2010 Power Women in Collier
Posted by briank | Mercato, Naples, Promenade, Shopping Centers, SWFL News, The Lutgert Companies, Village on Venetian Bay | Posted on November 9th, 2010
Around Southwest Florida, she’s known as Kristin Cartwright. But in the late 1990s, she was recognized throughout the world as “Buster Lutgert,” one of the first women professional wakeboarders.
“I had a lot of fun with wakeboarding,” Ms. Cartwright, age 35, recalls. “I traveled all over the world, sponsored by all sorts of companies.”
After five years in the sport, she and husband Dayle settled down and began a family that includes daughter Ella, 6, who attends Community School of Naples, and son Noah, 5. But the water is never far away. The Cartwrights, along with partner Nick Demasi, own Revolution Cable Park in North Fort Myers, where riders can wakeboard, kneeboard, waterski or wakeskate.
Ms. Cartwright also uses her degree — a bachelor of arts in business administration from the University of Florida — as director of shopping center marketing for the Lutgert Companies, the family business. She also oversees marketing for three of the company’s real estate projects: The Highrises at Bonita Bay, Estuary at Grey Oaks and The Strada at Mercato).
“I like that it’s always changing, with many events going on” she shares of her work promoting the Village on Venetian Bay, Promenade at Bonita Bay, and Mercato.
If work and family aren’t enough, Ms. Cartwright carries on the family legacy of volunteerism and philanthropy. Grandfather Ray Lutgert was a major supporter of various community projects, including Naples Community Hospital, and father Scott Lutgert is a founder of the Naples Winter Wine Festival. The Lutgert family also gave Florida Gulf Coast University $5 million for its business school.
Having young children helps Ms. Cartwright focus her volunteer activities on providing opportunities for the youth in Collier County. She is active with the Golisano Children’s Museum of Naples, two years a ago co-chairing the Yabba Island Pirate Ball that raised more than $ 4 400,000. She also helped run the Great Venetian Duck Race at The Village to benefit C’MON, has served on the board of the Education Found Foundation of Collier County and is involved with the foundation’s “If the Shoe Fits” fundraiser. She helps out at Community School as well.
She grew up in Naples, moving to Ocala in fifth grade but returning to graduate from Barron Collier High School in 1993. She considers the Lutgert family name and legacy an opportunity more than a pressure.
“I’m very proud of what my family established here in this community,” she says. “I see a lot of people giving back so generously to this community, and I hope that my generation will continue to do that and see the value it brings.”
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