Steve Riggs is a serial entrepreneur who returned to Okaloosa County.
After working for the Internal Revenue Service as a Field Agent in their Jacksonville office for four years, Steve Riggs returned to his Okaloosa County roots, opening his first CPA office with 4 employees. That was 1986. Today, Carr, Riggs & Ingram is the 38th largest CPA firm in the nation, with 13 office locations in Alabama, Florida, Georgia and Mississippi. In addition to traditional accounting services, CRI also has a Business Consulting Practice that caters to both established businesses and startup organizations, emphasizing client business and performance goals while maintaining primary focus on increased revenues and reduced costs.
While his CPA business is his base, Steve is an entrepreneur at heart. The son of an entrepreneur, Steve has a penchant for seeking out opportunities, so much so that he has ventured into real estate development. After a few smaller successes, he is now the Chairman and CEO of Southeastern Consulting and Development Company who is developing a 1,000 acre golf course residential community with over 800 home sites north of Crestview called Heritage Plantation. He is also the developer of other Emerald Coast area developments including Palmetto Lake Preserve, East Bay Preserve, Heritage Manor and Heritage Park.
In 2006, he recognized a growing need for designated business and personal air travel for the Destin area. As a result, he founded Destin Air Charters with a single King Air 200. Today DAC operates a fleet of two King Airs plus one Cirrus SR-22, with private air charter service to the business and leisure traveler providing a variety of options for secure and comfortable air travel. They provide service to any location in the United States and the Caribbean.
And Steve’s philosophy for success? “I took risks and surrounded myself with good people. Don’t micromanage; just get out of their way and let them do their jobs.”