- Brian Adams | President & CEO, AdventHealth Central Florida Division
- David Strong | President & CEO, Orlando Health
- Tim Giuliani | President & CEO, Orlando Economic Partnership
- John Morgan | Founder, Morgan & Morgan
- Pedro Turushina | President & CEO, Hispanic Chamber of Metro Orlando
- Chuck Whittall | President, Unicorp National Developments
- Craig Ustler | President, Ustler Development
- Martha McGill | President, Central Florida, Nemours Children’s Health
- Pamela Nabors | President & CEO, CareerSource Central Florida
- Hanisha Nunn Gary | President & CEO, African American Chamber of Commerce of Central Florida
- Richard Bilbao | Editor-in-Chief, Orlando Business Journal
1. Brian Adams | President & CEO, Dr. AdventHealth Central Florida Division
Brian Adams believes Orlando’s emergence as a national health care leader will depend as much on affordable housing and community partnerships as it does on medical innovation.
“Housing is a healthcare issue because where people live — and whether they can afford to stay there — has a direct impact on their health, their ability to access care and the strength of our workforce and communities,” Adams said.
Housing instability has been identified in more than 2,000 patient screenings across AdventHealth’s Central Florida campuses this year. Adams supports zoning, permitting and incentive policies that make affordable housing easier and less expensive to build. He points to LIFT Orlando’s mixed-income housing efforts as a successful model — and to the more than 10,000 applications submitted for 200 apartments at Pendana at West Lakes as evidence of overwhelming demand.
“If Orlando wants to become a national leader in health, we have to think beyond hospital walls,” he said.
That broader approach also guides AdventHealth’s community partnerships. Its Drive Out Hunger initiative, launched during the 2025 holiday season with area school districts, Second Harvest Food Bank, the Orlando Magic and Florida Citrus Sports, reached 361 schools and more than 200,000 students and family members. The campaign collected more than 2,000 pounds of food and helped provide nearly 1.45 million meals.
AdventHealth is also strengthening Central Florida’s health care workforce through partnerships with the University of Central Florida, Valencia College, Seminole State College and AdventHealth University. Participation in its dedicated education units increased from 113 students in 2023 to nearly 600 in 2025.
As Orlando’s population approaches a projected 5.2 million residents by 2030, Adams is focused on expanding access while making care easier to navigate and more affordable. AdventHealth has hired 4,338 employees this year, including 277 physicians and advanced practice providers, and plans to add 3,302 more by year’s end.
Major investments include AdventHealth Lake Nona and a new home for the AdventHealth Cancer Institute in Orlando. Adams is also looking toward genomic medicine, which can help physicians identify disease earlier and select more individualized treatments.
“What excites me most is the opportunity to make advanced medicine feel more human and more connected,” Adams said. “These investments bring together clinical excellence, technology, research and whole-person care.”
2. David Strong | President & CEO, Orlando Health
David Strong’s influence continues to grow alongside the health care system he has led since 2015. Orlando Health now ranks among the Southeast’s most comprehensive nonprofit health care organizations, with $15 billion in assets and operations extending across Florida, Alabama and Puerto Rico.
That reach expanded significantly in 2026 with the openings of Florida Medical Clinic Orlando Health Wiregrass Ranch Hospital in Wesley Chapel and Orlando Health Watson Clinic Lakeland Highlands Hospital. The Lakeland facility, the city’s first new hospital in more than a century, became Orlando Health’s 50th facility in Florida.
“We are blessed to live in an area of growth and want to develop assets that will serve communities 20-plus years from now,” Strong said.
His strategy combines new construction with acquisitions and physician partnerships. Orlando Health also announced an agreement to acquire RMC Health System in Alabama, further expanding its regional footprint.
Strong maintains that growth must ultimately improve the patient experience. His leadership emphasizes bringing advanced services closer to home while empowering the physicians, nurses and team members who provide care.
“We look forward to investing in excellent services that will benefit the region, partnering with physicians, purposefully growing and becoming the best place to work,” Strong said.
Under Strong, Orlando Health has become both a health care powerhouse and an increasingly important economic force.
3. Tim Giuliani | President & CEO, Orlando Economic Partnership
For Tim Giuliani, Orlando’s next chapter depends on a regional commitment to developing the people who will drive its future economy.
The president and CEO of the Orlando Economic Partnership believes Central Florida should make a bold investment in innovation talent over the next five years, aligning education, workforce development, and industry around shared economic priorities. The goal, he said, should be to create the nation’s most competitive talent pipeline while pursuing a 20-year vision for Orlando to become a global creative capital and a top 10 innovation hub.
“Our ability to attract and grow high-wage jobs will depend” on that pipeline, Giuliani said.
Collaboration has long been central to Giuliani’s approach. He pointed to the partnership behind the region’s economic development strategy as one of the most consequential efforts of the past year. The initiative brought business, education, government, and community leaders together around common goals rather than individual interests.
That shared commitment has produced measurable results. Over the past nine years, regional economic development efforts have helped create more than 32,000 jobs, Giuliani said.
He also recently co-chaired “Horizon 2035,” a future trends initiative developed by an industry association to help economic development organizations and chambers of commerce prepare for the next decade. The project examined how those organizations can adapt to emerging challenges and build stronger local economies city by city.
Within the Orlando Economic Partnership, Giuliani has focused on strengthening the organization’s leadership team and implementing the Entrepreneurial Operating System, a management framework designed to improve focus and accountability. He said the experience reinforced a fundamental leadership lesson: Sustainable success begins with talented people who are empowered and given the structure to excel.
The next year could be especially consequential for Central Florida. Elections and the transition to new political leadership across the region will help determine Orlando’s priorities and growth trajectory. Giuliani said leaders must maintain momentum on talent development, infrastructure, housing, and economic competitiveness while preserving strong cooperation between the public and private sectors.
For the partnership, that means advancing its new regional economic development strategy and keeping leaders aligned around a common vision.
Giuliani remains optimistic because of Central Florida’s deep bench of civic leaders and its culture of collaboration. Connecting the factors that drive economic development — and showing leaders how they can influence business investment decisions — continues to motivate him.
That collaborative spirit, he believes, will also help Orlando withstand the political polarization affecting Florida and the nation while continuing to build a more competitive and prosperous Central Florida.
4. John Morgan | Founder, Morgan & Morgan
John Morgan has never been known for thinking small or speaking softly.The founder of Morgan & Morgan believes Orlando’s next big opportunity could arrive from the west. If the Tampa Bay Rays cannot secure their future in the Tampa Bay area, he says Central Florida should be ready to make its pitch.
“Be prepared to have the Rays move to Orlando should it fail in Tampa,” Morgan says.
It is the kind of ambitious proposal that has long defined Morgan, whose influence extends well beyond the courtroom. Since founding Morgan & Morgan with his wife, Ultima, in 1988, he has built the Orlando-based practice into what the firm calls America’s largest personal injury law firm, with more than 1,100 attorneys and over $35 billion recovered for clients. He also helped lead successful campaigns to legalize medical marijuana in Florida and gradually raise the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour.
Morgan’s entrepreneurial interests continue to expand. He recently opened his second Downtown Flavortown, an entertainment and dining concept developed with celebrity chef Guy Fieri, in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The attraction occupies a former JCPenney space in a mall Morgan purchased. Now, he says, he is searching for an Orlando location.
Yet some of his most consequential work remains focused on people with far fewer resources. The Morgan family has partnered with the Coalition for the Homeless of Central Florida to build a Center for Women and Children. Morgan does not describe the project merely as philanthropy. “We see things like this as moral obligations,” he says.
That same directness shapes his approach to leadership. One of his most difficult lessons has been recognizing when formerly vital managers have disengaged and must be replaced. “If you don’t prune the bushes, your garden becomes weeds,” he says.
For all his ventures, political advocacy, and public visibility, Morgan says the motivation behind his work has not changed. His brother Tim was paralyzed in an accident when Morgan was in college, and his family’s experience with an ineffective attorney helped inspire his career representing injured people.
Today, Morgan believes that mission has become even more urgent as economic inequality widens.
“Representing the people, not the powerful, still motivates me now more than ever,” he says. “The rich are getting richer at the expense of the working poor. The gap is increasing, and the anger is rising.”
For Morgan, that is more than an economic warning. It is a reminder of why power must be put to work.
5. Pedro Turushina | President & CEO, Hispanic Chamber of Metro Orlando
Pedro Turushina believes Central Florida’s next great economic leap will depend less on how quickly it grows and more on how well it grows together.
The president and CEO of the Hispanic Chamber of Metro Orlando is calling for a regional economic strategy that unites counties, municipalities, colleges and universities, chambers, and private-sector leaders behind a shared vision.
“Companies don’t see county lines — they see talent, infrastructure, innovation, and quality of life,” Turushina said.
That collaborative philosophy shaped two projects he found especially rewarding this year. Through Walmart’s Road to Open Call, the chamber showcased 30 products made in the region that could eventually reach Walmart shelves, drawing attention to Central Florida’s entrepreneurs, consumer products, and manufacturing capacity. The chamber also led an executive mission to Puerto Rico, bringing together business executives, elected officials, and community leaders to explore new economic opportunities.
Turushina also helped build a coalition of 62 corporate investors supporting the chamber’s mission. The group spans industries including health care, higher education, construction, tourism, banking, and community services. Seventeen of the investors are small businesses, demonstrating a shared commitment to strengthening the region rather than seeking individual recognition.
His toughest decisions meant prioritizing long-term sustainability over growth for its own sake, sometimes declining worthwhile opportunities to preserve resources for greater impact.
6. Chuck Whittall | President, Unicorp National Developments
The most successful developments are more than collections of buildings, according to 50 Most repeat honoree Chuck Whittall. They are places designed to give people a reason to gather, explore and return.
And that’s exactly what’s shaping Luxe, Unicorp Companies’ new apartment project at O-Town West. Scheduled to break ground this fall, the upscale community will feature pickleball courts, a speakeasy and design details more commonly associated with a large custom home.
“It will be the nicest apartment project in Central Florida,” Whittall said. “I love the design aspect, then implementing it into reality.”
Luxe is part of Unicorp’s continued expansion of O-Town West, where the company plans to introduce additional residential development and lifestyle brands. Whittall credits Unicorp’s ongoing partnership with Orange County with helping the project evolve into a broader destination.
“You have to persevere and never give up. The reward is worth it.”
“Central Florida needs more outdoor destinations, and that is what we will deliver,” he said.
As Unicorp’s portfolio grows, however, Whittall said one of his greatest leadership challenges has been recognizing when to turn down an opportunity. With several large developments underway, maintaining focus has become essential.
The goal, he said, is not simply to grow bigger, but to select projects that are relevant and can be executed at the level Unicorp expects.
Whittall continues to find motivation in transforming ambitious designs into real places, even when projects encounter unexpected obstacles. It is a philosophy reflected in the title of his book, “Perseverance.”
7. Craig Ustler | President, Ustler Development
Craig Ustler’s vision for Orlando begins with a straightforward goal: “to make my hometown better.”
As master developer of Creative Village, Ustler is helping reshape downtown Orlando through new housing, education and mixed-use development. He believes the city should double the amount of housing downtown over the next five years while continuing improvements outlined in the Downtown Orlando Action Plan.
Creative Village offers a blueprint for that growth. Ustler Development recently extended its master development agreement with the city of Orlando through 2043, continuing a collaboration grounded in a high level of trust.
That partnership is now helping drive plans for the adaptive reuse of the Bob Carr Theater. Working with Baker Barrios, Rhodes+Brito Architects, BRPH and the city, Ustler has led the schematic design effort for a project he calls “innovative and inspiring” and a potential game changer for downtown.
Ustler also supports expanding the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, which he views as a major success with an ambitious master plan capable of adding further momentum to the city’s core.
Progress has required new approaches. With traditional capital markets stalled, Ustler decided to raise all the equity needed for Parcel H, a new Creative Village project now under construction.
“It was a lesson in perseverance and believing in our own projects versus being told by outsiders that something is not possible,” he said.
Ustler sees Orlando’s continued evolution as both an opportunity and a responsibility.
8. Martha McGill | President, Central Florida, Nemours Children’s Hospital
Martha McGill’s nearly four decades in pediatric health care began at the bedside as a nurse. Today, she leads Nemours Children’s Health’s Central Florida operations while advocating in Tallahassee and Washington for policies that protect children’s access to care.
McGill is overseeing Nemours’ $300 million expansion in Lake Nona. Scheduled for completion in 2028, the project will double the emergency department, expand imaging capacity and add inpatient beds, observation rooms and six operating rooms.
A new facility will house orthopedics, sports medicine and rehabilitation services, along with an International Center for Limb Lengthening and Florida’s first accredited Gait and Motion Analysis Lab.
“This investment is designed to care for more children, many of whom require highly complex care,” McGill said.
The expansion comes as Nemours serves more than 300,000 children and teens across Florida, with demand expected to increase as the state’s population grows. McGill is also working to elevate pediatric health in policy discussions, particularly as changes involving Medicaid and other public programs could affect access for families across Florida.
Her leadership remains grounded in a simple principle: During uncertainty, keep the organization focused on “providing the very best care possible for children.”
9. Pamela Nabors | President & CEO, CareerSource Central Florida
Pamela Nabors has positioned CareerSource Central Florida at the center of the area’s efforts to prepare workers for a rapidly changing economy. Nabors leads Florida’s second-largest local workforce development board, overseeing a $38.5 million budget and 250 employees serving 2.8 million residents across Orange, Osceola, Seminole, Lake and Sumter counties.
“The Orlando region should continue to bolster diversity of our economic sectors,” Nabors said. Beyond health care, tourism and construction, she sees advanced manufacturing, semiconductors and aerospace as important sources of higher-wage careers.
CareerSource has responded through partnerships with employers, schools, colleges and local governments. Its initiatives connect residents with training while introducing young people to career paths available throughout Central Florida. The organization also supports the semiconductor cluster developing around Osceola County’s NeoCity. “This growth requires greater community exposure to manufacturing careers,” Nabors said.
“It will also create and upskill the workforce in Osceola County and beyond.”
Even as federal funding has declined, Nabors has expanded CareerSource’s reach through grants, corporate investment and community-based programs.
Her leadership rests on collaboration and trust.
“I focus on providing coaching and support while empowering staff to lead with their strengths and talents,” she said.
10. Tanisha Nunn Gary | President & CEO, African American Chamber of Commerce of Central Florida
Tanisha Nunn Gary leads with avision shaped by nearly two decades of legal practice and a lifelong commitment to economic empowerment.
Gary sees Orlando at a crossroads, uniquely positioned to become a hub for innovation. To her, the city’s success depends on ensuring businesses—large and small, established and emerging—have access to capital, procurement opportunities and professional development. “We should focus on strengthening our entrepreneurial ecosystem, investing in workforce readiness and building pipelines that prepare leaders for boardrooms and executive positions,” she says.
Her leadership has already yielded powerful results. Recently, the Chamber partnered with Disney to expand one of its signature events, attracting nearly 850 attendees and generating record revenue. The collaboration opened doors for small businesses, creating real contracts and collaborations. “It demonstrated the power of corporate and community alignment to move the needle on economic empowerment,” Gary says.
But leading a lean nonprofit organization is not without challenges. Balancing limited resources with the growing needs of small businesses requires strategy and focus. Gary meets this by cultivating partnerships, leveraging community assets and staying mission-driven. “Staying focused on impact rather than activity helps us maximize outcomes for our members,” she says.
Gary’s priorities for the next year center on expanding access to capital, increasing entrepreneurial opportunities and reactivating businesses that stepped away during difficult times. She is also committed to building a stronger pipeline of young leaders, emphasizing economic mobility and generational wealth.
She is driven by seeing others succeed—especially when they once doubted it was possible.
Looking ahead, Gary believes the Chamber’s upcoming membership reactivation campaign could be transformative. “Businesses are stronger when they move forward together,” she says, underscoring her vision for Orlando’s business community.
11. Richard Bilboa| Editor-in-Chief, Orlando Business Journal
Richard Bilbao is often the first to inform Central Florida’s business community.
Bilbao became editor-in-chief of the Orlando Business Journal in 2024 after serving the publication as a reporter, digital producer and associate managing editor. Since joining OBJ in 2008, he has covered many of Orlando’s defining economic stories, including the region’s tourism growth, major theme park investments, professional sports ambitions and debates over tourist development tax revenue.
As editor-in-chief, Bilbao directs coverage of the companies, entrepreneurs, public officials and development projects driving Central Florida’s economy. He has also expanded his role beyond the newsroom through video reports and “Business Backdrop,” OBJ’s program examining the stories and trends behind the headlines.
A University of Central Florida journalism graduate, Bilbao has received recognition from the Florida Press Club and the Society of Professional Journalists.
His influence rests on deciding which emerging issues demand attention, and ensuring Orlando’s business leaders receive the reporting needed to make informed decisions.
