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CENTRAL FLORIDA A Force for Change Pick a big Central Florida public meeting, any meeting — Orlando City Commission, Orange County Board of Commissioners, the University of Central Florida Board of Trustees, the Central Florida Expressway Authority, the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority. Seminole, Osceola, Lake, Brevard, Volusia or Polk counties. Look around the room. They’re there. In a rapidly growing greater-Orlando community where no single government entity controls much more than a small portion of the critical decisions that determine the minutiae and grand sweeps of Orlando’s future; in a region where some of the biggest business interests count their local employees in the tens of thousands and some have global presence, 90 | INFLUENCE SUMMER/FALL 2016 PHOTOS: Courtesy Business Force and Orange County Mayor’s office Business Force is increasingly playing the role of broker. East Orange County development, the downtown Orlando UCF campus, the Florida Advanced Manufacturing Research Center in Kissimmee, the Orange County tourism development tax. These are the kinds of issues that in the past had their backers and their lobbyists, and they still do. But now they also have a united front addressing the business community’s desires, and letting elected policymakers know they stand with them — or they might stand against them. “We’re evolving with the ever-changing times,” said Business Force Executive Director Robert Agrusa. “You had an organization in the past predominantly … weighing more into candidate endorsements and Business Force has evolved from focusing on political races into issues of importance to Central Florida, says CEO Robert Agrusa. those political races, and what I’ve gotten involved in much more since I came onboard is much more issue-oriented — certainly still involved in those political races, but much more locally focused races.” Business Force and its Business Force Political Action Committee are the lobbying force for the Central Florida Partnership, which for the past eight years has been an Orlando-led coalition of chambers of commerce throughout Central Florida, including those in Orange, Osceola, Seminole, Lake, Polk, Brevard and Volusia counties. Through Business Force, the public policy messages of huge business interests such as Walt Disney World, Florida Hospital, Publix Supermarkets and Darden unite with those of hundreds of small businesses. Coalition of Chambers is the voice of businesses large and small BY SCOTT POWERS


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