A New Year is upon us and many of us use it as a time for resolutions, plans and great expectations. The Doral Business Council is no different.
We have been undergoing a series of improvements all designed to better serve our members and the business community in the Greater Doral area and to provide increased value. I count myself extremely lucky and honored to serve as the Chair in 2014, our Tenth Anniversary Year.
The growth in the City of Doral and the surrounding areas cannot be understated. Rated one of the best places to live by Forbes Magazine and with over 9,000 businesses calling Doral home, now is the time to be in our area. Businesses are investing heavily here, such as:
• Nearly $1 billion investment from Codina Partners in Downtown Doral;
• Nearly $250 million worth of improvements at the Trump National Doral;
• One Park Square project bringing mixed-use, pedestrian friendly development on over 51 acres of land including restaurants, hotel and multi-family development.
New businesses of all sizes are opening every day from large distribution centers to small entrepreneurs. They are finding there are few areas in Miami-Dade County that enjoy such vibrancy.
This is a very exciting time indeed for the City of Doral and for all of us in the business community. We are set to refresh our enthusiasm about the DBC and all the great things to come in 2014.
That’s why I am so proud to work with our Board of Directors for 2014 including Nelson Penalver (Logistical Outsourcing),our Immediate Past Chair; Chair-Elect Jason Timmons (Great Florida Bank; and Sonya Canas (Mercantil Commercebank), Treasurer, along with our Board Members: Marti Bueso (Home Financing Center), Charles Cheng (TmTelecom), Michael DiPietro (Michael DiPietro, LLC), Mara Falero (JetStream Federal Credit Union),Armando Fernandez (HBW Securities), Maria Luisa Gonzalez Silva (Baptist Health South Florida), Peter Jude (Kendall Regional Medical Center), Carlos Rivero, Jr.(Regions Security Services), J.R. Steinbauer, Jr. (Steinbauer Associates, Inc.), Efrain Sora (Sora Global Insurance), and Maria Martinez (Team Concepts).
We have re-launched our website and I encourage you to visit us at www.DoralBusiness.com in order to check out our activities for the coming year and how we can help your business grow in 2014. More than a dozen committees, representing key industries, are meeting and working to advocate for strong business connections at all levels.
We recently completed a survey of our members and are committed to identifying ways to increase marketability, working together to identify access to capital and facilitate business to business opportunities. We will continue to be strong advocates in the regulatory arena. We are strengthening our relationships with our strategic partners and will be relentless in our pursuit of improving the economic viability of our region.
I hope to see you at 8 a.m. on Feb. 11, 2014 at our Signature Breakfast at the Trump National Doral, hosted by our friends at Baptist Health. We will discuss other effects of the Affordable Healthcare Act and Human Resource Trends.
I’ve tried to share with you a few of the things you can expect from your DBC in 2014. So tell your friends, neighbors and fellow business leaders who are not DBC members yet to join us. Call our offices at 305-470-9597, visit our website, email me at Chairman@DoralBusiness.com or follow us on Twitter @DoralBusiness.
It’ll be a great beginning to 2014! On behalf of your Doral Business Council we wish you all the best in the New Year and thank you for your continued support.
