DAVID YATES
Who would play you in a movie? When Hollywood made a film about the work of David Yates, Harry Connick Jr. was the choice to portray the 1984 UNO graduate. Not too shabby, eh? Neither is the career of Yates, who was CEO of the Clearwater Marine Aquarium in 2005 when it took in a badly injured bottlenose dolphin, Winter, rescued off the Florida coast. There she was fitted with a prosthetic tail after losing hers while becoming tangled in a crab trap. The rescue was made into a book, then into the 2011 movie “Dolphin Tale” featuring Connick. A second movie, “Dolphin Tale 2,” was released in 2014 and features the rescue of another dolphin, Hope. The branding/marketing push is thanks in large measure to Yates, who is credited with co-producing the movie. That’s no surprise. Yates had taken the reins of the aquarium after a successful run as president and CEO of Ironman Properties, helping the triathlon brand expand its global footprint. He’s doing something similar at Clearwater, which currently is working on a $66 million expansion.