Contact:     Stuart Doyle
                    (407) 956-5689
                                                                                                        sdoyle@eflorida.com

 
Governor’s Diversification Awards honor 20 Florida businesses
Companies recognized for contributions to the state’s economy

TALLAHASSEE (September 15, 2009) – Twenty Florida companies today will receive the Governor’s Business Diversification Award, which recognizes exceptional contributions toward statewide economic diversification through job creation and distinctive community involvement and investment.

Governor Charlie Crist will present the awards at an 11:30 a.m. luncheon at the Governor’s Club, located at 202½ South Adams Street in Tallahassee.  Enterprise Florida sponsors and coordinates the annual program.  Winners are acknowledged during Florida’s yearly Industry Appreciation Week (September 14-18), which promotes outstanding accomplishments made by the state’s businesses.

“These awards acknowledge the successes of a wide range of business leaders whose accomplishments have benefited our economy," said Enterprise Florida President & CEO John Adams Jr.  "Therefore, Industry Appreciation Week and the awards program celebrate their exemplary efforts and the attributes that brought them about:  innovation, entrepreneurship, corporate leadership, and volunteerism.”

 Companies vied in six categories:  Business Expansion, Entrepreneurship, Export Excellence, Innovation, Newcomer and Green-to-Gold.  Each nominee competed with other companies, organizations, universities and colleges in similarly sized markets, including Mid Market (county population up to 150,000); Major Market (county population 150,001 to 800,000) and Mega Market (county population 800,001 and higher).

 Winners are chosen for demonstrating a commitment to creating jobs for Floridians, increasing capital investment and promoting corporate citizenship.  This year’s award recipients are as follows:

 Business Expansion
            Mid Market: DeSoto Memorial Hospital, Inc. (DeSoto County)
            Major Market: RTI Biologics, Inc. (Alachua County)
            Mega Market: Sikorsky Aircraft (Palm Beach County)

Entrepreneurship
            Mid Market: SystemsOne, LLC (Martin County)
            Major Market: IntergraClick, Inc./Clickbooth.com (Sarasota County)
            Mega Market: 360Ed, Inc. (Orange County)
            Mega Market: Intezyne Technologies (Hillsborough County)

 Export Excellence
            Mid Market: Waterblasting Technologies Inc. (Martin County)
            Major Market: MyUS.com (Manatee County)
            Mega Market: Home Diagnostics (Broward County)
 
Innovation
            Mid Market: Seatorque Control Systems, LLC (Martin County)
            Major Market: Sinmat Inc. (Alachua County)
            Mega Market: Financial Information Technologies, Inc. (FINTECH) (Hillsborough County)
 
Newcomer
            Mid Market: Ice River Spring Marianna, LLC (Jackson County)
            Major Market: Prism Microwave (Collier County)
            Mega Market: Draper Laboratory (Hillsborough and Pinellas counties)

Green-to-Gold
            Mid Market: Buckeye Technologies, Inc. (Taylor County)
            Mid Market: CSA International, Inc. (Martin County)
            Major Market: Covanta Energy (Pasco, Hillsborough, Lake and Lee counties)
            Mega Market: City of North Miami (Miami-Dade County)

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Enterprise Florida, Inc. (EFI) is a partnership between Florida's business and government leaders and is the principal economic development organization for the state of Florida.  Headquartered in Orlando, EFI’s mission is to diversify Florida’s economy and create better-paying jobs for its citizens by supporting, attracting and helping to create businesses in innovative, high-growth industries.  In pursuit of its mission, EFI works closely with a statewide network of economic development partners and is funded both by the State of Florida and by private-sector businesses.

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