Draft:Arnie Bellini

Arnie Bellini is an American business executive and philanthropist. He was the co-founder and first CEO of ConnectWise, a business management software company based in Tampa, Florida that he sold for $1.5 billion in 2019. In 2020, he started the investment firm Bellini Capital focused on investments in Tampa Bay.

Bellini is the founder of a nonprofit called Live Wildly whose mission is to conserve Florida’s greenspaces and  wildlife corridors. He has lobbied for the preservation of wildlands in his home state of Florida. He is also an endurance swimmer who crossed the English Channel in 2013 at the age of 54.

Early life and education
Bellini grew up in New Orleans, Louisiana until the age of 12. He later moved to Tampa, Florida, where his father worked for IBM. Bellini graduated from Tampa Catholic High School in 1975. He received a degree from the University of Florida before receiving an MBA from the University of South Florida in 1982.

Career
In 1982 Bellini co-founded the software company ConnectWise along with his brother, initially operating out of their parents’ spare bedroom. Bellini served as CEO and his brother, David Bellini, served as president. Bellini started the company with the intention of growing it in the Tampa Bay area; by 2014, the company employed nearly 600 people in Tampa. Bellini prioritized hiring locally. In 2019 Bellini sold ConnectWise to the private equity firm Thoma Bravo for $1.5 billion. Bellini founded the investment firm Bellini Capital in 2019 and serves as CEO.

Philanthropy
In 2021, through his philanthropic organization Bellini Better World Foundation, Bellini hired lobbyists to advocate on behalf of a $300 million state conservation land acquisition program in Florida. In 2022 he founded a nonprofit called Live Wildly that works to preserve Florida’s greenspaces and  wildlife corridors. Also in 2022, Bellini and his wife, Lauren, donated $10.6 million toward the establishment of the Bellini Center for Talent Development at the University of South Florida. In 2024, Bellini donated $15 million to Tampa Catholic High School for the continued funding of an arts center he established there in 2019.

Personal life
Bellini is a triathlete. He is also an endurance swimmer who has completed swims around the island of Manhattan, and from Santa Catalina Island to Los Angeles. In 2013, at the age of 54, he swam across the English Channel, becoming the 50th person over the age of 50 to do so. Bellini lives in Clearwater, Florida with his wife, Lauren. They have two sons, Arnold and Peter.