Business Briefs
Lee County businesses honored
at Horizon Council Healthy Business Awards
In recognition of their outstanding commitment to employee wellness, three local businesses received the 2015 Horizon Council Healthy Business Awards Aug. 26 at the Lee County Workplace Wellness Summit.
Edison National Bank/Bank of the Islands was honored with the Small Business Award for the company’s long-term, comprehensive commitment to workplace wellness. The company has provided a variety of activities and initiatives for its employees since 2007 through its “A Better Way to Wellness Program” that provides monetary incentives and reimbursements for its employees to encourage healthy lifestyles.
The Mid-sized Business Award was granted to the Housing Authority of the City of Fort Myers. The organization formed its Working on Wellness employee wellness program in 2013 to provide a workplace environment that supports anyone’s desire to make healthy lifestyle choices. In order to do this, the Housing Authority of the city of Fort Myers has provided employees with a variety of offsite fitness options, including boot camps, outdoor fitness groups and gym memberships.
The Large Business Award was given to Lee County Electric Cooperative. The not-for-profit company has a total of 241 employees participating in the wellness program, which was formed in 2008 and became one of the organization’s corporate objectives in 2012. LCEC’s program provides a wide variety of resources, activities and opportunities for its employees to inspire healthy habits. LCEC offers an onsite fitness center for employees and their dependents age 14 and above and also provides partial reimbursement for fitness facility fees and entry fees for running events, races and marathons.
Hosted in partnership with the Horizon Foundation, the Chamber of Southwest Florida, SHRM of SWFL and Healthy Lee, the Workplace Wellness Summit featured presentations from Dr. Marc Braman MD, MPH, founding member of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine and owner of Northwest Lifestyle Medicine, Inc. and Mike Smith, chief information officer for Lee Memorial Health System and member of Health Information Systems Executive Association. A panel discussion was also held by medical carriers, highlighting wellness programs and incentives.
Visit www.LeeCountyBusiness.com or call 239-338-3161 for additional information.
CONRIC PR & Marketing
wins design award
CONRIC PR & Marketing | Publishing received accolades at the Florida Magazine Association Charlie Awards held Aug. 7 in Orlando for the magazine B&G.
Published by CONRIC on behalf of Bishop Verot Catholic High School, B&G was honored in the category of Best Department Design Association & Trade/Technical, as judged by academics and industry experts across the United States. Entries for Best Department Design are judged on design excellence across three different issues of the magazine.
B&G Publisher Connie Ramos-Williams, CEO of CONRIC, and Creative Director April Bordeaux were honored with the Bronze Award for the magazine’s Athletic Guide in the category. The Athletic Guide features schedules for seasonal boys’ and girls’ varsity and junior varsity sports, team photos, coach bios and senior players’ photographs.
CONRIC PR & Marketing | Publishing, founded in 2007, is a full-service PR agency providing strategic brand awareness campaigns, integrated public relations programs, marketing development and consulting services, advertising concept and campaigns, media buys, custom and niche publishing, creative writing and design, digital marketing strategies, website development and crisis communications strategy and implementation. For more information, call (239) 690-9840 or visit www.conricpr.com
Alta Resources’
job fair Saturday
Alta Resources, the Wisconsin-based customer-management business-process outsourcing company, will continue staffing up during a Saturday, Sept. 12, Job Fair at its second building at 12451 Gateway Blvd., east of its main office, in Fort Myers Most available positions are seasonal, and many will be filled on the spot.
Seasonal full- and part-time openings are available in customer care and inbound sales to serve Alta Resources’ health-insurance clients that have expanding needs to support the Affordable Care Act’s annual enrollment period. Employees with bilingual English/Spanish skills are particularly needed. For those interested in inbound sales for health insurance, Alta Resources provides qualified candidates with training and licensing reimbursement, valid for the state(s) he/she will be servicing.
Job seekers are encouraged to complete applications online at JoinAlta.com before arriving at the Job Fair. Hiring professionals will be on hand from 8 a.m. until 6 p.m. for immediate, one-on-one interviews and to answer questions and provide information about Alta Resources.
To learn more about career opportunities, visit JoinAlta.com or email HR@AltaResources.com.
Aerospace manufacturer announces
plans to expand Lee County operations
Advanced Components International LLC has announced it will expand manufacturing operations in Lee County, creating 42 additional jobs.
ACI is a subsidiary of Techspace Aero S.A, a Safran group company, an aerospace industry leader based in Belgium. Locally, ACI produces oil reservoirs used in commercial aircraft. The company proposes to invest $11.6 million to retrofit an existing facility and purchase machinery and equipment.
The Lee County Board of County Commissioners in May approved a tax incentive of $42,000 for the expansion project, then identified as Project Rafale. The local incentives are a 20 percent match of total tax incentives of $210,000, with the remainder paid by the State of Florida.
ACI has major production commitments on next generation commercial aircraft, resulting in year-over-year growth through 2020 and continuing for the life of the aircraft program. ACI will employ skilled workers for manufacturing, engineering, management and support roles.
Incentives will be paid as jobs are created.
ACI has been in Lee County since 2010 and now employs 36 people here and additionally, Safran affiliates employ more than 300 in the state of Florida. The company is now located off Jetport Loop near Southwest Florida International Airport and will expand into an existing facility near Gateway.
The Economic Development Office was created to help expand and diversify Lee County’s economy. In addition to providing site selection assistance, customized research, financial incentives and many other resources, the EDO works closely with a regional network of economic development partners to make companies and site selection professionals more successful in Southwest Florida’s dynamic business environment.
Engh named 2015 FADAA
Volunteer of the Year
Jon Engh, business banking relationship manager, was recently awarded the 2015 Florida Alcohol and Drug Abuse Association Volunteer of the Year for his work with the Lee County Coalition for a Drug-Free Southwest Florida, an organization devoted to preventing drug and alcohol abuse in Lee county. Engh joined the board of directors of the coalition in 2012 and has been instrumental in helping the coalition grow and further it’s mission.
Engh founded the Busey Bank Run for Prevention, which raised more than $10,000 in 2104. The 2015 race will be held October 10 at the Florida Gulf Coast University campus.
The FADAA represents substance abuse prevention and treatment providers, managing entities and community anti-drug coalitions in advancing addiction and co-occurring treatment, prevention and research through communications, professional development and public policy leadership.
First Busey Corporation (Nasdaq: BUSE) is a $3.9 billion financial holding company headquartered in Champaign, Illinois. Busey Bank, First Busey Corporation’s wholly-owned bank subsidiary, is also headquartered in Champaign, Illinois and has twenty-eight banking centers serving Illinois, a banking center in Indianapolis, Indiana, and seven banking centers serving southwest Florida.
Busey Bank and Busey Wealth Management deliver financial services through busey.com.
Restaurant registration deadline extended
for Junior League’s 33rd Annual Taste of the Town
The Junior League of Fort Myers Inc. is extending the deadline for restaurants to sign up for its 33rd Annual Taste of the Town.
Thirty-five restaurants have already signed up for this year’s event, which will once again be held at JetBlue Park, the Boston Red Sox’s 106-acre Spring Training and Player Development Com-plex, located at 11500 Fenway South Drive in Fort Myers, Sunday, Nov. 1.
The Junior League’s Taste of the Town is Southwest Florida’s original “taste” event and one of the largest outdoor food and entertainment festivals. The 2014 event attracted nearly 15,000 attendees.
Funds from this one-day annual event benefit the JLFM, whose volunteer mission provides thousands of dollars annually in volunteer services and donations to programs supporting women and children in the region. Among the programs are the Junior League’s Kids in the Kitchen which helps fight childhood obesity, the ongoing work with at-risk girls in the juvenile justice system, as well as work throughout the community in partnership with many organizations through the JLFM’s Helping Hands program, which provides volunteer woman-power to organizations such as Big Brothers Big Sisters, the Abuse Counseling & Treatment Shelter, Early Learning Coalition, the Supporting Independent Young Adults organization and many more.
Last year’s event raised the second highest tally in the history of the event, bringing in $133,000.
According to Taste of the Town chairs Karen Hutto and Shirley Snyder McLaren, interested restaurants and vendors have until Thursday, Oct. 1, to reserve a spot at this year’s event by calling 239-277-1197 or emailing totrestaurants@jlfm.org. Space is limited.