Entrepreneur of the Year (Photo Page)

Entrepreneur of the Year (Photo Page)

Bradenton entrepreneur Bill Mullis of Employee Leasing Solutions and runners-up John Cannon of John Cannon Homes and Alan Zirkelbach of Zirkelbach Construction were honored at GCBR's seventh annual award luncheon May 14 at the Hyatt Sarasota.

More than 400 people attended the celebration that honored Mullis, Cannon and Zirkelbach. Finalists honored were William V. Carey of Central European Distributing Corp., Nick Generalovich of Vanguard Advanced Pharmacy Systems, Steve Herrig of Progressive Employer Services, Lawrence Kemick of Kemick Construction Co., Jay Tallman/Tom Brown of U.S. Assets Group and Jeff Wenger of Tax Technologies Inc.

John Saputo, owner of Gold Coast Eagle Distributing Co., received GCBR's "Spirit of America Award."

Hartley O'Brien, district director for U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris, presents a plaque to Bill Mullis, in recognition of his entrepreneurial achievements as founder and president of Bradenton's Employee Leasing Solutions.

Debbie Herkert, workforce manager, Manatee Economic Development Council; Scott Moore, workforce and entrepreneurial resource manager, Sarasota Committee for Economic Development; Nancy Engel, Manatee EDC executive director; and Diane Andrews, business development manager, Sarasota EDC.

Steve Smith, president and creative director of Stephen A. Smith & Associates; Cindy Oatman, Stephen A. Smith's media director; Mark Edge, director of marketing at Talk Radio 1220-AM; Lou Lasday, president of The Lasday Group, a Longboat Key marketing firm; and Gina L. Mascio, a partner at CPA Associates.

Clockwise from top left:

Sarasota Tiger Bay President Marj Baldwin and Sam Holladay, principal of Sarasota-based Seibert Architects PA.

Landon McMahon, Realtor, Michael Saunders & Co.; Chris Romine, vice president, Northern Trust Bank; and Bob Beck, president, Staffing Professionals.

John Saputo, owner of Gulf Coast Eagle Distributing Co. and winner of GCBR's Spirit of America Award, receiving a congressional letter of commendation from O'Brien on behalf of Harris.

Janet Trefry, a Realtor at Prudential Palms Realty; George Mazzarantani, managing partner of George H. Mazzarantani PA; and Kim Hermann, transaction coordinator, Prudential Palms Realty.

Mike Worthington, executive vice president and senior loan officer at First State Bank; Corey Coughlin, the bank's president and chief executive officer; and William C. Guy Jr., the bank's vice president of lending and commercial real estate.

Scott Sosso, president of Prudential Palms Realty; Thomas Pellegrino of Eaton Honick Pellegrino & Mcfarland PA; and Burton Romanoff of George H. Mazzarantani PA.

Phil Delany, president of Northern Trust Bank, and Matt Walsh, editor and publisher of GCBR.