2010 Small Business Week Awards Presented at UNF

Joanna Norris, Assistant Director

Department of Media Relations and Events

(904) 620-2102

The 18^th Annual Small Business Week Celebration will be held at the University Center on the University of North Florida campus Thursday, May 13, from 11:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m. This year’s event will feature entrepreneur and Food Network host Warren Brown.

Brown is the owner of CakeLove, a retail bakery specializing in cakes and small sweets baked from scratch, and host of “Sugar Rush” on the Food Network. His career path has been anything but normal. In 2000, he left his career as a lawyer with the federal government to pursue a dream of starting a business and founded CakeLove in 2002, which has grown from a moonlighting project into a thriving retail business.

In 2006, Brown was recognized as the United States SBA Small Business Person of the Year for Washington, D.C. He has been featured on the “Oprah Winfrey Show,” the “Today Show,” People Magazine, Southern Living, Black Enterprise, Inc. Magazine, the Washington Post and many others.

After the keynote presentation by Brown, the U.S. Small Business Administration will present its coveted Small Business Week awards, spotlighting the outstanding contributions of North Florida business leaders and champions at the district level. The U.S. SBA will also recognize North Florida’s top SBA Lenders with awards for significant participation in the 7(a) and 504 Loan programs for fiscal year 2009.

Following are the 2010 Small Business Week winners: Minority Small Business Champion of the Year: Joanne Marie Kazmierski, JAXPORT- Jacksonville Port Authority; Small Business Exporter of the Year: Helga Langthon, SOHO Network Solutions, Inc.; Women in Business Champion of the Year: Pegine Echevarria, Team Pegine, Inc.; and Veteran Small Business Champion of the Year: Rear Adm. Kevin F. Delaney, Delaney & Associates Consulting.

The registration fee for this event is $35 per person. Corporate tables of eight are available for the luncheon for $350. To register for the 18^th Annual Small Business Week Celebration, call (904) 620-2476 or go to www.sbdc.unf.edufor available seating.

This event is presented by the Small Business Development Center at UNF and SunTrust Bank, with support from the Jacksonville Business Journal, Borrego Springs Bank and WorkSource.

-UNF-