Denise Vidal hit the ground running as head of Lee County Electric Cooperative

Art Levy | 10/28/2020

Never miss a Feature: Subscribe to Florida Trend

When Denise Vidal became executive vice president and CEO of the Lee County Electric Cooperative (LCEC) last year, she couldn’t enjoy a leisurely period of adjustment. Rather, the one-time CFO faced an approaching hurricane season and a burgeoning pandemic. Vidal — promoted to replace Dennie Hamilton, who retired after 12 years as CEO of LCEC — talked to Florida Trend about her role at the North Fort Myers-based coop, which provides electricity to a five-county swath of Southwest Florida.

This story also features expert opinions, business briefs and people in the news: Paul Sanberg; Seedfunders; Florida SouthWestern State College; Sarasota Memorial Hospital; Calaway “Cal” Dodson; Amaryllis Park Place; Dr. Patrick Hwu; Alan List; John A. Moore; LaTasha R. Barnes; Diego Perilla; Roper Technologies

Want to read the whole article?
Select from the following options:

ACCESS NOW Instant Access for Existing Digital Subscribers DIGITAL ISSUE Purchase a single DIGITAL copy of this issue SUBSCRIBEPurchase a one year PRINT, DIGITAL or ALL ACCESS Subscription PRINT SERVICESPurchase single PRINT copy or ADD digital access to a PRINT subscription

Tags: Southwest, Feature

Florida's problems with mental health system flagged decades ago

Year-round school? Florida wants to test it out with a pilot program

What bank failures mean for Florida real estate

Florida's hotel revenue boom leads the nation

For SUBSCRIBERS

READ THE March Issue » Access An Issue

FLORIDA TREND MAGAZINE

· LAST MONTH'S ISSUE · SUBSCRIBE NOW! · BUY A SINGLE ISSUE · GET DIGITAL ACCESS

Florida Business News

Florida jobless claims drop
Florida last week had the lowest number of first-time unemployment claims since the start of the year, as the state prepares to update February jobless numbers on Friday.
CSX Corp. executive stresses railroad’s safety
The Jacksonville-based company has been averaging five track-caused derailments a year for the last three years, down from about 25 a few years ago.
Pinellas officials: If job centers merge, don’t leave us behind
Next week, Pinellas County officials will consider taking a formal stance against the consolidation of CareerSource Pinellas and CareerSource Tampa Bay, the latter of which serves Hillsborough County.
March Madness: Orlando draws record crowds, $5.9 million in publicity from NCAA tourney
Furman’s stunning upset of Virginia in the first round of the NCAA tournament last Thursday sent shock waves through everyone’s March Madness bracket and put Orlando front and center in the eyes of the basketball world.
Appeals court allows lawsuit to go ahead over FPL outages during Hurricane Irma
An appeals court said this week that Florida Power & Light can face a class-action lawsuit stemming from power outages in Hurricane Irma, which barreled up the state in 2017.