Secure Matches, South Florida Hispanic Chamber Opens New Center, Waverly Hosts Realtors’ Party, Hornsby Named South Shore Hosptal’s Radiology Department Chairman, Segree to Lead Miami City Ballet Development 

New Business:

As the newest service in South Florida, Secure Matches is in the process of creating an exclusive dating service unique to South Florida.

Secure Matches has been founded with one principle in mind: To provide a comfortable, fun, and safe environment for eligible singles to meet.

Secure Matches sets itself apart from the others by recruiting singles (at this time) solely from the South Florida professional business communities and prescreening all members.

By combining these measures with personalized attention and the hosting of social gatherings at the hottest spots in South Florida, the owners of Secure Matches is set to create a new standard for singles.

During the later part of December 2002, Secure Matches launched its website. Its objectives: to populate the online site with quality singles from our local business communities and to increase traffic to the website. 

Its means of implementing these objectives:

*Securing advertisement in both the print and electronic media

*Creating and distributing 10,000+ club flyers

*Initiating a “Word of Mouth” campaign

Between January and February Secure Matches has targeted to reach close to one million singles in South Florida    

Secure Matches is offering:

*FREE access to the website

*FREE registration

*FREE introductory membership (to member who qualify)

For more information, log on to www.securematches.com.

Business News:

The South Florida Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (SFHCC) recently inaugurated its new Business and Tourism Information Center located at 1205 Lincoln Rd., Suite 213, Miami Beach. The offices of the Hispanic Chamber have moved in the same building to a corner suite in order to be more accessible to the businesses and residents of the area.  A blue neon sign has been placed in the window of the chamber to facilitate access to the offices.

Five years ago, the SFHCC implemented a program to help minority small businesses.  The Minority Business & Acculturation Center was established as a result of an existing local need for an organization to provide technical assistance to businessmen and women who needed information and guidance on anything from how to start a business to how to apply for a small business loan.  At the same time, the number of tourism-related calls to the Hispanic Chamber has increased through the years making it necessary for the chamber to establish a Tourism Information Center.  According to chamber President Liliam M. Lopez, “We are very excited about this project which we have been working on for months. Although we refer tourists to the local Tourism Information Center, there are hundreds of callers who do not want to be referred and want immediate assistance and attention. We have had to establish a tourism center that will satisfy the needs of those eager callers.”  The SFHCC was founded nine years ago for the purpose of promoting both the business and the tourism industry of Miami-Dade County.  

* The Realtor Association of Greater Miami and the Beaches and The Waverly at South Beach held an International Holiday Party on Wednesday, December 4.

Hosted and sponsored by The Waverly, approximately 150 brokers attended to visit the property and mingle on the bay to music, cocktails, hors d’oeuvres and crepes from the Crepe Maker.

The Waverly at South Beach is a luxury 35-story condominium overlooking Biscayne Bay at 1330 West Avenue. The residence has 399 one- and two-bedroom apartments plus five specially designed penthouses, and offers on-site amenities such as a spa, a feng shui meditation garden, state-of-the-art gym with the latest equipment, tennis and sand volleyball courts, a fully-equipped business center and Café Chi. Residences range in size from 800 square feet to 1,384 square feet and are competitively priced from the $250,000s.

The property is owned by Athena Karlton SOBE, LLC. For sales information, visit The Waverly Sales Center on site. Hours: 10 a.m. – 7 p.m., seven days a week. 305-672-6700.  

Congrats: 

Dr. Douglas N. Hornsby, a highly decorated veteran of the Vietnam War, has been named chairman of the Department of Radiology of South Shore Hospital and Medical Center.

Dr. Hornsby, board certified in diagnostic radiology, served on the Board of Governors of the Florida Medical Association for two years, on the Board of Governors of the Florida Radiological Society and was twice elected to the House of Delegates of the Florida Medical Association.   Reared as a Quaker, he enlisted in the United States Army where he earned the Silver Star, the Bronze Star, Legion of Merit, the Air Medal, the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry, the Army Commendation Medal and the Purple Heart.  He was shot twice during his tour of duty. 

A resident of Miami Beach, he was appointed the Chief Resident at Mount Sinai Medical Center, served for two years on the board of the Dade County Medical Association and was president of the University of Tennessee American Association for two years.  

* E. Ramone Segree, a fundraising professional with 22 years of experience, has been recruited to Miami City Ballet in South Florida where he will serve as vice president for development, effective immediately.  Edward Villella, founding artistic director and CEO and Mike Eidson, board president of Miami City Ballet announced the appointment today.

“We are very pleased and excited with having Ramone’s leadership for building our annual fund, major gifts, planned gifts and endowment support,” said Eidson in a press release. “As vice president for development at Miami City Ballet, Mr. Segree will oversee the long-term fundraising initiatives for the company in Florida, nationally, and internationally.”

Segree is a certified fundraising executive (CFRE) and immediate past chair of the Association of Fundraising Professionals Foundation for Philanthropy (AFP), an international professional organization of his peers.  He also is a member of AFP’s Greater Miami, Ft. Lauderdale/Broward and Palm Beach County chapters.  Segree has managed staff and volunteers in capital campaigns, planned giving, direct mail appeals, telefundraising and other tools of the trade to generate more than $200 million from national and international prospects.  During a professional career totaling 31 years, he gained a rich background of additional experiences at fund management and distribution, public and government affairs, public relations, human services, education, and psychology while serving public, private, education and government organizations. 

He also is noted for his civic affairs having served on the boards of the Nashville Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Wang Center for the Performing Arts, and the Salem YMCA.  He has been a member of the Planned Giving Group of New England, the Salem Business Advisory Council and the Salem and Pittsburgh Rotary Clubs. 

  Business Focus

Star-Studded Dinner Gala 2003 to Honor Emilio Estefan, Martin Gelb and Stephen Muss 

International Television Personality Cristina to Emcee, Musicians Arturo Sandoval, Jon Secada & New MSM to Perform at Miami Beach Chamber’s Dinner Gala 2003 at Fontainebleau Hilton

Emilio Estefan, Jr.

Grammy-winner Arturo Sandoval, singer Jon Secada and the New Miami Sound Machine will perform at the Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce’s Dinner Gala 2003, a star-studded black-tie affair that will honor internationally acclaimed record producer Emilio Estefan, Jr., Mount Sinai Chairman Martin J. Gelb and Fontainebleau Hilton owner Stephen Muss.

Stephen Muss

Television personality Cristina Saralegui, better known to her fans as Cristina, will serve as emcee for the evening, adding star power to the festivities slated for January 25^th at the Fontainebleau Hilton.

“Record numbers of reservations were made prior to the invitation being delivered to the public,” said Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce Chairman Michael Milberg. “This year’s Dinner Gala will be the biggest in the Chamber’s 82-year history, and certainly the outpouring of support for our honorees and the wealth of talented performers appearing onstage are responsible for the incredible response we’ve received so far.”

The Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce Board of Governors and Pillar Trustees will honor Emilio Estefan, Jr. with the 2003 Citizen of the Year Award. In addition, Mount Sinai’s Martin J. Gelb will receive the Jan Pfeiffer Distinguished Service Award and Stephen Muss of the Fontainebleau Hilton will be honored with the Leonard “Doc” Baker Lifetime Achievement Award.

 “Each honoree has, for many years, contributed his time, talent and resources to the betterment of Miami Beach,” said Miami Beach Chamber President/CEO Bruce Singer.

Emilio Estefan, Jr. will receive the prestigious Citizen of the Year Award for his contributions to South Florida’s unique cultural fusion. Through his role as a chart-topping producer of such acts as Gloria Estefan, Jon Secada, Ricky Martin, Carlos Ponce, Shakira, Jennifer Lopez and Cachao, Estefan has exported the “Miami Sound” to millions of music fans around the world, earning him 12 Grammy Awards, two Cable Ace Awards, an American Music Award, the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame “Sammy Cahn Lifetime Achievement Award,” and the first-ever Latin Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences’ Person of the Year Award. In September 1998, Billboard Magazine honored Estefan with an edition dedicated to his 20^th anniversary in music. In 2001, Estefan was appointed by President George W. Bush to serve on his committee for the Arts and Humanities. More recently, he received the Medallion of Excellence for community service from The Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute. 

Martin Gelb

Martin Gelb, chairman of the Board of Trustees of Mount Sinai Medical Center & Miami Heart Institute, is senior vice president and resident manager of Salomon Smith Barney in Miami Beach, is also a former president of the Founders Club and founding member of the Young Presidents Club of Mount Sinai Foundation. His involvement in the community includes his role as a founder at Temple Beth Sholom, founder and member of the executive committee of the National Parkinson’s Foundation and as a member of the advisory board of the Diabetes Research Institute. He is a recipient of the Ronald McDonald Award for the “12 Good Guys” as well as a founder of the Miami Jewish Home and Hospital for the Aged at Douglas Gardens. In January 2002, Gelb was elected as Mount Sinai’s Chairman of the Board of Trustees.

Stephen Muss, owner of the Fontainebleau Hilton, began his career in 1946 when he joined his father to establish the Alexander Muss & Sons real estate development firm, which went on to develop Seacoast Towers and condominium projects in Key Biscayne, Miami and Miami Beach. In 1978, Muss acquired the Fontainebleau Hilton Hotel. Muss has served on the Board of Miami’s Fine Arts Museum, on the Board of Governors of Haifa University, and as chairman of the Miami Beach Redevelopment Agency and the Dade County Sports Authority. He was very much involved in the expansion of the Miami Beach Convention Center and the creation of the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau. His philanthropic interests include the Jewish Federations of Miami, New York, Palm Beach and Detroit, Mount Sinai Medical Center and the University of Miami. He is also the president of Temple Emanu-El and Chairman of its Renaissance Committee.

Seats are still available at the Silver Seating level for $175 per person, at the Gold Seating level for $250, and at the Platinum Seating level for $500. Sponsorship opportunities are also still available at the Silver Table ($2500), Gold Table ($3500) and Platinum Table ($5000) levels. Seating is limited. Reservations are accepted with payment only. To make reservations for the 2003 Dinner Gala, contact Rebecca Heyder at (305) 674-1300 ext. 316.

Aventura Mall Branches Out to Include Farmer’s Market

Sponsored by The Aventura Mall, the Farmer’s Market complements the range of more than 200 shops and prestigious department stores in the popular mall. 

Aventura Mall takes on a green and tropical ambiance this weekend with the launch of the Aventura Mall Farmers Market, January 24 to 26, featuring the introduction of Miami Beach Delicious jams and jellies, and a flowering plant and orchid exhibit by the Miami Beach Botanical Garden.

Prominently located in the plaza surrounding its central courtyard fountain of the Mall, the green market will be held Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. and Sunday from Noon to 8 p.m.

Produced by The Market Company of Miami Beach, the Aventura Mall Farmer’s Market will feature colorful orchids and cut flowers, tropical plants and trees, bonsai, fresh herbs, bread and baked goods, tropical fruit juices and smoothies, candies, quality crafts, incense and potpourri.  The Miami Beach Botanical Garden will present an exhibit and sale of lush tropical plants, as well as gardening books and souvenir items.

The Miami Beach Delicious custom line of jams, jellies, preserves and salad dressing is making its debut in Aventura at the Farmer’s Market. Exotic and tropical flavors are featured in 11 different products, made from natural ingredients and produced locally in South Dade. Samples will be offered to give shoppers a “Miami Beach Delicious” tasting.