- July 13, 2025
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Longboat Key Chamber of Commerce President Gail Loefgren and Lakewood Ranch Business Alliance President Heather Kasten
Monique Paterson, Rachel Tompkins and East Meets West Founder Annette Gueli
Tom Cofer and Maureen Reid of Grow Financial Federal Credit Union
Jason Haynes and Debbie Shaffer of Veteran Air
Bryan Makowski of DiVosta, Kristin Culliton of Del Webb and Susan Heath of DiVosta
Barbara Aroper, Tami Caruso and Amy Philpot of Lakewood Ranch Medical Center
James Munch and Jennifer Golden of ComCenter
Steve and Rosemary Seto of Healthcare Solutions Team
Jessica and Adam Miller of Keller Williams
Marie Burchell and Colleen Egan
Gayle Fortin and Cathy Davis
Brandi Neal, Brian Lord and Bianca Naughton of TriNet
Travis Ferguson and Cory Lavey of My Shower Door
Ariana Gillooly, Daniel Caldwell and Peter Genersich
Lauren Docherty, Eddie Perruso and Jenn Knight of Business Solutions
The vendor booths, of which there are 90, sold out a month before the event.
Kelly Erdmann and Ashley Meredith of Nothing Bundt Cakes
Ed Kelly and Brian Broomhead of Chart House
Andrea Knies and Jim Shirley of the Arts and Cultural Alliance of Sarasota County
Barely 45 minutes into the 10th annual East Meets West Business Expo and the goody bags were gone.
The disappearance of the bags, which were given to the first 300 attendees, shows the anticipation the annual networking expo brings.
Tom Cofer, of Grow Financial Federal Credit Union, said the company has attended the event for the past 12 or 13 years. He called it fantastic.
“It’s public, it’s business,” he said. “It’s everyone having fun.”
Heather Kasten, president and CEO of the Lakewood Ranch Business Alliance said the vendor spots, all 90 of them, sold out a month before the event.
Those who didn’t have booths wandered around Robarts Arena networking with other businesses and sharing the ins and outs of their own businesses. Attendees were each given a passport that entered them into a drawing for two round-trip tickets on Southwest Airlines if they got a stamp from 15 booths.
While networking, attendees enjoyed a cash bar and appetizers from more than 10 restaurants, including California Pizza Kitchen and Chart House.
Expo founder Annette Gueli has watched the event, which she said is one of the premier events to bring people together from two different areas, grow since its inception 10 years ago. She said the first year there were 40 exhibitors and only a couple hundred people attended. Last year’s event drew a crowd of 750. The same amount was expected this year.