It was an award-winning party!
Hundreds of the borough’s top business leaders gathered at Downtown’s Brooklyn Bridge Marriott hotel on Feb. 25 to celebrate local entrepreneurs at the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce’s annual Winter Gala — an evening chock-full of merriment, music, and quality hobnobbing, according to an attendee.
“It was an amazing event. There were great networking opportunities, and the violinist was incredible,” said Ernesto Perez-Mir, vice president and chief nursing officer at Methodist Hospital.
Spectrum News NY1 anchor Pat Kiernan emceed the festivities, and presented several awards to notable Chamber supporters, including the President and Chief Operating Officer of Investors Bank, Domenick Cama, who won the Corporate Titan of the Year Award; legal eagle and Senior Partner of Davidoff, Hutcher and Citron LLP, Sid Davidoff, who took home the Power Broker of the Year Award; and the founder and owner of children’s learning center Eladia’s Kids, Eladia Causil-Rodriguez, who received the Outstanding Small Business Owner of the Year Award.
The Chamber’s recently appointed President and Chief Executive Officer, Hector Batista, and its Chairwoman Ana Oliveira presented each honoree with a trophy, with Batista telling the crowd of roughly 400 movers and shakers that the award winners — and all members of the business-boosting group — play a vital role in keeping Kings County’s economy strong, and helping small mom-and-pop shops thrive.
“Brooklyn’s business community has driven the borough’s emergence as an economic and cultural force, and the Chamber’s Winter Gala is a celebration of that. As New York’s economy continues to evolve, the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce will advocate for businesses and help them adapt to the changing landscape,” Batista said.
This year’s fund-raising gala raised a whopping $280,000, according to Chamber spokesman Michael Johnston, who said the money would support the organization’s future programming and initiatives to support borough entrepreneurs.
