January 18

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The first ever Central Florida Community Leadership Conference kicked off Friday afternoon at the South Seas Resort in Captiva, Florida by our three conference hosts; Fred Leonhardt, Chairman of the Board of the Metro Orlando EDC; Mark McHugh, Chairman of the Board of the Orlando/Orange County CVB; and Des Cummings, Chairman of the Board of the Central Florida Partnership. The theme of the conference, “Going Global Together”, set the tone for a collaborative, multi-day working session focused on advancing our community in the global economy. View the video below.

After a polling question showed that the majority of community leaders gathered had limited understanding of the overarching priorities of our three host organization, first objective of the day became providing a look at their independent-yet –interconnected roles and responsibilities. Leonhardt outlined how the EDC works to “recruit the globe. McHugh detailed how the CVB works to “convene the globe”. And Cummings reviewed how the new Central Florida Partnership will work to “benchmark the globe.”
Click here to view powerpoint detailing overarching strategies of EDC, CVB and Parnership.
Click here for Don Upton's presentation.

We then moved on to our first strategy session; a close up look at the bioOrlando initiative, which is this community’s current and future catalyst for growth of the life science industry. Ray Gilley, president and CEO of the Metro Orlando EDC, introduced the bioOrlando chair and co-chair: Lars Houmann, president/CEO of Florida Hospital and Anne Chinoda, president/CEO of Florida’s Blood Centers, respectively.

Russell Allen, president of BioFlorida, was first up. Allen, a biologist and entrepreneur who now leads our statewide effort to build the critical mass of bioscience industry here, provided a perspective on the magnitude of this industry from an international, national and statewide perspective. The good news is that Florida has now entered the top 10 states in terms of the number of biotechnology companies, Continuing this momentum will be the challenge; this is a fiercely competitive economic development growth area that will require continued commitment and investment to prosper.
Click here to view Allen presentation.

John Fremstad, VP Tech Industry Development for the EDC and managing director of bioOrlando, brought the discussion to the local level. More than 150 companies, over 9,000 workers and an estimated $2.6 billion in earnings comprise Metro Orlando’s bio/life science industry. Fremstad outlined the goals for bioOrlando: advise related public policy, recruit additional companies, create an environment for bringing scientists together, and continue to build our region’s brand as a location for this high-value industry.
Click here to view John Fremstad's presentation.
Click here to view discussion questions.

Lars Houmann, chair of bioOrlando, then convened a panel of topic experts.

• Dr. Deborah German, dean of the new UCF College of Medicine provided a progress report on her evolving program, which is expected to admit its first student in fall 2009. Dean German has high aspirations: not only meeting the highest standards, but setting global standards for excellence in research and education.
• Rasesh Thakkar, senior VP of Tavistock Group, recapped the vision and commitment to Central Florida that led to today’s developing Medical City at Lake Nona. Proximity to one of the world’s best international airport, one of the nation’s largest universities and Metro Orlando’s growing economy provided a unique opportunity for this development. Click here to view his presentation.
• Ed Guindi, founder of CORD:USE, an innovative Orlando-based company that harvests non-embryonic stem cells for life saving benefit, talked about the value of building his business in Central Florida, leveraging the presence of two of the nation’s largest hospital systems and the growing medical research cluster.

The session ended with an announcement by Florida Hospital that they will establish the Global Robotics Institute at Celebration Health, eventually to expand to other campuses. This Institute, which will advance research and training in the emerging use of robotics in healthcare, will be led by Dr. Vip Patel, a renowned scientist most recently affiliated with The Ohio State University. Dr. Patel was introduced to Central Florida business leaders for the very first time today as our bioOrlando session drew to a close, wrapping up the first day of the conference.
Video coming soon.

Click link to view other presentations.

Jacob Stuart presentation