NSU Honors Mike Jackson, David Horvitz, and Francie Bishop Good with Chancellor’s Community Award

(Photo caption: Community Award recipients: Mike Jackson with guest Alice Lucia, Francie Bishop Good, David Horvitz and NSU Chancellor Ray Ferrero, Jr.)

NSU’s premiere event, the Celebration of Excellence (COE), was recently held at the Signature Grand in Davie. Hosted by University President, George L. Hanbury II, Ph.D., the COE brought together NSU faculty, staff and students, community leaders, and industry pioneers who have made significant contributions to their professions and communities.

During the COE, the university’s accomplishments in the areas of academic excellence, research, and community service were highlighted by University Chancellor, Ray Ferrero, Jr. Chancellor Ferrero also recognized those individuals whose leadership, generosity, and support provides the foundation for the continued growth of the university, by presenting them with the Chancellor’s Community Award.

Formerly known as the President’s Community Award, the Chancellor’s Community Award is the university’s highest honor and was presented to Mike Jackson, chairman and chief executive officer of AutoNation, Inc.; David Horvitz, chairman of WLD Enterprises, Inc.; and Francie Bishop Good, an artist and arts advocate.

Jackson is credited as transforming the automotive retail industry since he assumed the role of chairman of AutoNation in 2002. Under Jackson’s guidance, AutoNation maintains its position as America’s largest automotive retailer, the only retailer in history to have sold more than 7 million vehicles.

For his work in the automotive industry, Jackson was named one of the “Fifty Visionary Dealers” of all time by Automotive News in 2009 and Automotive Hall of Fame Industry Leader of the Year for 2003. In 2006, Jackson received the Excalibur Award, given annually to a South Florida business leader of the year by the Sun-Sentinel newspaper, and was named CEO of the Year by South Florida’s CEO Magazine. Jackson was also inducted into NSU’s H. Wayne Huizenga School of Business and Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame in 2010.

Jackson’s active participation in several South Florida civic and philanthropic organizations sets the tone for his company employees also to be involved with the community. Currently, he serves as the chair of the Museum of Art | Fort Lauderdale, Nova Southeastern University.

Horvitz is chairman of WLD Enterprises, Inc., a private investment firm dealing in real estate and securities. Horvitz and his wife, Francie Bishop Good, are committed to nonprofit and charitable work, following the example his father, William. Horvitz, along with the late Paul Newman and General H. Norman Schwarzkopf founded Camp Boggy Creek, a year-round camping facility for children with life-threatening diseases and chronic illnesses. Horvitz is also chairman of the board of Hole in the Wall Camps, the umbrella organization of 13 existing camps, of which several in development are associated with Paul Newman’s Hole in the Wall Gang Camp.

Horvitz is a member of the Board of Trustees for NSU and he is the vice chairman of the Governing Board of the Museum of Art | Fort Lauderdale, Nova Southeastern University. He is a member of the Broward Workshop; the Alexis DeToqueville Society of the United Way of Broward County; and a member of the board of the Musical Arts Association of Miami (Cleveland Orchestra). Horvitz is a past board member of the Community Foundation of Broward County, and the Jewish Federation of Broward County.

Bishop Good’s community commitment is as far-reaching as her photographs, which have been shown in galleries around the world. In South Florida, she has served on the Governing Board of the Museum of Art | Fort Lauderdale, Nova Southeastern University and is a member of the board of the Young at Art Children’s Museum, where she chairs its capital campaign. She also is a member of the board of North Miami’s Museum of Contemporary Art.

In 2003, she co-founded Funding Arts Broward, a nonprofit arts organization committed to preserving the arts in Broward County. In 2010, Funding Arts Broward was the recipient of a prestigious Knight Arts Challenge Grant, one of 24 grants awarded out of 1,500 applications. She was honored in 2004 with the Lifetime Achievement Award from Broward County’s Arts for the Future initiative. Bishop Good and her husband David Horvitz established the Girls’ Club, a private foundation and alternative art space to produce exhibitions, educational programming, publications, and events in 2006.

Located in downtown Ft. Lauderdale, the Girls’ Club focuses on female artists and offers specialized workshops for women and girls in Broward County. In 2010, she also received a South Florida Cultural Consortium Fellowship. Bishop Good will have a one-person show of new photographs Feb. 12 to March 5 at the David Castillo Gallery in Miami, which represents her.