MSOL, MAOL, MBA, and Bachelor’s Degrees in Organizational Leadership in Florida

A List of Who’s Who in Florida – Native Floridians Whose Organizational Leadership Skills Shaped the State and the Nation

~ Joseph Kittinger (Tampa) is a U.S. Air Force captain and aviation and space flight pioneer. He is, perhaps, best known as the “man who fell to earth.” On August 16, 1960, he jumped from 102,800 (19 miles) feet above the Earth. His free-fall lasted 4 minutes, 36 seconds before he opened his parachute at 14,000 feet. Today, Kittinger still holds records for highest parachute jump and longest-ever free-fall. His fall from the edge of space has since inspired generations of young men and women to pursue their dreams.

~ Alan Stephenson Boyd (Jacksonville) was the first U.S. Secretary of Transportation under Lyndon B. Johnson. Boyd, a WWII pilot, was first appointed to the Civil Aeronautics Board by Dwight D. Eisenhower. The Board, since dissolved, regulated the airline industry. By 1965, President Johnson appointed him undersecretary of commerce of transportation. A decade later, he was part of a committee to create a federal department of transportation and was largely seen as a leading force in getting the bill that established the department passed in Congress. In 1967, Johnson appointed Boyd the first secretary of transportation. After leaving his position at the end of Johnson’s presidential term, Boyd held executive positions in a number of railroad companies and oversaw the North American operations for Airbus.

~ Janet Reno (Miami) was the first woman attorney general and the second-longest serving one in U.S. history. While she became a national name in politics, she also had a long history of serving the state of Florida. She began her career in politics in 1971 when she was named staff director of the Judiciary Committee of the Florida House of Representatives. Two years later, she became the state’s attorney general in Miami. In 1978, she became state attorney. As U.S. Attorney General, Reno drafted legislation that broadened the scope of child pornography laws and fought to regulate television violence. One of her most high-profile actions included ordering the return of a Cuban child, Elian Gonzalez, from his U.S. relatives to his father in Cuba.

~ Sidney Poitier (Miami) was the first African American to win an Academy Award for best actor in 1963 for his role in Lilies of the Field. He was long considered a trailblazer in Hollywood and on Broadway, earning critical acclaim for his work in movies like No Way Out and plays like A Raisin In the Sun. He also established himself as a director and novelist and long fought against roles that reinforced black stereotypes.

~ Philip Randolph (Crescent City) was an American Civil Rights activist who led many efforts to fight discrimination. Serving as a spokesperson for black working-class interests, Randolph founded the League for Nonviolent Civil Disobedience Against Military Segregation, and he directed the March on Washington to end discrimination in the defense industry and in the armed forces. His leadership during this time was said to inspire the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 60s. He was one of the founders of the Negro American Labor Council, and he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Lyndon Johnson in 1964.

~ Charles E. Merrill (Green Cove Springs) was an investment banker and philanthropist who co-founded Merrill Lynch. The company focused its efforts on the middle class of the 1950s by offering stocks and bonds as an investment option.