Tampa Bay Business News

Tampa Bay Business & Wealth

Real estate, development and business across Tampa Bay

Don’t fear failure: How Val Marks reflects, regroups and rallies

Valeri Marks has run eight businesses in her career, including in the telecom, data communications, online real estate, recruitment and health care industries. She prefers to go by Val, is passionate about mentoring, and philanthropy, and speaks openly about how much she loves her family and her amazing business network. Marks has been the CEO … Read more

Adventures in the Music Industry & Beyond

Crystal Morris knew how to water-ski practically before she knew how to walk, learned how to fly a plane in college and she started a company with her father after graduating college. The company, Gator Cases of Tampa, has grown into a leader in plastic music equipment cases and other types of cases. Morris has … Read more

FKQ: Doing Whatever It Takes Since 1961

Walking into FKQ Advertising + Marketing, visitors most likely will be greeted by a screen welcoming them, by name, to the offices. Attention to detail is one of the qualities that allows FKQ, with headquarters in Clearwater, to compete with larger global firms. “FKQ is not the biggest. We don’t want to be the biggest,” … Read more

Bootstrapping Boys to Booming Business

It all started with a van, two guys in college with a summer to spare, and an idea. “The summer before our senior year of college, I had an internship at the International Monetary Fund in Washington, D.C. It looked great on my résumé, and in my mind, I was preparing for the next year … Read more

JP Guilbault, The Unconventional CEO

Jean Paul Guilbault, or “JP” as he’s often referred to, never intended to become a CEO. Originally majoring in psychology to earn his doctorate, he says his path to the c-suite was unintentional and unconventional. Intentional or not, his success with expanding the database technology company, Community Brands, is undeniable. With consistent growth and an … Read more

Vick Tipnes is Driven By Success and Freedom

Vick Tipnes is driven by success, but to him, success means nothing if you don’t have freedom. “There are people that have a lot of money, but they’re not successful because they do not have freedom. There’s no success in being chained to a business or a career that you don’t love and have purpose … Read more