- November 23, 2024
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The Sarasota Chamber of Commerce held its annual meeting on Feb. 15 at the Ritz-Carlton, Sarasota featuring keynote speaker Joel Schleicher, the former president and COO of Nextel.
The meeting also was the debut event for Heather Kasten, the CEO of the Sarasota Chamber of Commerce, who was hired in late January to replace Kevin Cooper, who accepted a position with Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium. Kasten had previously led the Lakewood Ranch Business Alliance after an earlier position at the Sarasota Chamber.
Since the 1990s, Schleicher has held entrepreneurial roles with tech companies. In addition to his work with Nextel, he founded Presidio Networked Solutions in 2003, which grew to more $1.4 billion in revenues before being sold in 2011. He launched two other successful companies before Presidio.
His presentation was entitled "Building a Billion Dollar Business... Twice'' on how he launched a pair of successful endeavors and the lessons he learned along the way.