Pensacola’s Top Execs:

Profiles of Community Business Leaders

By Roane Beard

In today’s Pensacola, large companies are as much a part of our community now as the corner drug store was 50 years ago. The financial impact these companies have on the local economy is staggering; more than 23,000 people work for companies with over 150 employees in the Pensacola area. These companies pay millions in taxes, which pay for our schools, roads, and other civic improvements.

But it’s easy to overlook the other contributions made by the people from Pensacola’s largest companies; and with 23,000 of them, it stands to reason that their other contributions would be noteworthy. And so they are. Leaders from Pensacola’s big business can also be found in leadership roles with the March of Dimes, the United Way, and the American Cancer Society. They work with Habitat for Humanity, Paint Your Heart Out, Pensacola, and innumerable smaller charitable organizations, making Pensacola a better place to live.

Climate spoke with 15 outstanding executives from Pensacola’s largest companies, measured by number of employees. These executives come from companies working in diverse industries: healthcare, telecommunications, manufacturing, service, utilities, and education. Altogether these 15 companies employ more than 18,000 of our neighbors in the Pensacola area. The executives we spoke to come from backgrounds as diverse as the industries they work in, hailing from all over the United States, but all now living and working in Pensacola. We asked them how their company contributed to the community in Pensacola.

Baptist Health Care

Healthcare provider

Employees: 5200

Al Stubblefield, President and CEO

15 years with Baptist Health Care, 2 as President and CEO

BS in Healthcare Administration, University of Alabama

MBA, University of Alabama at Birmingham Business School

“Baptist Health Care is a non-profit, community based organization that is owned by the community. As such, we have a responsibility of stewardship towards the community. That’s one of our core values, as an organization and as people. We not only donate $60 million a year in charity care, but we recently received the Mentor award from Governor Bush, because we have over a hundred mentors in our organization.”

Sacred Heart Health Systems

Healthcare provider

Employees: 3450

Patrick J. Madden, President and CEO

6 years

BS in Accounting from the City University of New York

MBA from Fordham University

“In the past 5 or 6 years we have created the most up to date, modern acute-care campus in this part of country. We spent $200 million in modernizing facilities to be able to respond to the challenges of the 21^st century. It’s also very unusual, in a community of this size, to have the kind of children’s services available that we offer. I’m really proud of developing a partnership with the Nemours Children’s Clinic, which came from Jacksonville 4 years ago.”

West Florida Hospital

Healthcare provider

Employees: 1750

Mitch Mitchell, President and CEO

18 months

BS/BA in Accounting, University of Nebraska

MBA, University of Nebraska

Masters in Hospital Administration, University of Minnesota

“It’s important to us to recognize that every person in this community is an individual, and that everyone is treated as an individual. That’s what we do here. Our goal is to meet individual needs and to make sure that our patients are satisfied with their care when they leave. One reason we changed our name back to West Florida Hospital to recognize that we’re going back to our roots, to being a truly community based hospital.”

University of West Florida

Employees: 1500

Morris Marx, President

13 years as president

BS, MS, and Ph.D in Mathematics, Tulane University

“At UWF, we’ve tried to structure our programs in such a way to emphasize things that have value to the community. We turn out the professionals we need in fields like social work, recreation, and human services, as well as business professionals, like accountants. Also, our Small Business Development Center has helped thousands across Florida. Their role is to help people who have good ideas, but need business savvy. And the Haas Center for Business Research and Economic Development has been a great partner to local economic organizations.”

Gulf Power

Electric utility

Employees: 1300

John Hodges, Vice President of External Affairs

35 years with the company

BA in Business Management, Florida State University

“Gulf Power is actually owned by the Southern Company, and we have a culture that we live by. It’s called the Southern Style, and consists of eight values. Overall, the Southern Style is a recognition that our people are our company. We will be recognized by the actions of our employees. Our people are recognized by the Southern Style of doing things. We encourage our employees to be involved in the community. After all, we’ve been here 75 years. We are an integral part of the community ourselves.”

Pensacola Junior College

Employees: 1200

Charles Atwell, President

3 years

Ph.D in Higher Education, University of Florida

“One of my main goals in my time here has been to attract and retain a strong faculty and staff. We need people with good academic credentials, good experience and a mindset that will allow them to fit in the culture at PJC if we’re going to be able to really serve the community. I feel like we’ve been successful in meeting that goal. We have good people who are involved in the community, personally and professionally. We hope to be increasingly involved in economic development.”

International Paper

Global paper and forest products company

Employees: 1100

Nicki S. Slusser, Mill Manager

9 ½ years

BS in Mechanical Engineering, University of Kentucky.

“I joined the Pensacola Mill at the time of the merger between Champion International and International Paper, and have spent a great of my time, since June of last year, integrating the Pensacola Mill into International Paper. I am continuing to support the Pensacola Mill's efforts to find a long-term solution to its water quality issues—an important concern of the community.”

Lakeview Center

Healthcare provider

Employees: 1000

Dr. Morris Eaddy, President and CEO

39 years

Ph.D in Clinical Psychology, University of Florida

“I think that the most important work Lakeview does is to work toward helping people to meet life’s challenges, as opposed to just fulfilling different services. That’s an important difference. We help people look at their options, so that they can lead better lives. That’s one level that the center is involved in the community. Another is through our staff, who are involved in civic organizations, church groups, choral societies, and other community groups. We also pay for staff members to go through the Chamber of Commerce’s LEAP program.”

Bell South

Telecommunications company

Employees: 375

Paul Young, Regional Manager for External Affairs

33 years

AA, Pensacola Junior College

“Even though Bell South is a large international company, we continue to have a local presence in this community. Because our employees feel that’s important. We’re involved through local chambers of commerce, the United Way, and a vast list of other organizations. The company is also supportive of efforts associated with economic development through financial involvement in the community. For many business prospects that are considering moving into an area, telecom is a n important consideration for them. So showing that we can provide high-tech services, is another way that we’re able to have an impact on the area.”

MediaCom

Telecommunications company

Employees: 350

Dale Ordoyne, Regional Vice President

2 years

BS/BA in Business Administration, University of Lousiana at LaFayette

“The best part of working for MediaCom is the employees. They’re the ones that I’m really proud of. They’ve been terrific, and have really done a super job. They’ve really had to learn new skills for new technologies, and have been more than up to the task. We’ve introduced a lot of services to the communities in the past two years, like digital cable TV and High Speed Internet, and we wouldn’t have been able to do it without the hard-working people we have here.”

Dana Corporation

Automotive parts manufacturer

Employees: 285

Michael Morrison, Plant Manager

5 years

BS in Industrial Management, Merray State University

MS in Management, Merray State University

“I think one of the most important impacts that we’ve been able to have on the community in Pensacola is just the fact that we employ as many people as we do. We came in here five years ago and started up the plant, and now we employ 285 people. That’s a lot of jobs. And we’ve done that while running a clean plant, with no negative impact on the environment, because we have no emissions, and don’t release any chemicals.”

TRX, Inc.

Provider of automated transaction fulfillment, next-generation customer support, technology tools, and data management services for the online travel industry.

Employees: 300

Ricardo Layun, Vice President for Customer Support

7 months

BA in Business Administration, Lynn University

“We believe that assisting the community is a win/win situation, and try to be involved in charitable groups that are often overlooked. We’ve recently held a blood drive, are supporting Habitat for Humanity, and are raising money for the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life. We really believe community involvement is important. Every month we participate in some sort of charitable event that will directly benefit the community.”

Washington Mutual Finance

Financial services company

Employees: 300

Scott Fredey, Vice President Center Operations

BA in Business Administration, Hiram College

“The largest impact we’ve had locally stems from our ability to partner with the community. In addition to the financial services we provide, we are very strongly involved in community projects, like Paint Your Heart Out Pensacola, the Special Olympics, and fund raisers for other causes. We’re also heavily involved in supporting Spencer Bibbs School.”

Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.

Gases and chemicals company

Employees: 245

Don Emert, Pace Plant Manager

BS in Chemical Engineering, Louisiana Institute of Technology

“Air Products employees are involved in the community in ways that are too numerous to cover. We’re particularly involved in supporting local schools. We are partners with S. S. Dixon Intermediate and Pea Ridge Elementary Schools, providing financial support for the D.AR.E. program.”

Cox Communications Gulf Coast

Telecommunications company

Employees: 200

Keith Gregory, Vice President and General Manager

“Our number one community service initiative is Cable in the Classroom. We provide educational programming free to schools, as well as planning materials and training to teachers, so that they can get the most out of the content. We pay all the copyright costs associated with the material ourselves, so it doesn’t come out of school budgets. Apart from our community involvement, I’m very proud of the advanced technologies that we’ve brought to the local marketplace in the last few years. We’ve expanded our channel offerings from about 75 to 200, including pay-per-view and a wide range of international programming. That’s in addition to our high speed Internet and digital video services. It’s an exciting time for the company.”