Born into a generational farming family in Salinas Valley, California, her memories are marked by waves of viridescent lettuce, plump melons and sweet yellow onions, connecting one chapter of her life to another. “The town I grew up in is not much different from Collier County,” she says. Part of the prosperous Monterey County, the area has tony towns like Pebble Beach and Carmel-by-the-Sea, existing near Salinas’ migrant agricultural communities like Alisal, where about 30 percent of the population lives in poverty. “[It’s] much like Immokalee,” Anne says.
Moving to Naples from Michigan—where she worked for The Forbes Company, which owns Waterside—Anne immersed herself in her new hometown with gusto. Over her 11 years at the eminent shopping center, Waterside magnified its luxury retail cachet. Rolex, Veronica Beard, Zimmermann and the new Hermès all came in under her tenure.
Anne has long believed in the idea of using businesses as agents for good, and her Forbes employers provided her the latitude to partner with nonprofits of her choosing, Early on, she turned to Naples Children & Education Foundation and The Guadalupe Center. The groups’ work to break the cycle of poverty through education rang true for Anne. “My first job was as a teacher’s aide with Project Head Start, helping preschool children from non-English speaking families prepare for kindergarten,” she says.
Partnering with more than 10 charities annually, Anne helped spin Waterside into more than a retail hub; the rarefied center became a cultural and community touchstone. “We had 1,000 employees who came to work daily knowing which charities Waterside supported and why we believed in them. They learned each nonprofit’s mission and the population they served,” she says. The organizations’ messages coursed through the high-traffic center, from shop to shopper. Off-the-clock, Anne served on the board of the Women’s Foundation of Collier County, and she has supported STARability Foundation since moving to town in 2013.
Anne—whose retirement sounds more like a theory than a fact—recently signed on to oversee the expansion of STARability’s resale shop. She also has a new venture consulting for emerging businesses looking to tap into the Naples market. “Because it’s not just business—companies here root themselves in the community,” she says. “They take note of what [is needed] and find a way to help.” —Chanda Jamieson