Manatee’s top businesses get worthy salute

MANATEE — Even in a daunting economy there are business superstars that light up the economy with their innovations and entrepreneurship.

Those superstars were recognized Thursday before hundreds of their peers at the Excellence in Industry awards luncheon at the Polo Grill in Lakewood Ranch.

The five award-winning Manatee County businesses were singled out for workplace environments, innovations and initiatives, creativity, and expansion and growth by the Economic Development Council of Manatee County.

Employees play Bingo and enjoy potluck lunches at Vanguard Advanced Pharmacy Systems, earning the company the Workforce Award for fostering an excellent workplace environment.

Vanguard General Manager Jim Vett and the company’s three-woman spirit committee, which organizes employee activity, accepted the award. The company provides medications to the residents of assisted-living facilities, as well as services and systems to help them meet state regulations.

“We have always valued how important it is that our employees give us our competitive edge,” Vett said. So the spirit committee comes up with creative ways to keep employees connected and involved, he said. Even though the company has had to institute a 4 percent pay cut, employees still participated in events that donated $3,000 to local charities.

The Export Excellence award was given to RefTec International Systems Inc., a manufacturer of specialized products for the heating and air-conditioning service industry. The 13-year-old company was recognized for its 20 percent increase in export growth and corresponding job growth. Its products are sold to more than 100 countries and can be found in every major U.S. city.

Sleek Audio, a company that has developed a patented system that allows individuals to find their own audio fingerprint, received the Innovation Award. Founded in 2006, Sleek Audio has developed acoustically tunable earphones that allow the listener to tune the low and high frequencies directly on the earphone for the right sound for each individual’s sonic preference.

“After my father had been in the hearing aid business for 30 years, we decided to do something different that was fun,” said Jason Krywko.

“We had no idea we would be competing with people like Bose and Panasonic.”

The Entrepreneurship Award went to MyUS.com for the company’s creativity in finding a need in the marketplace and filling it by providing consumers with a private U.S. mailing address, giving merchants access to an international customer base.

“We have 30,000 customers and have hired five to 10 people in the past month,” said Robert Chodock, marketing officer with MyUS.com, who said owner Eric Baird couldn’t attend the luncheon because there were 50,000 boxes in the company’s warehouse waiting to be shipped.

Dentsply Raintree Essix, a compilation of two separate company acquisitions in 2005, received the Business Expansion Award. The company manufactures injection molding, extrusion and thermoforming of dental and orthodontic products for global distribution.

Human Resources Director Melissa Bowen accepted the award, saying she “has a hard time keeping up with all the hiring,” including 10 people in the past few years.

“There are exciting things on our horizon,” she said.

After a video presentation profiling several Manatee manufacturers, produced by two State College of Florida students, outgoing EDC chair Bob Turner, publisher of the Bradenton Herald, said the EDC had gotten stronger over the past six months with Nancy Engel agreeing to stay on after stepping down as EDC executive director and Eric Basinger taking over her former role.