A philanthropist and community builder from Pensacola, Fla., will be the featured speaker at the annual Marion County Development Partnership banquet.
Quint Studer, author of “Building a Vibrant Community” and founder of Pensacola’s Studer Community Institute, a non-profit focused on improving the community, will be featured at the event which takes place beginning at 6 p.m. Jan. 24 at the Magnolia Grille.
“His book prompted us to try to seek him out,” Marion County Development Partnership President Lori Watts said. “He’s also going to be with us for lunch for a smaller gathering with our Leadership Class and our elected officials.”
Watts said Studer will be talking with numerous Marion County people when he comes to town.
“While he is here, he is going to do some assessment of our community,” she said. “He was instrumental in the revitalization of Pensacola before and after Hurricane Ivan. He brings a wealth of knowledge and experience in this area. We think the community will really benefit from some things he has to say.”
The 67-year-old is the founder of a health care consulting company and the owner of the Minor League Baseball franchise the Pensacola Blue Wahoos. He currently serves as the entrepreneur-in-residence at the University of West Florida.
Watts said she and others are conducting pre-conversations with Studer and several groups have filled out questionnaires about business, education and economic development in Columbia and Marion County.
“We want him to know about where our community is before he comes in and takes a look at it,” Watts said. “One of those tools is an assessment. It’s 10 questions to rate the community on a scale of one to 10 on various topics from citizen engagement to education to training small business owners. We will be gathering data and sharing with him how the folks here see our community and where we are in certain aspects.”
Tickets for the event are available from the MCDP at are $35 per person or $280 for a corporate table of eight. For more information on Studer’s businesses and the program, visit www.vibrantcommunity.com.
