{"id":12644,"date":"2011-07-07T11:20:36","date_gmt":"2011-07-07T11:20:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/?p=12644"},"modified":"2016-05-19T08:52:23","modified_gmt":"2016-05-19T12:52:23","slug":"the-magic-of-entrepreneurship-celebrates-achievements-and-honors-graduates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/2011\/07\/the-magic-of-entrepreneurship-celebrates-achievements-and-honors-graduates\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cThe Magic of Entrepreneurship\u201d celebrates achievements and honors graduates."},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Two accomplished young alumni and a ground-breaking health care entrepreneur were honored at Florida International University\u2019s (FIU) College of Business Administration 12th annual Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame ceremony, held at the Westin Colonnade in Coral Gables.<\/p>\n<p>Over 300 alumni and friends of the university gathered for \u201cThe Magic of Entrepreneurship.\u201d The event also recognized winners of <em>The Miami Herald <\/em>Business Plan Challenge, sponsored by the College of Business Administration.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_12647\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-12647\" style=\"width: 405px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/tn_EHOF_HamatySimmonds.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12647\" title=\"tn_EHOF_HamatySimmonds\" src=\"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/tn_EHOF_HamatySimmonds.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"405\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-12647\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Executive Dean Joyce J. Elam; Monique Hamaty-Simmonds, winner of the Builder Award; and Tony Argiz (BBA \u201974), representing presenting sponsor MBAF <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Executive Dean Joyce J. Elam presided at the induction of Monique Hamaty-Simmonds (BBA \u201996), CEO of Tortuga Rum Cake Company, who received the Builder Award; Algerto Aghion (BBA \u201999), COO and co-founder of Zumba Fitness, LLC, the Founder Award honoree. Benjamin Leon Jr., chairman and founder of Leon Medical Centers Inc., was honored as South Florida Entrepreneur of the Year.<\/p>\n<p><em>Groundbreaking medical business recognized<\/em><\/p>\n<p>FIU President Mark Rosenberg cited Leon Medical Center\u2019s focus on quality medical care under one roof for South Florida seniors as \u201ca national model of how to take care of people\u201d; praised Hamaty-Simmonds\u2019 stewardship of her family\u2019s company and her creation of a product that stands as the top take-home gift on cruise ships and in many Caribbean ports; and called attention to Algion\u2019s success in taking Zumba \u201cfrom a single class to a global phenomenon,\u201d now available at more than 90,000 locations worldwide.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_12646\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-12646\" style=\"width: 200px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/tn_EHOF_Alghion.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12646\" title=\"tn_EHOF_Alghion\" src=\"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/tn_EHOF_Alghion.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-12646\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Alberto Alghion, winner of the Founder Award<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Accepting the award for South Florida Entrepreneur of the Year, Leon said, \u201cI tell entrepreneurs, always do the right thing when no one is looking.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_12645\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-12645\" style=\"width: 412px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/tn_EHOF_Leon.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12645\" title=\"tn_EHOF_Leon\" src=\"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/tn_EHOF_Leon.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"412\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-12645\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tony Argiz; Benjamin Leon, South Florida Entrepreneur of the Year; and Joyce J. Elam<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Michelle Joubert (MBA \u201910), the college\u2019s assistant director of alumni relations, noted that the venue had brought alumni together in a collegial, intimate setting, and made for excellent networking opportunities.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is rewarding to see so many accomplished FIU Business alumni gathering to celebrate our accomplishments and look toward the future,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" align=\"middle\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"400\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/slideShow\/index.gne?group_id=&amp;user_id=23794481@N04&amp;set_id=72157626799441607\/show\" width=\"100%\" ><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Two accomplished young alumni and a ground-breaking health care entrepreneur were honored at Florida International University\u2019s (FIU) College of Business Administration 12th annual Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame ceremony, held at the Westin Colonnade in Coral Gables. Over 300 alumni and friends of the university gathered for \u201cThe Magic of Entrepreneurship.\u201d The event also recognized winners [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1405],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12644"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/66"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12644"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12644\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26724,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12644\/revisions\/26724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}