January 2013 NEWSLETTER

Transcription

1 January 2013 NEWSLETTER January 2013 I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E : President s Message 1 Board Member Spotlight Past Events 3, 4 Upcoming Events 5 CHAMBER EXECUTIVE OFFICERS Evan S. Piper President Piper Automotive/PiperConstruction Barbara Kramer Vice President NMB Councilwoman Oscar Llorente Vice President Mt. Sinai Medical Center Christopher Colona Secretary A Lurnin Company Abraham B. Mansdorf Treasurer Abraham B. Mansdorf, CPA, PA Yona S. Lunger Past President Chesed of South Florida BOARD OF DIRECTORS Anthony Defillipo Decorus Realty Dr. Jack Berman Berman Chiropractic Center Dr. Janie Greenleaf The Ancient Spanish Monastery Dr. Tara Saltzman Nova Southeastern University Fischler School of Education Daniel Fils-Aime Sr Haitian American Historical Society Ellis Adger Florida Power & Light Jesus Vega, Jr. TECO Peoples Gas Majorie Aloni Vi Aventura Paul Lemay Brixmor Property * Marilyn Steele M&M Title Shari Kamali City Of North Miami Beach Diane Blank DB Benefits Solutions* Brent Carraway MMA FIT Sandy Curtis Edible Arrangements Joe Shapiro Florida First Insurance Michael J. Snyder Attorney At Law * * Denotes Lifetime Director 2 6 It is with great pleasure and excitement that I have been given the opportunity to serve as your new President of the Greater North Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce for 2013! I appreciate the faith you have shown in my experience and ability to lead the Chamber into the future. It has been my pleasure to meet many of you at various Chamber and community events. For those of you that I have not yet met, I look forward to the opportunity. I have spent the last few years, first as a Board member, then last year as your Vice President and now as your President in working to improve the Chamber and move it forward to make it a great and valuable resource for our members and community. My initial focus has been on operational issues. I believe that by applying my over 30 years of business experience owning and operating multiple companies and combined with the great talents that we have on our Board of Directors, the Chamber is now in a much more stable position than we have been for years. Our Treasurer, Abe Mansdorf, CPA has been an invaluable resource through this process. Another important piece of this turnaround was to search for and finding an appropriate Executive Director for the Chamber. Sondra Marcus had been selected for this position and has been doing an outstanding job! I have been putting in place many initiatives to move the Chamber to the next level. This is largely being done through our Committees. The Education Committee, chaired by Secretary Chris Colona, has been doing great things and the Chamber will be having an incredible gala event, this April, to support education. We have a newly formed Arts and Culture Committee which will focus on events that will be entertaining to attendees as well as having an approach that will be positive to business. Our second Vice President, Oscar Llorente, is a great and talented person to have Chair this committee. In addition, our Membership Committee will be focusing on improving the membership experience for existing members as well as attracting new members. Our Past President, Yona Lunger is an experienced natural pro to Chair this committee. Lastly, another committee is the Health and Wellness c o m m i t t e e C h a i r e d b y B o a r d M e m b e r M a r j o r i e A l o n i. She has unbelievable connections and resources in this field and we look forward to g r e a t t h i n g s c o m i n g f o r w a r d f r o m t h a t c o m m i t t e e. We have also been focusing on putting on quality events that promote business for members and provide pleasurable experiences at the same time. In addition to our monthly luncheons, we have added monthly breakfast networking events, we have our evening Uptown Networking Event twice a month in conjunction with other local Chambers and we also have at least one monthly event that showcases a member s business. We are working on partnering with other local Chambers to pool our talents and memberships for larger scale events. We have already produced joint events such as the Biz Bash Expo and of course the Uptown Networking Events. -Cont. Pg. 2

2 Page 2 B O A R D OF D I R E C T O R S S P O T L I G H T : OSCAR LLORENTE V I C E PRESID E N T Oscar Llorente Is the community relations specialist at Mount Sinai Medical Center and Mount Sinai Aventura with responsibility for business development, market share growth, business to business networking, oversees community outreach programs and works with the marketing team to develop strategic marketing campaigns. With over 14 years at Mount Sinai Medical Center he applies his strong expertise in networking with businesses and civic leaders, designs and coordinates special health related programs and events. Oscar s sophisticated style and personal touch is displayed in his networking skills across Dade and Broward. Among many other endeavors, Oscar has created specialized nutritional and wellness programs for the City of Hallandale Beach Police Department and City employees and works with other health related organizations and business to create health initiatives to benefit seniors. Previous to this, Oscar held various customer service positions that presented him with skills in excellent customer relations that he now applies to patients, medical staff, and his colleagues at Mount Sinai. Oscar is an active member of many organizations, including the Art and Culture Center of Hollywood where he serves as Vice Chairman and board of trustees. He also serves as Vice President of the North Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce and was the 2011 President of the Hallandale Beach Chamber of Commerce. His involvement and generosity has been acknowledged on several occasions: Oscar was presented with awards and honored by the communities for his partnerships and volunteer efforts. Oscar's considerable creativity manifests itself throughout all of his endeavors, both within the auspices of The Mount Sinai Medical Center and the community at large. Oscar and his partner, Gerard, reside in Hallandale Beach. LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT (CON T.) The other local chambers that we are partnering with are Aventura Marketing Council, North Miami Chamber of Commerce, Aventura-Sunny Isles Beach Chamber of Commerce and the Miami-Dade Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. Another area in which the Chamber is making great strides is with our relationship with the City of North Miami Beach. The Mayor and Council are great supporters of the Chamber as is the City Manager and Department Heads. I have met with the elected officials and the City Manager to work on various synergies that can be created with the City and the Chamber for mutual benefit and am hopeful that some of these ideas can be brought to fruition. We are also very lucky to have as our First Vice President, Councilwoman Barbara Kramer as the Council liaison to the Chamber. She works tirelessly to help the Chamber in many ways. In closing, I want to reiterate the words of our Mayor, George Vallejo that North Miami Beach is open for business and that the Greater North Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce is here to help make that happen. I also want to assure that our members benefit as well, while at the same time making sure that we all have some fun. I plan to update you periodically through our newsletters and I look forward to seeing everyone at the next event. Sincerely, Evan S. Piper

3 Page 3 EVENTS December Holiday Luncheon at Area Code 55 Yona Lunger emcees! Jay Senter presents NMB Chris Colona, EdCom Chair Javier Vasquez of Allied Barton Tennis Center Ad Program announces Vegas Night!! Security. Ribbon Cutting Ceremony for

4 Page 4 SWINGING RICHARD S RIBBON CUTTING Alaska Coffee Roasting Anniversary and Ribbon Cutting

5 Greater North Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce Page 5 WOULD YOU LIKE YOUR COUPON FEATURED IN A FUTURE BLAST OR ON THE CHAMBER S WEBSITE? Let us know by ing us at chamber@nmbchamber.com You have the ability to utilize our incredible online coupon system and take advantage of our Thousands of Monthly Web hits. Promote your business and add value to your community by submitting coupons. This is a great tool to utilize. SET UP YOUR BUSINESS TRAFFIC CATCHER SITE On the Chamber s Website to increase your online presence. For more information please call Sondra at CONNECT WITH THE NMB CHAMBER ON FACEBOOK & TWITTER It s now easier than ever to keep up with the NMB Chamber of Commerce. Add us as a friend on Facebook & follow us on twitter, we will keep you updated on luncheons, events, mixers, happy hours, and special offerings...it PAYS to be a Friend! (FB: NMB Chamber Twitter: NMBChamberofCom) Upcoming Events January 17 Member Area Code 55 Brazilian Steakhouse January 20 Children s Disney Day at Barker Animation January 22 Breakfast Speed Biz at Vi Aventura January 30 Sports Grill Ribbon Cutting & Heat Fan Watch Party!! February 1 Teacher Imaginarium at Nova Southeastern University