FIU announces its 2010 Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame inductees

MIAMI – Florida International University’s College of Business Administration will induct two of the business school’s most accomplished alumni into the Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame (EHOF) during a ceremony on May 20, 2010 honoring the recipients and marking the event’s 11th year. The college also will present the South Florida Entrepreneurial Company of the Year award. The awards, which will be presented during a ceremony held at Jungle Island will go to:

• Carlos Duart (MST ’99, BACC ’94), president, Metric Engineering, Inc. will receive the “Builder Award” recognizing his achievements in growing an existing business.
• Mariano de Socarraz (BBA’89), chief executive officer of CorePlus, LLC will receive the “Founder Award.”
• Brian Keeley, president and chief executive officer, on behalf of Baptist Health South Florida will accept the award for the South Florida Entrepreneurial Company of the Year.

“We are pleased to honor these individuals and institution. They embody the notion that entrepreneurship goes beyond ideas,” said Executive Dean of the College of Business Administration Joyce Elam.   “Those ideas must be put into action with an effective business strategy.”

The winners of the Miami Herald Business Plan Competition, presented by the Pino Global Entrepreneurship Center, will also be announced at the event.

This year, the Pino Center and the FIU’s College of Business have joined forces with The Miami Herald, and for the first time the Pino Center will be the naming sponsor for the competition.  The competition offers two tracks: one open only to FIU affiliates and a second track open to the South Florida community at large.

The celebration will take place from 6 to 9 p.m. at Jungle Island and will include a networking reception, silent auction and the induction ceremony. Morrison, Brown, Argiz, & Farra, LLP is the presenting sponsor of the event.

For online registration, visit http://business.fiu.edu/alumni/ehof.cfm or call Yanyn San Luis at 305-348-0501 to purchase tickets.

For more information about the two alumni honorees, visit http://www.metriceng.com/aboutus.htm and http://www.coreplus.com/Public/SP_Aboutus.asp.

For additional information about the college, please visit http://business.fiu.edu/ or contact Luis Casas, 305-348-7399 or casasl@fiu.edu, director of marketing, communications, and recruiting, College of Business Administration.

Media Contact:  Michelle Joubert at 305-348-0397.

-FIU-

About Florida International University’s College of Business Administration:
Florida International University’s College of Business Administration, South Florida’s leading business school with unique expertise in international business, entrepreneurship and a broad range of financial services, is the largest of the university’s professional schools. Among the college’s 35,000 alumni are some of South Florida’s most successful business leaders and entrepreneurs. More than 6,000 students are enrolled in undergraduate business courses in its R. Kirk Landon Undergraduate School of Business and more than 1,500 graduate students study in its Alvah H. Chapman Jr. Graduate School of Business every year. Another 1,000 business professionals participate annually in one or more of its professional and executive education programs.

About FIU:
Florida International University is one of the 25 largest universities in the nation, with nearly 40,000 students. More than 100,000 FIU alumni live and work in South Florida. Its colleges and schools offer more than 200 bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral programs in fields such as engineering, international relations and law. As one of South Florida’s anchor institutions, FIU is worlds ahead in its local and global engagement, finding solutions to the most challenging problems of our time. FIU emphasizes research as a major component of its mission. The opening of the Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine in August 2009 has enhanced the university’s ability to create lasting change through its research initiatives. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu.