Excerpted from Florida Trend’s Florida 500, a special section that highlights the 500 most influential executives in different economic sectors throughout the state. 

Andrew Wright

MANAGING PARTNER & CEO, FRANKLIN STREET, TAMPA

Wright’s real estate and financial services firm, launched in 2006, “had a great 2007. There was no way I could have prepared for how vast the financial collapse would be in 2008. My wife and I had just welcomed our first daughter; you ask yourself whether it’s easier to just go work for somebody rather than try to build that dream. Thankfully, my wife helped me focus on the upside and the opportunity.”

EDUCATION Miami University (Ohio) (BA)

PHILANTHROPY My wife and I recently chaired the Tampa Zoo at Lowry Park’s gala, which raised the most funds in its 30-year history.

MOST DON’T KNOW I’m half Colombian. My grandparents emigrated from Colombia in the 1950s. I grew up with them, and my grandfather would only speak to me in Spanish.

FAVORITE TRIP Traveling across the country in a Winnebago with my grandparents when I was 13. We spent three months in a camper going to all the national monuments, presidential birthplaces and seeing the country.

For full story, visit https://floridatrend500.com/real-estate/andrew-wright/