Maggie Mooney-Portale, 34, who practices environmental and governmental law with Lewis, Longman & Walker, is a woman of action. The outgoing past president of the Young Lawyers Division of the Manatee County Bar Association, Mooney-Portale led the group in obtaining grants and donations to help build the new children’s waiting room in the Manatee County Judicial Center . “There was no place [in the courthouse] where someone could bring their child,” Mooney-Portale says.  “Now kids can walk in and be in a safe place until whatever proceeding they’re there for.” Mooney-Portale is also president of Legal Aid of Manasota, and chaired the recent Justice is Served Cook-off, which raised more than $10,000 to benefit Legal Aid’s pro bono programs. Mooney-Portale’s biggest goal is to encourage lawyers to volunteer. “I hope local lawyers will test their boundaries a little,” she says, “and give their intellect and their degree back to their community.”

Alan O’Neill

Last December Alan O’Neill, CEO of Totalamber Software Consultancy Group, moved his U.S. office to Sarasota from Manchester , England , after vacationing here for years. “For as long as I’ve been coming to Sarasota , I’ve said to my wife, ‘I will have a business with an office in One Sarasota Tower ,’” says O’Neill. True to his word, O’Neil now oversees his U.S. division from the third floor of that building. A software consultancy company, Totalamber has 500 clients in 23 countries, and O’Neill, 39, hopes to add 100 employees by the end of this year. An IT headhunter before starting Totalamber, he’s also growing another company, Webquarters, focused on building and monetizing Web sites, and is writing two books. “A very proud daddy” to three children, O’Neill loves exploring Sarasota with his wife, who’s expecting their fourth child in October. “ Sarasota is the best place on earth,” he says. 

Jason Krywko

When Jason Krywko graduated from Manatee High School he set a few goals: to marry his high school sweetheart, have several children and run an international business—all before he turned 30. Now 29, Krywko, still filled with boyish enthusiasm, has accomplished all three. He’s the chief operating officer of Sleek Audio, a Palmetto-based maker of customized earphones named Best of What’s New in 2008 by Wired magazine. Created by Jason and his father, Mark, who both came from the hearing aid industry, the SA6 in-ear earphones have a global market, and Krywko now travels and does deals in Europe, Australia, China and the Middle East. This year the company moved into a larger facility, will be hiring 15 employees, is bringing its manufacturing back to Palmetto from China and expects sales to triple. “We’ve gone from small scale to exploding,” he enthuses. 

Eric Basinger

It can’t be easy stepping into the shoes of Nancy Engel, the popular executive director of the Manatee County Chamber’s Economic Development Council for 25 years. Plus, Eric Basinger, 33, is taking over at a challenging time as companies and jobs leave the region. A native of Alabama, Basinger was executive director of the Elmore County Economic Development Authority in Wetumpka, Ala., where he helped to create 1,292 jobs and $97 million in new capital investment. Business leaders there mention his strength in recruiting international companies, and Basinger says that’s partly because of his talent for building relationships. “I don’t ever lose track of people I’ve contacted,” he says. Despite his languid Southern drawl, Basinger says people shouldn’t assume he’s not aggressive: “I may come off as laid-back,” he says with a laugh, “but I’m always figuring out my next move." 

Charles Nechtem

Fed up with dark, cold Newark, N.J., winters, psychologist Charles “Chuck” Nechtem last year moved his Charles Nechtem Associates and his two cats, Good Girl and Good Boy, to Longboat Key. The seventh-largest mental health company in the country, Charles Nechtem Associates provides 24-hour counseling and employee assistance programs and manages mental health programs for more than 1,000 companies and five million people around the world. An unpretentious, accessible CEO, Nechtem, 54, has offices in several cities, 200 employees (18 of them on Longboat) and a network of 75,000 clinicians. And he’s putting roots down fast. He’s partnered with the Longboat Key Club to offer counseling and wellness services to members, and sees Longboat Key as a wellness destination. He’s also opened a business that will manage condominiums and provide counseling services to residents. Maybe next: a run for the Longboat Key Commission. 

Barry and Kate Grayson

In 2001, Kate Grayson, a computer systems expert with clients in the biotech and pharmaceutical industries, consulted for a company that had stored hundreds of thousands of lab specimens at various sites and couldn’t keep track of them or their accounting charges. Studying the mess, Grayson realized, “I could create a better system.” Kate, now 45, and her husband, Barry, 44, started Steelgate Inc. on Long Island, N.Y., in 2002 and relocated it in 2004 to Manatee County. A complicated business that requires precise tracking and transport systems and secure facilities, Steelgate today is at the forefront of the growing bio-repository industry, storing samples for the top pharmaceutical companies in the world. It just opened an office in Belgium. “No one was doing this,” says Barry, “and it’s worked out phenomenally well.”

Isaac Turner

When controversial Venice city manager Marty Black retired last August, his successor, Isaac Turner, knew he was going to have his hands full. At the time, the city was entangled in an open government lawsuit and in trouble with the Federal Aviation Administration over its airport plan, not to mention facing budget cuts due to the tough economy. But Turner, the city’s first black city manager, says his ultimate goal is to move forward. He’s hopeful that in the next year, the city will be able to focus on implementing projects as opposed to dealing with the transition issues that come with a new city manager. “Bridging some of [the city’s] divides has been the major challenge,” he says. “But there is a passionate love for the community here, and that’s been pretty universal.” As for his favorite part of his new job? “It’s always the people; they set the flavor for the community," Turner says. "I consider my profession a calling, and I believe that Venice is the place I’m supposed to be right now.”

Read about our past People to Watch Winners:

2008

2007

2006