Friday, March 13, 2009

Mary Tappouni...Small Business Association's 2009 Florida Business Person of the Year!!!




President Mary Tappouni of Breaking Ground Contracting Receives SBA Award as 2009 Florida Business Person of the Year! The Jacksonville woman-owned business competed with business owners in 43 counties! Here's a news clip:
Jacksonville, FL., --The U.S. Small Business Administration's North Florida District Office is pleased to announce the 2009 Small Business Person of the Year for the State of Florida. Wilfredo J. Gonzalez, SBA District Director: "We are proud of Ms Tappouni's accomplishments and of her committment to small business and environmentally friendly practices. She is an example of the credence of the importance of small businesses to our American economy." Mary Tappouni has not only excelled at being a female entrepreneur in the male dominated construction field, she has successfully blended her profession with her passion for the environment, and along the way, established a new standard for "green" commercial construction. Mary's creative vision for BGC has produced an organization recognized for excellence in design, building, construction management, pre-construction consultation and education. The company has increased revenues more than three fold since 2004, averaging 56% growth each year. At the same time, the company continued its high level community involvement. Congratulations Mary and BGC!

3 comments:

Bubba said...

I first met Mary Tappouni a year ago. She was the first person to introduce me to green building. Becuase of her inspiration and with the help of her director of education Catherine Burkee I became a LEED AP. Breaking Ground Construction is a gem in a pile of business as usual. I am fortunate to know them. The awards commitee got it right this time. Congratulations Mary!

Rob Overly said...

CONGRATULATIONS MARY!!!

joanelle said...

BGC is the most forward-thinking, green-based initiative, caring-compassionate, and SMART woman-based construction company on the planet! I am proud of Mary's accomplishments this year and the support of the creative and intelligent staff - this "village" of women matters and "gets it" - can't wait to read the book! So proud of all of you!!!!

Are We a Contractor or Educator?

The answer is....both! As Director of Education for Breaking Ground Education Services, a division of Breaking Ground Contracting, people often remark about how unconventional it is that a construction company also promotes education. Each time I hear these remarks, it becomes even MORE clear to me just how much sense it makes that a successful construction company like Breaking Ground Contracting blaze the trail of education in green, sustainable and LEED* building and workplace safety. After all, buildings use the greatest amount of energy...WAY more than our vehicles. So, it stands to reason that we do our part to enlighten the industry to environmentally sound ways of doing business. We don't just believe it, we live it! The foresight of President, Mary Tappouni, began many years ago with her passion for building, nature and the environment. Her vision drives her company, and those of us who have the privilege of working for Breaking Ground Contracting have been infected by her passion for green building and the desire to couple sound building practices with environmental responsibility. It is our mission to educate other contractors, architects, engineers, subcontractors, developers and anyone else who wants to listen and learn, about the ways we can all do our part in building green for the future...the future of our industry, our children and our world.