The Smart Business Dealmakers Dealmaker of the Year Awards recognize exceptional individuals who are shaping the landscape of business and innovation in Central Florida.
In addition, The Central Florida Dealmakers Hall of Fame recognized a class of dealmakers that has made an often-groundbreaking impact on their organizations, industries and the region over the course of decades in business.
We celebrated the accomplishments of the 2026 class of winners on May 28 at the Central Florida Smart Business Dealmakers Conference. Together, they provide a strong picture of the Central Florida business community.
Dealmaker Of The Year Honorees
Carson Barnes, CEO, Family First Homecare. Carson Barnes built Family First Homecare into one of the most respected pediatric home-care providers in the country — and then navigated a complex exit that reflected its true value. In 2026, he led the $175.5 million acquisition of Family First by Aveanna Healthcare, expanding the combined platform's specialized in-home nursing capabilities across seven states. For Aveanna, it was a strategic accelerant. For Carson, it was the result of years of disciplined growth, operational depth, and a clear focus on one of healthcare's most underserved patient populations.
Scott Dols, Founder, VTE (Vocational Trucks & Equipment). Scott Dols knows how to build a business worth buying — and he's done it more than once. After partnering with Trivest to grow Big Truck Rental into a leading fleet platform serving municipalities and waste haulers, he turned his attention to VTE and executed the same playbook: build, scale and transact with discipline. In 2025, he reached another successful exit with VTE, cementing his reputation as one of Tampa Bay's most reliable repeat dealmakers. Scott operates with a clear formula — and it keeps working.
Kadi Findling, Principal, Stony Lonesome Group. Kadi Findling has become a central force in building one of Florida's most distinctive venture platforms. At Stony Lonesome Group — which focuses on dual-use technology across commercial and defense applications — she played a key role in closing the firm's $25 million fifth fund and is driving the current raise toward a $150 million sixth fund. With 75 investments and multiple exits already on the board, Kadi is both a capital allocator and a community builder, helping anchor Florida's west coast as a serious player in the national venture ecosystem.
Bo Starr, Co-Founder & CEO, Grifin. Bo Starr — and his co-founder Aaron Froug — are making investing feel less like a chore and more like a habit. Grifin's platform is built around a simple but powerful idea — that everyday consumers can build wealth by investing automatically in the brands they already buy from. Under Bo's leadership, Grifin has grown into one of the fastest-growing consumer investing platforms in its category, with over 1.5 million downloads. In 2025, Bo and Grifin closed an $11.75 million Series A, bringing the capital and institutional credibility to expand the platform's reach. The round is a vote of confidence in both the product and the mission: putting financial tools in the hands of people who have historically been left out of the wealth-building conversation.
Ashby Green, Founder, Gazelle Ventures. Serial entrepreneur Ashby Green launched Gazelle Ventures with a specific mission: keep Tampa Bay's best companies — and the capital they attract — local. In 2024, he formed a $10 million fund focused exclusively on high-growth Tampa Bay startups, pairing accessible investment structures with hands-on operational support. It's a model built for community impact as much as financial return, and it's already beginning to shift how the region's startup ecosystem is capitalized. Ashby is making a deliberate bet that the next generation of Florida tech companies gets built here — and stays here.
Chitra Kanagaraj, Founder & COO, Pikmykid. Chitra Kanagaraj co-founded Pikmykid to solve a problem every school administrator and parent knows too well — the chaotic, vulnerable final minutes of the school day. The platform she helped build streamlines dismissal and strengthens student safety, earning trust from schools across the country. In 2026, Pikmykid was acquired by Centegix, a deal that positions the platform for national scale and broader impact in K-12 safety infrastructure. Chitra built something that mattered — and found an acquirer who understood why.
Brian McCarthy, CEO, eMaxx. Brian McCarthy has spent the last several years doing something few operators pull off cleanly: building a tech-enabled insurance platform while simultaneously raising the capital to scale it. Under his direction, eMaxx has grown into a differentiated Commercial Specialty P&C provider — combining underwriting expertise with technology-driven solutions. A $26.25 million growth investment from EJF Capital, followed by a $25 million Surplus Note from First Citizens to launch a Reciprocal Insurance Exchange, brings total funding to more than $80 million. Brian is building eMaxx for the long run — and the capital stack reflects it.
Dr. Srdjan Prodanovich, Founder, EZDERM. Dr. Srdjan Prodanovich built EZDERM from the vantage point of a practicing dermatologist — and that physician-first perspective made all the difference. Founded in 2009, EZDERM became a trusted provider of cloud-based EHR and practice management solutions built specifically for dermatology, developed by someone who never stopped seeing patients. In 2024, he guided the company through a strategic partnership with Serent Capital, positioning EZDERM for accelerated growth and continued product innovation. It's a rare story: a clinician who built the tool his specialty needed, then helped scale it into a category leader.
Social Impact Award Honoree
Celina Berglund, Founder & CEO, BROGAV Solutions. Celina Berglund started her career in telecommunications and data centers — and never left. In 2022, she founded BROGAV Solutions to bring better sourcing, logistics and supply chain capabilities to mission-critical infrastructure clients at a moment when the industry needed it most. Lead times were long, supply chains were strained and her clients needed options. BROGAV delivered — and quickly built a reputation as a nimble, customer-first operator in a sector that doesn't often reward newcomers.
The recognition she's earned reflects more than business performance. Named to the iMasons Top 100 Influencers list and recognized as one of the Top 25 Women in Technology, Berglund has become a visible and vocal presence in a data center industry still dominated largely by men. She leads with a self-described "SHE-E-O" ethos — part operator, part advocate — and her work is actively opening doors for the next generation of women building companies in the infrastructure and tech space.
Dealmakers Hall of Fame Honorees
Scott Fink, CEO, Giant Auto Group — Fink Auto Group. Scott Fink grew up in the projects of Brooklyn — and built an automotive empire in Tampa Bay. His career began at Ford Motor Company, where he quickly established himself as a high-performing operator before taking over Clearwater Mitsubishi and turning it into one of the top-volume dealerships in the country. He then acquired Clearwater Toyota, scaled it and sold it to Sonic Automotive — before starting over and building something even bigger. The crown jewel: Hyundai of New Port Richey, which held the title of the highest-volume Hyundai dealership in the United States — and at its peak, in the world — for more than 15 consecutive years.
In 2021, he sold seven new vehicle franchise locations to Lithia Motors — then launched again, building the current Giant Auto Group — Fink Auto Group portfolio across the greater Tampa market. Beyond the transactions, Fink has been a consistent civic and philanthropic presence in the region, with deep ties to St. Joseph's Hospital Foundation and a long record of community investment. His career is a study in resilience, reinvention, and the willingness to bet on himself — repeatedly.
Curt Marks, Founder & CEO, Click Boarding. Curt Marks has spent more than 30 years solving problems that most companies didn't fully understand until he handed them the solution. He built Verifications, Inc. into a global employment screening leader serving nearly half of the Fortune 100 — then expanded his footprint further by acquiring and building InformData (formerly SJV Data Solutions) into the largest wholesaler in the employment screening industry. Two category-defining companies built in the same space, back to back, with the same disciplined operator's instinct driving both.
Click Boarding is his latest chapter — and arguably his most forward-looking. Recognizing that the onboarding experience had been neglected for decades, Marks built a platform to fix it, modernizing the entire new employee journey from offer acceptance through offboarding. Beyond his operating companies, he invests actively through HR Global Investments and Parwins Capital, serves on the board of World Youth Clubs, and leads a family philanthropic foundation with his wife, Christine. His career spans three companies, two categories and an entire generation of human capital innovation — and he is still building.
