Meet the Chamber's Best: AdSharp

Editor's Note: This is the first of three stories profiling the winners of 's business of the year winners. Awards were given to a small, medium and large business and announced during a banquet  on Jan. 28.

Bill Francisco has spent a lot of time living, working and traveling the world.

That's precisely what makes receiving the Chamber of Commerce's award for this year's "Best Small Business" special to him. 

“I have had 13 homes all over the Southeastern United States, Missouri and northern Canada, and traveled all over the place, so I wanted to settle into a community where I hoped to make a positive contribution,” Francisco said by phone.

“I was completely surprised, very pleased and extremely honored when I found out I had won the award,” he said.

After working in sales and marketing for major corporations like Disney and Busch Gardens for many years, Francisco decided to settle down in his wife’s hometown and open his own marketing business in 1989. That company turned into AdSharp, which provides high-quality Web and marketing services for clients throughout the Tampa Bay area.

According to the Chamber, Francisco earned the award for volunteering his time and services to numerous causes and organizations, including the Dunedin Council of Organizations, the Dunedin Fine Art Center, the Rotary Club, Pinellas County Schools, the Chamber of Commerce and the Morton Plant Mease Foundation.

“Dunedin is a great community, it’s a welcoming community … and I hope in a small way I have helped contribute to it,” Francisco said.

• Up Next: Best medium-sized business Ottoson Enterprises, a contracting and cabinetry company on Skinner Boulevard, appears on Sunday, March 11.