January 2013

I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E :

President’s Message 1

Board Member Spotlight

2

Past Events 3 , 4

Upcoming Events 5

6

CHAMBER EXECUTIVE OFFICERS

Evan S. Piper

President

Piper Automotive/PiperConstruction

Barbara Kramer

Vice President

NMB Councilwoman

Oscar Llorente

Vice President

Mt. Sinai Medical Center

Christopher Colona

Secretary

A Lurnin Company

Abraham B. Mansdorf

Treasurer

Abraham B. Mansdorf, CPA, PA

Yona S. Lunger

Past President

Chesed of South Florida

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Anthony Defillipo

Decorus Realty

Dr. Jack Berman

Berman Chiropractic Center

Dr. Janie Greenleaf

The Ancient Spanish Monastery

Dr. Tara Saltzman

Nova Southeastern University

Fischler School of Education

Daniel Fils-Aime Sr

Haitian American Historical Society

Ellis Adger

Florida Power & Light

Jesus Vega, Jr.

TECO – Peoples Gas

Majorie Aloni

Vi Aventura

Paul Lemay

Brixmor Property *

Marilyn Steele

M&M Title

Shari Kamali

City Of North Miami Beach

Diane Blank

DB Benefits Solutions*

Brent Carraway

MMA FIT

Sandy Curtis

Edible Arrangements

Joe Shapiro

Florida First Insurance

Michael J. Snyder

Attorney At Law *

* Denotes Lifetime Director

January 2013 NEWSLETTER

It is with great pleasure and excitement that I have been given the

opportunity to serve as your new President of the Greater North Miami

Beach Chamber of Commerce for 2013! I appreciate the faith you

have shown in my experience and ability to lead the Chamber into the

future. It has been my pleasure to meet many of you at various

Chamber and community events. For those of you that I have not yet

met, I look forward to the opportunity.

I have spent the last few years, first as a Board member, then last year as your Vice

President and now as your President in working to improve the Chamber and move it

forward to make it a great and valuable resource for our members and community.

My initial focus has been on operational issues. I believe that by applying my over 30

years of business experience owning and operating multiple companies and combined

with the great talents that we have on our Board of Directors, the Chamber is now in

a much more stable position than we have been for years. Our Treasurer, Abe

Mansdorf, CPA has been an invaluable resource through this process. Another

important piece of this turnaround was to search for and finding an appropriate

Executive Director for the Chamber. Sondra Marcus had been selected for this

position and has been doing an outstanding job!

I have been putting in place many initiatives to move the Chamber to the next level.

This is largely being done through our Committees. The Education Committee,

chaired by Secretary Chris Colona, has been doing great things and the Chamber will

be having an incredible gala event, this April, to support education. We have a newly

formed Arts and Culture Committee which will focus on events that will be

entertaining to attendees as well as having an approach that will be positive to

business. Our second Vice President, Oscar Llorente, is a great and talented person to

have Chair this committee. In addition, our Membership Committee will be focusing

on improving the membership experience for existing members as well as attracting

new members. Our Past President, Yona Lunger is an experienced natural pro to

Chair this committee. Lastly, another committee is the Health and Wellness

c o m m i t t e e C h a i r e d b y B o a r d M e m b e r M a r j o r i e A l o n i .

She has unbelievable connections and resources in this field and we look forward to

g r e a t t h i n g s c o m i n g f o r w a r d f r o m t h a t c o m m i t t e e .

We have also been focusing on putting on quality events that promote business for

members and provide pleasurable experiences at the same time. In addition to our

monthly luncheons, we have added monthly breakfast networking events, we have

our evening Uptown Networking Event twice a month in conjunction with other local

Chambers and we also have at least one monthly event that showcases a member’s

business. We are working on partnering with other local Chambers to pool our talents

and memberships for larger scale events. We have already produced joint events

such as the Biz Bash Expo and of course the Uptown Networking Events. -Cont. Pg. 2

Page 2

B O A R D O F D I R E C T O R S S P O T L I G H T :

OSCAR LLORENTE V I C E P R E S I D E N T

Oscar Llorente – Is the community relations specialist at Mount Sinai Medical Center and Mount Sinai Aventura with responsibility for business development, market share growth, business to

business networking, oversees community outreach programs and works with the marketing team to develop strategic marketing campaigns. With over 14 years at Mount Sinai Medical Center he applies his strong expertise in networking with businesses and civic leaders, designs and coordinates special health related programs and events. Oscar’s sophisticated style and personal touch is displayed in his networking skills across Dade and Broward. Among many other endeavors, Oscar has created specialized nutritional and wellness programs for the City of Hallandale Beach Police Department and City employees and works with other health related organizations and business to create health initiatives to benefit seniors.

Previous to this, Oscar held various customer service positions that presented him with skills in excellent customer relations that he now applies to patients, medical staff, and his colleagues at Mount Sinai.

Oscar is an active member of many organizations, including the Art and Culture Center of Hollywood where he serves as Vice Chairman and board of trustees. He also serves as Vice President of the North Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce and was the 2011 President of the Hallandale Beach Chamber of Commerce.

His involvement and generosity has been acknowledged on several occasions: Oscar was presented with awards and honored by the communities for his partnerships and volunteer efforts. Oscar's considerable creativity manifests itself throughout all of his endeavors, both within the auspices of The Mount Sinai Medical Center and the community at large.

Oscar and his partner, Gerard, reside in Hallandale Beach.

LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT (CON’T.)

The other local chambers that we are partnering with are Aventura Marketing Council, North Miami Chamber of

Commerce, Aventura-Sunny Isles Beach Chamber of Commerce and the Miami-Dade Gay and Lesbian Chamber of

Commerce.

Another area in which the Chamber is making great strides is with our relationship with the City of North Miami

Beach. The Mayor and Council are great supporters of the Chamber as is the City Manager and Department Heads.

I have met with the elected officials and the City Manager to work on various synergies that can be created with the

City and the Chamber for mutual benefit and am hopeful that some of these ideas can be brought to fruition. We are

also very lucky to have as our First Vice President, Councilwoman Barbara Kramer as the Council liaison to the

Chamber. She works tirelessly to help the Chamber in many ways.

In closing, I want to reiterate the words of our Mayor, George Vallejo that “North Miami Beach is open for business”

and that the Greater North Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce is here to help make that happen. I also want to

assure that our members benefit as well, while at the same time making sure that we all have some fun. I plan to

update you periodically through our newsletters and I look forward to seeing everyone at the next event.

Sincerely,

Evan S. Piper

EVENTSEVENTS—— December Holiday Luncheon December Holiday Luncheon

at Area Code 55at Area Code 55

Page 3

Ribbon Cutting Ceremony for

Yona Lunger emcees! Jay Senter presents NMB Chris Colona, EdCom Chair Javier Vasquez of Allied Barton

Tennis Center Ad Program announces Vegas Night!! Security.

Page 4

SWINGING RICHARD’S RIBBON CUTTING

Alaska Coffee Roasting Anniversary and Ribbon Cutting

Greater North Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce Page 5

WOULD YOU LIKE YOUR COUPON FEATURED IN A FUTURE

EMAIL BLAST OR ON THE CHAMBER’S WEBSITE?

Let us know by emailing us at chamber@nmbchamber.com You have

the ability to utilize our incredible online coupon system and take advantage

of our Thousands of Monthly Web hits. Promote your business and add

value to your community by submitting coupons. This is a great tool to

utilize.

CONNECT WITH THE

NMB CHAMBER ON

FACEBOOK & TWITTER

It’s now easier than ever

to keep up with the NMB

Chamber of Commerce. Add us

as a friend on Facebook &

follow us on twitter, we will keep

you updated on luncheons,

events, mixers, happy hours,

and special offerings...It PAYS to

be a Friend! (FB: NMB Chamber

Twitter: NMBChamberofCom)

SET UP YOUR BUSINESS TRAFFIC CATCHER SITE

On the Chamber’s Website to increase your online presence.

For more information please call Sondra at 305-944-8500

Upcoming Events

January 17—Member Luncheon @ Area Code 55 Brazilian Steakhouse

January 20—Children’s Disney Day at Barker Animation

January 22—Breakfast Speed Biz at Vi Aventura

January 30—Sports Grill Ribbon Cutting & Heat Fan Watch Party!!

February 1—Teacher Imaginarium at Nova Southeastern University