Cindy and Michael Francis
Michael Francis is in his second season as music
director for The Florida Orchestra. He recently moved
to the Tampa Bay area from the United Kingdom,
where he was born. He is also the music director for
the Mainly Mozart Festival in San Diego. He began as
a tenured double bass player of the London Symphony
Orchestra (LSO), but he knew that conducting was
his true passion when he stepped in to replace an
ailing LSO conductor while on tour. Since then, he
has conducted many orchestras around the world,
including the Cleveland Orchestra, New York and
Royal Philharmonics, San Francisco, Pittsburgh,
Stuttgart Radio and NHK (Tokyo) Symphonies.
Cindy Francis (née Rodriguez) grew up in Lutz,
Florida. She graduated from Gaither High School
and received her undergraduate and MBA from
Harvard University. Her professional career began
in college when she became president of Harvard
Student Agencies, which had an annual revenue of
$5 million and more than 600 student employees. After
graduating, she went to work for American Express in
New York City, a private investment firm in Dubai and
a nonprofit charity in London. Cindy currently works
with her husband Michael as his business manager.
Michael and Cindy met in 2012 at a charity event in
London. After he proposed on Belleair Beach in Florida,
they married in the UK and lived there until Michael
joined The Florida Orchestra. They have a two-year-old
daughter, Annabella.
What provides you with pleasure?
Michael: Spending time with family and helping
people listen more deeply to great music.
Cindy: Seeing Annabella grow and develop each day.
How do you relax?
Michael: Reading, walking, cooking and listening to
cricket on the radio.
Cindy: Spending the day at the beach.
Who is your role model?
Michael: My mother, godfather and the late Sir Colin
Davis.
Cindy: My parents.
What is your favorite word?
Michael: Listening. I have found that it is better to
understand than to be understood.
Cindy: Perseverance. I have great admiration for
people who don’t give up despite difficult odds.
154 TAMPA BAY MAGAZINE
photography by win wolloff
| NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016
What is the best advice you have ever been given?
Michael: Take your work seriously, but not yourself.
Cindy: Live life to the fullest.
Why do you do what you do?
Michael: The love of music and the joy of bringing
people together.
Cindy: I love working with Michael every day while
at the same time staying at home to raise Annabella.
What don’t people know about you?
Michael: I’m still a fast(ish) bowler for an amateur
cricket team in England.
Cindy: My parents are from Ecuador and Puerto Rico.
What are your favorite words of wisdom?
Michael: “Never give up, never give up, never give
up!” (Winston Churchill)
Cindy: “Blame no one. Expect nothing. Do
something.”
What do you consider to be your greatest
achievement?
Michael: Meeting Cindy and raising our beautiful
daughter, Annabella.
Cindy: Marrying Michael and being a mother to
Annabella.
What is your motto?
Michael and Cindy: Love God first and serve others to
the best of our abilities.
What would you like to be able to do that you can’t
do?
Michael: Play Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas. (I’m not a
pianist).
Cindy: Understand and speak more languages.
What would you like to do that you have never
done?
Michael: Play golf at the old course, St. Andrews.
Cindy: Take a food tour of Italy.
How would you describe yourself?
Michael: British.
Cindy: Adventurous.
What is your fondest memory?
Michael: “I do.”
Cindy: I have too many! Our wedding day,
Annabella’s birth, seeing her take her first steps…