Presentation: GrowFL – Growing Florida’s Second Stage Businesses
GrowFL is Florida’s sole not-for-profit organization exclusively dedicated to support and accelerate the growth of second-stage companies. GrowFL is a small but impactful Florida economic development nonprofit. It is the only entity providing CEOs with focused, efficient, and timely access to market responsive programs and proven resources to accelerate growth. Established in 2009, GrowFL is known for the annual Florida Companies to Watch awards program which celebrates the best 50 second stage companies in Florida each year. In this session you will hear more about GrowFL and how Florida businesses have been recognized and helped to grow. The ability to create $9 of economic impact for every $1 invested into GrowFL comes from the unwavering spirit behind the implementation of its business growth programs. This presentation provides leaders like you with an inside look at the proverbial ‘magic sauce’ behind GrowFL.
Speaker: Ruth Buchanan, Vice President of Business Development, GrowFL
Ruth brings to GrowFL, more than 17 years of strategic “doing” in public sector-led economic development, including as leader and manager of economic and business development for Manatee and Lee Counties, and for the City of North Port. As a recognized leader and collaborator in economic development, she and her teams over the last few years have earned several awards with economic development-related accomplishments, including the bronze award for the 2021 International Economic Development Council (IEDC) Excellence in Economic Development, and the 2021 Regional Partner of the Year Award recognized by the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at the University of South Florida (USF). Ruth and her team partners in Sarasota County were awarded the 2018 FEDC Deal of the Year Award for achieving a 10,000 acre master-planned community which attracted the Atlanta Braves Spring Training facility. She has a bachelor’s degree in economics and political science. Her master’s in business administration is jointly from the Tuck Business School of Dartmouth University and the International University of Japan. Ruth recently concluded a fellowship leadership program under the MEP National Network as facilitated by America Works. She is an economic developer certified by IEDC since 2014 and enjoys facilitating the annual Basic Economic Development course hosted by the SBDC at USF. Ruth is married with two grown children. She likes to travel and in fact has lived in 4 countries, speaking a few languages. Driving toward proficiency in Spanish, she is also working with her extended clan to research their genealogy to the 1500s in Extremadura and Catalunya, Spain.