40 Under 40

Off the clock:
“If there is live music or music to dance to, I dance.”

Phil Hugh
Age: 39
Position: President, owner and CEO
DOC Corp.

Why him:
When Hugh and his father started their development company, coming up with the name was simple. DOC (Development Opportunity Corp.) now serves as a memory of his father, the late Ronald Hugh, a dentist better known as “Doc.”

Previously, Hugh was a senior vice president with Cendant Corp., responsible for the development of all new hotels in North America under eight different brands including Ramada, Wingate Inns, Travelodge and Days Inn.

A hotel project in Fort Myers’ River District first brought Hugh from Atlanta. Two years later, he’s moved his corporate headquarters here.

His numerous projects in downtown Fort Myers include the $3 million renovation of the 123-room Holiday Inn and the new 67-room, boutique Hotel Indigo, expected to open in March 2008—all in the name of promoting and beautifying the historic area. He also sponsors fundraising events for Voices for Kids, Island Coast AIDS Network (ICAN) and the Alliance for the Arts’ Art Royale.

Hugh says every day on the job is different, but his objective is always the same: planning for the future strategically. “When you have a young company, you spend about seven days a week with it,” he says.

Off the clock:
“I play a lot of golf; it’s my main hobby.”

Pete Ingraham
Age: 38
Position: Wealth advisor
UBS Financial Services

IIngraham, who helped open the Bonita Springs office of UBS earlier this spring, has distinguished himself in his profession. The Florida Board of Accountancy honored him for a top-five statewide score on the Uniform CPA Exam, and he has earned a personal financial specialist credential, a designation held by fewer than 2 percent of certified public accountants.

Growing up, Ingraham expected a different career path. “Initially I thought I was going to be a college professor like my dad,” he says. Instead, he became a wealth advisor—which is in some ways an educational role.

Working at the financial firm, explains Ingraham, he gets to “teach, advise and counsel” his clients. “I sit down with people, help them identify what their goals and aspirations are and help articulate the financial plan to get them there,” he says. “I kind of decided to teach [in] a different way.”
Beyond his office, Ingraham supports the Lee County chapter of Literacy Volunteers of America and has served on its board of directors.

And it looks like he’ll be able to achieve his childhood dream of teaching college. Ingraham’s business savvy earned him an invitation to guest lecture at FGCU’s Lutgert School of Business Executive Faculty Program this fall.

Off the clock:
Ingraham loves reading philosophical and theological literature.

Melinda Isley
Age: 38
Position: Owner
m.creative

Why her:
Melinda Isley is taking the reins this year as the first woman to chair the American Cancer Society’s 2008 Cattle Barons’ Ball. The down-home event—the largest annual fundraiser in Lee County—netted $760,000 last year. Isley understands why it’s so popular with a lot of people. “This is an event where they can just wear their jeans [and] cowboy boots,” she says.

The Fort Myers native has served on the ACS board for five years. She also volunteers for the Cypress Lake Center for the Arts, the Edison & Ford Winter Estates, the Lee County YMCA and other charitable organizations.

Isley, who graduated from the University of Florida in 1991, left her job at WCI Communities seven years ago to start her own firm because she wanted to spend more time with her stepdaughter. Since then, the quality of her public-relations and graphic-design work has garnered several awards.

“It’s helped being in my hometown. Oddly enough, there still are a lot of people who I went to grade school or high school with and now have their own businesses,” she says.
Off the clock:

She plays in a local adult soccer league.

Erica Lolli
Age: 31
Position: President
Stock Financial

Why her:
In 2004, Lolli left her native Boston for Naples to start Stock Financial, the mortgage division of Stock Development, and has been president since its inception—when she was 28. She’s now also an active supporter of the Mortgage Bankers Association of Southwest Florida, “an organization that’s committed to keeping a high level of ethics [in the industry],” Lolli says.

Lolli was just a teenager when she started working in the mortgage industry, at first answering phones for a mortgage company. She worked her way up in the company through her undergraduate studies (in romance languages) and graduate school (earning a master’s in educational and developmental psychology). “By the time I graduated, they offered me a full-time job,” she says.

Her interests go beyond the mortgage industry. A five-years-and-counting survivor of leukemia, Lolli was nominated Woman of the Year in 2005 of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Southwest Florida Chapter, and she is treasurer of its board. She also participates in American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life and is a member of the Women’s Council of Realtors.

Off the clock:
Lolli loves live music and plans trips for it. She saw Tom Petty in Gainesville and Dwight Yoakam in New Orleans.

Rachael Loukonen
Age: 31
Position: Attorney
Grant, Fridkin, Pearson, Athan & Crown, P.A.

Why her:
Without any attorneys in her family, Loukonen followed her own path to the legal profession. But from the time she was growing up in the Panhandle, her parents taught her to be sympathetic to others. She spent part of her allowance to buy Christmas gifts for needy children in the area and make sure other families had nice Thanksgiving meals.

“It’s something my parents always taught me to do, and it’s something I’m teaching my child,” says Loukonen, whose son,

Johnny-Mac, turns three in November. “You can never give enough, and you truly gain more than you give every time.”

Her journey into the legal field was the result of a traumatic experience. While in college at the University of Florida, she witnessed a fatal car accident caused by a female drunken driver. On the stand, she got a glimpse of the profession and was impressed by the advocacy role that attorneys can take. “I had never been involved in the legal process, and it was my first opportunity to see how attorneys could help the people they were working for,” she says. “It was an eye-opening experience for me.”

She went to the University of Florida law school and earned her J.D. with honors. She joined the Naples firm after graduation, with a focus on commercial civil litigation.

Loukonen is involved with the Greater Naples Chamber of Commerce and serves on the President’s Club Committee of the Bonita Springs Area Chamber of Commerce, which raises scholarship money for local students. She’s also been involved in judging high school mock-trial competitions.

“Educating someone—what better way to get someone equipped for their future?”

Off the clock:
She enjoys gardening, planting fruit trees and other plants that smell or taste good.

Jon McLeod
Age: 39
Position: Owner and manager
Mobile Exposure

Why him:
If you’ve ever sat in rush-hour traffic in Southwest Florida, odds are you’ve seen those trucks paneled in rotating billboard signs. They’re likely the work of McLeod. He and a partner launched the business in 2005 and now have three trucks in Lee and Collier counties, a fourth in Orlando and have ordered two more. In a market saturated with ads for every imaginable planned community, jewelry store and furniture shop, he capitalized on a marketing tool that still turns heads. “Motion will always grab someone’s attention,” he says.

His fleet of roaming billboards might get notice from drivers, but those who know him say McLeod’s commitment to local civic and charitable organizations is what draws their attention. He is president of the Rotary Club of Bonita Springs, event chairman of the American Cancer Society Relay for Life in Bonita, board member of the Bonita Springs Area Chamber of Commerce and a graduate of Leadership Bonita.

McLeod previously worked locally as a financial planner before switching to a career in marketing and hasn’t looked back. “Our clients really enjoy it, and so do we,” he says.

Off the clock:
McLeod plays guitar with other local businessmen in the Mighty Quint, a rock cover band that plays mostly for free for charity events.

Pat Mulloy
Age: 35
Position: Chief financial officer
Neighborhood America

Why him:
From Silicon Valley to Cleveland, Mulloy has developed a track record with successful companies, and he has brought his expertise to Neighborhood America. The Naples technology company has earned a national reputation for facilitating communications and creating electronic town hall opportunities for corporate and governmental groups including CBS News and federal committees.

A CPA with an M.B.A. from Case Western Reserve University, Mulloy was senior manager for Ernst & Young, where he worked on technology companies’ IPOs, then moved to Ohio, where he directed financial operations and helped build Hyland Software Inc. into a leading content-management software firm. Now he has brought his knowledge and experience to handle all financial facets of Neighborhood America and help it grow in a sustainable way.