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Florida SBDC at USF staff win two state business awards
Javier Marin with Florida SBDC Network State Director Mike Myhre
Javier Marin, a business consultant and assistant director for the Florida SBDC at University of South Florida, won the Florida SBDC Network State Star Award during the opening day of the ASBDC National Conference in Orlando on Sept. 19. Marin was honored for assisting small businesses throughout the SBDC's 10-county region.
"It's great to be recognized individually for your efforts, but consulting is a team sport," Marin said.
In 2015, he spent 1,011 hours consulting with businesses. Nearly 775 of those hours were spent with small to medium-sized enterprises. He provided advice and counsel focusing on start-up assistance, business plans, market/growth plans, capital access and financial management.
Marin has a combined 22 years in the banking industry. He is formerly the CEO of DNJSA Federal Credit Union, manager at Chase Bank and Vice President at SunTrust Bank. He provided services to companies with sales under $5 million, including commercial mortgages and business loans/lines for equipment, debt restructuring and working capital. He joined the Florida SBDC at USF in November 2013. Marin earned an associate's degree in business administration from Middlesex County College and a bachelor's degree in public administration from Polk State College. He attended Stockholm University in Sweden to study business-related courses, as well as the Management Training Program at Chase and Business Banking program at SunTrust. He has hands-on, in-depth knowledge in international business finance, business lending, mortgages, human resources, business planning, and business reorganization. Marin is also fluent in Spanish and Swedish.
Javier Marin with SBDC Regional Director Eileen Rodriguez
"He has a wide range of responsibilities for us," said Eileen Rodriguez, regional director of the SBDC. "Beyond exceeding his consulting goals, Javier also participated as the Small Business Network of the Americas Fellow for our state. He worked in Merida, Mexico, for two weeks and hosted the Mexican Fellow in Tampa for two weeks. He continued assisting the international team by leading the export risk/finance class as well as getting more familiar with export financials and export finance. He always exceeds expectations."
In addition to Marin's individual award, the Florida SBDC at USF region won the Florida Best Practice Award in recognition of the Phase 1 and Phase 2 Business Assessments delivered to small business owners to help their businesses grow and succeed. These business assessments involve an average of 80 hours of consulting by various members of the consulting team, and cover all aspects of a client's business.
The Florida SBDC at USF specializes in no-cost consulting and low-cost training for business owners in the 10-county Tampa Bay region. For more information, visit the website at http://sbdctampabay.com.