Features

50 Most Powerful


Compiled by Mike Boslet, Barry Glenn, Jay Boyar, Shelley Preston, John Kennedy, Mark I. Pinsky and Jennifer Greenhill-Taylor

The people with the most power are the ones who affect how we live.

Government officials have the power to raise or lower our taxes. Heads of big corporations can order layoffs or other spending cuts. The school superintendent has a lot to say about what kind of education our kids get (and what time they have to leave for school). The actions of law-enforcement leaders can influence whether we feel safe. And the decisions of both government and business leaders can determine whether our economy booms or goes bust.

These kinds of individuals appear through-out this year’s list of the 50 Most Powerful People in Orlando. But there also are religious leaders, sports leaders and shapers of public opinion. There are arts backers, educators and just plain do-gooders. All have made a difference.

You’ll find that many people have moved up the list since last year and that some are appearing for the first time. You’ll also notice that some have slipped in ranking —sometimes simply to make room for those whose stars have risen. New to the list is a Hall of Power designation, bestowed on some of the perennial names that make our list. The criteria for being considered Hallworthy are at least five consecutive appearances on the 50 Most Powerful list and a reputation for being influential in political, business or civic circles. Most Hall of Famers likely would be involved, to some degree, in all three.

Here’s hoping that the 50 will continue to use their power wisely. After all, as the Roman philosopher Seneca once said, “Most powerful is he who has himself in his own power.’’

Orlando Magazine Staff,

Rivers' Edge


Commercial success may have eluded sax player Sam Rivers, but not the respect of his peers. At 85 and in frail health, he’s still showing musicians the way.
Joseph Hayes,

Mr. Big

 

There is more to timeshare kingpin David Siegel than living fabulously large and being in charge. He says he is the ‘most misunderstood person in Orlando.’ We’ll leave that for you to decide.

The Reserve at Lake Butler Sound is an address for people with conspicuous wealth, but the homeowners in this enclave of fashionable Windermere don’t want their mansions on display for every-one to see. To enter the neighborhood means you either belong here or your name is on the list with the gatehouse guard.

Once waved through by the polite man in uniform, a visitor takes Bridge House Road past custom-built homes of Mediterranean, contemporary and English Tudor influences. Each is different from its neighbor, yet almost all the homes flow into a rhythm of size, proportion and curb appeal, with manicured lawns and palms, and brick-paver driveways.

On a mild, blue-sky morning in The Reserve, two young mothers dressed in active wear push strollers at a hurried pace while chatting at a similar speed. Just past Kirkstone Lane, a cul de sac off of Bridge House, they stop to answer a visitor’s inquiry about a distant blue-and-gray building that dwarfs all the homes around it, standing out in both size and architectural design.

 

Mike Boslet, Jim Leusner,

Dining Hall of Fame


Orlando magazine honors three individuals, a team and a singular restaurant as Dining Hall of Fame inductees. The Hall of Famers have made lasting contributions to the area’s dining scene.
Rona Gindin,

Wedding Guide

 

Planning a wedding is in the details, and Orlando magazine’s Wedding Guide gives you some help with them. From a local couple who traveled to a coastal Italian village to celebrate their nuptials to wedding dresses and tiaras that befit the brides’ personalities to unusual (but delicious) places to hold rehearsal dinners, our guide covers the details that go into saying “I do.” 

Orlando Magazine Staff,

International Relations

 

Some couples decide upon a destination wedding for the built-in romance of an exotic locale. Others choose to marry on foreign soil because they share a love of travel. But for Lou De Berardinis and Jeny Cilano, the choice of an Italian wedding was all about family ties.  

Denise Bates Enos,

Is Sam Zell Digging the Sentinel's Grave?

 

The maverick real estate investor earned his fortune—and the nickname “the Grave Dancer”—by capitalizing on corporate decay. In buying Tribune Company late last year, he saw another opportunity to find profit in a struggling business. But he didn’t see the black hole the newspaper industry was about to fall into, made deeper by the privatized company’s $13 billion of debt. For the Tribune-owned Sentinel, Zell’s ownership has come at a hefty price: drastic cuts in staff and content. 

Michael McLeod,

Bringing Health to the Table

 

Chef John Procacci believes in serving and eating great-tasting food that is rich in nutrients. He’s the chef/owner of Healthy Chef Creations, a Winter Park business that sells and delivers spa-inspired organic meals to area households. We asked him for advice on healthy eating.  

Marie Rodriguez de la Viuda,

Dr. Oz Wants to Tuck You in

 

In addition to being a frequent guest on The Oprah Winfrey Show, DR. MEHMET OZ is the vice chair and a professor of surgery at Columbia University as well as medical director of the Integrated Medicine Center and director of the Heart Institute at New York Presbyterian/Columbia Medical Center. He has written four New York Times bestsellers, and next month his new book,You: Being Beautiful, arrives in bookstores. In the first of two parts, Oz talks about sleeping problems and how to overcome them. 

Jenny Sue Rhoades,

How We Built a Green (Lite) House


For (mostly) selfish reasons, we chose to be environmentally responsible when we remodeled our College Park home.

We are probably like a lot of people. We like to be aware of what we consume and what we waste, but we’re not fanatical about living a green life. We eat junk food on occasion and we often forget to bring our own bags to the supermarket. We’ve been known to drive to breakfast instead of walking to Christos, only a block away. You might say we live “green lite.”

So when we took on the enormous task of remodeling our two-bedroom, one-bath College Park cottage a few years back, we tried to be sensitive to the environment by using sustainable or recycled materials. But to be honest, a lot of our reasons for going green were selfish: an eco-friendly home costs less to maintain in the long run, looks better and provides a healthier place to live.
 

Jennifer Greenhill-Taylor, Joseph Hayes,

Every Little Bit Helps


You can lessen your impact on the environment in dozens of ways. Here are 9 products made with the three R’s—reduce, reuse and recycle—in mind.
Joseph Hayes,

Eco Crusaders


Like organic produce and hydrogen fuel cells, environmentalists come in all shapes and sizes. These four green advocates work in different ways but they share a single goal: taking care of the planet.
Orlando Magazine Staff,