CEOs and business leaders traded boardrooms for hard hats at Habitat’s Executive Build 2026 to make the case for affordable homeownership
ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. (Oct. 6, 2026) – Nineteen Central Florida executives swapped meetings for tool belts on Monday, Oct. 5, working throughout the morning to install windows and Tyvek® house wrap on two homes at Legacy Square, Habitat’s newest community in Sanford. The work readies both homes for the next stage of construction.
The effort was part of Executive Build 2026, Habitat’s flagship annual fundraising event held each year on World Habitat Day. Legacy Square will feature 19 energy-efficient, single-family homes developed in collaboration with community partners. The day also included remarks from Habitat CEO Penny Seater, Board Chair David Johnson, title sponsor Erik Sankey of Waste Pro and Executive Build Chairman Jay Zembower, and a visit with Michelle, a future Habitat homeowner.
The executives came to the site because the need is pressing.
In Central Florida:
- 62% of renters are cost-burdened, spending more than 35% of their income on housing.
- A two-bedroom rental at the 2026 HUD fair market rent of $2,254 a month requires about $90,160 a year, or $43.35 an hour for one full-time worker.
- The median home price of about $419,000 is more than five times the median household income.
Habitat closes the gap by building and developing homes with payments that can be about half a homebuyer’s prior rent.
“World Habitat Day highlights the basic right of all people to have a safe and proper place to live, but in Central Florida the people who care for us, teach our children and keep us safe can’t afford a two-bedroom rental, let alone a down payment or a dream,” said Penny Seater, CEO of Habitat for Humanity Seminole-Apopka. “Habitat exists to change that story. With partners like the leaders who picked up tools today, we’ve grown from building homes to building whole communities, and we walk with families long after the keys are handed over.”
Photos: High-resolution images from Executive Build 2026 are available for media use at https://photos.app.goo.gl/4xe8EH44wYirQukr9.
Executive Build 2026 Participants
- Angela Dickerson (HCA Lake Monroe)
- Jeff Villanueva (AdventHealth Altamonte)
- Kevin Poole (AdventHealth Apopka)
- Shawn Molsberger and Antwan Williams (Orlando Health Lake Mary & North Market)
- Brian Taylor (Tri-County Towing)
- Suzanne Weinstein (Orlando Credit Union)
- Scott Zornek (HNTB)
- Tom Margio (Total Solutions Group)
- Erik Sankey (Waste Pro USA, title sponsor)
- Spencer Pylant (TECO Peoples Gas)
- Dan Christman (EXP)
- Josh Hudson (Hudson’s Furniture)
- Billy Matthesen (Wharton Smith)
- Zak Sultan (Black Dog Advisors)
- Regine Bonneau (RB Advisory, LLC)
- Ron Bechor (Cigna)
- Jay Zembower (Seminole County)
- Janet Hall (NVIDIA)
About Habitat for Humanity
As a Top 50 Habitat home producer nationwide, Habitat for Humanity serves Orange and Seminole Counties and is both builder and land developer. The organization has been creating generational stability by making homeownership possible across Central Florida for over 35 years. Through financial support, volunteer participation, and business partnerships, Habitat constructs and develops affordable homes that are sold to families with low-to-moderate incomes at no profit, and financed with modest mortgages. Homebuyers invest in their futures by completing financial education and helping to build their own homes as well as those of other families through earned “sweat equity” hours. Learn more at habitatseminoleapopka.org.
Media Contact
Lisa Junkerman, Chief Growth Officer, Habitat for Humanity Seminole-Apopka
[email protected] | 407-252-3983
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