Writer: Liz Palmer
2 min read June 2022 — A volatile market calls for innovative decisions by industry leaders in North and Central Florida’s banking and financial sectors. From Orlando to Jacksonville to Tampa Bay, Invest: explores the priorities of those leaders as they look ahead toward the future.
Suneera Madhani, Founder & CEO, Stax
Stax reached “unicorn” status this March, solidifying its worth at over $1 billion as a private startup. In an Orlando Inno interview, founder and CEO Suneera Madhani said, “We are just getting started. This is not an exit, just a fun stop,” and Stax has big plans for its next life cycle. Madhani told Invest: the company is expected to go public in the near future due to the sheer amount of opportunity in the Orlando market, calling Stax a big fish in a small pond. Aside from expanding service markets both domestically and internationally, Madhani credits Orlando for being the jumping off point that it is. “We have a beautiful community in Central Florida that’s collaborative, innovative, looking to advance the region and that wants to invest in movers and shakers across different industries,” she said.
Albert Lee, President & CEO, Tampa Bay Black Business Investment Corporation, Inc.
The Tampa Bay Black Business Investment Corporation exists as a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) and makes business ownership more accessible to African Americans in the region by funding loans and other forms of assistance through multiple programs. President and CEO Albert Lee’s priorities in the coming years relate to positively impacting more community members.
With Invest:, Lee discussed the opportunity posed to Tampa Bay’s economy through further investment into local innovators. “The African American community is vibrant as it relates to entrepreneurship, which is great,” he said. “The community leads in sectors dealing with entrepreneurial growth, especially African American women.” Lee hopes the organization will continue to make itself known in Tampa Bay in the future. “There is great interest in starting and providing proper support to these businesses, yet there are many who are unaware that we exist,” he said.
Jessica Salazar, Managing Partner, Northwestern Mutual
For Jessica Salazar, Managing Partner of Northwestern Mutual in Jacksonville, one of her top priorities is ensuring everyone has access to the information they need to be financially independent. When interviewed by Invest:, her focus was on women and minorities achieving financial literacy, two groups she said need the most assistance. “Women are challenged in terms of the confidence and certainty gap. Women typically feel they need to make the ‘perfect’ choices while having thousands of financial products to choose from,” she said. “I believe a lot of women get stuck because there is no way to make a perfect decision.”
Salazar’s goal is to educate those groups and foster confidence in their abilities to make the correct decision for themselves. She hopes that the approach will help these groups “realize that saving something is better than saving nothing and that investing typically over time yields more benefits than just letting the money sit in a savings account and hardly keep pace with inflation.”
Russ Hunt, CEO, Skyway Capital Markets
And with this much volatility in the market, Skyway Capital Markets has plenty to do to keep busy. CEO Russ Hunt told Invest: he’s been investing his energy into the fintech space, saying Tampa Bay is “right at the edge of being more recognized in this area than we are currently” when it comes to the region becoming a fintech hub. “There has been a deal a week within the fintech space and there are great companies that have been incubated in this market,” he said. “I believe Tampa has the attributes to host a flourishing fintech market.”
To support this vision, Skyway Capital Markets was a lead sponsor for the Synapse Summit 2022, a conference hosted by the entrepreneurial nonprofit. Uncertainties of recent years aside, Hunt remains optimistic about the opportunities the North and Central Florida markets will continue to offer in the future. “We’re more excited about the next five years than we were the previous 15 years,” he said.
Mark Johnson, President and CEO, Florida Capital Bank N.A.
The only remaining community bank headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida Capital Bank N.A. has a legacy to maintain when it comes to community engagement. President and CEO Mark Johnson told Invest: about the client relationships that set them apart from larger commercial banks in the region. Florida Capital Bank hosts a virtual platform and multiple apps in the effort to provide flexibility and accessibility for clients. “We believe that we’re providing a concierge-type of banking service where we bring the bank to our clients rather than our clients having to come to the bank. Simply, we make it easier to do business for our customers,” he said. Looking toward the future, that’s not about to change. “Our goal is to continue to create and maintain long-term relationships where we, and our customers, can prosper together.”
For more information, visit:
https://www.northwesternmutual.com/
