2014 Biz Award winners announced

Update June 30, 2014: Rusnak Auto Group President and CEO Victoria Rusnak will accept the Business of the Year award on behalf of Rusnak/Arcadia at the Arcadia Chamber of Commerce 2014 annual Business Awards sponsored by Printing Control on Thursday, July 17.

In a first for the annual event, a quartet from the Pasadena Symphony and Pops‘ Random Acts of Music community outreach program will perform prior to the ceremony as attendees arrive and eat breakfast, and Resident Pasadena Pops Conductor Larry Blank will make a short presentation about the Pops’ summer concert series at the Arboretum, including the July 19th concert, Michael Feinstein Sings Gershwin.

The Arcadia Chamber is proud to announce the winners of the 2014 annual Business Awards to be presented at the monthly Networking Breakfast sponsored each month by Rose Hills Memorial Park and Mortuary, 7:30 a.m. – 9 a.m. in the Sunset Room of the Santa Anita Golf Course:

• Business of the Year: Rusnak/Arcadia Mercedes-Benz
• Business Person of the Year: Chris Andersson, Foothill Credit Union 
• Chamber Service Award: Bruce McCallum
• New Member of the Year: Allen Tsay, Waddell & Reed

Tickets to the breakfast are $20 in advance ($25 at the door) and discounted to $15 for Chamber members who pay at least two days in advance ($20 at the door for Chamber members). No charge for those holding a Chamber All Access Pass. Call 626-447-2159 or purchase online in the “Shop” area at www.ArcadiaCaChamber.org, or at Chamber office, 388 W. Huntington Drive, Arcadia, during regular business hours.

If you would like to sponsor and/or congratulate the winners in the event printed program, e-mail your ad to the Chamber by Thursday, July 10: Info@ArcadiaCaChamber.org.

• Awards Sponsor: $1,000 (full-page ad, optional table for promotional material, optional 3-minute presentation at event, logo on all publicity materials)
• Full page ad (8.5″ x 5.5″) = $100
• Half-page ad (4.25″ x 5.5″) = $75
• Business Card Ad (2″ x 3.5″) = $50

Business of the Year Rusnak/Arcadia Mercedes-Benz opened nearly a quarter-century ago in 1991. It has long been the single largest sales tax generator in Arcadia, and thus provides millions of dollars each year to the community, which helps preserve Arcadia’s high level of police, fire, library, and other services.
The only dealership in Arcadia is now undergoing the construction of a $10 million two-story showroom for the first time on Santa Anita Avenue north of Huntington Drive.
Rusnak/Arcadia currently employs 120 people and sells more than 2000 new Mercedes-Benz vehicles per year in addition to more than 600 pre-owned vehicles.
Victoria Rusnak from corporate headquarters in Pasadena will be on hand July 17 to provide details of the new building and services.

Rusnak/Arcadia offers a large inventory of finely crafted, high performance luxury cars including the Mercedes-Benz sedans and coupes, SUVs and crossovers, roadsters and supercars, including hybrid models.
Family owned and operated for more than 50 years, the Rusnak Auto Group sets the benchmark standard for all dealerships with exceptional customer service and state-of-the-art facilities.
Rusnak has the distinguished honor of being Southern California’s largest high line automotive group, with individual dealers in the top 15 of the Ward’s Automotive Dealer 500.
Extraordinary cars come with extraordinary personal service. Rusnak caters to your needs by offering the highest level of customer service whether you”re coming by to shop for a new or pre-owned Mercedes-Benz, having your car serviced or purchasing factory certified parts and accessories.
Rusnak/Arcadia offers the same high quality parts your vehicle was built with, and keeps a large inventory of these certified parts in stock at the Rusnak/Arcadia facility. Rusnak/Arcadia service department strives for 100% customer satisfaction.

Rusnak also makes supports the community more directly, sponsoring organizations including Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, which has a facility in Arcadia, and the California Philharmonic, and by promoting social responsibility. By seeking to add value and earn a fair profit, Rusnak is able to give back to the community and to give you the finest selection of luxury automobiles and the best customer service.

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Chris Andersson, Vice President Operations at Foothill Credit Union, has earned the award of Business Person of the Year by making multiple efforts to promote Foothill Credit Union through the support of The Arcadia Chamber and other organizations and community groups. In the past year he agreed to join the Chamber’s board of directors and approved a three-year sponsor commitment to the Chamber to cover the costs of new furniture and technology in the remodeled and much-used conference room. He also made possible the Arcadia Chamber’s biggest-ever upcoming direct-mailing to promote the annual Taste of Arcadia.

Chris has been with Foothill Credit Union for almost 12 years. His responsibilities include oversight of three branches, the call center and the marketing department. Foothill Credit Union has been an active supporter of the Arcadia Chamber for many years.

Chris grew up in Santa Barbara, CA as the youngest of four children. Thanks to his dad, he grew up being very active in sports, playing basketball, soccer, baseball, volleyball, golf, football and track. His best sport was basketball, where he was name to the ALL CIF team during his senior year. He has a passion for athletics to this day. Chris went on to Loyola Marymount University, graduating with a BA Marketing degree. He has also obtained a Master of Arts degree from the University of San Francisco.

Chris began his banking career in 1991, as a part-time teller. After graduating LMU, he accepted his first Credit Union job, as Operations Supervisor at Santa Barbara Teachers Credit Union. He’s also worked at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi and now with Foothill Credit Union.

Chris says Foothill Credit Union is an outstanding place to work. They take great care of their team members and members. Foothill Credit Union started as a Teachers Credit Union in Arcadia back in 1958. Since then Foothill has expanded to include most school districts and hospitals throughout the San Gabriel Valley. Foothill Credit Union has been heavily involved in their local communities, especially with the schools and hospitals within the San Gabriel Valley for more than 56 years.

Chris is married to his wife Kristine, whom he happened to meet at Foothill. Together they have one son, Jacob who is 5. Chris enjoys watching his son play t-ball, basketball, soccer, as well as his drum lessons. Another Andersson athlete in the making.

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New Member of the Year Allen Tsay, who was born and raised in the San Gabriel Valley, has jumped into his first year of membership in the Arcadia Chamber of Commerce by becoming an Ambassador, attending most Chamber functions, volunteering for hot duty at a Chamber pancake breakfast booth wearing a full suit, and providing multiple opportunities to help promote the Chamber.

After a brief stint in school politics and receiving two bachelor’s degrees from the University of California, Riverside in Business Economics and Political Science, he immediately pursued a career as a Financial Advisor with Waddell & Reed Financial Inc. Drawn to their unique approach in financial planning and their investment philosophy, he strongly believes in a holistic financial approach where the Advisor creates a comprehensive financial plan for the client first before proposing appropriate investment and insurance recommendations.
Allen Tsay is proud to be one of Waddell and Reed’s Financial Advisors. Founded in 1937, Waddell and Reed is among the most enduring asset management and financial planning firms in the nation. Traded on the NYSE and across all 50 states, Waddell and Reed owns and operates Ivy Investment Management and Waddell and Reed Investment Management. which was ranked earlier this year by Barron’s Magazine (a leading financial magazine sister to the Wall Street Journal) as being the #1 and #4 investment fund families for the past ten year rankings.

Following a strong Asset Allocation philosophy and Modern Portfolio Theory, Allen helps his clients navigate around the complexities of investments and insurance to achieve their goals of wealth accumulation and retirement. He understands the financial commonalities surrounding the baby boomer generation, and proposes appropriate solutions to help each client prepare for the modern issues of increasing longevity, increasing medical costs, long term care, and the fact that Americans are carrying mortgages into retirement.
Allen is always looking forward to working with clients who are motivated to making positive changes in their financial lives and being proactive towards their personal finances.

On his free time, Allen enjoys hiking into the Los Angeles National Forest and a good night spent amongst good food and close company. He also enjoys being plugged into the local community as a Freemason of Arcadia #278 and has a passion helping small businesses break into the business community as an Ambassador for the Arcadia Chamber of Commerce.

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Chamber Service Award honoree Bruce McCallum, who was born in Miami (Arizona, that is), has received numerous honors for his many volunteer efforts since his retirement 15 years ago in 1999. The latest reflects the Arcadia Chamber’s appreciation for Bruce serving as volunteer chairman of the Taste of Arcadia committee for two years, leading the Chamber’s primary annual fundraising event to its biggest and most successful year ever in 2013.
This year he also agreed to chair a committee to organize Arcadia as a Host Town for the Special Olympics World Games of 2015. This involves hosting 100 of the 7,000 athletes and 3,000 coaches who will come to Los Angeles for the Games in July/August 2015. This committee will provide for the athletes every need for the four days and three nights they stay in Arcadia prior to the Games.

 

Bruce is also a past master of his Masonic lodge and past President of the Rotary Club of Arcadia, where he won the Community Service Award in 2012. He was a volunteer at the Arboretum for over 11 years, including six on the Board of Trustees. Currently he is active on two committees of his church.

After his birth in Arizona, Bruce’s family soon moved to Los Angeles then to Inglewood where he attended public schools. He attended the University of Southern California where he earned both a BS and MBA degrees. While at SC he joined the NROTC and received a commission as an Ensign. He then spent two years as communications officer aboard the aircraft carrier Hornet as it patrolled the Orient.

After working in corporate America a few years, he decided that arena was not what he wanted, so he began a career as part-owner of two companies involved in the high-performance automotive aftermarket. During this time he was recognized as the “Person of the Year” by the industrial magazine, Hot Rod Industry News.
He then decided he wanted his own company so be bought a small company which made and installed laminate counter-tops. During the next 18 years he expanded his product line to include Corian, granite and marble. He successfully expanded his client base to include tract home builders, large contracting firms, and more than 140 home remodeling stores. He grew the company to 75-80 employees working in a 16,000 thousand square foot plant and servicing the counties of Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego, as well as the Inland Empire.

While working he was appointed by then Governor Ronald Reagan to the Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and spent five years on that board.

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The Pops quartet is performing as part of the Pasadena Symphony and POPS Random Acts of Music program or RAM. Ram’s are unannounced performances that happen all over the San Gabriel Valley area in banks, libraries, train stops and even the Rose Bowl running trail.
Conductor Larry Blank is one of the most prolific and sought-after composers, conductors, and orchestrators in the entertainment business today. His work has been presented all over the world, including some of Broadway’s most successful musicals, Carnegie Hall, and top television and film projects. He recently conducted the Pasadena POPS at the LA Arboretum in a celebration of Broadway music and will again lift the baton this Saturday as he conducts not only the Pasadena POPS but also Michael Feinstein for the July 19th concert, Michael Feinstein Sings Gershwin.