George was born and raised in Columbus, Ohio. After graduating from Michigan State University, he served in the US Air Force as the commander of the 214th Field Training Detachment until December 1967. For the next twenty-years George was in real estate development, first with Banning & PickeftCorp, and then with Banning and Associates. He specialized in commercial and industrial real estate thru out the Midwest. Currently, George, semi-retired, owns and operates four Wendy's OldFashioned Hamburger Restaurants in Lakeland,Florida. George first became involved with Rotary in 1976 as charter member of the Dublin-Worthington Rotary, in Ohio. He served his club as Director, President, and Assistant District Governor and became a Paul Harris Fellow. In 1989 he joined the Dr. Phillips Rotary Club in Orlando, Florida again serving as a Director and President Elect. In 1994, George joined the Rotary Club of Plant City Daybreak and has served as Director, Sergeant at Arms, Treasurer, and is currently club Secretary. He has had the distinguished honor of being named Rotarian of the Year in each of the three Hclubs he has belonged to. George and his wife Cassandra have served as hosts for three GSE teams. Other community activities include serving on the Worthington School Board, the Metropolitan YMCA Board of Central Ohio, and as President of the Worthington Chamber of Commerce. He also participated in the Freedom Launch Tour in 1990 to East Germany, Poland, and Hungry to promote free market trade.

 .

George Banning, Team Leader

David was born and raised in the very heart of central Florida in a city known as "Haines City." He furthered his academic goals by receiving his Associate of Arts degree in the field of Communications from Polk Community college located in Winter Haven Florida.
After receiving his associates degree he attended the University of Florida, specializing in two separate fields. His first passion Marketing, and his second desire of Public Relations.
Upon his completion of formal education, David entered the work force as a manufacturers representative. Following in his fathers footsteps, he traveled extensively throughout the state of Florida calling on a variety of clients, ranging from Architects to Engineers, in the commercial construction aspect of business.

Feeling the need to see more of the business world, he departed from his first career and has since been involved on a sales and marketing level with Hilton Hotels, where his customer focused mindset has set the tone for developing long lasting relationships, while receiving honors on behalf of his selling techniques. He has been the Membership/ Marketing Director of a Computer software organization where his marketing talents were used to implement the first formalM arketing program for the organization. His most recent venture spanning over the past five years, has been the role of an advertising account executive with a prominent Fortune 500 company. David has recently received an honor of merit by being selected as part of the "Leadership Council" for this company.

When not at work, David enjoys a good game of golf, tennis, waterskiing, or just traveling to the Florida Keys for the relaxation, the driving, and the fishing.

David C. Waltz, Team Member

Armand was born in Providence Rhode Island, but lived in Lakeland Florida for the past 20 years. After graduating high school, Armand joined the United States Marine Corps. He was an active duty member of the Marine Corps for one year and continued to be a member in the Marine Corps reserves for five years. Armand has been married for the pastfive years and has a beautiful two and a half year old son. He then attended Polk Community College and received his standards in Law Enforcement. He then joined the Plant City Police Department in 1996, and is currently still employed with them. He worked on a patrol squad for about one year when he was then transferred to the Special Investigations Unit. He conducts a wide variety oftasks in the S.l.U., ranging from being a member ofthe Tactical Response Team to riding a bicycle on bicycle patrol to working undercover operations. In 1999, Armand was given the prestigious award of the Plant City Police Officer of The Year award. Armand also has other roles that he does within the city belives in. Armand and his wife are both members of the Plant City Dolphins football organization. He is currently a coach for the 4-6 year old football team.

Armand T. Cotnoir, Team Member

Rick was born in Alabama but his father's army career took his family to distant places, including New Jersey, Virginia and Germany. He quickly fell in love with geography and history through family trips around Europe. After spending his high school years in Washington D.C., Rick attended Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. He received his degree in History and a minor in Russian and spent the fall semester of 1994 studying in St. Petersburg, Russia. Rick pursued his love of travel writing and photography during his stay, documenting his visits to Estonia, the Ukraine, Moscow, and several other Russian cities.

Upon graduation, Rick moved to Tampa, Florida where his father retired. During his seven-year residence in Florida, he has worn many hats, acquiring experience in the travel industry, public relations, politics and media. Rick sold tour packages at Russia tours and cellular service at AT&T, has coordinated planned giving at Lifepath Hospice and worked in the Marketing Department at WTVT-TV. Rick also helped manage a county-wide and state-wide political campaign during the 1996 and 1998 elections. Over the past year, Rick has been working for various technology firms while studying web design at the University of South Florida.

Rick's hobbies include history, politics, graphicarts, photography and travel.

Richard Voss, Team Member

Renee was raised in a rural part of Central Florida known as Avon Park. She has a combined 17 years experience in business administration, accounting, finance, and marketing. Mrs. Bennett has applied her experiences in several industries including Banking, Golf and Country Club, DryC leaning, Commercial Laundry and Uniforms, and now her own company, a Business and Consumer Services Corporation.

While working full time she continued to raise a family, start her entrepreneurial business, and complete her Bachelor of Science degree of Business Administration with honors, Magna Cum Laude. She recently completed college with her Masters in Business Administration from Webber College of Babson Park, Florida

Management Experts, Inc., was founded by Mrs. Bennett in 1994. Key services include Business Consulting, Strategic Planning, Finance and Accounting as well as Immigration and Taxes. Rende specializes in Strategic Planning and Business Consulting.

Renee has served as an officer and board member in many organizations in her community. Memberships include Heartland Estate Planning Council, Chamber of Commerce, Highlands County Citrus Growers, Historical Society Avon Park, Highlands County Economic Development Commission, Cultural Diversity Development Council, and Central Florida Development Council.

Renee Bennett, Team Member