Daks is president of GTE Florida. He happens to be running the Tampa Bay area's local telephone company at a time when its stodgy role as a monopoly is coming to an abrupt end.

The company began as Michigan Telephone and Telegraph in 1879, and later became General Telephone, GTE, Verizon and Frontier Communications throughout a series of mergers and name changes.

Eager to shed the stodgy image of a local phone monopoly, GTE on Tuesday started offering long-distance service to anyone in Florida.

Shana Knapp-Macey is the new president of the independent Crown Point Telephone Co. She-s guiding the company through the introduction of broadband Internet service. P-R Photo/Bethany Kosmider The ...