About 20 years ago, Michael Wynn was spending most of his days in his office, pouring over spreadsheets for his family’s Sunshine Ace Hardware business. No one in the family got preferential treatment and all had to work their way up the ranks. They were also all subject to the same annual reviews. One year, Michael got some criticism during his review—he needed to get out of the office and into the community more.
The Wynn family has been integral in the development of the city ever since Michael’s great-grandfather Peter Parley Wynn bought the Bayview Inn in 1938. Peter’s son Don Wynn started the city’s first modern supermarket in 1948 and a full-service hardware store a decade later, providing the needed essentials for the growing town. Meanwhile, Don served on the city council and volunteered in numerous organizations. His ethos lives on in the business. As the family expanded their operation, they developed their 10 core values at Sunshine Ace. One is “Care for Your Neighbors.” So, while Michael was obsessing over financial statements, he was not doing his job in full. “A community that grows and prospers is essential to a business that grows and prospers,” Michael now says.
He took the constructive feedback to heart and started volunteering with the YMCA. Over the years, he has served on the boards of Greater Naples Chamber of Commerce, NCH Healthcare System and Florida Gulf Coast University, among others. In 2005, Michael was named president of Sunshine Ace, which now has 13 locations. He’s made generosity part of Sunshine Ace’s business practices—the company provides grants to employees in times of need, and they’ve donated almost $300,000 to their primary charity partner, Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals, since joining with the organization in 2020.
He’s invested in the city’s growth, too. Three years ago, Michael started the East of 41 Coalition, a collective of local leaders aiming to enhance the downtown area near the new Gulfshore Playhouse and Naples Design District. Earlier this year, East of 41 got the city to commit to building a four-level parking garage for Gulfshore Playhouse on land partially donated by the Wynn family. “For years, there’s been a divide downtown between east of 41 and west of 41,” Michael says. “Gulfshore Playhouse and (the parking garage) will connect that divide. It will transform downtown.”
In March, the Wynn Family Foundation made another sizable donation, when they gave $1 million to NCH’s new cardiac care and stroke facility in Downtown Naples—the largest single gift the family has ever made. “This might also be the most significant donation that we’ll make as a family,” Michael says. “The (cardiac care unit) will literally save lives.”
Michael doesn’t see philanthropy as a work obligation so much as a necessity to ensure that Naples remains a great place to live. “We must never take our quality of life in Naples for granted,” he says. “Great communities don’t happen by accident.” —J.P.