What does it actually take to step into a family business and make it your own? In this episode, hosts Roy Richardson and Sean Murphy sit down with Adam Mikkelson; President, CEO, and Owner of Liberty Investment Properties; to unpack one of the most layered leadership journeys you'll hear.

Adam didn't inherit a title. He swept units, managed stores, and earned the respect of his team before he ever held the wheel. Since joining the company his parents built in 2005, he's grown Liberty into a platform participating in over $1 billion in capital investments across more than 80 properties nationwide.

In this conversation, Adam opens up about:

• Flying solo at 16 before he could legally drive, and the grandfather who sparked that love of adventure
• Growing up inside a family business. Dinner table deal talk, birthday parties on construction job sites, and what that instilled in him
• The renovation vs. ground-up analogy for taking over a family business — and why most successors get it wrong
• The 5-year leadership transition from proverbial deckhand to captain, and why his dad's ability to let go was just as important as Adam's readiness to lead
• A panic attack in 2018 that forced a high-performing, all-gas leader to confront what burnout and suppressed anxiety actually look like
• Being a "cycle breaker or cycle maker" how faith, mentorship, and intentional values shaped who he is at every level of life
• The pain behind his passion for foster and adoptive care. A deeply personal chapter rooted in his own family's fertility struggles
• Building for the next generation and how Liberty is structured today and Adam's vision for the next 5–10 years

Whether you're navigating a family business transition, leading through adversity, or just trying to build something that lasts, this episode is loaded with hard-won wisdom and genuine authenticity.

Sponsored by Aurora Infotech — helping organizations grow with confidence by protecting the systems and data they depend on. Innovation should never come at the cost of trust.

Connect with This Episode's Guest:

• LinkedIn: Adam Mikkelson

Connect with the Dynamic Business Leaders Podcast Hosts:

• LinkedIn: Roy Richardson
• LinkedIn: Sean Murphy

If you found this episode of the Dynamic Business Leaders Podcast inspiring, be sure to subscribe to our podcast on your favorite platform. This way, you won't miss out on future episodes featuring other dynamic business leaders.

Check out our website here, and make sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel.

The Dynamic Business Leaders Podcast is brought to you by Aurora InfoTech, a Cybersecurity Firm that serves the information security needs of small—and medium-sized businesses.

Every road you drive, every bridge you cross, every runway you land on in Central Florida — there's a foundation beneath it that most people never think about. In this episode of the Dynamic Leaders Podcast, hosts Roy Richardson and Sean Murphy sit down with Rachel Frederick André, President and Principal in Charge of GEC, one of Central Florida's most established geotechnical engineering firms with over 35 years of continuous operation.

Rachel's story begins in Haiti, where she passed a highly competitive national engineering entrance exam before being pushed to leave by her mother amid the country's political unrest in the early 1990s. She arrived in the U.S. at 19, earned two engineering degrees from UCF, and built a 27-year career working on some of Florida's most consequential infrastructure projects — including SunRail, the I-4 Ultimate, the Wekiva Parkway, and the Orlando International Airport South Terminal.

In this conversation, Rachel pulls back the curtain on what geotechnical engineering actually is and why it is the silent backbone of every structure built. She shares the arc of her career: eight years at GEC, a gutsy decision to leave and spread her wings, 12 years building her skills and network across Central Florida, and eventually returning as President when founder Gary was ready to retire — a transition she spent a year and a half training for, in private.

This episode goes deep on the leadership lessons that don't make it into textbooks: staying calm when it feels like the world is ending, building a culture where people stay for 30-plus years in an industry notorious for turnover, why service must always come before profit, and what it means to lead as a woman-owned and minority-owned business in a field where both are still rare.

Rachel also opens up about the personal side of her journey — 11 years of piano, a multilingual upbringing, a mother who refused to let fear win, and a worldview shaped by visiting eight countries in a single year. Roy and Sean connect her story to their own Caribbean roots, making this one of the most personal and candid conversations in the show's history.

Whether you are an aspiring engineer, a business owner navigating a leadership transition, or simply someone who wants to understand the quiet, precision-driven work that holds civilization together, this episode delivers.

Topics covered:

• What geotechnical engineering is and why it matters
• Building a career and network in a niche technical field
• Leading a successful ownership transition
• Running a woman-owned, minority-owned business in engineering
• Immigrant resilience, multilingualism, and cultural identity
• Sustaining company culture through rapid growth

Learn more about Rachel André:

• LinkedIn
• Website: Geotechnical And Environmental Consultants
• Phone: (407) 898-1818
• Email: randre@gecfla.com

Connect with the Dynamic Business Leaders Podcast Hosts:

• LinkedIn: Roy Richardson
• LinkedIn: Sean Murphy

If you found this episode of the Dynamic Business Leaders Podcast inspiring, be sure to subscribe to our podcast on your favorite platform. This way, you won't miss out on future episodes featuring other dynamic business leaders.

Check out our website here, and make sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel.

The Dynamic Business Leaders Podcast is brought to you by Aurora InfoTech, a Cybersecurity Firm that serves the information security needs of small—and medium-sized businesses.

What does it actually look like when someone builds a career around purpose rather than just achievement? In this episode of the Dynamic Business Leaders Podcast, hosts Roy Richardson and Sean Murphy sit down with Jonathan Perry, co-managing shareholder and co-chair of the real estate practice at Greenberg Traurig's Orlando office — one of the most prominent commercial real estate attorneys in the country.

Jonathan has led multi-billion dollar transactions, including a $2.3 billion real estate investment trust deal and complex cross-border work spanning the Middle East. But what makes his story compelling is the through-line that connects all of it: a relentless commitment to people, community, and the next generation.

In this conversation, Jonathan unpacks the lessons from a childhood in Orangeburg, South Carolina — a tight-knit HBCU college town that shaped his values — through his years as a team captain and Peach Bowl champion at UNC Chapel Hill, a brief stint with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and ultimately, a distinguished legal career at one of the world's largest law firms. He shares what nearly two decades of coaching youth football and basketball taught him about leadership, why he distinguishes between collecting titles and genuinely leading, and how the unexpected loss of his father at 16 became the foundation for everything he has built since.

Jonathan also addresses the growing role of AI in legal services, the difference between culture fit and culture add when building a team, and why he believes investing in young people is not a volunteer activity — it is a leadership responsibility.

Whether you are a business leader, attorney, coach, or someone still figuring out what success means to you, this episode delivers rare, grounded wisdom from someone who has never separated achievement from accountability.

Learn more about Jonathan Perry:

• LinkedIn
• Website: Greenburg Traurig
• Phone: 407.999.2501
• Email: perryjo@gtlaw.com

Connect with the Dynamic Business Leaders Podcast Hosts:

• LinkedIn: Roy Richardson
• LinkedIn: Sean Murphy

If you found this episode of the Dynamic Business Leaders Podcast inspiring, be sure to subscribe to our podcast on your favorite platform. This way, you won't miss out on future episodes featuring other dynamic business leaders.

Check out our website here, and make sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel.

The Dynamic Business Leaders Podcast is brought to you by Aurora InfoTech, a Cybersecurity Firm that serves the information security needs of small—and medium-sized businesses.