Mike Santarone
Brian Kappele
Alexandria Hill
Peter Crowe
Chris Pflueger
Jorge Caez
Lindsey Gast
Promotions, hirings and happenings for business people in Northeast Florida. Send items to [email protected]
• Jacksonville-based Stellar promoted Mike Santarone to CEO and Brian Kappele to president and chief operating officer.
Santarone joined Stellar as a field engineer in 1986, was made division vice president of the Food & Beverage group in 2000, was promoted to executive vice president in 2005 and became Stellar’s third president in 2012.
Kappele began his career at the company as an intern in its Food & Beverage division in 1997 and after graduation became an on-site assistant project manager. He was promoted to division vice president in 2011 and became executive vice president in 2017.
Stellar is a design, engineering, construction and mechanical services firm.
• Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed Alexandria Hill and Daniel Vallencourt and reappointed Chereese Stewart to the Clay County Development Authority for four-year terms. The Clay County Development Authority was established by the Florida Legislature in 1957 to promote economic development in Clay County.
Hill, of Fleming Island, is the general counsel for Agincourt Industries, which operates Maple Street Biscuit Company restaurants.
Vallencourt, of Green Cove Springs, is the vice president of Vallencourt Construction and owns Clay Theatre Events LLC.
Stewart, of Jacksonville, is the director of economic and development services for the Clay County Board of County Commissioners.
• Remer Lane III joined Heritage Capital Group as a principal to focus on merger and acquisition transactions, as well as financial and strategic advisory services, especially food and agriculture. Remer has 35 years of leadership and management experience, including agribusiness work with Savannah Foods & Industries and McKeany-Flavell.
• Dr. Scott Brietzke, a pediatric otolaryngologist, joined Wolfson Children’s Hospital of Jacksonville and Nemours Children’s Specialty Care. Brietzke was a pediatric otolaryngologist at Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital in Hollywood, Florida, and specializes in cochlear implants and sleep medicine. Ootolaryngologists, often called ENTs, specialize in treating the ear, nose and throat.
• We Insure Group hired two executives:
Peter Crowe joined as chief revenue officer. Crowe was executive vice president with Re/Max and Motto Mortgage.
Chris Pflueger joined as chief development officer. Pflueger led franchise sales teams at Re/Max and Motto Mortgage.
• Jorge Caez joined Crowley Shipping as director of chartering operations for petroleum transportation. Caez was director of charting and scheduling for The Vane Brothers Co. in Pennsylvania.
• Lindsey Gast, president of GastHouse Public Relations in St. Johns County, was selected as one of Junior Chamber International USA’s Ten Outstanding Young Americans for her achievements in business.
