The Coral Gables Chamber of Commerce recently celebrated the sparkling success of local businesses with its 2017 Diamond Awards.
Now in its 20th year, the Diamond Awards recognize everything that shines about local business. Honors were bestowed during a dazzling luncheon on Friday, Dec. 8, at the Coral Gables Country Club.
The Diamond Awards, presented by MG Developer, are the chamber’s most prestigious corporate awards program, honoring excellence in business achievement, corporate citizenship, customer service and workplace environment. The Diamond Awards recognized businesses in nine different categories.
This year’s honorees were:
Outstanding Large Business Award, Bill Ussery Motors;
Outstanding Small Business Award, Intermedia Touch Inc.;
Diamond-in-the-Rough Business Award, Coral Gables Title + Escrow LLC;
Outstanding Non-Profit Organization Award, Junior League of Miami Inc.;
Outstanding Hospitality Entity Award, Hyatt Place Miami Airport – East;
Retailer of the Year Award, The Well Groomed Gentleman;
Outstanding Family-Owned Business Award, Cao Chocolates;
Outstanding Woman-Owned Business Award, FrameWorks;
Outstanding Corporate Social Responsibility Award, Miami Heat, and
Business Leaders of the Year Award, Michael Miller and Grant Miller, Miami’s Community Newspapers.
In addition, the chamber honored three new-to-market companies that during the past year have chosen to call Coral Gables their new home. They were Cosentino, Infiniti of Coral Gables and the University of Florida Coral Gables.
“Thank you to the chamber, the sponsors and judges,” said Greg Barnes, president of Bill Ussery Motors Group and the recipient of the 2017 Outstanding Large Business Award. “I’d also like to say congratulations to all of the nominees, as I stand before the who’s who in our community.
“On behalf of my team and 600 colleagues, I have the honor to serve our community. We’ll sell about 8,000 new cars this year and service about 75,000, and it’s our privilege to do that,” Barnes added.
“Winning the Family-Owned Business Award means a lot me,” said Ricardo Trillos, owner of Cao Chocolates. “I am very lucky to be able to have family and business together. Cao Chocolates is a big family and we’re always growing because of you guys.”
The 2017 Diamond Awards were presented by MG Developer and supported by the City of Coral Gables, Florida Blue and Mercedes-Benz of Coral Gables. In-kind support was provided by Photo Offset Inc., Frames USA + Art Gallery, Flower Fanatic and the Coral Gables Country Club.
“It was important for us to be a part of this prestigious event and award the entrepreneurial achievements in Coral Gables,” said Alirio Torrealba, CEO of MG Developer, presenting sponsor. “As a part of this great city, we wanted to be alongside our community partners to recognize the collective efforts which make Coral Gables “The City Beautiful” in so many ways.”
