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Local firms win top honors
By JAMES THORNER © St. Petersburg Times, published September 1, 2000 WESLEY CHAPEL -- An Odessa manufacturer of carrying cases and a San Antonio drywall distributor nabbed the two Manufacturing Industry of the Year awards Thursday night at Pasco County's 14th-annual Industry Appreciation Banquet. Cadence Manufacturing Inc., which nearly doubled its number of employees this year at its factory in West Pasco Industrial Park, took the prize for companies employing 30 or more. Cadence makes giant molded plastic cushioned cases for electronic equipment. One of its biggest customers in Walt Disney World.
The company is planning to nearly double its presence in Pasco by opening a second warehouse in Odessa. "When we first opened up people scratched their head and wondered why we were opening in San Antonio," said Ken Drummond, American Building Material's sales manager and co-owner. "But even if things slow down nationwide, here in Pasco it will stay strong." The New Industry Award, given to a company that arrived in Pasco the past 18 months, went to Accent Marketing Services Inc., a company that almost single-handedly perked up the job market in Zephyrhills. During less than a year of operations, Accent, which handles calls for the telecommunications company Sprint, has hired 283 at its call center in Zephyr Plaza, a formerly down-at-its-heels shopping center on U.S. 301. The company has drawn heavily on Zephyrhills, Dade City and Wesley Chapel to fill its jobs, which pay $8.25 per hour and higher. "They've just exploded on the scene," said Judy Ravenna, a vice president with SunTrust Nature Coast who chaired the awards selection committee. The awards banquet, held at Saddlebrook Resort in Wesley Chapel, was sponsored by the Pasco Economic Development Council, the non-profit industry recruitment agency partly supported by the taxpayers. Although the PEDC's main job is luring manufacturers to Pasco, the agency also handed out prizes for the top two services industries of the year. This year's winners were Evolutions Healthcare Systems (in 30-plus employees category) and Suncoast Clinical Research (in the 30-or-less category). Evolutions Healthcare, which operates from Trinity Commerce Park, contracts with health insurers to supply networks of doctors and health care providers who agree to prenegotiated, reduced rates. Suncoast Clinical conducts about 800 patient trials for drug companies from its New Port Richey office. The firm treats volunteers, who earn small stipends for their cooperation, with medicines in various stages of development. "The pharmaceutical companies win, the doctors win, and we make money," said co-owner Bobbi Tafara. The banquet committee also distributed two special awards. Hernando-Pasco Hospice collected the Special Contribution Award given to non-profit organizations. A Special Recognition Award went to Prudential Tropical Realty, with Pasco offices in New Port Richey and Land O'Lakes. Thirty-two companies competed this year for the various awards. The committee chose the winners based on several criteria, the biggest being increased employment and growth in square footage.
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