Lou Plasencia

Chairman & CEO, Plasencia Group, Tampa

Plasencia, who emigrated from Cuba and grew up in a one-room apartment in Ybor City, started his career in hospitality with Hyatt Hotels and founded the Plasencia Group in 1993 to bring owners and investors together. He’s the son of a cigar factory worker who he says instilled in him the importance of “committing yourself to one thing and doing it ethically and better than anyone else.” His firm works with insurance companies, banks, pension funds and owners of hotels and resorts throughout the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean. Its investment advisory, operations and development consulting and asset-management operations extend from its headquarters in Tampa to Miami, Washington, D.C., Boston, Cleveland, Dallas and Houston.