Ray Chehata has a philosophy about driving: You can stay on the highway and get where you’re going, or you can take the exits and see where they lead.
For Chehata, purchasing Lifestyle Media Group, the parent company of South Florida Business & Wealth, was one of those exits.
Chehata, who acquired the South Florida-based media company this summer, didn’t make the purchase to simply add another business to his portfolio. He saw something different in South Florida Business & Wealth (SFBW): a magazine that could have an impact on the community he calls home. “I want to use this platform from where it is today to reach a higher level of commitment to the community,” Chehata says.
At a time when public discourse can seem increasingly divided, Chehata says he wants SFBW to serve as a place where readers can learn about the people, businesses, and organizations shaping South Florida without being told which side they should be on. “I want us to traverse both sides of the aisle to educate and spark dialogue,” he says.
For Chehata, earning readers’ trust is essential to making that happen. “We’re establishing credibility,” he says. “We want readers to be excited about the information and that it has value.”
It’s a role that might have seemed unlikely earlier in Chehata’s life.
Born into an Egyptian family and raised in Montreal, Chehata says he grew up feeling like an outsider. He recalls a high school guidance counselor telling him that “school was not meant for everyone,” an assessment that had the opposite of its intended effect. Being told he wasn’t good enough, he says, became motivation to prove otherwise.
Chehata began his career in commercial lending with BMO-Harris in May 1987, just months before the Black Monday stock market crash. The experience gave him an early education in troubled companies, lessons that would shape his approach to business.
In 1995, with one child here and another on the way, he left the security of banking after a client encouraged him to strike out on his own in Florida, leading to ownership of numerous successful companies. Chehata had dreamed of living in the United States since he was a child and became a naturalized American citizen in November 2023. South Florida is both home and a place where he believes his family has an obligation to give back to the community that has taken his family in with open arms.
Chehata is also a believer in surrounding himself with people who know more than he does about their particular disciplines, an idea he connects to Jim Collins’ influential business book, “Good to Great.” His takeaway: Everyone is an “A” at something. The challenge for a leader is figuring out what that something is and putting people in positions where they can excel. “Your human capital is your finest resource,” he says. Without good people, culture and energy, he believes, the rest doesn’t matter.
Family is the most important part of the equation. Chehata Family Holdings is, as the name clearly states, a family enterprise. Chehata is adamant, however, that being a family member does not automatically qualify someone for a job. Family members must first work elsewhere, and those who eventually take operational roles must earn the respect of their colleagues. “They will have roles over time as they fit,” he says. “It’s not nepotism. They have to earn the respect of their peers.”
What he does hope to pass along is a sense of responsibility to the community. His sons, David and Andrew, are beginning to take on their own nonprofit and civic roles, something Chehata views with more pride than simply having them join the family business. He believes in leading by example as he presently sits on five boards, three of which are non-profits.
That perspective became more urgent after July 2020, when Chehata says he clinically died for two minutes and 20 seconds and survived despite the odds stacked against him. Then and there, he made a commitment to live fully and to do good. For Chehata, SFBW is not simply a magazine, but another way to participate in the community — by sharing the stories of the people building businesses, creating jobs, supporting nonprofits, and shaping the region.
And while he talks frequently about family and the generations that follow, Chehata pushes back against the idea that he set out to create a “legacy.” For him, legacy isn’t about putting the family name on things. It’s about whether the next generation takes what it was given and moves forward. “I want my kids to be better than me,” he says. “I’m proud that they’re better than me.”
For all his philosophies about business, family, and life, what Chehata wants from SFBW may ultimately come down to one simple mantra. “Always try to do the right thing,” he says. And for Chehata, SFBW is another opportunity to do that.
