Los Angeles – A power outage that left Southern California Minority Supplier Development Council’s (SCMSDC) Supplier of the Year (SOTY) awards venue in darkness didn’t dampen the spirits of the more than 400 people who attended the July 16 event to cheer on and support the 30 SOTY award nominees.

SCMSDC moved forward with plans to hold its annual SOTY awards luncheon at the Renaissance Long Beach Hotel despite the loss of power caused by an underground electrical fire in downtown Long Beach.

The hotel lost electricity by the time most of the guests arrived, and SCMSDC Board Chair Rick Hobbs, Vice Chair Charles Harmon and SCMSDC President Virginia Gomez decided that -- to borrow a phrase from Hollywood -- “the show must go on.”

“The event was, indeed, memorable to say the least,” says Gomez, noting that SCMSDC staff quickly re-staged the awards ceremony from the dark ballroom to the naturally lit foyer.

Guests gathered around the red carpet as the nominees made their entrance, award winners were announced with the help of a drum roll, remarks from the awards presentation were cut and the sit-down lunch became a buffet. Electricity was briefly restored during which time a video spotlighting the nominees was shown.

“Although it was unfortunate, we’re so pleased that all of our attendees stayed to recognize our award winners and nominees and took advantage of the great networking opportunities with corporate members and MBEs,” Gomez adds. “We’re grateful for everyone’s patience and support in helping to turn a less than ideal situation into a positive one.”

Throughout the event, the focus remained on the SOTY award winners and nominees. Hobbs noted that “only three percent of the council’s certified MBEs are nominated for their outstanding work with corporate members. These nominees are among an elite group of companies.”

The following received 2015 SOTY awards:
Class I: Cho Estrada Communications, based in Valencia, provides public relations consulting, writing and editorial services. The company was nominated by Southern California Gas Co.
Class II: BeyondCurious creates mobile experiences and transforms brands. The Los Angeles-headquartered firm was nominated by Toyota.
Class III: IW Group of West Hollywood offers advertising production, media planning/buying, public relations and event coordination services. The company was nominated by Toyota.
Class IV: Walton Isaacson, based in Los Angeles, offers marketing consulting services. The firm was nominated by Toyota.

The award winners received business scholarships from their corporate nominators. Runners-up in each category were inducted into SCMSDC’s Winners' Circle, a recognition of companies whose performance ranked nearly as high as the award winners. These included (Class I) Cetera Marketing of North Hollywood, which specializes in promotional products and corporate gifting; (Class II) ZEESMAN, a branding and messaging company in Los Angeles; (Class III) CareOnSite of Long Beach, which operates occupational clinics and offers medical services; and (Class IV) SHI International, based in Somerset, N.J., a global provider of IT products and services.

Other nominees included:
Class I: DHS Creative, a Los Angeles firm offering design and manufacturing support for the entertainment industry.

Class II: Andry Specialty Vehicles of Torrance specializes in experiential marketing; Blair, Church and Flynn offers engineering and construction management services from its Clovis headquarters; Décor Interior Design, Inc. is a Los Angeles-based firm focused on interior design, specialty construction and custodial and grounds-keeping services; ICE Safety Solutions, headquartered in Fremont, offers safety training and equipment; Icon Blue, based in Los Angeles, designs, manufactures, packages and distributes promotional merchandise; Material Acquisition Services of Lake Forest provides industrial material management and distribution services; RDI Engineering is a Monterey Park-based engineering design firm; Sun Engineering offers full-service multi-discipline engineering services from its Westminster base; Brea-headquartered Think Ink provides marketing, printing, promotional products and design services; Urbanracer.com, a Bayside, New York-based firm, focuses on marketing, automotive and experiential event services.

Class III: Area 51-ESG, Inc. is an Irvine-based electronic components distributor; DSS Staffing provides employment services and vendor management from its headquarters in Brea; Enterprises Resource Services is an El Segundo firm that provides payroll and recruitment services; GDM is a Chino-based provider of construction equipment, tools and materials; Long Beach-headquartered InterTrend Communications is a full-service advertising, public relations and media company; PromoShop, Inc. is a Los Angeles firm providing promotional and marketing services; RMI International, headquartered in Paramount, offers security services.

Class IV: Agile Sourcing Partners, based in Corona, provides project management and equipment distribution services for utilities; Hal Hays Construction specializes in construction services from its Riverside headquarters; SBM Management Services is a McClellan, Calif.-based company that offers facility services; Technology Integration Group is headquartered in San Diego and offers IT products and services.

Established by the National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC), corporate members nominate certified MBEs in good standing with the council to compete for this prestigious award. Nominees are judged by SCMSDC corporate members and evaluated on their demonstrated growth and development; employment and job creation; consistent high quality operations, products/services and business performance; procurement/purchasing spend with MBEs; mentoring and other forms of assistance to MBEs; regional council involvement; and more.

One winner is selected in each class category, based on annual sales of less than $1 million (Class I), between $1 million and $10 million (Class II), between $10 million and $50 million (Class III), and greater than $50 million (Class IV). Local winners compete in the regional competition and, if selected at that level, move on to the national competition. Regional and national winners will be recognized at the NMSDC annual conference awards dinner on October 21 in San Diego.