Thirty years ago, a handful of influential, concerned citizens doubled as agents of change in Boca. Today, the people and entities that drive agendas and affect our growth represent a variety of interests and backgrounds. Some are easily identifiable. Others fly under the radar. We asked Randy Schultz, a longtime resident and author of the popular “City Watch” blog at bocamag.com, to help identify Boca’s modern-day power brokers.
It has been decades since the glory days of IBM in Boca Raton, when the company employed as many as 10,000 people in the aftermath of designing the first personal computer. Like another South Florida boom-and-bust industry—real estate—high-tech can ebb and flow. IBM shrunk to 1,000 employees and finally left.
Yet smaller high-tech firms are starting and thriving in Boca. Drawing them to the area are, among other things, the commerce and research parks at Arvida and Florida Atlantic University, respectively, the absence of a state income tax (a lure for potential employees) and the city’s growing tech-friendly reputation.
“Boca has been discovered as a location for high-tech companies,” says Andrew Duffell, president and CEO of FAU’s Research Park. The facility, which he notes is 80 per-cent occupied, serves as an incubator for companies. “There’s been a pretty significant wave in the last five years. It’s woken a lot of people up.”
The Arvida Park of Commerce is just one part of northwest Boca Raton where companies are setting up. The area is flourishing enough that Gov. Rick Scott made campaign appearances at Boca-based companies, touting the improving economy. Admittedly, none of the companies at this point is close to being an IBM in terms of employees. Most employ fewer than 200. Still, the trend line for many of these firms is up, and perhaps the next IBM is among them.
Here are five people to watch in Boca’s high-tech world, though they are hardly the only ones; other entrepreneurs have brought companies like OpenPeak and Campus Management to the area. Boca Raton isn’t Silicon Valley, but with enough progress, maybe the name Silicon Beach finally will stick.
