Spring 2012 Executive Forum Speaker Series
Release Date: Jan 05, 2012
The executive forum is designed to provide the wealth of knowledge and experience of inspirational leaders and executives from a wide variety of businesses and industries. The speakers present a brief overview of their businesses, as well as specific professional experiences, followed by a discussion of key issues facing their industries in the current business and economic climate.
ACE proudly organizes the executive forum to help students and external audience members to hone in on their career development interests by enabling them to gain insight from business leaders who represent a wide array of industries.
The speaker series is comprised of presentations and seminar-like interaction with entrepreneurs and executives focusing on the practical nature of business development. Audience members and executives will discuss current challenges facing business and industry today and consider alternative ways of meeting these challenges.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Mark Chudacoff, President of Midwest Truck & Auto Parts Inc.
Mark Chudacoff joined Midwest in 1988 in a sales capacity. He worked in the sales department for six years eventually running the Heavy Duty sales division. Chudacoff became president and CEO of Midwest in 1994, a position he holds today. Midwest’s revenues have grown over 500% during Chudacoff’s tenure. The company has expanded its headquarters during Chudacoff’s tenure by acquiring a warehouse facility in excess of 150,000 square feet and he added over 140 employees during his tenure. The Company expanded from one distribution center to four distribution centers plus a sales office in Miami. Under Chudacoff’s leadership, Midwest altered its buying habits from relying on strictly U.S. sources to relying nearly 100% on overseas sources. Chudacoff currently has seven direct reports including the CFO, the Purchasing Director, the V.P. of sales for Latin America, the V.P. of sales for Export outside of Latin America, the V.P. of sales for Performance products, the V.P. of sales for Light Duty products, the V.P. of engineering, and the V.P. of sales for Heavy Duty products.
Chudacoff worked as a lawyer in Chicago for three years before joining Midwest. Most of Chudacoff’s work as a lawyer involved corporate issues.
Chudacoff earned a B.A. in Political Science from Tulane University in 1982 and a J.D. degree from Loyola University of Chicago Law School in 1985. Chudacoff lives in a suburb of Chicago and is married and has three children; Michael (22), Jamie (20) and Scott (16).
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Kenneth Lebersfeld, CEO at Capitol Lighting
Kenneth Lebersfeld is the CEO at Capitol Lighting, which is a chain of retail lighting stores. Capitol Lighting was started by Lebersfeld’s great grandfather shortly after he immigrated to the US. He began by converting houses from gas to electricity in the early 1900s. He used to make electric lighting fixtures from just about anything. The first showroom was Lebersfeld’s grandfather's childhood bedroom. In 1924, Lebersfeld’s grandfather opened the first retail lighting showroom of its kind and called it Capitol Lighting. Today they have 8 stores and a robust internet store. Lebersfeld is joined by his brother, cousin, father and uncle in the operation of the business. Lebersfeld has a well established management team to assist them. Capitol Lighting has expanded their product assortment to include mirrors, furniture and accessories. Lebersfeld and his company consider themselves a forward thinking organization endeavoring to use best business practices and efficient technology but still maintain a family business environment.
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Jordan Zimmerman is founder and chairman of Zimmerman Advertising. Zimmerman is the 14th largest full-service agency in the U.S. and Omnicom Group’s retail powerhouse. Zimmerman created the science of Brandtailing™, building brands over time while driving sales overnight. Holistic by design, its brand-activation business model includes strategic planning, business analytics, brand design, advertising, interactive, social engagement, media, public relations, mobile, CRM/Loyalty and in-house production. Clients include: Nissan, Office Depot, Papa John’s and Party City to name a few.
Zimmerman is a philanthropist and advocate for many causes within the community. The Denise and Jordan Zimmerman Family Foundation supports the University of South Florida (USF) with the Zimmerman Advertising Program (ZAP) in the School of Arts & Science and was appointed by Governor Charlie Crist to serve on the USF Board of Trustees. Jordan is a Trustee of Pine Crest School and Chairs its Endowment Committee. He is also involved in Florida’s PASS Program leading the charge to encourage local businesses to financially support area public schools.
Jordan sits on the board of Take Stock in Children and is active with the Florence Fuller Child Development Centers and the Make-A-Wish Foundation. His charitable spirit has inspired employees, professional colleagues and friends to become involved in raising awareness and donations through participation in zMotion, Zimmerman’s cycling club and philanthropic arm. The zMotion cycling club raises awareness and millions of dollars for various charities nationally, regionally and locally through its mission “We Ride for a Better Tomorrow.”
Mr. Zimmerman is part owner of the NHL Florida Panthers hockey team.
He resides in Boca Raton, FL with his wife Denise and their children.
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Raul Pupo, Author, America’s Service Meltdown: Restoring Service Excellence in the Age of the Customer
Raul Pupo is an entrepreneur, author, speaker, educator, and consultant who has done business throughout much of the world. Pupo heads a team of experts whose business focus is helping corporate clients resolve complex service issues by leveraging unique tools and other proprietary intellectual capital.
Pupo serves on the advisory board of a boutique investment firm working in the fields of general and financial strategy. Pupo is also a university guest lecturer in the field of Service Management, a field of study whose coursework Pupo designed for corporate executives and is unique at institutions of higher learning.
Pupo’s business experience spans over 30 years founding and operating companies in the field of information technology. In each case, these companies achieved success on the strength of Pupo’s service philosophy as they were all modestly capitalized while competing against the giants of the technology world. Pupo’s prior ventures have each been acquired by Fortune 500 companies.
Mr. Pupo has served as an adjunct professor in management information systems, a reviewer for peer-reviewed journals, and as a board member advising the information technology institutes of several universities.
Mr. Pupo has a BBA in industrial management, an MBA in information systems and has completed all course work for an MS degree in technology management. He has authored many white papers for practitioners in business and his articles have been published in various magazines, journals, and newspapers.
His recent book America’s Service Meltdown: Restoring Service Excellence in the Age of the Customer has been hailed by both world-class business people and leading academics.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Upon graduating Rutgers, Edgar Otto began assisting his father in promoting auto racing events. NASCAR had just been co-founded by his father and among his other duties, he was named President of the Auto Racing Safety Council at the age of 25. Otto also promoted Bill Haley and his Comets in one of Rock & Roll's first outdoor concerts.
Mr. Otto then purchased a New York Times newspaper distributorship and spent the next ten years growing this business, delivering more than one million newspapers annually.
He then co-founded a nursing home chain in New Jersey and was named President of Care Service, providing dietary, pharmacy and housekeeping services to nursing homes. Recognizing an unmet need to provide hot meals to patients, he founded Therma Systems Corporation. The healthcare service company provided meal delivery systems to over 1,000 hospitals. Therma Systems became the second largest company in this industry. He partnered with Mitsui Trading Company, starting a highly successful Japanese subsidiary. Among the Company's innovations was a system which allowed the heating of meals in a refrigerator.
Otto’s most recent venture, National Stem Cells, is involved in the treatment of Diabetes with Hyperbaric Oxygen and stem cells.
Mr. Otto is the father of eight children and grandfather to eleven children. He is also the father of Lancey, the world’s first commercial cloned dog. For recreation, he races a NASCAR 2006 Dodge vintage stock car on road race courses at speeds over one hundred sixty miles an hour.
He was the recipient of the 1997 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award.
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Hoffman's history began more than 30 years ago in a small chocolate shop in Lake Worth, FL. Paul Hoffman Sr., the founder of Hoffman's, purchased a small candy shop so that he and his family could work in this business together. Hoffman Sr. combined his love of creating new products with his extensive cooking experience to begin his illustrious career making award winning confections. Word of his confectionary masterpieces spread, and soon Hoffman's built a devoted following.
The Hoffman family made a commitment to use only the finest and freshest ingredients from around the world, and these standards have never been compromised. Much care and attention goes into each and every confection. Preparation is carefully monitored, from mixing and cooking the ingredients, to measuring and cutting the pieces. Each luscious confection is hand made using time honored traditions of candy making.
In 1997, Paul Hoffman brought Fred Meltzer on board as the company’s President and CEO. Meltzer’s background in accounting, finance, marketing and sales proved just what the company needed. Within a short time, Mr. Meltzer established financial and inventory controls and implemented new sales and marketing initiatives, while also overseeing the Orthodox Union (OU) application process from beginning to kosher certification. Meltzer had an appreciation of OU certification and the benefit it provided to Hoffman’s.
Hoffman's product line includes over 70 varieties of confections and has garnered the attentions of many national culinary authorities. Bon Appetit magazine named Hoffman's one of America's Best Chocolate Shops, and The Wall Street Journal selected Hoffman's Easter Basket as the "best overall" in the nation in March of 2000.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Bradley Mautner, President and COO of MFRI, Inc
Bradley Mautner has been employed by MFRI, Inc. and its predecessors in various executive and administrative capacities since 1978. MFRI, Inc. (NASDAQ: MFRI) is a holding company that currently operates in four segments. These segments are: manufacture of custom designed industrial filtration products; specialty piping systems; industrial process cooling equipment and installation of heating and cooling systems primarily for commercial office, multifamily residential and retail buildings. Products are sold domestically and in various international markets.
Mr. Mautner has served as President and Chief Operating Officer of MFRI since December 2004, was Executive Vice President from December 2002 to December 2004 and Vice President of the Company from December 1996 through December 2002. He has been a director of the Company since 1995.
Mautner’s career began with Midwesco, Inc., a well-known private Chicago area commercial and industrial mechanical contracting business. Midwesco also formerly owned the businesses now owned by MFRI. Starting as a junior project manager in the mechanical business service department, he held many positions including VP of Construction, VP of Sales and President of the heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) service business. In addition to work at Midwesco and MFRI, he has served on a number of committees and boards of charitable organizations as well as the board of a private, unrelated, closely held family business.
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Don Perlyn, Executive Vice President of Nathans Famous, Inc
Don Perlyn joined the Nathan’s family of brands when the company he helped found, Miami Subs, merged with Nathan’s Famous, Inc. in 1999. Perlyn joined Miami Subs Corporation and served as President in May 1989. In addition to being an attorney, he is a 38-year veteran of the restaurant industry with extensive experience in restaurant development, marketing, operations, and franchising.
Mr. Perlyn’s primary responsibilities in the Nathan’s organization are that of corporate and franchise growth, and brand development for all of the companies concepts. In particular, Perlyn has been responsible for the growth and development of the company’s wholesale division, known as the Branded Product Program. Today, through this program, Nathan’s Hot Dogs are sold at over 15,000 foodservice locations.
In addition to his experience in the restaurant industry, Mr. Perlyn has served as President of the Riverboat Development Company, an organization that was the local developer and partner of Caesars’ Indiana, the largest gaming boat in the world. Mr. Perlyn and his partners sold their interest in Caesars to the Harrah’s Corporation in 2005.
Early in his career, Mr. Perlyn was the President and Chief Executive Officer of Lums Restaurant Corporation, a national chain of more than 500 restaurants, the President of the Franchise Group that developed the Pizzeria Uno restaurant chain in South Florida. Mr. Perlyn was President of Weinerwald USA, a multinational company that owned over 800 restaurants throughout Europe, as well as the International House of Pancakes chain and the Ranch House restaurant chain here in the United States.
For six years, Perlyn served as a member of the Board of Directors of the International Franchise Association. He has spoken frequently on various industry subjects at such forums as the International Franchise Association, the President’s Conference, the Mulit-unit Food Service Operators conventions, as well as the Chain Operators Exchange and Branding America conferences.
Thursday, March 22, 2012
A lawyer by training, his fast-track government career included Legislative Counsel to Congressman Stewart McKinney of Connecticut, Minority Counsel for the US House of Representatives, Banking Committee’s Subcommittee on economic Stabilization and Assistant General Counsel to the Full Banking and Currency Committee of the US House of Representatives in Washington. Feldman then followed with a bold entrepreneurial move by opening his first Subway location in the Capital Hill area, as an absentee investment. Feldman then added franchise development contracts for Washington, Virginia, Maryland and Delaware. It all culminated for Mr. Feldman in the creation of Subway Development Corporation of Washington, listed today as one of the country’s leading franchise operations, by Entrepreneur Magazine. This year Mr. Feldman will be celebrating over 32 years in the Subway franchise business as well as approaching the opening of the 1400th franchise restaurant in his development territories.
A 1999 Ernst & Young “Entrepreneur of the Year” nominee, Mr. Feldman continues to receive awards for his business and philanthropic endeavors, the most recent of which are the winner of the Washington Business Journal 2009 Philanthropy Award for Small Business and the 2009 Smart CEO Magazine Award for Excellence in Philanthropy.
In addition to serving on the Board of Directors of several businesses, educational, civic and philanthropic organizations, Mr. Feldman is also a lecturer and advisor to entrepreneur’s and start-up companies in the US and abroad.
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Jeffery Sharfstein, CEO at The Strive Group
Jeffrey T. Sharfstein is the President and CEO of the Strive Group, LLC. The Strive Group is comprised of four operating entities that design, manufacture and pack-out point of purchase displays for major consumer products companies. A fifth entity, Strive Logistics, LLC provides transportation solutions to display customers and others.
Mr. Sharfstein began his business career with Pride Container Corporation, a company founded by the Sharfstein family, in 1968. He left in 1990 to start World Distribution Group (now Strive Logistics) and returned to Pride Container Corporation as its president in 1997.
Since Mr. Sharfstein’s return to Pride Container (now the manufacturing division of The Strive Group), he embarked on a long term plan that transformed Pride and World Distribution Group from a $35 million manufacturer of corrugated boxes with local distribution capabilities into a vertically integrated nationwide enterprise connecting consumers with brands via its design, manufacturing, packing and logistics services with enterprise wide revenues of approximately $250 million.
Mr. Sharfstein has been active in the Young President’s Organization since 2002. He received his MBA from the University of Chicago in 1997 and previously attended University of Wisconsin.
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Kenneth Blum, Former President of Rent-a-Wreck
World War II veteran, Kenneth Blum, started his entrepreneurial career at an early age. At 10 years old, Blum could be found on Coney Island selling lollipops and shining shoes. After joining the Navy in 1944, Blum went on to receive his BS in Electrical Engineering, his CLU from Johns Hopkins University, and his MBA and DHL from Loyola University. Blum’s experience has been extensive and impressive. From working in engineering sales to becoming a co-founder for United Health Maintenance, Blum has made his mark in the corporate world.
Mr. Blum’s most recent career endeavors have been turning around failing companies into profitable corporations. In 1995, Blum was brought in to turn around Mail Rx, which at the time was worth $2,500,000 and sold the company for 10,300,000 in 1997. From 1995 – 2007, Blum was the CEO of Rent a Wreck of America, which he turned around from a failing company to now a profitable business. From 1996-2011, Blum was the CEO of AVESIS, he has since retired to their Board of Directors. While CEO of AVESIS, he turned this failing company into a company that is grossing close to $100,000,000 and growing.
Born in Coney Island, NY, Blum has been married to his wife, Erlene, for 62 years. They have 3 children, 10 grandchildren and 1 great granddaughter.
Friday, April 13, 2012
Manuel Medina, Chairman and CEO of Medina Capital Partners
Manuel D. Medina is Chairman and CEO of Medina Capital Partners, an investment firm focused on funding technology companies with innovative products that serve the private and public sectors. Medina has more than 30 years of experience as a highly successful businessman with expertise in areas including technology, finance, international business, and government contracting.
Medina was the Founder, Chairman of the Board and CEO of Terremark Worldwide, Inc., that was publicly traded on the NASDAQ exchange until April of 2011 when Verizon Communications, Inc. acquired it for $2 billion. Under his leadership, the company distinguished itself as the leading global provider of managed IT infrastructure services for Fortune 500 enterprises and federal government agencies. Medina’s vision to deliver a comprehensive set of best-of-breed managed services from purpose-built, carrier-neutral datacenter facilities remains truly unique in the industry.
Medina began his career in 1974 as a CPA with PricewaterCoopers. He founded Terremark in 1980 and built the company from a commercial real estate company focused on complex infrastructure projects into a global technology leader. His track record of successfully raising funds across the entire capital structure during periods of rapid change in the macroeconomic environment were vital to Terremark’s successful growth. Medina also founded TransAtlantic Bank in Miami and helped the bank grow to more than $600 million in assets.
Medina has built successful businesses and completed complex projects in areas throughout the United States, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and Asia. Specifically, he guided Terremark as it embarked on ambitious and significant projects such as the rebuilding of vital infrastructure in Kuwait following the Gulf War and the construction of the NAP of the Americas (one of the most important Internet exchanges in the world). Medina’s vision also led to the creation and growth of a significant federal government practice within Terremark.
Medina has been recognized with accolades from many business and community organizations for his leadership and community service. Medina is a frequent speaker on topics ranging from entrepreneurship and technology trends to global business and his keys to success. He has served as the keynote speaker and panelist at various large conferences and IT industry tradeshows. Medina’s leadership in the IT industry and insightful analysis of markets trends have resulted in regular appearances on top business news networks CNBC, Bloomberg TV and Fox Business and interviews with many prestigious national and international media outlets on topics such as the rising adoption of cloud computing, the dynamics driving key government IT initiatives, and his personal experience as a successful Cuban exile.
Medina was born in Matanzas, Cuba in 1952 and immigrated to the United States with his family at the age of 13. He graduated from Florida Atlantic University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Accounting in 1974.
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Laurie Silvers, President of Hollywood Media Corporation
Laurie S. Silvers practiced law in South Florida for over 10 years before starting her career as a media entrepreneur. Silvers is an owner of: Home Town Cable Plus, a telecommunications system providing tv, Internet, phone and alarm monitoring services in the City of Port St. Lucie; Treasure and Space Coast Broadcasting which operates five radio stations in Florida’s Treasure Coast; and co-founder and President of Hollywood Media Corp. since its inception in January 1993. Ms. Silvers was the co-founder of the Sci-Fi Channel, of which she served as Chief Executive Officer from January 1988 to March 1992 and Co-Vice Chairman from March 1992 to March 1994. Ms. Silvers is a Member of the Board of Trustees of the University of Miami; 2010 Chair of the Economic Council of Palm Beach County; a Member of the Board of Directors of the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts in West Palm Beach, and a Member of the Board of Directors of WPBT Channel 2, the public broadcasting station for Miami. Ms. Silvers is a Volunteer Mentor with the “Women of Tomorrow” program which mentors at-risk high school girls. Ms. Silvers is married to Mitchell Rubenstein and has three children.