NextGen speaker series kicks off in Naples with Hoffmanns, Schwartzel 

The season kickoff of the NextGen speaker series Dec. 10 gave attendees exclusive insights into the lives and business perspectives of Hoffmann Family of Companies founders David and Jerri Hoffmann and Sun Broadcasting President Jim Schwartzel. 

After a networking opportunity and buffet dinner by Two Guys Catering in an Elite Jets hangar at Naples Airport, Southwest Florida business leaders enjoyed a Q&A session with the Hoffmanns and Schwartzel moderated by Michael Benson, managing partner of Naples-based financial services firm Benson Blackburn. 

The invitation-only speaker series was founded by Benson in 2013 to give the next generation of local business professionals a chance to learn from industry leaders. The 2026 NextGen luncheon series continues in Naples Jan. 21 with Marillyn Hewson, former chair, president and CEO of Lockheed Martin Corp. The season’s lineup includes Naples philanthropists Jay and Patty Baker on Feb. 18 and NASCAR racing legend Rusty Wallace on March 18. Gulfshore Business is a media sponsor of the annual series. 

At the kickoff event, David Hoffmann — who has amassed a business empire with 120 companies and 22,000 employees worldwide — spoke about his humble beginnings without running water in a small town in Missouri. “I was poor, but very happy,” he said. “I didn't know any better. I had a mother and father that loved me dearly, and my ambition growing up as a kid in high school was to be a barber. Good thing that didn't work out because I'm going bald.” 

To become a successful entrepreneur today, Hoffmann said one of the best things that happened to him was growing up poor. “Because, once you're poor, you never want to go back,” the Naples billionaire said. 

Hoffmann met Jerri when he was 15 years old. He taught her how to drive a car, and they dated in high school. He went to college on a football scholarship. 

“My freshman year in college, I asked Jerri to marry,” he said. “So, here we are 54 years later, three married kids, 13 grandchildren. So, I'd say that's been my best accomplishment in my life.” 

After working a year in North Dakota, Hoffmann transferred to a corporate job in Chicago, but he was fired at age 31, which was a scary time in their lives, Jerri Hoffmann recounts. 

“I was pregnant with our second child,” she said. “And Dave did not have what it takes, I think, to this day in corporate America. I think he could have done very well, but he maybe likes to blaze his own path, which sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn't. In the industry he was in, it did not work.” 

Instead of showing people the door, the Hoffmanns show people opportunity, Jerri Hoffmann said. “We call it the win-win formula,” she said. 

Born in Naples, Schwartzel grew up in Fort Myers and was introduced to broadcasting at an early age when his dad, Joe Schwartzel, was general manager of Fort Myers Broadcasting Co., which operates the longtime WINK-TV station. “The school bus dropped me off at the station when I was a kid, so I've always been around the media business and it's in my blood,” he said. 

Schwartzel said he has always taken on leadership roles, which prepared him today to lead Gulfshore Life and Gulfshore Business magazines, The Naples Press newspaper and numerous local radio stations, including 92.5 FOX News and Arrow WARO. 

“I was student government senator. I was student government vice president and president. I worked in D.C. the summer between my junior and senior year for Sen. Connie Mack, if you guys remember him. He was third in line at the Republican party at that time — that was in the mid-'90s. And so, I spent a lot of time in D.C.,” said Schwartzel, who is a Republican candidate for the congressional seat held by Byron Donalds, who is running for governor. 

After marrying his high school sweetheart, Schwartzel had planned to attend law school, but his wife, Carly, convinced him to postpone that a year or two. By then, under his dad’s mentorship, Schwartzel became immersed in selling radio spots and broadcasting airtime and followed in his father’s footsteps. 

“My father's always been a wonderful leader and a mentor to me — the way he treats people, the way he empowers them and gives them the ability to run their departments or divisions of the business,” he said. “I've taken that same philosophy to empower the people that you hire to run the various businesses or divisions of your organization. We employ about 350 people here in Southwest Florida between all the TV, radio and publications.” 

Schwartzel said he is proud of his efforts to grow the local company with acquisitions such as the Spanish-speaking Univision in Southwest Florida in 2017 and the print publications in 2018. During the first quarter of 2026, he plans to close on the acquisitions of Beasley Media Group radio stations in the Fort Myers-Naples market and the local FOX television affiliate, WFTX. 

NextGen moderator Benson asked the Hoffmanns and Schwartzel to share business failures, challenges and some lessons they learned.

The Hoffmanns have been challenged in their major investment efforts to revitalize Augusta, Missouri. Their initial plans for a winery, hotel and golf course there have had to be scaled back. David Hoffmann chalks up the struggling venture to an emotional buy during the pandemic; Jerri Hoffmann remains more positive that their paused plans can still be realized. “I still have faith in that place. I think it's going to be something,” she said. “That business still has a pulse.”

Schwartzel cites regional economic downturns resulting from red tide, the Gulf oil spill, the pandemic and hurricanes as being the most challenging for his businesses.

“The hardest thing that we encountered was Hurricane Ian,” he said. “That was absolutely devastating. We had 5 feet of water around our building and you couldn't leave, and we were all working during that storm.”

A new state-of-the-art studio is being readied in Gateway to replace the weathered, longtime WINK studio in Fort Myers. Meanwhile, Schwartzel is proud of the fact that he was able to retain all of his employees during the crisis periods.

“I guess what I've learned is, as scary as it is while those things are going on, we do get through it,” he said. “We push through it. You know, that's human life.”

Benson also encouraged the Hoffmanns and Schwartzel to share personal leadership lessons learned regarding succession planning, intentionality, transcendence and perseverance. The night ended with thoughts on legacy. “So the question is, how would you like to be remembered?” Benson asked the panelists.

Schwartzel said he wants to be remembered as a good husband and a great father. “I don't have my name on any buildings,” he said.

“Yet,” David Hoffmann said. “We’ll sell you a couple.”

Rather than his business accomplishments, Hoffmann wants to be remembered for his generosity, he said.

“I think there's a huge responsibility, if you've had success, to give back and give back to things that are important,” he said. “We give to children's causes.”

Jerri Hoffmann considers her growing family as her legacy.

“I was so blessed to meet the love of my life at such a young age and have this wonderful marriage and three kids,” she said. “And I think, you know, we were lucky enough to have three children. And I think that's probably my greatest legacy — three children and 13 grandchildren. It's been a wonderful life.”