2023 Ben Zobrist
2023 Ben Zobrist
2022 Scott Hanson
2022 Scott Hanson
Host of NFL RedZone
2021 David Baker
2021 David Baker
David Baker is the President of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Since January of 2014, David Baker’s leadership has transformed the Hall of Fame.
His physical stature – 6’9” and nearly 400 pounds – is overshadowed by his large vision for the Hall. He has embarked on an endeavor that has dramatically expanded the Hall of Fame’s brand by focusing on the organization’s powerful Mission to “Honor the Heroes of the Game, Preserve its History, Promote its Values & Celebrate Excellence EVERYWHERE.”
Baker came to Canton with a reputation as an experienced and passionate leader in business, politics and sports. He is dedicated to inspiring exponential growth in individuals and organizations of excellence that seek to make a difference in their communities and the world. He possesses a long record of success as a catalyst for growth.
Under his guidance and leadership, the Pro Football Hall of Fame has greatly expanded programming across the country; experienced increased television ratings; received broader exposure of the Hall’s Mission, Values and Vision; and recorded the greatest financial results in the organization’s 55-year history. In his first four years at the Hall, the organization’s net assets more than doubled.
In 2018, the Pro Football Hall of Fame was voted the Best Attraction for Sports Fans in the USA TODAY 10 Best Readers’ Choice travel award contest.
Baker’s accomplishments were recognized when he was bestowed the prestigious March of Dimes Sports Leadership Award for 2017. He joined a long list of distinguished winners of the Sports Leadership Award that includes NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue, NBA Commissioner David Stern, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig.
Baker is an attorney by trade who earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature and Criticism from the University of California at Irvine and his Juris Doctorate from the Pepperdine School of Law during which time he served as the Editor-in-Chief of the Pepperdine Law Review.
He played professional basketball in Switzerland and worldwide with a Christian basketball team that beat the best in the world. He was elected Mayor and Councilman of Irvine, California, the country’s first master-planned city and served for 12 years as the Commissioner of the Arena Football League.
Fueled by his establishment of the first-ever Mission Statement and Fan Bill of Rights in sports, the Arena Football League brand grew dramatically as the most fan-friendly league in the world. Team values escalated from $175,000 to $32 million due, at least in part, to Baker’s ability to negotiate television contracts and his tireless work to establish partnerships with the NFL and major sponsors.
From 2009 to 2014, he served as the Managing Partner for Union Village, the first integrated health village in the world that is located in Henderson, Nevada. The $1.3 billion mixed-use project will provide 17,000 jobs in the community created for 1,500 seniors.
Baker is the father of two boys – Ben, who is the Director of Broadcasting at NASCAR, and Sam, who played left tackle for the Atlanta Falcons and currently serves as a high school football coach. David and his wife, Colleen, also have a daughter, Leyla, and a son, Michael; and are the proud grandparents of ten beautiful grandchildren.
2019 Todd Hopkins
2019 Todd Hopkins
Todd Hopkins is the founder and CEO of Office Pride Commercial Cleaning Services, an award winning janitorial franchising company and one of the most respected brands in its industry. Office Pride, with headquarters in Palm Harbor, has 134 franchise locations in 24 states.
Todd is an international best-selling author or co-author of four books, including his most recent The Stress Less Business Owner – 10 Guiding Disciplines for a Stress Less Business and Life. His book, The Janitor – How an Unexpected Friendship Transformed a CEO and His Company, co-authored with Ray Hilbert, has sold more than 700,000 copies and been published in 10 languages.
A business graduate from the University of Memphis, Todd also has an MBA from Butler University and is a graduate of the M.I.T. Birthing of Giants Executive Entrepreneurship Program. Todd has been involved in the CBMC ministry for 30 years and serves on its national board of directors.
Todd and his wife, Michelle, live in Odessa, attend The Chapel Community Church in Tarpon Springs and have three sons.
2018 Danny Wuerffel
2018 Danny Wuerffel
Danny Wuerffel is executive director of Desire Street Ministries and a former American college and professional football athlete who played quarterback for the University of Florida and the New Orleans Saints, the Green Bay Packers, Chicago Bears and Washington Redskins.
While at the University of Florida, Wuerffel led the Gators to four SEC Championships and the university’s very first National Football Title. He won the 1996 Heisman Trophy, the William V. Campbell Award, (formerly known as the Draddy award for the Nation’s top student-athlete) and set 17 NCAA and University of Florida records. He graduated with high honors earning his bachelor’s degree in Public Relations. In 2013, Wuerffel was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.
The New Orleans Saints drafted Wuerffel in 1997. After three years with the Saints, he played with the NFL’s European league, winning the World Bowl Championship and was selected as the league’s MVP by the European media. Wuerffel then went on to play one season with the Green Bay Packers followed by the Chicago Bears and Washington Redskins before retiring his professional football career in 2004.
Immediately following his football career, Wuerffel joined Desire Street Ministries in New Orleans’ Ninth Ward, a nonprofit with a mission to revitalize one of America’s most impoverished neighborhoods through spiritual and community development. Wuerffel became executive director in 2006 and under his direction, Desire Street Ministries moved its headquarters to Atlanta and expanded its outreach beyond New Orleans to impact hundreds of children and
families living in other southern inner cities.
A passionate and popular speaker, Wuerffel shares how his experiences playing football have influenced his life in his book, “Danny Wuerffel’s Tales from the Gator Swamp: Reflections of Faith and Football.” Born in Pensacola, Florida, Wuerffel grew up as the son of an Air Force Chaplain, living all over the country as well as three years in Spain. He now calls Atlanta his home with his wife, Jessica; two sons, Jonah and Joshua; and a daughter, Macy.
2017 Darryl Strawberry
2017 Darryl Strawberry
Darryl Eugene Strawberry, Sr. (born March 12, 1962) is an American former Major League Baseball right fielder and an ordained Christian minister and author. Strawberry is well known for his career in baseball and his controversial personal life. Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, Strawberry was one of the most feared sluggers in the game, known for his prodigious home runs and his intimidating presence in the batter’s box with his 6-foot-6 frame and his long, looping swing that elicited comparisons to Ted Williams.
During his 17-year career, he helped lead the New York Mets to a World Series championship in 1986 and the New York Yankees to three World Series championships in 1996, 1998 and 1999. He was also suspended three times by Major League Baseball for substance abuse, leading to many narratives about his massive potential going unfulfilled. A popular player during his career, Strawberry was voted to the All-Star Game eight straight times from 1984–1991. Strawberry was formerly an analyst for SportsNet New York. His memoir, Straw: Finding My Way, was written in collaboration with author John Strausbaugh, was published on April 28, 2009 by Ecco Press, an imprint of HarperCollins publishers.
2016 Mark Whitacre
2016 Mark Whitacre
Mark Whitacre is the highest ranked executive of any Fortune 500 company to become a whistleblower in U.S. History.
Mark was responsible for uncovering the Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) price-fixing scandal in the early 1990s. His most active involvement is as a Marketplace Ambassador for the Christian Business Mens Connection (CBMC) in the USA, an 85-year old organization that has impacted his life greatly the past two decades. Since 2006, Mark had been an executive with Cypress Systems, Inc, a California biotech company involved with human clinical trials (cancer research), and he was promoted in 2009 to the position of COO & Chief Science Officer of the company. Mark recently went on the Advisory Board of Cypress Systems, in order to serve full time with CBMC.
His undercover work with the FBI during the ADM scandal was the inspiration for the 2009 major motion picture, “The Informant,” starring Matt Damon as Mark Whitacre, and the 2010 Discovery Channel documentary ‘Undercover” archived on Mark Whitacre’s website, http://www.markwhitacre.com . The recent book, “Mark Whitacre Against all Odds”, describes the rest of the story about how faith has molded Mark’s life since the ADM scandal. Mark’s story is about how God transformed his life, and about redemption and second chances. It is an inspirational story about a family surviving against all odds
After simultaneously completing B.S. and M.S. degrees at Ohio State University, Mark then earned his Ph.D. degree at Cornell University in biochemistry (1983). After he completed his Ph.D., he worked for multiple Fortune 500 companies including Ralston Purina, Degussa (Evonik), and ADM. Mark was hired at ADM, the 56th largest company on the Fortune 500 at the time, when he was 32 years of age. As the president of the BioProducts Division from its launch, he was the youngest divisional president in the history of the company. In just six years, his division’s fermentation complex became one of the largest in the world. At age 35, he became a corporate vice president of ADM and was the leading candidate to become the next company president. Mark has extensive international business experience, having lived for almost four years in West Germany working for an international company. He has also been involved with two international companies in the Southeast Asia market and traveled the region dozens of times. Mark’s more than two decades of top management experience at Fortune 500 and international companies, as well as his experience with the ADM price-fixing scandal and the FBI, give him a unique, seasoned perspective on leadership in the corporate world.
Today, the four FBI agents involved with Whitacre’s case tout him publicly as a “national hero” for his substantial assistance with one of the most important white-collar cases in history. And Douglas Burris, chief of U.S. Federal Probation in the Eastern District of Missouri, has stated publicly, “The story about Mark Whitacre’s redemption and second chance is one of the most inspirational stories of our time.”
Mark and his wife of 36 years, Ginger, have three grown children. Mark & Ginger travel the country extensively speaking at national events and sharing their faith as witnesses for Jesus Christ.
2015 Pat Williams
2015 Pat Williams
Our featured speaker for the 2015 Tampay Bay Mayors Mayors Prayer Breakfast was basketball Hall-of-Famer Pat Williams, co-founder and senior vice president of the NBA’s Orlando Magic. As one of the world’s top motivational speakers, Pat has addressed members of Fortune 500 companies, national trade associations and universities in the United States and abroad. We are excited to have Pat as our speaker for our next event.
Pat has been a general manager with NBA teams in Chicago, Atlanta, Philadelphia—including the 1983 World Champion 76ers—and now the Orlando Magic which he helped lead to the NBA finals in 1995 and 2009. Pat has been able to meld great talents—such as Dr. J and Moses Malone, Charles Barkley and Maurice Cheeks, Shaquille O’Neal and “Penny” Hardaway—into some of the most memorable championship teams. Thirty of his teams have gone to the NBA playoffs and six have made it to the NBA Finals.
Pat is the author of over 85 books on a wide range of subjects, including sports, leadership, teamwork and peak performance. From 1996 to 2010, he completed 58 marathons, including the Boston Marathon 13 times.
And if that wasn’t enough, Pat and his wife, Ruth, are the parents of 19 children, including 14 adopted from four foreign countries. They also have 14 grandchildren…and counting!
Don’t miss this opportunity to hear a true leader speak about his relationship with God and how it has carried him through his career.
2014 Tony Dungy
2014 Tony Dungy
Tony Dungy is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Quiet Strength and Uncommon. He led the Indianapolis Colts to Super Bowl victory on February 4, 2007, the first such win for an African American coach. Dungy established another NFL first by leading his teams to the playoffs for ten consecutive years.
Dungy joined the Colts in 2002 after serving as the most successful head coach in Tampa Bay Buccaneers history. He has also held assistant coaching positions with the University of Minnesota, Pittsburgh Steelers, Kansas City Chiefs, and Minnesota Vikings. Before becoming a coach, Dungy played three seasons in the NFL.
Dungy has been involved in a wide variety of charitable organizations, including the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Athletes in Action, Mentors for Life, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Boys & Girls Clubs, the Prison Crusade Ministry, and All Pro Dad. He also works with Basket of Hope, the Black Coaches Association National Convention, Indiana Black Expo, the United Way of Central Indiana, and the American Diabetes Association.
He retired from coaching in 2008 and now serves as an analyst for NBC’s Football Night in America. He and his wife, Lauren, are the parents of seven children.
2013 Bobby Bowden
2013 Bobby Bowden
Bobby Bowden is known as much for his affable charm as he is for his championship teams. Having coached young men in seven decades, he became the second winningest coach in major college football history. Bowden guided Florida State University to more than three hundred victories, two national championships, twelve Atlantic Coast Conference titles, finishing in the top five in the country in 14 straight seasons, and led the Seminoles to Bowl Games in 28‐consecutive seasons during his 34‐year tenure. The patriarch of college football’s most famous coaching family, Bowden remains heavily involved in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes; annually awarding The National Bobby Bowden Award to a student‐athlete for achievement on and off the field, including his conduct as a faith model in the community. Bowden was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2006. He and his wife of 61 years, Ann, live in Tallahassee, Florida.
2012 Wally Armstrong
2012 Wally Armstrong
Wally Armstrong, President of Gator Golf Enterprises, Inc., has played professionally and taught golf since 1968, and has conducted clinics and teaching seminars throughout the world. A graduate of the University of Florida, where he earned both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in Education, Armstrong was a member of the college golf team and earned All-American recognition in 1966.
A PGA member since 1974, he has competed in more than 300 PGA Tour events. In his first Masters he finished fifth setting a rookie record score of 8 under par. He competed in numerous majors including the British Open, Masters, U.S. Open, PGA Championship and the Tournament Players Championship . During his career Armstrong was a solid frontrunner on the PGA Tour and led in over 30 tournaments, finishing second 4 times and one year finishing 7 times in the top ten. Because of his exceptionally consistent record, he was awarded a lifetime membership to the PGA Tour. In recent years he has played in some US and European Senior Tour Events.
In the last 20 years Wally has concentrated on golf instruction producing 22 golf instructional videotapes selling over 500,000 copies, including a 6-tape video training library for coaches and teachers that include over 300 creative teaching aids and drills. His best selling Golf for Kids of all Ages was the first tape for kids and dads. His production Beginning Golf for Women, featuring Donna White, is a nationally leading women’s instructional tape. In 1995, Wally and his then 10-year-old son, Blake, produced the first golf instructional kid’s video taught by a kid, Power Drives for Kids. This tape was included within a junior golf T-Rex club package developed by Titleist and distributed worldwide.
As an indication of the worldwide respect Wally enjoys, he was selected from all the PGA pros to be the “golf expert” to teach singer Kenny Rogers and broadcaster Pat Summerall on the highly acclaimed television infomercial Maximizing Your Game. This Max Pack of videos and training aids, including his renowned hanger and tempo ball, featured Wally doing what he does perhaps better then anyone-helping players get better while keeping golf fun. It sold over 110,000 units.
Armstrong is best noted for teaching the feel of the golf game by the use of familiar objects such as brooms, mops, footballs, Hula-Hoops, hangers, etc. His unique emphasis on visual imagery has proven to be a major breakthrough in the field of golf instruction. He has published articles in magazines across America, as well as Japan and Korea. He taught at the 1990 and 1992 PGA Teaching and Coaching Summits. He has done seminars for the National Golf Foundation of Japan, and conducted clinics in China, Korea, Venezuela, Honduras, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, Canada and Mexico.
Wally was on the cover of Golf Magazine in May 1993 and Golf Week .He is also the co-author of three books with Jim Sheard, In His Grip, Playing the Game, and Finishing the Course. (Combining for sales of over 300,000 copies). Wally’s book The Heart of A Golfer was coauthored with Frank Martin. The First Tee Shot co-authored with Mike Yorkey is designed for parents and grandparents to equip them on getting kids into golf. It features a special 1-1/2 hr DVD of instruction with Wally and sons Scott and Blake. Wally’s latest book THE MULLIGAN written with co-author Ken Blanchard is his first short novel. See www.themulligan.org.
Wally and former tour player, Terry Anton, released a revolutionary new entry level golf game called (SNAG) which has become the national school golf program for the United States, Scotland and Japan.
2011 & 2010 Joe Gibbs
2011 & 2010 Joe Gibbs
Given his unique rise to the top of two different sports NFL Football and NASCAR racing, Coach Gibbs is often asked to speak and share his personal testimony with crowds. Men especially want to know what it takes to be “successful” and “relevant.” The Game Plan helps men to find true success and relevance in their own lives. However, it is less about Joe, than it is about who men are, why they were created and what they can really do with their lives.
As Head Coach of the Washington Redskins NFL football team, Joe Gibbs led the team to three Super Bowl Championships in four tries. As a NASCAR team owner, Joe Gibbs Racing has won three NASCAR Cup Series Championships.
Joe Gibbs was born November 25, 1940 in Mocksville, North Carolina. He is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame due to his success as coach of the Redskins. During Joe Gibbs’ first tenure with the Redskins, from 1981-1992, he led them to eight playoff appearances, four NFC championships, and three Super Bowl titles. During Coach Gibbs’ second tenure with the Redskins (between 2004-2008) he led the Redskins to the NFC playoffs in his second year back.
Coach Gibbs starting coaching as an offensive line coach under Don Coryell at San Diego State from 1964-1966, held the same position at Florida State from 1967-1968. He then served under John McKay at USC from 1969-1970 and Frank Boyles at Arkansas, from 1971-1972. In the pro ranks he served as an offensive backfield coach for the St. Louis Cardinals, from 1973-1977, again for Don Coryell; was offensive coordinator for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, in 1978, under McKay, and rejoined Coryell with the San Diego Chargers for the 1979 and 1980 seasons. With Gibbs as the offensive coordinator for the Chargers, the “Air Coryell” offense set numerous records, including becoming the first ever to average more than 400 yards per game of total offense. In 1981 Redskins’ owner Jack Kent Cooke gave Joe Gibbs a chance to become a head coach after 17 years as an assistant coach.
As Joe finished up coaching, his good friend Don Meredith began exploring NASCAR for opportunities to race and Joe Gibbs Racing was launched in 1991. With major sponsors like Home Depot, FedEx, Mars Candy, Coca Cola and Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing is a powerhouse which has won three Cup championships. His Nextel Cup team includes Kyle Busch, Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin. The main race shop is in Huntersville, NC, employing over 450 and occupying a 250,000 square foot facility.
Serving others through Christian ministry has always been close to Joe Gibbs’ heart and in 1986 he helped found Youth for Tomorrow, a residential youth home, private school, and counseling center for at-risk teenage girls and boys in the Washington metropolitan area. More than 800 young people have been touched by the center.
Joe is also the author of Fourth and One and Racing to Win.
Coach Gibbs lives in North Carolina. He is married to Pat and has two sons, JD (Melissa) and Coy (Heather), and eight grandchildren.
2009 Norm Miller
2009 Norm Miller
What a true blessing Norm Miller, Chairman of Interstate Batteries was to our Tampa Bay Leadership Prayer Breakfast for 2009.
Norm shared his challenged past, growing up in bawdy Galveston during the early years of World War II and then later becoming a slave to alcohol. Norm’s awakening and abrupt change of course to follow the Lord was an incredible story of strength and faith.
The Tampa Bay Leadership Prayer Breakfast Committee thanks Norm Miller for taking time out of his busy schedule to come to Tampa and speak at our event. Many lives were changed that morning because of Norm’s personal testimony.
He first worked for his father who had an Interstate Battery distributorship. John Searcy, the company founder, soon spotted this hardworking young salesman. Norm moved through the ranks, eventually taking over the company when Searcy retired. Interstate Batteries has continued to grow to the point where it is now the number one seller of replacement batteries in the world, selling over 12 million batteries a year.
Further, Interstate Batteries has made its mark on the racing world. In 1983 the company founded The Interstate Batteries Great American Race, America’s premier vintage car event. Then in 1991 they teamed up with the Joe Gibbs Racing Team to sponsor Dale Jarrett and later Bobby LaBonte in the #18 NASCAR. In 2000, LaBonte & Interstate won the Winston Cup, NASCAR’s year-long championship.
Norm’s personal journey has not always been a victory lap. He worked constantly. He was on the road frequently. A family history of alcoholism took its toll on Norm and his marriage. His wife Anne had decided to leave him. At that low point, Norm received Christ and turned his life over to God. Ever since, he has run his life and his company on Christian principles. With this new power source in his life, Norm has been able to rebuild his marriage and the business grew to be The Interstate Family. “Some distributors told us,” reports Norm, “there’s something special here — a feeling of love, unity, family.”
Norm and Anne are involved in numerous church and ministry activities but still find time to have fun with their two children and five grandchildren.
2008 Truett Cathy
2008 Truett Cathy
“Nearly every moment of every day we have the opportunity to give something to someone else-our time, our love, our resources. I have always found more joy in giving when I did not expect anything in return.” — Quote from “Eat Mor Chikin: Inspire More People” by S. Truett Cathy, published 2002. S. Truett Cathy is founder and chairman of Chick-fil-A, Inc. Cathy started the business in 1946, when he and his brother, Ben, opened an Atlanta diner known as The Dwarf Grill (later renamed The Dwarf House). Over the years, that restaurant prospered and led Cathy to further the success of his business. In 1967, Cathy founded and opened the first Chick-fil-A restaurant in Atlanta’s Greenbriar Shopping Center. Today, Chick-fil-A is the second-largest quick-service chicken restaurant chain in the United States based on annual sales.
In 2006, Cathy celebrated his 60th anniversary in the restaurant business with industry-wide recognition; a local celebration at his first restaurant, The Dwarf House, in Hapeville, Ga.; and the opening of the third Truett’s Grill® location – a concept the chain first introduced in 1996 to recognize Cathy’s then-50th anniversary in the restaurant industry.
Currently, there are more than 1,300 Chick-fil-A restaurants in 37 states and Washington, D.C. Remarkably, Cathy has led Chick-fil-A on an unparalleled record of 39 consecutive years of annual sales increases. Cathy’s approach is largely driven by personal satisfaction and a sense of obligation to the community and its young people. His WinShape Foundation, founded in 1984, grew from his desire to “shape winners” by helping young people succeed in life through scholarships and other youth-support programs. The foundation annually awards 20 to 30 students wishing to attend Berry College with scholarships up to $32,000 that are jointly funded by the Rome, Ga., institution. In addition, through its Leadership Scholarship Program, the Chick-fil-A chain has given more than $22 million in $1,000 scholarships to Chick-fil-A restaurant employees since 1973. This year the company will award more than $1.3 million in scholarships to its restaurant team members.
As part of his WinShape Homes® program – a long-term care program for foster children – eight foster care homes have been started in Georgia, two in Tennessee and one each in Alabama and Brazil that are operated by Cathy and the WinShape Foundation. These homes, accommodating up to 12 children with two full-time foster parents, provide long-term care for foster children with a positive family environment.
Another core component distinguishing WinShape programs is WinShape® Camps. It was founded in 1985 as a series of two-week summer camps at Berry College to help boys and girls build self-esteem through physical and spiritual activities. Nearly 1,800 campers from throughout the country attend WinShape Camps sessions annually.
In 2003, Truett helped his son and daughter-in-law, Bubba and Cindy, celebrate the opening of WinShape RetreatSM, a high-end retreat and conference facility also located on the Mountain Campus of Berry College. The multi-use facility hosts marriage-enrichment retreats along with business and church-related conferences, and in summer months, houses the girls attending WinShape Camps.
Cathy is a devoutly religious man who built his life and business based on hard work, humanity and biblical principles. Based on these principles, all of Chick-fil-A’s restaurants operate with a “Closed-on-Sunday” policy, – without exception. When not managing his company, Cathy donates his time to community efforts and teaches a Sunday school class to 13-year-old boys, as he has done for nearly 50 years.
Cathy has received countless awards over the years, including: Tom Landry Excellence of Character Award (2007); Greater Dallas FCA Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Poultry & Food Distributors Association (2005); Norman Vincent & Ruth Stafford Peale Humanitarian Award (2003); Catalyst Lifetime Achievement Award from Injoy/John Maxwell (2003); Georgia Sports Hall of Fame – Chairman’s Award (2003); the Ernst & Young- Entrepreneur of the Year – Lifetime Achievement Award (2000); and Horatio Alger Award – Horatio Alger Association, Washington, D.C. (1989) He also is the author of Eat Mor Chikin: Inspire More People (Looking Glass Books, 2002); It’s Easier to Succeed Than to Fail (Thomas Nelson Publishing, 1989); and It’s Better to Build Boys Than Mend Men (Looking Glass Books, 2004); and he is co-author of The Generosity Factor with Ken Blanchard (Zondervan Publishing, 2002).
In addition to presiding over one of the most successful restaurant chains in America, Cathy is a dedicated husband, father and grandfather. His two sons, Dan and Don (“Bubba”), have both followed their father in learning the business from the ground up. Dan became president of Chick-fil-A in June 2001 and Bubba is senior vice president of Chick-fil-A, Inc., and president of the Chick-fil-A Dwarf House division. His daughter, Trudy and her husband, John, are missionaries and directors of Camp Winshape for Girls. In 2006, Cathy welcomed the third generation of Cathy family members to the business. Two of his grandsons, Andrew Cathy and Mark Cathy, opened new restaurants in St. Petersburg, Fla., and San Marcos, Calif., respectively. Cathy and his wife Jeannette have 12 grandchildren and more than 150 “foster grandchildren.”
2007 Luis Palau
2007 Luis Palau
More than four decades after arriving in America from his native Argentina, Luis Palau is more intent than ever to follow his calling: to spread the powerful word of God throughout the world.. Whether on stage speaking to crowds of a quarter million people; through his radio messages heard daily in over 40 countries; or in counsel and prayer with leaders from the local church to the White House, Palau consistently remains one of the world’s most effective and compelling spiritual communicators.
From his early days sharing the Gospel on the streets of Buenos Aires to the “Great music & Good News” festival evangelism ministry that has had a positive impact on audiences around the globe, Luis Palau has continually inspired the millions who have heard his message of faith and hope. Wherever he speaks, Palau is keeping an ages-old faith fresh and alive for the 21st century.
Palau’s organization has over 100 full time staff people on four continents; thousands of volunteers and local supporters join in as the festival dates approach. The ministry is led day-to-day by Palau’s adult sons (Kevin, Keith and Andrew), whom he credits with helping him realize how much evangelism needed a fresh, modern approach if it was to communicate the claims of Christ in contemporary society.
2006 Wayne Huizenga
2006 Wayne Huizenga
H. Wayne Huizenga, Jr. is the President of Huizenga Holdings, Inc., a diversified company that manages and owns the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League and the Dolphins Stadium in south Florida, as well as investments in banking, resorts, marinas, yacht refit and construction, real estate, and outdoor advertising. He is a 1985 graduate of the University of Tampa with a degree in Business.
Starting with a single garbage truck in 1968, he grew Waste Management, Inc. into an entity that would become a Fortune 500 company. Huizinga aggressively purchased independent garbage hauling companies, and by the time he took the company public in 1972, he had completed the acquisition of 133 small-time haulers. By 1983, he had grown Waste Management into the largest waste disposal company in the United States.
Huizenga repeated his business success with Blockbuster Video, opening a handful of stores in 1987, and becoming the country’s leading movie rental chain by 1994. Eventually, Huizenga would also build and acquire auto dealerships, from which he formed AutoNation in 1996, which has become the nation’s largest automotive dealer and a Fortune 500 company, and remains his most recent major business venture. Huizenga has been a five-time recipient of Financial World magazine’s “CEO of the Year” award and was the Ernst & Young “2005 World Entrepreneur of the Year”.
In late 2004, he sold his ownership share in a group of hotels that included The Hyatt Pier 66 Hotel and Radisson Bahia Mar Hotel & Marina in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, The Boca Raton Resort & Club in Boca Raton, Florida, and several others in Naples, Florida, and Arizona.
Mr. Huizenga, Jr., married his childhood sweetheart, Fonda Hix, in 1991. They have four children. Mr. Huizenga is actively involved in Vida Nueva Ministries. He serves on the board of the Luis Palau Evangelistic Association in addition to serving as founder and board member for the Christian Community Foundation of South Florida, on the Board of Directors of Door of Hope Outreach, Inc., and on the steering committee for Impact XXI. He is the honorary chairman of the Souper Bowl of Caring and is a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization.
Wayne, Jr. and his family attend Calvary Chapel in Fort Lauderdale.
2005 David Dunkel
2005 David Dunkel
Mr. Dunkel served for over 25 years as chairman and CEO of Kforce Professional Staffing, a leading staffing services firm headquartered in Tampa, FL. Kforce has over 1,500 staffing professionals in 45 markets across the United States and specializes in flexible and permanent employment for technology, finance, accounting, and Health and Life Sciences professionals.
During this time, Kforce has grown to be one of the 15 largest public staffing firms in the U.S. and employs almost 10,000 contingent “Knowledge” workers annually. Kforce serves its clients and consultants with a vision of being the staffing firm most respected by those they serve.
Mr. Dunkel holds a Bachelor of Science degree and an MBA from Babson College in Boston, MA, and prior to beginning his career with Kforce, he was with PricewaterhouseCoopers in Boston.
In the past, our event has featured many prominent national speakers from the business, political, and sports arenas. All have shared their personal testimonies to the power that their faith has in their leadership roles.
- Chuck Colson
- Adolph Coors IV
- Senator Philpott
- Bud Paxson
- John Sykes
- Charlie “Tremendous” Jones
- John Beckett
- and many others