Baseball is often seen as a metaphor for life. In both cases, success doesn’t happen by chance. It results from careful planning, strategy, and adapting to ever-changing circumstances. Cody Crowell knows this very well. Once a standout left-handed pitcher for Vanderbilt University’s nationally ranked team, Cody was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays organization. However, an injury redirected his path, allowing him to leverage his business development degree and build a successful career in real estate.

Today, he is a Partner for Frisbie Group, a preeminent investment organization focused on placemaking, revitalization, and large-scale mixed-use developments. He and Rob Frisbie oversee a team of nearly two dozen employees. “Having been positively impacted by mentors in my own life, from family to coaches, to career professionals and more, I believe strongly in the importance of mentorship and leading by example. In our ever-evolving world of social media, technology, and rapid information sharing, it’s critical that we act and lead in an honorable manner, displaying positive values, ethics, and ideals and holding ourselves to a higher standard. Effective leadership also hinges on a willingness and ability to collaborate, to not only recognize one’s limitations but to invite, consider, and implement the ideas and voices of a capable team. Lastly, leaders should attempt to innovate and problem-solve, always exploring alternative options and envisioning a better world.”

His relentless drive to look beyond the present and envision what is possible began when he was a kid and nurtured by a mentor in college. “Since a very young age, I have had an interest in and focus on sports and an innate, personal drive to excel and succeed. My college baseball coach at Vanderbilt, Coach Tim Corbin, helped to harness and channel my energy and motivation to push me to my highest potential personally, athletically, academically, and professionally. He instilled in me the importance of preparedness. When you work harder and prepare longer than the competition, you have an automatic edge, even if you don’t share the same innate talent or skillset. Prepare with purpose and perform with passion. Emphasizing the importance of mental toughness and positivity, lessons learned from my time with Coach Corbin shaped my growth as a young man, and I apply them in my daily life still today.”

He also applies principles learned from Winston Churchill, a leader whose qualities he most admires. “He had an innate capacity to inspire others. He had charisma, fearlessness, and decisiveness, as well as his strategic vision and pragmatism. He taught us that effective leadership requires boldness and determination while at the same time adaptability and a willingness to delegate and collaborate. He also exhibited great emotional intelligence and empathy, allowing him to relate to others of all circumstances and socio-economic backgrounds.”

A relatively new member of the Economic Council of Palm Beach County, Cody says the group is an amazing vehicle to bring people together, and its goals align with The Frisbie Group. “We invest in communities where we can make an economic and social impact, and we believe collaboration in the business and political communities is important.”

That cohesiveness is vital, he says, if the county wants to overcome some of its critical issues. “The lack of affordable housing is one of the most significant challenges facing Palm Beach County. Rising property values and rents have made it increasingly difficult for local businesses to operate. Employees, particularly in industries like healthcare, retail, education, and the public service sector, are finding it extremely challenging to live in adequate housing close to where they work. Another is the lack of cohesion among leadership regarding traffic problems within the county. Palm Beach County is experiencing rapid growth, which, in turn, is contributing to increased traffic congestion and putting a serious strain on the region’s transportation infrastructure.”

Cody is a solution-oriented leader who is confident that the challenges can be overcome. “In an ideal world, I envision heightened collaboration between the public sector, private developers, and non-profits to create mixed-use communities that include affordable housing. The use of government-owned land for mixed-income housing projects, with private developers partnering to finance, build, and maintain the homes, is the path to a better future for the county. In return, the public sector can offer incentives such as tax credits or long-term land leases. The county could provide land or incentives to private developers to build affordable housing in transit-oriented areas or near job hubs, helping reduce residents’ transportation costs while boosting the local economy.”

Education is also a passion for Cody. Having experienced the value of public education firsthand in Massachusetts, he advocates for strong investments in teachers and access to resources for all students throughout the county. As a Board member of the Carson Scholars Fund in Maryland, he supports scholarships and reading rooms for underserved communities, working to create equal opportunities. Locally, he brings the same dedication, knowing the importance of breaking the school-to-prison pipeline, often tied to third-grade reading proficiency, when students transition from learning to read to reading to learn. “Education used to be something we were proud of. It’s what America was built around: learning and understanding. Technology is moving quickly, and we need to get our students up to date. We are not doing as well today as we could be, and in this rapidly evolving environment, we have to educate our youth, or else there will be a major wealth gap.”

That includes creating a workforce that can meet the demands of tomorrow and a funnel for Wall Street South. “In 2020, when UF was planning to come to West Palm Beach, the community opened its arms. There is a need for universities and business schools to feed into the business community. However, when the deal fell through, I saw an opportunity to go to Vanderbilt and pitched the idea to them. It was a vision that became a reality, morphing into something of which we can all be proud.”

It was a full circle moment for Cody, revisiting relationships and leveraging new ones doing what he’s always done, playing every inning like it was his last with the realization that there is no “I” in team. “We collaborated with Steve Ross of Related, who was instrumental in this deal along with our politicians, the business community, the chambers, and the council. It’s a community win, and we believe that with a business school tailored to meet the needs of the finance industry, we can be the next Silicon Valley home to innovation and entrepreneurs.”