The nexus of business, music and pasta
Andrew Cagnetta, CEO, Transworld Business Advisors
FORT LAUDERDALE — Andrew Cagnetta, the seemingly stereotypical and dapper CEO of Transworld Business Advisors, has a secret — he’s a heavy metal music enthusiast and plays a mean Judas Priest. He even did a stint marketing Kramer guitars.
Originally from New Jersey, Andy came to Florida in 1995 and joined Transworld Business Advisors as an agent. Now CEO, he’s all business when it comes to his successful nationwide brokerage and franchise firm. He’s been featured in renowned business magazines such as Inc., and has been interviewed by business experts and quoted by authors around the country.
“We should donate because we are able, volunteer because we are capable, and to enable the professionals to do their work.”
But Andy’s executive persona is only one part of his multi-faceted character. He also puts forth a generous commitment to serve others that includes the LifeNet4Families (aka Cooperative Feeding Program), Junior Achievement, the United Way, the Legal Aid Service Executive Counsel, and the event that truly plucks him out of the typecast golf-playing executive lineup (which he also enjoys) is his annual fundraising event, Andy’s Family Pasta Dinner.
Now in its tenth year, Andy and a selection of honorary chefs put on a pasta spread that has raised more than $200,000 for LifeNet 4 Families. LifeNet 4 Families is one of the largest providers of emergency food for people in need in Broward County.
Andy learned many years ago that getting people engaged in helping others and raising money was harder than he anticipated. “My first experience was helping out a friend at the LifeNet4Familes (then the Cooperative Feeding Program) when their A/C was broken. I thought I could help.”
Andy needed to raise $4,000 to finish the job and only got halfway there. “I vowed to make up the difference and CEO Marti Forman put me on their board. We all (staff and board) have brought LifeNet4Families to new heights and a new building since.”
But after solving that problem, he was hooked on the rewarding gift of giving and found even more ways to feed his new habit. Andy’s unstoppable gusto for giving and business has brought him to Club 211’s exclusive opportunity to combine the two. “I understand the value of 211 connecting the dots from need to solutions,” Andy said.
He continued, “We should donate because we are able, volunteer because we are capable, and to enable the professionals to do their work. I always tell people not to start new nonprofits, there are so many great ones; give them money and lend a hand, but let the professionals (non-profit execs and staff) handle the rest.”
Andy sums up his philosophy of life in his favorite quote, the opening stanza from the poem Ode written in 1874 by the English poet Arthur O’Shaughnessy, “We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams.”
But his passion for music, business and giving seems more fitting of the last line of that famous poem, “Yet we are the movers and shakers of the world for ever, it seems.”
If you’d like to contact Andy about Transworld Business Advisors, he can be reached ac@tworld.com or 754–224–3109. Learn more about his annual pasta extravaganza at www.andyspastadinner.com.
— end —
