Carl DeSantis is an “only in America” success story.

Born in Massachusetts and raised in Miami Beach, Mr. DeSantis has been a lifelong entrepreneur with a natural flair for business and marketing. After becoming one of the youngest store managers in Walgreen’s history, he launched Sundown Vitamins in his garage building it from a mail order company into the world’s largest vitamin manufacturer.

The company would later become Rexall Sundown and would become a NASDAQ standout and Fortune 100 company as a result of Carl’s leadership and team building skills. Rexall Sundown was an industry colossus doing business with the world’s biggest retailers and pioneering best-selling products ranging from a full line of fine vitamins to multi-billion dollar seller Osteo-Biflex many of which are still on the market selling briskly.

In 2000, Royal Numico purchased Rexall Sundown for $1.8 billion. While that might have been a capstone to many careers, it was merely a chapter in Carl’s life. He immediately began to invest in and pioneer a series of companies while also continuing to indulge his passion for philanthropy. Among his notable investments: Celsius, a publicly traded global fitness drink and powder, Tabanero, an award winning hot sauce, Kwandwe, an eco-tourist resort in South Africa and landmark real estate projects throughout South Florida.