AUG. 3-9, 2012 ULTIMATE CEOS jacksonvillebusinessjournal.com Q THE BUSINESS JOURNAL 13 B rent Brown began developing the concept for Latitude Global Inc., a full-service entertainment com- pany, in 2007. From the beginning, Brown had a vision for the company’s venues to be places where there was something to do for everyone. In the entertainment in- dustry, he said, venues and companies have to go multidimensional to draw a crowd. “The shift has already been go- ing in that direction,” he said, “and we are right in line with that shift in entertainment.” Latitude Global’s flagship location, Latitude 30, opened in Jacksonville in January 2011. It had just under $10 mil- lion in revenue for its first year of op- eration, and a parking garage to handle customer traffic is under construction at the venue. Under Brown’s leadership as CEO, Latitude Global is rapidly expanding, with locations under way in Indianapo- lis, Chicago and Pittsburgh. Brown said the goal is to open all three by the end of the year. He hopes to keep expanding across the country and said Latitude Global is looking at five new locations for 2013, but nothing has been signed yet. Brown said the bad real estate market has opened opportunities for Latitude Global. There is usually little availabil- ity for buildings that are 50,000 to 70,000 square feet, but Latitude Global has been able to take A-plus locations at a huge discount from the regular price. As the head of the company, Brown said he tries to hire people who have the same work ethic and vision, people who put the company first. He tries to lead by example. Philip Alia, the chief marketing of- ficer of Latitude Global, said Brown is not afraid to make tough decisions. And when Brown makes those decisions, he has thought them through; they are not just knee-jerk reactions. “For any type of CEO in today’s economy, that is important,” Alia said. “Those decisions affect a lot of people, not just the management team.” Brown also founded Latitude Cares to handle all of Latitude Global’s char- ity business. His wife, Toni, and Despi Garson, wife of Greg Garson, president of Latitude Global, operate it. Latitude Cares has donated to more than 70 organizations and held func- tions at Latitude 30 for individual chari- ties, most recently Homes for Veterans. Brown said he feels it is important to give back because Latitude 30’s success has come directly from the community. He wants to show appreciation for cus- tomer loyalty by giving back year after year. “The Jacksonville community has put us on the map, and we’ll never forget that,” he said. —Dargan Thompson G ino Tenace, the president and CEO of Rise Health Inc., is dedicated to developing in- tegrated health systems that improve the quality and affordability of health care. Tenace started as the chief operating officer at Rise Health in 2009, and helped develop the company’s business model of delivering consulting, analytics and technology services to doctors. In January, Tenace started Northeast Florida Accountable Care, an organization of 40 indepen- dent, primary care doctors in 14 practices in the Jacksonville area. NEFAC brings the doctors data about patients and helps them redesign their prac- tices to be more effective and efficient Before coming to Rise Health, Tenace spent 16 years with UnitedHealth Group in a number of different roles. In his last role as senior vice presi- dent, Tenace was responsible for everything that touched the cost and quality of service for the 45 million people UnitedHealth Group served. With UnitedHealth, Tenace had opportunities to present ideas on transparency to President George W. Bush’s health care team and discuss options for creating universal health coverage for California with Arnold Schwarzenegger’s health care team. Tenace also helped develop the Just Right Service program, a quality improvement initiative based on Six Sigma principles. UnitedHealth Group trained hundreds of certified Black Belts and thousands of Green Belts. Tenace said he trained the first 40 Black Belts that were certified, and seeing them evolve their process improvement skills was really rewarding. Tenace said the key is starting with the data to see what the problem is, and then looking at the process. Companies can’t just throw technology at a problem; it has to be the right technology de- signed around the right process. Jonathan Gavras, chief medical officer and se- nior vice president of delivery systems at Florida Blue, worked with Tenace at UnitedHealth Group. He said the things Tenace was doing were very in- novative at the time and Tenace was considered a go-to person for getting large projects under way. Gavras said Tenace’s tremendous passion and energy, great business skills and a can-do attitude make him a great leader. By applying process improvement, Tenace was able to help cut millions of dollars out of United- Health Group’s costs. He is now is trying to ap- ply the same sort of processes to doctor’s offices through Rise Health. In hospitals and doctor’s offices, the processes must be centered on patients, Tenace said. “Health care is about patients, and we forget about that,” he said. “We think about insurance and the doctors and the hospitals. It’s really about you and me as patients.” Rise Health’s first customer was Boston Medical Center. By redesigning the hospital’s processes to be patient-centered, Rise reduced hospitalizations by 16 percent within four months. Tenace said he hopes to help spread accountable care organizations across the country. Rise Health and NEFAC are already working with Florida Blue to add another group in Miami, and working with various payer organizations in other areas of the country. — Dargan Thompson Gino Tenace President and CEO, Rise Health Inc. Small Company Brent Brown CEO, Latitude Global Small Company Brown looks for employees with work ethic and vision Tenace offers process improvement to health care organizations Gino Tenace, president and CEO of Rise Health Inc., at San Marco Square. JAMES CRICHLOW Brent Brown, CEO of Latitude Global Inc., at Three Lions Fountain in San Marco Square. JAMES CRICHLOW