During a recent meeting of the Florida Cabinet, Governor Rick
Scott recognized Bit-Wizards, NANTHEALTH, App River, and JENSEN USA with the
Governor’s Business Ambassador Award for their commitment in creating jobs in
North Florida. The Governor’s Business Ambassador Award is given to individuals
for their efforts in creating jobs and opportunities for Florida families.
Governor Scott said, “It is an honor to recognize these
Florida businesses with the Governor’s Business Ambassador Award for their
commitment to creating jobs for Florida families. Business such as Bit-Wizards,
NANTHEALTH, App River, and JENSEN USA help create an opportunity economy in our
state and provide Floridians with the opportunities to succeed and provide for
their families. Let’s keep working to build an opportunity economy in our state
where every Floridian who wants a job can get one.”
The following businesses received the Governor’s Business
Ambassador Award:
Bit-Wizards - Bit-Wizards is a professional services firm
that provides information technology consulting and services organized under
three core pillars: Application Development, Creative, and Infrastructure. In
2009, 2010, 2011, and 2012 Bit-Wizards made Inc. Magazine’s List of the Top
5000 Fastest Growing Privately Held Companies and was honored as one of Florida
Trend Magazine's Best Companies to Work in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014. In
2011, Bit-Wizards was named as one of the 50 Florida Companies to Watch. The
staff at Bit-Wizards continues to grow, as we are constantly looking for the
most talented developers, creatives, and infrastructure engineers. Bit-Wizards
is headquartered in Fort Walton Beach, Florida with 36 employees.
Vince Mayfield, CEO of Bit-Wizards, said, “On behalf of the
Bit-Wizards team, we are honored to receive the Governor’s Business Ambassador
Award from Governor Rick Scott. Our success is due to our team, customers,
partners, and the business friendly climate in Florida. Governor Scott’s
emphasis on Keeping Small Business Working is producing results. We appreciate
this recognition and strive to do our part to make Florida a great place to
live and work.”
NANTHEALTH - NANTHEALTH is an IT healthcare company that
provides clinicians with an easy-to-use approach to medical device integration
to help make more informed decisions about patients. Using NANTHEALTH’S
software solution, hospitals can connect virtual medical device to their CIS,
providing clinicians with faster access to more accurate patient information.
The NANTHEALTH intelligent Clinical Operating System (iCOS) platform is the
first operating system of its kind in health care, enabling 21st century
coordinated care at a lower cost.
Dave Dyell, Senior Vice President of Product Development of
NANTHEALTH, said, “We consider Florida and Panama City to be partners with our
success. We continue to be pleased with the statewide commitment to nurture the
high-tech sector; our outstanding universities and community colleges that are
wonderful resources; and our ability to recruit top talent that appreciates the
local lifestyle. We are delighted that our ongoing success is bringing more
high-value jobs to Panama City.”
App River - AppRiver is a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)
provider offering award-winning email and web security solutions to businesses
of all sizes. AppRiver offers comprehensive, affordable subscription-based solutions
that include spam and virus protection, email encryption and web protection. In
addition, the company provides a complete managed service for Microsoft
Exchange, as well as a bundled Office 365 solution. Since its inception,
AppRiver has sustained a 93 percent customer retention rate while protecting
8.5 million mailboxes for more than 47,000 companies worldwide. The company
maintains offices in Gulf Breeze, Florida, Atlanta, Georgia, Austin, Texas and
Lupfig, Switzerland.
Michael Murdoch, AppRiver’s President and CEO, said, “We’re
honored to be among the recipients of the Governor’s Business Ambassador Award.
Every day, our growing team of 200 employees competes and wins against some of
the biggest names in the IT world. We sincerely appreciate Governor Scott’s
recognition of our success and of the contribution our company makes to
Florida’s economy."
JENSEN USA - JENSEN GROUP has been in business for over 60
years, beginning in Ronne, Denmark in 1937, on the island of Bornholm as a
family-owned business. Now in its third-generation of ownership, the company is
the world’s largest industrial laundry equipment manufacturer with an annual
turn-over of approximately $300 million. JENSEN GROUP was privately held until
the year 2000, when the great-grandson (current CEO) took it public. The JENSEN
GROUP’s current US headquarters are in Panama City, Florida with approximately
165 employees and supports the North, Central and South American markets, as
well as the Caribbean.
Simon Nield, President of JENSEN USA Inc., said, “I am
honored to accept this prestigious award on behalf of JENSEN USA Inc. We first
moved to Florida back in 1999. We started small with only 30 people. However,
since that time our sales have grown by over 400 percent, we’ve doubled the
size of our factory and added 135 skilled employees. A good part of that growth
has been in manufacturing, and we are proud to say that around 40 percent of
what we produce is exported to all corners of the developed World. Florida has
been a good place to grow our business and it is our intention to continue this
growth and to continue to create good jobs here in Panama City. I would like to
thank Mr. Scott, our honorable Governor, and the State of Florida for
recognizing our progress.”
