The S. Clark Butler Pinnacle Award recognizes an established business leader who has demonstrated sustained excellence and leadership in his/her industry. The vision for the Pinnacle Award was inspired by Roy H. Lambert, Sr., to honor his friend and business partner, S. Clark Butler, a leading entrepreneur in Gainesville. The award embodies the spirit of entrepreneurship in action and reinforces the vitality of the contributions of S. Clark Butler in the life of the local community and the University of Florida.
In 1977, Bryan Kornblau came to the University of Florida from Richmond, Virginia, to pursue a bachelor’s degree in building construction, which he was awarded in the spring of 1981. After graduating, he returned to Richmond to begin his career in construction, land and community development, and real estate private equity. In 1984, he founded Eagle Construction of Virginia. Eagle, celebrating its 40th anniversary this coming October, became one of the most successful homebuilders in the mid-Atlantic region.In 2010, Bryan created a private equity joint venture with Markel Ventures, a subsidiary of Markel Group (NYSE MKL), a Fortune 500 company. In 2013, Markel Ventures acquired Eagle. He remains a principal and serves as chairman of Markel-Eagle Partners, LLC. In 2017, Bryan and his wife, Hunter, moved to Florida and currently live in the Tampa area.Throughout his career, Bryan held numerous positions serving his community. He was twice a gubernatorial appointee for the Commonwealth of Virginia. He held positions on the Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB) and the Governor’s Commission on Transportation Policy. Bryan was also a board member of the Capitol Region Airport Commission and the Richmond Metropolitan Authority. He helped to start and became a founding trustee of his beloved synagogue, Congregation Or Atid, in Richmond. His service to the university began when he returned to UF for football games in 1986. His major athletic gifts made the following possible: the Stephen C. O’Connell Center renovation; the Heavener football facility, including the Kornblau Foyer; the north endzone expansion and the Kornblau locker room renovation at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. He recently gave a significant gift to the Bruno E. and Maritza F. Ramos Collaboratory as the new addition to the College of Design, Construction and Planning (DCP). Bryan served on the Rinker School of Construction Management Advisory Council Executive Committee in 1987. He was also a founding member of the DCP Dean’s Advisory Council and currently serves as an emeritus member and advisor to the council. Bryan and Hunter, a retired attorney, have five children and three grandchildren, with another on the way. They keep a home close to campus and enjoy being in residence throughout the year.
Nathan S. Collier founded The Collier Companies with the intent to create a different kind of workplace – one with a true sense of community, a place that is a joy to live and work, and a place where Team Members truly care about each other as individuals and demonstrate that every day, in part by the depth of their commitment to quality, excellence and customer service. As a lifelong student, he also wanted to create an organization centered around learning and personal and professional growth.
Mr. Collier annually co-teaches within TCC a 10-week long program called Collier College sharing the intricacies of real estate investing as well as the life management soft skills necessary to be successful in any field of life such as emotional intelligence, decision making, goal setting, time/energy management, motivation, and communication.
Nathan has endowed the Nathan S. Collier Master of Science in Real Estate program through UF’s Warrington College of Business and teaches case studies every year. Nathan has also taught adjunctly at UF’s Levin College of Law where he previously earned his Juris Doctorate degree, and given commencement speeches for UF’s Warrington College of Business in 2010 and 2018.
In 2019, Nathan S. Collier founded The Collier Prize for State Government Accountability through UF College Of Journalism and Communications. Collier also serves as a member of Columbia University’s Columbia Journalism Review Board of Overseers.
With over a thousand posts, Nathan also blogs twice weekly on personal and professional growth at NSCBlog. His tag line on every post is ‘I share what I most want and need to learn."
Jon Antevy is a recognized leader in the field of construction program management software. Following the completion of his master’s thesis research on multimedia and internet applications for the construction industry, Jon launched e-Builder in 1994. Since the inception of the Gator100 in 2015, e-Builder has made the list four times. In 2018, the company was acquired by Trimble for $500 million to accelerate the industry transformation by providing an integrated project delivery solution for owners, program managers and contractors across the design, construct and operate lifecycle.
Jon holds a master’s degree in Construction Management from the M.E. Rinker Sr. School of Building Construction, and a Bachelor’s degree in Design from the University of Florida.
Ron Antevy is a recognized Software as a Service (SaaS) technology business leader in the field of construction management software. In 1998, Ron teamed with his brother Jon to lead and grow e-Builder. Under his leadership, the company grew over 25% per year, profitably and without debt, to become the leading construction management software for facility owners in North America. Following Trimble’s acquisition of e-Builder in 2018, Ron launched and currently leads Trimble Ventures, a $200 million venture fund investing in innovative companies that align with Trimble’s mission.
Ron is a graduate of the University of Florida Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering, with a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering. He is a registered Professional Engineer in the state of Florida.
Jane Sun is CEO of Trip.com Group and a member of its board. She joined the company as its CFO in 2005. She’s helped it grow from a small tech company into a one-stop shop for travel services sought by 400 million users worldwide. The company’s mission is to bring the best travel experience. The only female CEO in China’s high-tech industry, Jane was one of Fortune magazine’s Top 50 Most Powerful Women in Business in 2020. Forbes named her one of the Emergent 25 “Asia’s Latest Star Businesswomen” in 2018, and one of the Most Influential and Outstanding Businesswomen in China in 2017.
Keith Koenig is CEO and owner of City Furniture, which he co-founded with his late brother. Today, their enterprise includes 19 City Furniture and 14 Ashley Furniture HomeStores in South and Central Florida, a distribution facility and headquarters in Tamarac, as well as a subsidiary, Kevin Charles Fine Upholstery, in New Albany, Mississippi. Keith received the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2003, the University of Florida Distinguished Alumni award in 2017, and was inducted into the Furniture Hall of Fame in 2018.
Recognized as one of the country’s leading franchise investors, Scott’s career includes over 25 years of venture capital, brand management and franchise expertise. Using his signature Franchise Accelerator Model, he has helped entrepreneurs create dominant franchise brands such as Schlotzsky’s Deli, Fastsigns, and Cinnabon. Most recently he led the transformation of Tropical Smoothie Cafe (’18, ’19 Gator100 Honoree) from a small, regional concept to one of the nation’s hottest franchise brands with over 850 locations. Scott is the founder of 10 Point Capital, a private equity firm supporting entrepreneurs to expand their concepts. Previously, he was the cofounder of BIP Capital, one of the most active venture capital firms in the Southeast, a partner at Roark Capital Group, and held leadership roles with The Walt Disney Company and Dow Chemical. Scott received his bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering in 1990 from the University of Florida, graduating with high honors, and an MBA from the Harvard Business School in 1995.
Ken and Linda have been instrumental in the redevelopment of downtown Gainesville from a federal ‘pocket of poverty’ to a thriving commercial center. They have received over 60 local, state and national awards. They created the Downtown Tech Center, Founder’s Pad and Hacker Space providing office space, mentoring and financing for startup companies which helped create hundreds of high-tech jobs. They have been recognized for their environmental work by Alachua Conservation Trust, Sustainable Florida and the National Alliance to Save Energy.
Over the last 25 years, serial entrepreneur Alex Moreno has launched and developed a number of companies and projects, ranging from environmental services to construction and development. Alex is currently CEO and co-founder of Nightingale Nurses, one of the largest and fastest-growing health care-staffing companies in the United States. Nightingale Nurses has over 500 employees and revenues in excess of $60 million. Alex is also CEO and founder of Panther Development Investments, which provides consulting services to Native American Nations in the areas of energy development, infrastructure and financing.
Neil Schopke, with two business partners, founded LIFDEK in 2013 to develop and commercialize a more cost efficient shipping system for lightweight logistics, based upon site-assembly corrugated pallets. The company has five pending patents and has negotiated contracts with IKEA. In addition to pallet design, LIFDEK has developed techniques and technologies to support customers' ability to rapidly and easily assemble pallets onsite at their facilities.
Darin Cook co-founded Infinite Energy in Gainesville, Florida in 1994 in the wake of a deregulated Florida natural gas market. Infinite Energy has emerged as one of the largest companies in Florida, providing energy to customers in five states. Infinite Energy built all of its systems “from the inside out,” and provides award-winning customer service, software development and trading in-house. The company’s keys to growth are investing in quality personnel and quality business partnerships. Darin places significant emphasis on the company’s culture and commitment to the community. The Impact Team, an in-house volunteer organization, supports various community causes, and focuses efforts on education-based initiatives in grades K-12. All employees receive paid volunteer time to devote to educational projects such as tutoring, mentorship programs and even fundraising or administrative work. Darin graduated from the University of Florida with a degree in statistics.
TransPerfect is the world’s largest, privately held provider of language services and technology solutions with annual revenues of more than $470 million. The business has a network of over 5,000 certified linguists and subject-area specialists, and offers a full range of services in 170-plus languages to clients worldwide.
TransPerfect was recognized as one of the fastest growing privately held companies in the U.S. through its recognition in the Inc. 500.
In 2014, TransPerfect experienced record-breaking results and hired over 700 employees. TransPerfect’s revenue increase represented a gain of over 17% from the previous year, marking the company’s 22nd consecutive year of profitable growth.
Phil Shawe co-founded TransPerfect in 1992. His friend and UF fraternity brother, A. Brooke Christian, helped him grow TransPerfect from $4 million to over $350 million in annual revenues.
Howard Fertilizer & Chemical has evolved from a small fertilizer operation to the multi-site fertilizer and chemical distribution company it is today. Howard Fertilizer manages a diverse portfolio of products that service the agriculture, turf & ornamental, pest control and retail/export markets. The company manages plants in Lake Placid and Groveland, Fla.; seven chemical and fertilizer distribution centers across the country. In 2014, Howard continued along its multi-year path of record setting growth while maintaining its status as a top producer of fertilizer in Florida. Still family-owned and operated, it is managed by Robert M. Howard Jr., with sons Frank and Jon actively involved in key facets of the company.
Over 48 years ago, David P. Lyons founded Saddle Creek Logistics, and has guided the company through what he calls “controlled, opportunistic growth.” An asset-based, third-party logistics provider, Saddle Creek Logistics offers a wide array of services, including warehousing, transportation, packaging and fulfillment. Operating over 37 locations nationwide, Saddle Creek Logistics is dedicated to assisting customers in accommodating growth and handling business fluctuations. Still leading the business today, David attributes his success to one very important piece of advice:
“The most important lesson I have learned over the years is to play by the rules. If you are honest and fair, and you treat your people and your customers right, then you will be rewarded.”
Starling Automotive has been dedicated to creating a brand in the highly competitive automotive industry by providing the best customer service to Central Florida-area car buyers. Owner and President Alan Starling emphasizes customer satisfaction and service as the key aspect in running a successful business.
“Our company’s success depends on repeat business. There is no chance that the customer will ever return if their initial transaction is not handled to their satisfaction,” he explains. “We must hire, train and motivate our associates to be professional and respectful to the hundreds of customers that we serve every day.
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