{"id":422489,"date":"2026-10-08T19:10:17","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T19:10:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/422489\/"},"modified":"2026-10-08T19:10:17","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T19:10:17","slug":"michael-brown-receives-first-harris-rosen-heart-of-central-florida-award-at-orlando-magazines-50-most-powerful-celebration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/422489\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Brown Receives First Harris Rosen Heart of Central Florida Award at Orlando Magazine\u2019s 50 Most Powerful Celebration"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Michael<\/a><\/p>\n

Michael Brown, president and CEO of Travel + Leisure Co., has been named the first recipient of the Harris Rosen Heart of Central Florida Award, presented by the Rosen family, Rosen Hotels & Resorts and in partnership with Orlando magazine. This new award recognizes an individual who demonstrates exceptional leadership, unwavering dedication and a profound commitment to serving others. Through their compassion, courage, and positive influence they have made a lasting impact on the lives of those around them while inspiring others and helping build a stronger, healthier future for Central Florida. Brown was selected for his commitment to education, community partnerships and expanding opportunities for students, particularly through the Travel + Leisure Charitable Foundation.<\/p>\n

Brown\u2019s philanthropic vision was deeply influenced by the late Harris Rosen; the founder of Rosen Hotels & Resorts whose work in Orlando demonstrated how business leaders can help transform a community through sustained investment. Rosen established the Tangelo Park Program in 1993, offering early childhood education and college scholarships to residents of the Orlando neighborhood. Its success, and subsequent expansion to Orlando\u2019s Parramore community, became a national example of place-based philanthropy and inspired Brown to bring a similar commitment to Eatonville.<\/p>\n

In 2021, the Travel + Leisure Charitable Foundation partnered with Orange County Public Schools and the town of Eatonville to establish the Travel + Leisure Eatonville Scholarship Program. The initiative was created to help eligible students pursue higher education without being burdened by unmet tuition and other educational costs.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the work of Harris Rosen has demonstrated, real change is possible when corporations work hand-in-hand with local communities to engage citizens in programs driven by a shared purpose,\u201d Brown said when the program was announced.<\/p>\n

The initiative can provide scholarships for up to 200 students who attended Hungerford Elementary School, graduate from an eligible Orange County public high school and are accepted to a Florida public university, state college or technical school. Scholarships are designed to cover remaining tuition and certain educational expenses after students have applied for other available grants and financial assistance.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy investing in education, we give young children the foundation they need to succeed and, in turn, create opportunities, empower individuals and strengthen families.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brown said Rosen\u2019s example showed him that investing in education can strengthen not only individual students but also entire families and communities. \u201cBy investing in education, we give young children the foundation they need to succeed and, in turn, create opportunities, empower individuals and strengthen families,\u201d Brown said.<\/p>\n

Brown has led Travel + Leisure Co. since 2017, guiding an Orlando-based company with approximately 19,000 associates and a portfolio of travel brands serving millions of vacationers each year. His leadership has included the company\u2019s transformation into Travel + Leisure Co. and an increased focus on community engagement in the places where its employees live and its customers travel.<\/p>\n

This inaugural award reinforces the Rosen family\u2019s continuing commitment to the values Harris Rosen championed throughout his life. His approach to philanthropy emphasized measurable results, long-term involvement and the belief that successful businesses have a responsibility to help their communities prosper.<\/p>\n

By carrying that philosophy into a new company and a new Orlando community, Brown has helped extend Rosen\u2019s influence to another generation of students. The recognition honors more than a single program. It celebrates a model of leadership in which influence is measured by the opportunities created for others. As the first recipient of the Harris Rosen Heart of Central Florida Award, Brown represents the enduring power of one leader\u2019s example to inspire another to act.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Michael Brown, president and CEO of Travel + Leisure Co., has been named the first recipient of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":422490,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[139,141,140],"class_list":["post-422489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=422489"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422489\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/422490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=422489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=422489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=422489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}