Orlando, Fla., May 8, 2014 – The Orlando Chapter of the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG Orlando) recognized seven middle market companies for excellence in corporate growth that spotlight Central Florida’s thriving economic recovery during the 2014 ACG Orlando SMART Awards program.
“The middle market sector in the last 12 months grew revenue 6.5% while the S&P 500 only grew .5%. Companies such as your is the 5th largest global economy in the world and contributes one-third of the non-government U.S. GDP, this sector accounts for one-third of total U.S. employment. You should all be proud of how much our sector contributes to the recovery of our country’s economy,” said Peter E. Reinert, SMART Awards Committee Chairman and Chairman of presenting sponsor Lowndes, Drosdick, Doster, Kantor & Reed’s Capital Markets & Technology Group.
Seven winners of the 2014 SMART Awards were announced from a field of 19 finalists companies: Kavaliro in Business & Professional Services, Sunshine Fitness Management in Consumer Services & Products, Noble in Healthcare, MBI Direct Mail, Inc. in Media, Entertainment & Communications, iStorage in Real Estate & Construction, AVT Simulation in Simulation & Defense and Orange Lake Resorts in Tourism & Hospitality.
“It’s a great honor for AVT Simulation to be recognized and included alongside Central Florida’s top companies. Receiving this awards is validation for the hard work we do, and continue to bring value to the simulation technology sector, and we are thankful to ACG Orlando for recognizing us,” said Robert Abascal, Founder and CEO of award winning AVT Simulation.
Featured speaker Jonathan Taylor, Co-founder of Voxeo, 2011 SMART Awards Winner and Serial Technology Entrepreneur, spoke directly to the finalist companies and encouraged the group to think now about preparing their respective companies for the next stage of growth, capital raise and sale, as well as to consider customer service as a profit center by adopting a culture of always solving customer problems, even when unrelated to core services or products.
A video presentation, sponsored by Wells Fargo, highlighting each of the finalist company’s corporate culture, growth and economic contributions was shown while guests enjoyed an elegant luncheon at the Country Club of Orlando. David H. Simon, ACG Orlando Chapter President, was recognized and awarded for outstanding dedication and leadership to the chapter.
Finalist companies were required to be in a current stage of growth with annual revenue or sales of $10 million to $1 billion, with headquarters in Central Florida. On May 8th, more than 200 business executives from across the region gathered to enjoy lunch, top-level networking and to congratulate this year’s winners who were chosen from a field of more than 19 finalist companies in seven industry categories.
ACG Orlando 