The St. Joseph County Chamber of Commerce, along with presenting sponsor
1st Source Bank, recognized business success and leadership in the region before a crowd of more than 925 at the 2016 Salute to Business luncheon, held today at the Century Center in South Bend, Ind. 

Individual award winners included Larry Garatoni, the recipient of the W. Scott Miller Distinguished Business Leader Award, Becky Zaseck, recipient of the ATHENA Award and T.J. Kanczuzewski, recipient of the Outstanding Young Business Leader. Great Lakes Capital – Bradley Company was recognized as the Economic Impact award, while Big Idea Company picked up the Small Business of the Year award. Twenty-eight other companies in the South Bend Region were recognized for their capital investment over the past year. 

Ron Kitchens, CEO of the Southwest Michigan First Group of Companies, delivered the keynote address. Southwest Michigan First, led by Ron, is a cluster of privately funded economic development advisors who act as the catalyst for economic growth in Southwest Michigan.

View event program as a flipbook.

PROFILES OF MAJOR AWARD WINNERS

Larry Garatoni
W. Scott Miller Distinguished Business Leader of the Year

The W. Scott Miller Distinguished Business Leader represents an individual(s) who has demonstrated entrepreneurial spirit, made significant contributions to the area business environment and has shown personal involvement and commitment to the community.

Over a 40-year business career, Larry Garatoni owned and managed 12-15 companies. He made money with most of them and lost money with some. Fortunately, he made more money than he lost.

Larry is a 1961 graduate of Purdue University, and completed the owners/president program of Harvard Business School. He later served in the Army Reserve attaining the rank of Captain.

In 1966, Larry and a partner built and operated one long-term care facility, later buying the partner’s interests. Up until 1994, he built and operated health care-related facilities and companies under the Health Quest Group name. These businesses included the Health Quest Corporation, Health Quest Development Corporation, Achievement Rehab Corporation, Long Term Care Pharmaceutical Services
Corporation and Health Quest Infusion Therapy Corporation. In 1994, he made the strategic decision to sell all of these companies.

From 1994 - 2007, Larry started or acquired and served as the chief executive officer of several different software and internet sales companies, including Achieve Healthcare Technology, FurnitureFind.com and

WineSource.com. All of these business interests were sold in 2007.

That same year, Larry founded HQ Investments, a firm that manages investments in public and private equities, hedge funds, venture capital and angel investments, serving as a platform for philanthropic activities. Personally and through the Garatoni Family Foundation, he and his wife, Judy, founded the Career Academy and the Success Academy with an enrollment of 1,150 students.

Larry is board president of both the Career Academy and the St Joe CEO program, a state board member of Ivy Tech Community College and board member of Elevate Ventures. He also is a Region 2 Works Council member and board member of several small companies. Larry co-founded Magnet Investors, a local angel investment group.

He and his wife are lifelong residents of St. Joseph County. They have four children and 13 grandchildren.

Becky Zaseck
ATHENA Award

The ATHENA Award is presented to an individual who has attained and embodies the highest level of professional excellence in his/her career, has devoted time and energy to improve the quality of life for others in the community and assists women in realizing their leadership potential.

As president & CEO, Becky Zaseck has led REAL Services through its fifth decade and helped the organization survive and thrive as a significant hybrid example of a nonprofit and for-profit agency headquartered in South Bend.

On March 1, 2007, Becky became president & CEO of REAL Services following the retirement of Les Fox, the founder of the organization. She began her employment with REAL in 1986 and was unanimously selected by its board of directors to replace Les as he retired. Becky led the transition of the organization from mostly a “pass through” of federal and state funding sources to aid senior citizens in the five county area of responsibility for REAL into a more diverse service provider, offering both nonprofit and for-profit social services.

She directed the successful creation of several programs where profits help to subsidize costs to the low-and moderate-income seniors when funding sources have declined.

A specific example of this has been the evolution of Simply Catering to You, the for-profit arm of REAL’s food preparation business. Becky orchestrated the agency’s first capital fund drive and raised more than $1.5 million to build and equip its own food preparation kitchen. Today, REAL not only offers catering for the business and private community but also prepares more than 1,000 meals per day for Meals on Wheels and the Nutrition Programs!

Becky’s diligent work and passion over the years to assist the elderly have inspired others to join her vision and mission, specifically women. Every year, REAL hires interns, predominantly from Saint Mary’s College, and helps them develop their social service skills and talent. REAL employs more than 230 people, with the vast majority being female and in senior management. Becky continues to coach, train and lead talented women in her company to become senior managers and leaders in their own right, recognized regionally and statewide as noteworthy experts.

Becky was recognized with the Torchbearer Award by the Indiana Commission for Women. This honor recognizes women for distinguished contributions that have made Indiana a better place to live work and raise a family. In addition, Becky received the Sagamore of the Wabash distinction from Governor O’Bannon and the Distinguished Hoosier Award from Governor Daniels.

Great Lakes Capital – Bradley Company
Economic Impact Award

The Economic Impact Award recognizes a company’s strategic vision and its sustainable capital investment in the area economy.

Look around the many new developments across St. Joseph County, and it’s a good bet that Great Lakes Capital (GLC) is somehow involved in the projects. Ignition Park Catalyst I & II, including the Notre Dame Turbomachinery Facility, GrandView Flats and Townhomes, South Bend Distribution Center I, and the Residences at Toscana Park are examples of commercial and residential projects adding to the quality of place in the county.

GLC is a real estate private equity firm uniquely positioned to add value to real estate investments through development, redevelopment and opportunistically investing across the real estate spectrum and throughout the capital structure.

The company concentrates on several core asset classes including office, industrial, retail, medical office, multifamily and other similar product types as well as mixed-use projects. Since 2005, their experience, long-term perspective and discipline have allowed GLC to grow to an asset footprint covering the expanded Midwest.

Their success relies on being active across a broad spectrum of asset classes, capitalizing on opportunities throughout markets and economic cycles. GLC’s focus on value-added, recapitalization, restructure, new development, portfolio transactions and complex distressed situations allows them to be advantaged by inefficiencies in the market and benefit from their long-term, but always opportunistic, time horizon and patience of capital.

GLC also focuses on principal equity development—growing a portfolio of properties across these same asset classes. GLC has 11 employees supported by just over 250 Bradley Company employees. GLC focuses its real estate ownership on the expanded Midwest and was formed with the vision of a continued partnership with Bradley Company. The Bradley Company manages over 10 million commercial square feet, nearly 2,500 multi-housing units and lists over 1,000 commercial properties for sale or lease at any given time.

GLC has developed $50 million of projects in St. Joseph County over the last two years with an additional $35 million committed thus far in 2016 for improvements in the county alone. In totality, GLC has made investments in projects of more than $200 million in the last two years throughout the expanded Midwest.

Big Idea Company
Small Business of the Year

The Small Business of the Year Award is presented to a small business that demonstrates leadership, innovation, economic growth and capital investment.

Big Idea Company is a marketing and public relations firm, which began as a boutique agency when broadcast executive Lou Pierce, who spent a career at the University of Notre Dame-owned television and radio properties, struck out on his own in August of 2001.

The name of the company was and remains designed to say something fundamental about what the company stands for. According to Pierce, “All too often, we see people and organizations waste precious time and money on ‘me-too’ concepts and ideas designed from the ground up to ensure that they fit in with everyone else. But what’s the point of fitting in? Unless you’re in hiding for some reason, that’s the last thing you want to do. The whole idea is to stand out.”

The philosophy has served the company and its clients locally and across the country well. Today, Big Idea Company serves clients as diverse as The Howard Buffett Foundation, the University of Notre Dame, agencies that serve public employees across the state of Indiana, school systems, a national not-for-profit retirement company, regional medical specialty groups and foundations, and the South Bend Cubs.

The firm also syndicates its own television show called American Dream. In doing this work, the company has traveled as far as war-torn Afghanistan as part of a delegation inspecting and reporting on American economic investment in rural communities across the country.

The firm has earned 18 Emmy nominations and six Emmy awards for executing big ideas on behalf of its clients over the past eight years, experiencing an average of 14% year-to- year growth since being founded in 2001. Back then, the firm had one fulltime employee. Today, it employs eight communications professionals and hires additional staff during peak seasons for particular client needs.

Big Idea Company is located in the building it has invested in as an owner since 2004, at 3618 Grape Road in Mishawaka.

T.J. Kanczuzewski
Outstanding Young Business Leader

This award brings to light and recognizes an outstanding young business leader who has reached professional achievement in his/her career, shows promise for continued success, has positively impacted the community and works to engage and lead other young professionals.

When T.J. Kanczuzewski, 35, left South Bend for college, he never expected to return to South Bend other than for visits. Little did he know his opinion on the area and the opportunity for a career would change his thinking. After graduating from college, T.J. landed a position at Chicago’s General Growth Properties, a real estate investment trust that owned and managed shopping centers around the world.

Concurrently, as T.J. started the first sustainability team at General Growth, his father was starting a company called Inovateus Development, a real estate company focused on sustainability back in his hometown of South Bend. During conversations with his dad, T.J. quickly realized that solar energy was something our country needed.

In 2007, T.J. convinced his dad to hire him as the vice president of sales for Inovateus Development, and he began writing a business plan for the solar energy focused company. T.J. was promoted to executive vice president in 2008, and created and led a new solar energy business venture, Inovateus Solar. He led the start-up of sales, marketing and operations including recruiting, hiring and securing funding with banks and investors. In June 2011, T.J. became president.

Under his direction, Inovateus Solar has grown to become the 19th largest solar installation firm in the country and has been recognized twice as an Indiana Best Company to Work. Inovateus Solar completed the first solar energy system, a 2.5 MW project in Marion, Indiana, for Indiana Michigan Power in 2015 and is currently building one of the largest solar energy systems, a 50 MW solar farm, east of the Mississippi for DTE Energy.

As a driven leader who is committed to growing the company, T.J. is excited to make the world a brighter, smarter and healthier place through the advancement of solar energy around the globe. In February, T.J. visited the White House to advise the Obama Administration and key leaders on energy policy and a clean power plan.

T.J. has raised more than $40,000 for Big Brothers Big Sisters of St. Joseph County through his band’s Funk Harmony Park annual holiday show.

Today, T.J. proudly calls this area home with a successful business, wife and two children. The lesson here: Never say never.

CAPITAL INVESTMENT WINNERS
These companies and organizations were also recognized for their significant capital investment in the community during 2015.
Barak River Rock, LLC
Barnes & Thornburg, LLP
Beacon Health System
Belle Tire
Bethel College
Charles S. Hayes, Inc.
Coldwell Banker Roth Wehrly Graber
Data Realty
Goodwill Industries of Michiana, Inc.
Holladay Construction Group
Holy Cross College
Hooters Restaurant
Imagineering Enterprises, Inc.
The Inn at Saint Mary’s Hotel & Suites
Martin’s Super Markets
Memorial Hospital of South Bend
MicroIntegration, Inc.
Potawatomi Zoological Society
Quality Dining
St. Joseph County
Saint Mary’s college
Sky Zone – Mishawaka
South Bend Community School Corporation
Success Academy South Bend
Transpo
University of Notre Dame