Irwin Novack
President & CEO, Kane’s Furniture, Pinellas Park
Kane opened its first store in downtown St. Petersburg in 1948. Today, the furniture retailer has 18 stores statewide and employs 750. Novack, who has been with the company for 40 years, started his career as a CPA. “Once you know how to count the beans and where to put the beans, everything finds its way,” he says. The company’s Kane’s Cares supports several non-profits, including Habitat for Humanity, American Heart Association and the Pinellas Education Foundation, among others.
| EDUCATION | University of Massachusetts (BA), University of Hartford (MBA) |
| SOMETHING SURPRISING | I was a political science major in under graduate school and never took a business class. |
| NEW HOBBY | I began walking a minimum of six miles every day and changed my eating habits, too. Today, I am much healthier and slimmer. |
| SABBATICAL TOPIC | I have always been intrigued by the financial markets. I would probably take some classes and focus in on this area. |
| READING | A Promised Land, by Barack Obama |