Best Businessperson

By Dan Richardson

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BEST BUSINESSPERSON

Walt Worthy

If any man is more associated with a single building than the president and the White House, at least in these parts, it's Walt Worthy and the landmark Davenport Hotel.

Worthy is a real estate developer once known for his office space empire, but now linked most prominently with his $50 million renovation of the Davenport. With a bit of luck, the Davenport's return to grandeur will take place this summer, with a grand reopening. It will boast a spa, a 120-seat restaurant and 281 guestrooms with step-in showers and four-poster beds, project officials say.

You don't get to the top of a real estate empire, or the Inlander poll, by being a milquetoast. Worthy's known for shooting off aphorisms like bullets at New Year's ("Proceed with vigor," "Attitude determines altitude"), and an admiring employee once described working for him as "like having Patton for a boss."

2nd: Ron Wells; 3rd: Don Barbieri