motorcycles, jet skis, and ski boats.

“If you see him walking a little bit lopsided, it’s because he’s been in so many motorcycle accidents and had himself put back together so many times. He used to race them,” Elizabeth says. “He likes to go fast in everything he does.”

William III and a friend were sleeping the day after a 4th of July celebration when his dad threw firecrackers in their cabin bedroom to wake them up. Maybe that’s why young William got a break after he and Chris Conrad, one of Partner Rex Conrad’s sons, were spotted throwing rocks off the office building during their lunch break while working as runners at the firm over the summer.   

Partner Rex Conrad called young Bill into his office the next day and told him he had not decided if he would fire him since his father was out of town. His father later called and asked if he knew the song Up on the Roof before adding that he had just used up his free pass.

Elizabeth, the middle child, says, “Our dad is a great guy, he’s funny and he plays these kind of pranks–but there’s a line that you don’t cross, thank God. I think I was probably near the line a lot of times growing up and the only thing that kept me on the right side of the line was knowing that I would get in big, big trouble.”

William III, the oldest of the siblings, says their father became successful in the late 1970s and early 1980s. “I was born in 1969, so we had a modest house in The Landings in Fort Lauderdale growing up. We eventually moved to Rio Vista, and I lived there until I went to college in 1987.

He started performing in bands as a teenager. His parents booked time at New River Studios, and he recorded a single called “Engine No. 9.” Elizabeth says her brother is very talented and remembers dozens of teenage girls screaming when he did a gig on Las Olas Boulevard. The website for his Crosstown Chameleons band says of Scherer: “Dude can sing, write, play guitar and bass. And write a mean law brief. All at the same time.”

William III thought he might make a career in music in the 1990s when the Miami area had a more thriving indie scene, but it never quite came together. Fortunately, his father had a backup plan: “He encouraged me to do whatever I wanted to do as long as I got a law degree.”

Elizabeth said a college English professor told her she was very talented and should become a teacher, but her father explained how teachers were overworked and underpaid.

She went to law school and had a revelation during a litigation class in her third year.

“I was better than all the guys. I got the best grade in the class, and I am a bit of an adrenaline junkie myself. I would just get this high coming out of doing a trial and I knew this is what I wanted to do,” she says.

She had planned to join her dad’s practice after law school but stuck with State Attorney Michael Satz after an internship.

“My dad said, that’ll be a great job. You can stay there for three years and then you can get a bunch of trials and then you can come work for me,” she recalls. She began working on violent crime cases, and Satz convinced her to stay for four more years.

Later on, he suggested she become a judge, and she did.

She had many big cases, but the Parkland shooter case towers above them: It was the most widely publicized, had the biggest crime scene, and had the biggest number of witnesses and victims, and it was topped by her former boss Satz being the lead prosecutor.

She had learned to emotionally desensitize herself from years of prosecution, including a case where a man set his wife on fire, but this was an even bigger challenge because her daughter was the same age as the young victims.

“Let’s say a father is talking about his son, who was the youngest of three children, how he was a mama’s boy, and how he was such a sweet kid and an old soul. You can’t ever think, oh my gosh, my daughter is that. … It’s hard enough to keep your cool, but if you for one minute cross that line and make it personal, you’ll lose it,” Scherer says. During the trial, “Everybody was crying. Big armed deputies who are macho men were crying, and I just felt, as a woman, you’re not going to see a male judge crying. So, I can’t cry.”

Elizabeth, who was under intense national scrutiny during the trial, knew that after the case, it would be time to move on.

William III worked for the firm as a lawyer for 20 years before leaving to build his own practice. Nine years later, he says he faced the choice of hiring another associate for his growing practice or rejoining his father’s firm.

Elizabeth said she would join the firm if he came back. “I said, because we’ll be a team, and it will be two against one because my dad can be difficult.”

Elizabeth says her older brother is brilliant and hard-working, but he always faces the challenge of people making assumptions because of his name. It was good for him to get out and build his own business, just like she built a career.

The last and youngest of the trio, John, was already at the firm. He got a degree in Construction Management at the University of Florida. After graduation, he started working as a project manager for a construction company. He spent much time looking at legal documents and thought maybe he should get a law degree like everyone else. He went to Nova Southeastern University Law School at night and kept working during the day for three years.

He became an associate attorney at the law firm but was also general counsel of Gulf Building. He eventually became president and CEO and bought Gulf in 2008. His expertise in construction and its legal aspects gives him a focus at the law firm. As an executive partner, he also handles many managerial duties, such as examining the overall business, hiring employees, and managing back-of-the-house operations.

Gulf Building is thriving with an impressive list of projects over the last 30 years and employs nearly 90 professionals.  Some recent projects include the YMCA on Sistrunk Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale and the Parker Theatre in Fort Lauderdale for Broward Performing Arts Center. Gulf is also currently building the new terminal at Key West International Airport among other projects.

The Scherer law firm is more than just a family affair, though, with 10 other attorneys.

Among them is partner Steven H. Osber, who provides another perspective on Bill Scherer Jr.

“He’s tenacious. He’s unrefined. He’s rough around the edges. He’s a pit bull, but he is well thought. He’s a strategist,” Osber says. “He’s very well connected and teaches the practical aspects of being a lawyer very well. He’s got a legacy that he’s carved out for himself. He walks into a courtroom and the judges give him respect.”

Scherer is good at forecasting how judges and juries will react and is great at identifying issues, Osber says. “Sometimes he brings a ball peen hammer and sometimes he brings a battering ram to get his point across. It just depends on what’s going on.”

Scherer is also the king of PowerPoint presentations in courtrooms.

Indiana boy and a ‘gun bunny’

Scherer grew up in a blue-collar family in Terre Haute, Ind., with his mother being a beautician and his father a railroad brakeman. One night, his father was flagging cars to stop at a crossing when a drunk driver went through and crushed him against the locomotive, causing severe injury. A significant verdict gave him an appreciation of how important attorneys can be.

He attended Franklin College, a small liberal arts college in southern Indiana, and later served as a trustee for 10 years. After graduating in 1969, he was doing well selling Xerox machines when his wife filled out applications for Indiana University and the LSAT law school admissions test.

“I thought, ‘Why do I want to do that?” He was surprised to be accepted because he thought his college grades weren’t good enough. Years later, he heard that his college football coach, Stewart “Red” Faught, put in a good word with the governor.

During his first year in law school, Scherer got a low number in the draft lottery amid the Vietnam War, so he joined the Indiana National Guard.

Law school was interrupted by six months of basic training at Fort Campbell in Kentucky and six months of active duty at Fort Sill in Oklahoma, where Scherer became an artillery man or “gun bunny” in Army slang.

Back on campus, the law school dean arranged a job working for a justice in the Indiana Supreme Court. Scherer did that during the day and went to law school at night, graduating magna cum laude.

The adjutant general of the Indiana National Guard was also the Indiana attorney general. “When he found out I was a law clerk and I was a gun bunny serving under him, he made me one of his [Guard] law clerks,” Scherer says.

After he finished law school in 1972, the dean recommended that he take a clerkship with U.S. District Court Judge Charles Fulton in Miami. Scherer also became a law clerk for the Florida Army Reserve.

Scherer would have headed back to Indiana after his time with the Reserve was done, but his captain, Tom Panza, suggested he practice law in Fort Lauderdale, which was more Midwestern than Miami.

A sleepy beach town

Scherer says Fort Lauderdale was sleepy, with one downtown high-rise, the Landmark Bank Building. The federal judge in Miami recommended Scherer to the bankruptcy court trustee, and he started handling cases at the new federal courthouse on Broward Boulevard. In a couple of years, he became a partner at Druck, Grimmett, Norman, Weaver & Scherer, the firm now known as Conrad Scherer.

He soon recruited Rex Conrad, who was widely regarded as one of the best trial lawyers in Fort Lauderdale, Scherer says. “He was acerbic and rough, but he was a great lawyer.”

Scherer gained mentors who helped him become a key power player in Broward. One was Hamilton Forman, whose father was a Broward pioneer and owned a dairy farm in Davie. Forman donated land for Nova Southeastern University and helped form the North Broward Hospital District, where Scherer eventually became general counsel. Prominent attorney Don McClosky also was a close friend and mentor.

The original partners, Conrad, Forman, and McClosky, have all passed away now.

Bush vs. Gore

However, Scherer also has younger friends, such as Jeb Bush. In 2000, Scherer was doing some pro bono work with a state agency when the Gore vs. Bush recount saga began. It was apparent Broward would end up being an epicenter for the recount, so Scherer was tapped to represent George W. Bush in the county.

“I got a lot of face time on that Thanksgiving day where they were counting chads,” Scherer says. He was across the table from Judge Robert Rosenberg when one of the most famous photos in election history was taken: Rosenberg looking through a big magnifying glass at a dimpled ballot.

John says Gore vs. Bush is when he really started understanding his father’s prominence.

“I was at the University of Florida, and I walked into my room with my fraternity brothers, and I looked at the TV and CNN’s on. My dad’s on TV arguing for President Bush. And everyone’s like, ‘Is that your dad? I said, ‘yeah. … And then they said, ‘Wait, is your dad going to jail? He looks like he’s getting handcuffed because he’s getting thrown out of the courtroom.'”

Scherer was angry that the canvassing board didn’t seem to have any standards in divining voters’ intents with the dimpled chads on the ballots. At one point, the Democratic judge leading the canvassing board threatened to remove Scherer. Scherer recalls holding out his hands like he was ready to be cuffed.

A model for others

With all his work and connections, it’s no surprise that Scherer became a lawyer others wanted to emulate. He remembers a Daily Business Review article where flamboyant attorney Scott Rothstein said he wanted to be like Scherer and McClosky.

Rothstein often approached Scherer and other leaders at Jackson’s Steakhouse on Las Olas Boulevard.

“He would have these fundraisers at his house, sit down and regale everybody and play the piano beautifully and sing. He was a talented guy and obviously the consummate salesman to sell people, sophisticated people, these Ponzi investments and have this major Ponzi scheme,” Scherer says.

Scherer started asking questions when Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler ballooned in size and Rothstein lived an ostentatious lifestyle. One rumor was that Rothstein had gotten in on the ground floor of internet porn. 

Scherer asked him how his firm could make that much:  “Scott, how the hell can you, because I am a very successful lawyer and we don’t make that kind of money.”

Rothstein told him he had gotten to know some hedge fund managers.

Like many others, Scherer learned about the $1.2 billion scheme, one of the largest in Ponzi history, after Rothstein temporarily fled to Morocco. On Nov. 3, 2009, a retired judge was appointed receiver to the law firm.

Rothstein had sworn his investors to secrecy, saying their investments were related to out-of-court payments to sexual harassment victims.

Victims started calling Scherer and showing him letters from banks that painted Rothstein favorably. Scherer realized the banks had legal liability and Rothstein later admitted he compromised bank officers.

Rothstein was represented by criminal defense attorney Mark Nurik, who called Scherer.

“I said, ‘What’s Scott want?’ He said he just wants you to tell the truth that he helped cooperate with you when the time comes for you to write a letter. And I said, OK, done,” Scherer recalls. “So, I wrote a letter to the judge that he was very helpful in us getting recovery and telling us exactly how everything happened and all that, and who the bankers were and how he compromised them.”

On Nov. 25, 2009, Scherer filed an amended civil complaint seeking $100 million for his clients. None of the civil cases went to trial. Settlements with banks and insurance companies, plus bankruptcy court proceedings, made the victims whole, which was unprecedented in a Ponzi case.

Rothstein is currently in an undisclosed federal prison under protective custody, serving out a 50-year sentence after ratting out some low-level mobsters.

Not slowing down yet

Scherer has no plans to retire. “I want to keep doing it as long as I’m capable. When the day comes, I hope I know it, that I’m no longer capable of convincing the jury. That day isn’t here yet.”

He has a whopper of a case ahead in Broward Circuit Court as part of a team representing 25 Florida hospitals against the manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers, and retailers of opioids. The hospitals say they have had a financial burden caring for opioid users.

Scherer is gearing up: “It’s going to go to trial in 18 months. We’re in discovery. We’re spending huge amounts of time and money.”

The post The Future for Conrad & Scherer Law Firm Remains Bright appeared first on Lifestyle Media Group.

Dropping down from the ceiling are pop art depictions of cultural icons, including Muhammad Ali, David Bowie, Jimi Hendrix and Keith Richards. They are more than just decoration, though. Founder and President Sherif Ayad explains they are two-inch thick foam panels that absorb the sound while adding a creative sparkle at the Pompano Beach company.

Of course, the sparkle starts the minute you walk through the front door at IDDI and see the white sleek, angular reception desk, modernistic terrazzo floor and a huge timber whose provenance is possibly Indonesia.

IDDI has worked its magic around the world in a variety of hospitality, multifamily, retail, cruise ship and mixed-use properties. Sherif says IDDI is what you would get if you took a branding firm and mixed it together with an interior design firm.

The clients over the years are a who’s who of businesses, including Celebrity Cruises, Royal Caribbean, Whole Foods, Macy’s, Starbucks, Sawgrass Mills, Hard Rock, Hilton, Stiles and LVMH. Many of the high-rise projects in South Florida utilize IDDI for their common area design and branding.

The company’s home page tallies up 1,590 projects in 20 plus countries. IDDI goes well beyond interior design and acts as a strategic partner with its clients.

IDDI has been very busy at the $6 billion, 27-acre Miami Worldcenter project, working on the Paramount tower, Miami World Tower and the Legacy Hotel.

IDDI has worked on about eight towers in downtown Fort Lauderdale and Ayad says another six or eight are in the works, including Natiivo, which is the subject of a story in this issue.

“We’re super pumped and excited about the future of Fort Lauderdale. What I love about working down here in South Florida, the Tri-County area, is Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Palm Beach are so diverse, they’re so different. For the average person visiting, they don’t really see that on the surface, but when you live here, you understand the different dynamics of those three counties and they are all beautiful in their own way,” Ayad says. “I came from California. South Florida, today, kind of reminds me of how California was back in the ‘70s. … I think the future here is unstoppable.”

Ayad grew up in Montreal and graduated from Dawson College with a bachelor’s in interior design. He was previously a principal with Pavlik Design Team in Fort Lauderdale and Walker Group/CNI in Los Angeles.

He started IDDI in 2006 and the company was formerly headquartered on Dixie Highway in Oakland Park. Covid made him think about rightsizing the space and then he got an offer to sell the former bank building IDDI inhabited. He lives in Pompano Beach and had been eyeing the ground floor of the Plaza at Oceanside, a curvy, stylish condominium building on the northwest corner of State Road A1A and East Atlantic Boulevard.

“It was just dirt on the floor and concrete. And I thought, ‘This is perfect. And it was just the right size. I love being across the street from the beach. And it’s funny, because when you have 68 designers, I had nobody involved in the design process—otherwise we’d still be designing today, So, I kind of kept it as a secret until we were halfway through construction then I told everybody what it was going to look like.”

He came up with the idea of the acoustic panels because there was so much glass around the office.

“I wanted to do something more creative and inspirational,” he says. “I love the concept of pop culture and keeping the designers reminded that we’re not designing for ourselves, we’re designing for all aspects of the general public. Pop culture tends to express many different aspects of our lifestyle and culture. So, it’s good to remind our designers of that every day.”

Even though the space is a tad bit smaller than the 13,000 square feet in Oakland Park, it’s actually much more efficient, he says.

Pompano Beach Park is right across A1A and Ayad says he loves the redevelopment that’s happened. “Of course, our staff loves being across the street from the beach, too.”

I previously had interviewed Ayad in 2014 for SFBW magazine so I asked him what the past 10 years have been like.

“We’ve been on a constant growth pattern, honestly, since we started the firm in 2006. It literally hasn’t stopped, even with the pandemic. I think we just continue to excel somehow,” he says. “I think we are probably one of the most diversified companies around because of our combination of cruise ship work, theater work, multifamily, hospitality and entertainment.”

Ayad says the diversity of clients creates a lot of crossover benefits. Lessons learned in hospitality can apply to multifamily and what the firm has learned in retail can apply to building brand equity.

Early in the firm’s history, amid the Great Recession, there were a lot of clients in South Korea, China and South America. As the U.S. economy rebounded, IDDI picked up more and more clients in the U.S. and South Florida, in particular.

“I think our primary focus today is still on hospitality and multifamily, and we do the lion’s share of multifamily here with probably all the major developers,” he says, mentioning Related, Lefrak, Greystar, Stiles, Gables Residential and Newgard.

Retail is still in a slump, but cruise lines are starting to build ships again after facing a major challenge during the pandemic. Ayad was recently on Royal Caribean Icon of the Seas and is proud of the work IDDI did on that ship, along with the Celebrity Edge and many others.

‘Their biggest nightmare’

Ayad explained how the business is organized.

“We have three amazing creative directors that I entrust in 100 percent. We have three studio directors that really run the business. And we have four design directors that really lead all the projects with the rest of the design staff. So, it’s a very structured system and, frankly, my role is to really look at projects purely from the client’s perspective. So, I’m their biggest nightmare,” he says. “We have nine amazing project managers that stay for the life of the project, whether it’s three years, four years, depending how tall the tower is.”

Every project starts with a business strategy, studying demographics and comps. And that analysis becomes the foundation of why IDDI designs things a certain way.

“It’s never about us. Nobody cares what Sherif wants, what Sherif likes,” he says. “Everything we do revolves around a specific consumer or guest. I think the strong connection that we have with our clients is that we’re looking after their business—we’re designing their business not based on anything personal.”

No two projects look the same and every project is very specifically catered to a business strategy and a market positioning.

“So, it’s that sharing of information, the brainstorming before design starts, that becomes the foundation for the project. In fact, we’ve coined the term, our trademark is ‘Let’s Brandstorm’. That’s really what we do at the beginning of every project.”

The next phase is the more detailed planning, the initial design, 3D designs, ceilings, lighting, renderings, materials and the interior architecture. IDDI works with all the major architects from Arquitectonica to Kobi Karp to Cohen Freedman Encinosa & Associates, Ayad says.

The renderings for projects are made in house and often become marketing collateral for clients, he says. “Most firms just farm it out somewhere and the designer sees it the night before the client sees it. It’s not how we work.”

It’s not about trends

Ayad has a philosophy that good design pushes ideas forward and it’s not about trying to follow trends or reacting to markets.

“It’s all about development strategy. We pride ourselves on hopefully being ahead of the game with our clients in that respect. Our clients like to bring us in very early in the process, quite frankly. We like to think of these projects from the inside out and what’s going to create the points of differentiation. What’s going to make a property memorable?”

He was asked if there is a danger in piecemeal planning with the idea of saving money, but possibly losing the opportunity to improve branding and make more money.

“Look, it all depends on the ROI. And it’s not about spending money,” he says. “It’s about spending money where you’re going to get the biggest bang. We like to think that we’re working with our clients not to spend their money, but to help them to save money and still generate revenue. Putting on a business hat when you’re designing is really the bottom line.”

Photography by Eduardo Schneider

The post How IDDI’s ‘Brandstorming’ Marries Design and the Bottom Line appeared first on Lifestyle Media Group.

HAILS FROM: Born and raised in Pompano Beach.

FIRST GUITAR: “I used to go over to my buddy’s house, and we’d play Xbox but he only had one controller and he wouldn’t let me play. I was about 13 or 14 years old and there was this guitar there and I just picked it up one day. I remember someone showing me when I was like eight or nine years old how to play ‘Smoke on the Water’ so I immediately started playing that.”

THE SOUND: Blues infused rock-n-roll

FAVORITE VENUES: “The Funky Biscuit in Boca Raton is where we got our start and it’s my favorite club to play, hands down. It’s just like walking into your living room – you know how it smells, how it feels, you know how it looks and you’re just comfortable in that environment. It’s easy to create there. But we’ve played in almost every place you can play in South Florida. The Hollywood Beach amphitheater is a gig I really enjoy, too.”

DAY JOB: “We were full-time gigging and touring and doing everything all the way up until COVID hit, and once COVID hit, we lost everything. All of our tour dates, a small deal at a record label fell through when their funds dried up. Part of me likes to have other interests and activities going on throughout the day, though. It’s beneficial. I have a day job that allows me to tour whenever I want and set my own hours doing home interior and exterior renovations, bathroom remodels … construction.”

SET LIST MUST: “ ‘If I Stay This Way’ and ‘Promised Land,’ a kind of rocked out Delta Blues that goes into an extended jam, both from the 2021 album ‘Red Sun Rebellion.’ ”

BAND SOULMATE: “Drummer Bobby Van Stone. He’s my best friend. I’ve known him since kindergarten. I couldn’t imagine playing or performing without him next to me. He’s the yin to my yang. All the s**** negative qualities I have, he’s right there with all the good ones.”

SOFLA’S MUSIC SCENE: “I think SoFla’s audiences are wanting to see what a band’s made of. What’s your tunes? What do you sound like? What’s your feel? What kind of energy are you giving off on stage?”

THE LAST WORD: “I don’t see my life any other way but as a musician. I’ve done other things. I was a firefighter for the Town of Palm Beach and Palm Beach County and I’m grateful for everything I learned in fire service. I’ve left a lot behind, and I’ve accomplished a lot, too. I know if I don’t have music in my life, I’m a train wreck.”

CATCH THEM LIVE: The Funky Biscuit, Boca Raton, Friday, March 15, and Blues and Brews Bistro, Thursday, March 21, Ormond Beach, and “we have a ton of summer tour dates. I’m so stoked to get on the road.”

FOLLOW: Instgram @ shawdavisblackties, https://www.facebook.com/shawdavisblackties

INFO: https://www.shawdavisblackties.com/

WATCH FOR: A new record coming out this year.

LISTEN: On Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon Music, Pandora, Google Play. “Everywhere!”

The post Live and Up Close: Shaw Davis & the Black Ties appeared first on Lifestyle Media Group.

HAIL FROM: Lucho moved from Peru when he was 19 in 1993 to Tamarac; lives in Boca Raton. Fred moved from Brazil to California when he was 23 in 1993, then in 1994 to Margate, where he still lives.

BAND NAME: “I was going through a breakup,” says Lucho, “so I started going to a therapist and he said, ‘You do music, that’s your weekend therapy.'”

THE SOUND: Top 40s rock, alternative and Latin rhythms with influences ranging from rock and alternative to hip hop.

MUSIC INTRO: Says Lucio: “My dad had this keyboard in his office when I was probably around 12 or 13 and I would play that. There was a cover band that lived across the street from my house, so I would go and watch them rehearse. I joined my high school band and played clarinet, but then I found a broken guitar and I ended up fixing it. So, I just taught myself. But I didn’t get more serious until I moved to the States. Says Fred: “My dad was a disc jockey and radio personality in Brazil, and I would go to the studio with him and spend hours. We would listen to everything, the Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, then I got into ’70s rock, then into metal music. When I was 10 years old, I told my parents I wanted to play drums. And when I was 13, I got a drum set, even though my dad didn’t want me to be a musician. In 1993, I moved to California to actually study music.”

DAY JOBS: Says Fred: “I have a family, three kids, the whole nine yards, so yeah it is necessary to have a day job.” Says Lucio: “I’ve been a loan officer for a long time.”

SET LIST MUST: “Depeche Mode’s ‘Personal Jesus.’ We do a cool version of that song. We change the beat on that one.”

PRE-PERFORMANCE RITUAL: “We have one first drink. You ready for it? It’s an Old Fashioned” (whiskey cocktail).

BAND SOULMATE: Each other. Says Fred: “Lucho and I, we always had this very close bond as musicians and now we’ve become friends, of course. We rarely disagree with each other. After COVID, we wanted to reevaluate what we do, and we decided to become just a duo. It took a different shape. Our identity changed for the better.”

SOFLA’S MUSIC SCENE: “I think the music scene has changed since COVID,” says Fred. “I’ve seen a lot of tribute bands coming up, like Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and even a Meat Loaf tribute band.” Says Lucio: “You know why? It might be because concert tickets are so damn expensive.”

THE LAST WORD: “A bar is an interesting place, and we have fun with that – we like the chemistry of a bar, it has a lot of stories of a lot of different people,” says Fred. “Our mission and our set list is to get everyone dancing. Those are the best moments ever. I like that feeling,” says Lucio.

CATCH THEM LIVE: In March, every Wednesday at Max’s Grille, Boca Raton; Thursday, March 7, Igot’s Martiki Bar, Lake Worth; Thursday, March 14 and 28, Friday, March 22, Original Fat Cat’s, Fort Lauderdale; Saturday, March 16 and 30, Briny Irish Pub, Pompano Beach.

FOLLOW: Instagram @myweekendtherapy

The post Live and Up Close: My Weekend Therapy appeared first on Lifestyle Media Group.

HAILS FROM: Born and raised in Davie; lives in Sailboat Bend, Fort Lauderdale

FIRST GUITAR: “Music was always playing around the house. My dad was a total audiophile. My parents gave me a guitar for my seventh birthday and basically told me I was going to take lessons until I was out of high school. The guitar became like an extra limb. My dad started playing guitar when he was 23 but never followed through so when he started me, I think he was saying, ‘Don’t give it up like I did.'”

THE SOUND: Americana. “Not quite country, not quite rock and roll …”

FAVORITE VENUES: “Crazy Uncle Mike’s in Boca Raton is really fun. They have a good scene. I think it helps that Oteil (Burbridge, the bassist for The Allman Brothers Band) pops in there from time to time. That venue is a great in-between spot for us. Right now, it’s Tin Roof in Fort Lauderdale. (It) brings out a really big crowd and people are so excited to be there for the music.”

SOURCE OF PRIDE: “In about 2019 or 2020 I really started writing music and the record I have out right now is called ‘Twenties.’ I recorded it when I was 30 — so last year. It is a collection of songs written in my 20s in the order they were written. They were songs I always found myself coming back to. We are about to record another EP called ‘Artemis’ at Rain Cat in Jensen Beach, the same place as the first one.”

DAY JOB: “I was playing out about four or five times a week right before COVID hit. And, so, in 2019, I was at a point where I probably could have done music full time. Then 2020 came around and it kind of knocked that back. I’m working in yacht management and focusing on better gigs. I did the bar and restaurant circuit so long it kind of led me out of why I loved playing music; it was becoming a grind. I play out maybe four or five times a month and every gig is fun because of that.”

SET LIST MUST: “Velvet Underground’s ‘Rock & Roll.’ It’s just such an f’in good song and we play it really big.”

BAND SOULMATE: “Drummer David Nordstrom. We are just so connected and coordinated as a duo.”

PRE-PERFORMANCE RITUAL: “Maybe I’ll go for a run or workout to get my brain right. And then I do a vocal warmup because the vocal thing came so much later than guitar for me so I’m still just trying to learn how to build my voice out properly. Maybe a shot of tequila before we go on.”

THE LAST WORD: “I hope that when people see me perform they realize how much my heart is in it. I’ll put on the same show whether I’m playing to five people or 300. I just want to keep plugging away at my music, to keep writing new stuff and keep recording new music.”

CATCH HIM LIVE: Tin Roof, Fort Lauderdale, Saturday, March 9 and Saturday, March 30. “We’re hoping to go out on tour before the end of the year to promote both ‘Twenties’ and ‘Artemis.'”

FOLLOW: Instagram: @RyanHopkinsMusic

WATCH FOR: “Artemis” out this summer.

LISTEN: On Apple Music, Spotify, iTunes, Pandora

The post Live and Up Close: Ryan Hopkins appeared first on Lifestyle Media Group.

He has been term-limited twice—as a state representative and mayor of Fort Lauderdale after serving as council member, vice mayor and mayor of Wilton Manors for seven years. His law firm biography lists nearly 30 education, charitable and civic organizations, starting with chair-elect/president-elect of the Orange Bowl Committee.

But he’s finishing up as chairman of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce, so why not have an old-fashioned bar hop called “Hit the Road Jack…Dive into 2024” at the Elbo Room, McSorley’s Beach Pub and Parrot Lounge. Part of the proceeds from the Feb. 8 chamber event, which has Lifestyle as a media partner, benefit the Bonnet House Museum and Gardens.

Before Seiler was old enough to visit some of Fort Lauderdale’s most iconic bars—making friends with the owners and sometimes holding campaign rallies—he started making a name for himself at St. Anthony Catholic School. He was class president in the seventh and eighth grades. His eighth-grade basketball team won the Catholic county championship and then beat the public school champs. He lettered in basketball, tennis, track and cross country at Cardinal Gibbons and was student body president. If his schedule wouldn’t have been so tight, he would have played football, too.

These days, after five knee surgeries and sporting an artificial knee, he sticks to the gym, cycling and pickleball.

When he was 10, he tagged along with his older brother to see the University of Southern California play Notre Dame in South Bend. He recalls thinking, “This is the coolest campus and the coolest place. … I got back and I said, “I want to go to Notre Dame and I want to be a lawyer.’”

It’s the only university he applied to. And, yes, he was president of the campus student organization his senior year.

He chose the University of Miami for law school because he was tired of the Indiana cold and also thought it would help connect him with the community. That it did. He worked in the office of Skip Campbell, who served 10 years in the Florida Senate and four years as mayor of Coral Springs. He participated in the trial program at the state attorney’s office led by Janet Reno.

“I got to try 10 or 12 cases by the time I left law school,” he recalls.

After graduation, he worked in the local office of Dykema Gossett, a Detroit firm that had just bought a practice in Fort Lauderdale. He became known as that young litigator and trial attorney.

He then worked for the firm now known as Johnson, Anselmo, Murdoch, Burke, Piper & Hochman, P.A., which had a heavy workload with 20 cities and 20 other governmental agencies, he says. On the side he worked on the Bob Graham and Lawton Chiles gubernatorial campaigns.

At 26, he was appointed to the board of adjustments in Wilton Manors and became chairman a year later. In early 1993, one of the Wilton Manors city commissioners resigned and Seiler decided to run. The only problem was the city was one of Anselmo Murdoch’s clients, so he had to resign from the law firm to avoid a conflict of interest. He opened his own law firm, which is now called Seiler, Sautter, Zaden, Rimes & Wahlbrink.

He served as a council member from 1993 to 1996, became vice mayor in 1996 and mayor in 1998.

Wilton Manors was transitioning from being a struggling blue-collar town to becoming the epicenter of LGBTQ life in South Florida. Before townhomes were developed northwest of Five Points, the neighborhood was called “crack town” by some residents.

Seiler said he focused on improving Wilton Manor’s financial picture. He employed the same strategy he would later embrace in Fort Lauderdale: Improve quality of life with parks, generate more tax revenue by fostering higher property values, but avoid raising the millage (percentage rate) for property taxes.

Warnings were given for code violations to spur cleanups and a focus was put on adding and improving parks. Young Jack had played baseball at Mickel Field (now called Mickel Park) along Powerline Road and played a role in the first round of the park’s improvements. Island City Preserve emerged as a new park on the north fork of the Middle River.

Seiler, the bachelor, had bought a home behind the Board of Realtors on 26th Street in 1989. That’s the same year he met tennis instructor Susan Rimes. She previously competed on the pro tennis tour from 1983 to 1987 and played in all four grand slam tournaments.

They became engaged on St. Patrick’s Day in 1990 and were married in August. Jack’s little house eventually became home to their four children, who are still live in the Fort Lauderdale area. Marianna (now Marianna Seiler DeJager) is a director at Tripp Scott. Jacqueline is a senior support manager at Online Vacation Center. Preston is a finance manager at Phil Smith Automotive Group. Susanne is a social media analyst at City Furniture.

Seiler embraced Wilton Manors’ transformation. “We had great friends and neighbors who were gay and lesbian,” Seiler says.

He welcomed George Kessinger when he opened Georgie’s Alibi in a struggling shopping center that once had a Piggly Wiggly. “I hope you are incredibly successful. I am only going to ask for one thing: Keep this shopping center looking nice,” Seiler recalls telling him.

Seiler’s stance on social issues is one reason he has stayed in the Democratic party. He remembers signing one of the first domestic partnership ordinances. He appreciates the success of the LGBTQ business community and says their support was a factor as he continued to win elected offices.

Seiler saw an opportunity to run for the Florida House when Tracy Stafford announced his retirement in 2000. Seiler won and served four terms, serving as vice chair and chair of the Broward legislative delegation. He was a ranking member on the policy and budget committee and worked across the aisle. He still keeps in touch with Marco Rubio and has a lot of respect for the Bush family. He worked on issues with Gov. Charlie Crist and his chief of staff, George LeMieux, who later became a U.S. senator.

Seiler says it was really fun run and made good use of his bachelor’s degree in business from Notre Dame.

However, when it comes to being a lawyer, Seiler says it is a profession, not a business. It’s OK to be a zealous advocate and a great trial lawyer, but act with courtesy and professionalism. Seiler is highly regarded in his field with a top rating by Martindale-Hubbell, which involves other lawyers recognizing their peers for their achievements.

He tried about a dozen cases in the past year and says it’s always about his clients’ cases and not Jack looking good in the courtroom. “Put your ego behind the client’s priorities,” he says.

Term limits ended Seiler’s run in the statehouse in 2008. With four children who were preteens and teens, he decided it was time to come home. He also became a board member at the new Broward Bank of Commerce.

Eventual CEO Keith Costello got to know Seiler from when they would take their daughter to a camping and cultural program known as Indian Princess.

Costello was approached in 2007 about opening the bank and thought Seiler would be a good board member.

“Jack was enthusiastic, got involved in organizing the bank and raising money and all the steps to get a bank,” Costello recalls. In 2008, though, Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers and other financial giants imploded along with a big chunk of funding for the bank. The Fort Lauderdale bank group persevered and found success as a new bank unburdened by bad loans.

Two years after the opening, the bank’s chairman resigned and Seiler became chairman.

“That was the first time I had been a CEO of a bank. It was an incredibly difficult period,” Costello says. He liked bouncing ideas off of Seiler.

“He was a very inclusive leader. He would ask everyone in the room what we should do—go around and get everyone to talk and build consensus,” Costello says, adding that he has the same reputation as a government leader, just don’t call him a politician.

“One time, I called him a politician and he quickly corrected me and said I am a public servant,” Costello says.

The bank was a success and was sold for about $33 million to Centennial Bank in 2014.

With Jim Naugle’s term as Fort Lauderdale mayor ending in 2009, Seiler saw a new opportunity. He rented a house to establish residency in the city he grew up in and he soon had a permanent home in Coral Ridge.

Attorney Romney Rogers said he was considering a run for mayor and then found out Seiler was planning to do so.

“He came and talked to me. I knew his history and experience in the legislature and certainly his name recognition. So, I said, ‘Maybe it would be smart to just run for my commission seat,’” he recalls.

Seiler won 57 percent of the vote to avoid a runoff against three opponents and never dropped below 70 percent in two subsequent elections.

Seiler was a strong leader and consensus builder during the Great Recession, Rogers says. “In 2009, there was nothing happening.”

Rogers recounts the first gathering of the commission with everyone going around the table and talking about their vision and their ideas for projects. Seiler was last, turns to Rogers and says, “We are bringing back the St. Patrick’s Day parade.”

During Seiler’s roast as Downtowner of the Year, Rogers said he told everyone Seiler was right. “It was a great community builder and that’s what he is, a community builder.”

Seiler “is a thoughtful, courteous person who respects others and he is smart as the day is long,” Rogers says.

Seiler says he focused on the city’s economics—how to reduce expenses and manage the budget to get the city moving forward without raising the millage rate.

He once again turned to his love of parks as an economic engine, building new neighborhood parks and renovating others, such as a $3 million renovation of Joseph P. Carter Park on Sunrise Boulevard partly funded by the Orange Bowl committee. Las Olas Oceanside Park was one of the last achievements.

The commission addressed unfunded pension liabilities and borrowed a lot of money to fix infrastructure problems, a good move because interest rates were low, Rogers says.

The No. 1 debate in the city continues even now: Growth and development. Detractors say Seiler was too much in favor of growth.

He responds by saying, “No one wants to see unmanaged growth and unlimited growth. It’s not good for the community. It’s always to me about smart growth and well-managed growth.” The unavoidable reality was a lot of people were moving to the city.

Seiler retired as mayor in 2018. He became chairman of the chamber as it was recovering from the COVID pandemic.

Seiler worked to help membership rebound and get help from Washington to improve Port Everglades and address flooding, says Chamber President and CEO Dan Lindblade, who likes his leadership style. “He hears everyone and tries to get them to focus on outcomes instead of arguments. If he sees there are no concerns, he moves on to something more productive.”

Seiler appreciates the chamber’s community impact with education and transportation among its top priorities. “If the educational system fails, the future workforce will fail. If the educational system succeeds, the workforce succeeds,” he says.

A major transportation debate is whether a tunnel or new bridge should be built over the New River for the FEC Railway. The marine industry has been worried about river traffic delays as Brightline trains increase frequency and a new Coastal Link commuter rail service is eyed.

Seiler supports Coastal Link and the chamber supports a tunnel—if it is financially feasible. Published estimates for the tunnel range from $1 billion to $3 billion, while a mile-long bridge would cost about half a billion.

So, will Seiler ever go back into elected office? He says people urged him to run for statewide office in 2008, 2010 and 2012. The Attorney General was one of the offices bandied about.

Seiler said he couldn’t afford to take off a year from practicing law to run back then. These days, he could afford it.

“Now, I look around and it’s just a different day and age,” he says ruefully, especially in the primaries. “We’ve allowed the 15 percent on the far left and the far right to hijack the process.”

Seiler would like to see a return to when people could disagree without being disagreeable. “We will see what happens.”

The post Hit the Road? Not This Jack appeared first on Lifestyle Media Group.