Entrepreneur/philanthropist David Maus is driven by passion in business and compassion in community.

After nearly 17 years of doing “whatever it takes” for customers and building his business into a successful empire, David Maus has become one of the most recognizable faces in Central Florida. Read more

Linda Landman Gonzalez doesn’t suit up, shoot, rebound or defend. She’s on the offensive, though, in a battle for community inclusion, equity and voice.

For Linda Landman Gonzalez, nothing has been like the lessons she received abroad. Her experience in high-profile corporate roles over more than the past decade in Orlando pales in comparison to the B.A. in education she earned from the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico in Mexico City and her ensuing years of marriage, classroom teaching and raising two daughters in Mexico.

That period in her life, from leaving the United States at age 17 to returning in her 30s, brought an enlightenment that has shaped the remainder of her life.

“I came back very aware of just what makes America so extraordinary in its community feel,” she explains. “And I wanted to be a part of that.

“I couldn’t imagine not knowing the community or being a part of it or not trying to understand the community. Being a participant [in] the community is who I am. … It’s not something I think about. It’s just how I exist.”

Indeed, many people find work in their life. Far fewer, such as Gonzalez, find life in their work.

A mid-1990s stint as vice president of Hispanic sales and marketing for Barnett Bank in Orlando served as a prelude to nine years as director of diversity, community and government relations for Darden Restaurants, Orlando’s only Fortune 500 corporation. While at Darden, she focused on creating community partnerships, employee volunteer opportunities and leadership development in top markets nationwide, including Orlando. She also managed corporate giving while developing a second-language translation initiative for the corporation.

Her efforts resulted in numerous corporate awards for Darden, including Fortune’s Top 10 Diversity Elite, Black Enterprise’s list of Best Companies for Diversity and Hispanic Business magazine’s Best Place for Hispanics to Work.

In September 2007, Gonzalez was named vice president of community relations and government affairs for the Orlando Magic. There, she oversees community relations, government affairs and multicultural insight, and she presides as head of the Orlando Magic Youth Fund Advisory Council.

In that 2007-2008 season, the team won 50 of 82 games and made the playoffs. Yet, one of the franchise’s best moves, it turned out, was the hiring of the multidimensional Gonzalez, an all-star point guard of sorts who contributes mostly by elevating the level of play from those around her.

“Linda has great passion and vision, while having her finger on the pulse of the community,” comments Alex Martins, the Magic’s chief operating officer. “Her leadership is outstanding and allows the Orlando Magic to enact programs and initiatives that make an enduring impact.”

With Gonzalez at the helm of its advisory council, the OMYF has stated its mission as helping “every child in Central Florida realize their full potential, especially those most at risk, by supporting programs and partnerships that empower families and change lives.” Since the Fund’s inception, it has granted nearly $15 million to Central Florida nonprofit organizations. This year, OMYF checks were presented to 27 organizations from nine counties. With funds raised by the OMYF and the match provided by the McCormick Foundation, a total of $750,000 in grants and scholarships was distributed to the community in 2008-2009.

Additionally, a staffwide campaign provides more than 5,500 volunteer hours annually, establishing a sense of civic spirit throughout One Magic Place that’s reminiscent of the crowd buzz created from an emphatic Dwight Howard dunk.

Gonzalez also worked to ensure minority participation in the construction of the new Amway Center, scheduled for completion this [EWP1] fall. The result: a reported 35 percent participation by women and ethnic minorities. “This is something we did not take lightly,” she says.

Similarly, Parramore, the neighborhood surrounding the new center, has been among her chief agenda items. The Magic have helped to fund the Parramore Kid Zone, an initiative aimed at reducing juvenile crime, teen pregnancy and high school dropout rates, along with building basketball courts and playgrounds and working with the neighborhood’s schools. “[Parramore],” she notes, “is just as important as Thornton Park or the Lake Eola historic district. It is downtown, and it is a top priority.”

Her last name offers clues, but her work leaves little doubt that diversity isn’t simply an option or the right thing for a community to do. Instead, it’s a natural state of being for Orlando. “It is who we are,” she says, citing that more than 260 languages are spoken in Orange County schools. “The number-one thing is you always should recognize, celebrate and then ensure that who you are is at its best.”

Gonzalez acknowledges that effort, for her, isn’t easy. It’s often exhausting, in fact. Aside from her duties with the Magic, she currently is involved in volunteer activities for several organizations. Among them are the Central Florida Transportation Corridors Task Force, Florida State Conference NAACP Corporate Advisory Board, African American Chamber of Commerce of Central Florida, Casa de Mexico, WMFE Board of Trustees and the city of Orlando’s Children’s Trust Committee. Also, she is the chair-elect of the Valencia Community College Foundation and the immediate past president of the Orlando Ballet. And, for good measure, she serves on the board of Fifth Third Bank and was appointed by Gov. Charlie Crist in February 2009 to sit on the Early Learning Coalition of Orange County.

Still, her commitment is tireless. The word excuse remains missing from her bilingual vocabulary.

“The time exists; there are enough hours in a day,” she says. “You just really have to be committed to being there. I use the hours in the day for things that to me are important.

“It’s my name and my commitment.”

---

[EWP1]Next fall (2011) or this fall (2010)?

Gary Cain, part fund-raiser, part communicator and part humanitarian, is a jack of many trades and a master of them all.

by Sarah Sekula

Gary Cain, president of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Florida, knows the clubs’ benefits firsthand. When he was 11, his mother divorced his alcoholic father, his sister was pregnant and one of his older siblings had just been shipped off to jail. Read more

If Pamela Landwirth’s success is measured by the number of smiles she puts on children’s faces, she is at the top of her profession.

Not far from the life-sized game of CandyLand, just beyond the giant red and white polka-dotted mushroom and near the hand-carved wooden carousel is Pamela Landwirth’s office.

Read more