BLAKE CASPER

CEO, CHAIRMAN & CO-OWNER, THE CASPERS COMPANY, TAMPA

Blake Casper and his sister, Alison Casper Adams, are the heirs to a McDonald's franchise empire. Their grandfather, who sold suits to McDonald's founder Ray Croc in Chicago in the 1950s, opened the first McDonald's in Tampa in 1958. His son took over the business in 1970 and grew it from five locations to 44. The third generation of Caspers grew it to 60 restaurants in Tampa, Jacksonville and Tallahassee before selling them all. Blake Casper assumed the role of chairman and CEO of Caspers Company following his father's death in 2005. Today the company's brands include the hospitality company Oxford Commons, which includes the Oxford Exchange, Predalina and Casa Cami restaurants in Tampa; the Library restaurant in downtown St. Petersburg; the Stovall House, a private club in a 1909 estate; and The Current, a waterfront hotel on the shores of Tampa Bay. In August, the Caspers unveiled plans for Clay Hill, a 550-acre rural retreat and luxury resort straddling Pasco and Hernando counties north of Tampa.