Negocios Now

www.negociosnow.com 18 Junio 2023 1st Choice Solutions RAMIRO MARTINEZ CEO & Owner Ramiro Martinez knows what his life's purpose is: to be there when people need him most. As CEO and owner of 1st Choice Solutions, an emergency restoration company, he is accustomed to entering the aftermath of destructive events and devising plans aimed at restoring hope in people's lives. Born in Durango, Mexico, Ramiro's family arrived in Chicago in 1980 where he was raised in Chicago's "La Villita" neighborhood. He started selling life insurance when he was 18 years old and became interested in the field of restoration. In 2018, he started his own restoration business with his two children and a single van. In 2022, he launched 1-Tom- Plumber, also family-run. Today both businesses have 30 full-time employees. 2IM Group LLC. LUIS MONTGOMERY President As president of 2IM Group, Luis Montgomery established his firm as a leader in civil engineering and environmental services. His ability to manage complex designs coupled with his desire to apply forward-thinking principles with measurable environmental benefits, and his enthusiastic engagement with other 2IM members, has propelled 2IM Group to over $10 million in annual revenue. Montgomery was born in La Plata, Huila, Colombia, and he was raised on the North Side of Chicago and attended St. Ignatius College Prep on the Near West Side. He graduated with a degree in civil engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He was selected to be on the transportation subcommittee of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson's transition team. AAR Tech ARABEL ROSALES President & CEO Arabel Rosales is president and CEO of AAR Tech, a successful management and technology firm with over 17 years of experience in managed services and software implementation. During the last couple of years, AAR Tech greatly expanded both its services and its revenues outside of Illinois to include New York, New Jersey, Ohio, and Kansas. In addition, AAR Tech and another business owned by Rosales, Runway Latinx, merged their interests and invested in technology platforms that impact both the fashion and art industries. Runway Latinx is a globally recognized social enterprise that encompasses fashion, gastronomy, and entertainment. Rosales is also founder of Pivoting in Heels, a digital nonprofit dedicated to empowering women. APMonarch ALICIA PONCE Founder & Principal Alicia Ponce is the founder and principal of APMonarch, a Chicago- based architecture firm. Under her direction, the firm provides architectural services, sustainable design, and community engagement in sectors including commercial office, higher education, civic, healthcare, and retail. Ponce sees APMonarch as the pollinator of the built environment, designing healthy buildings that look good, feel good, and perform well. In 2020, Ponce founded Arquitina, a national nonprofit organization with a mission to increase the number of licensed Latina architects in the United States above the current 1%. She is also the creator of the International Latino Book Award- winning anthology "Latinas in Architecture." The follow-up, "Latinas in Architecture and Allies," is now available as well. Proceeds from both books help fund Arquitina programs. Back of the Yard Coffee JESSE IÑIGUEZ Founder Born to Mexican immigrants from Jalisco, Jesse Iñiguez is the co-founder of Back of the Yards Coffee Co. located on Chicago's Southside and one of the few Latinx-owned coffee companies in the country. Back of the Yards coffee is in grocery stores and other coffee shops and restaurants in the Chicago area, and Iñiguez is working on expanding nationwide. As a freshman in college, Iñiguez walked into a coffee shop for the very first time in 1999 and quickly understood the value a similar shop could have in his community. In 2016 he opened the company in order to create a profitable and sustainable business model that would provide a safe space for his community, create jobs, and stimulate the local economy. BUSINESS OF THE YEAR AWARD Martin Cabrera Jr. M artin Cabrera is the CEO and founder of Cabrera Capital Markets and Cabrera Capital Partners. Cabrera Capital Markets provides global investment banking and institutional brokerage services to a substantial and diversified client base, including financial institutions, states and municipalities, corporations, unions, foundations, and endowments. It has issued over $900 billion in debt and equities for municipalities and corporations domestically and internationally, and its taxable fixed-income and global equities trading desks transact over $1 billion in securities daily. Cabrera Capital Partners provides commercial and residential real estate development expertise, investment, and consulting services to public, private, institutional, and non-profit clients. The company has experience providing investment advisory services, including developing, acquiring, and managing over $3.5 billion in institutional real estate. The current real estate development focus is transforming a 36-acre vacant in-fill site on Chicago's Southwest Side into a $400 million mixed-income and mixed-use community with essential housing, services, and jobs. Cabrera has over 25 years of investment experience. He earned a bachelor's degree in finance from Northern Illinois University and studied at the London School of Economics. Accel Construction HENRY LOPEZ Founder & President Henry Lopez, founder and president of Accel Construction, brings more than 32 years of experience in building, construction, acquisition, and real estate development to clients and projects. Accel is a key contractor in the O'Hare 21 modernization program and has won several awards including Metra's 2019 DBE Construction Contractor and Prime Contractor of the Year. Lopez has successfully led high-profile commercial, retail, residential and hospitality projects to completion: a $41 million contract for two Army Reserve Centers for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and Chicago's highly successful multi-billion-dollar Central Station Development. He has also overseen the $50-million renovation of 250 S. Wacker Drive, a 247,000-square-foot, 17-story office building, along with many other major high-profile projects in Chicago.

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