EDC Investor Categories: Gazelle

Hancock Askew

Hancock Askew is full-service tax, accounting, audit and advisory firm. The firm provides professional services that include tax planning and compliance, financial statement audits, outsourced accounting, employee benefit plan audits, state and local tax consulting, tax credits and business incentives advisory, risk assurance and internal audit, SOC examinations, transaction advisory, business valuations and other critical business consulting services. Hancock Askew has a staff of over 275 professionals across offices in Florida (Miami, Tampa, Jacksonville, Orlando) and Georgia (Savannah, Atlanta, Augusta). The firm works with an array of clients ranging from emerging businesses to large corporations, nonprofit organizations to publicly traded companies and high net worth individuals. Hancock Askew is an independent member of the BDO Alliance USA. For more information about Hancock Askew, visit www.hancockaskew.com.




C.J. Evans, Jr.

C.J. Evans is a Director with the State and Local Tax (SALT) team at Hancock Askew. With more than 25 years of SALT experience, he combines his accounting experience and legal expertise to ensure his clients minimize state and local tax and maximize business incentives offered by federal, state, and local jurisdictions.

C.J. specializes in providing economic development/site selection consulting services to companies opening new facilities or expanding existing operations. He secures business incentives for job creation and capital investment, including cash grants, property tax reductions, sales tax reductions, infrastructure grants, and utility rate reductions. Guiding companies through every step of the economic development/site selection process, C.J. provides site location financial analysis and serves as a liaison with state and local economic development and governmental representatives. He also manages the compliance process.

Additionally, C.J. works with other Hancock Askew SALT professionals to assist companies with federal and state tax credits, state income tax, sales and use tax, and real or personal property tax consulting.

C.J. joined Hancock Askew at the firm’s Tampa office in August 2022. Previously, he was a Managing Director at Savills, a leading global commercial real estate services company. He also has held leadership positions at Merit Advisors, Ryan, and Ernst & Young.

C.J. is a member of the International Professionals in Taxation. He also serves as Treasurer of the Alpha Eta House Corporation of Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity at the University of Florida.

C.J. Evans, Jr.
Director

The Health Benefit Alliance

After years of experience in the health benefits industry, either within the walls of major carriers or on the street advising employers and plan sponsors, Matt Esposito and Don Trudeau sought to build a better solution. In 2018, Matt and Don began positioning top quality service partners to create The Health Benefit Alliance™. With the program components in place and the backing of two leading third-party administrator (TPA) partners, The Health Benefit Alliance™ began sales activity in June 2019.

The immediate growth of The Health Benefit Alliance™ confirmed the market demand that Matt and Don anticipated. Within 18 months, membership climbed – even with a disciplined and tightly managed early distribution strategy. As membership continued to grow in 2021 and into 2022, so did the demand for administrative capacity, prompting the onboarding of additional best-in-class TPA partners.




Procom Services

 

 

Procom is a North American leader in IT and Professional staffing and contingent workforce management. As a market-leading source of high-performing services and solutions, Procom helps organizations solve contingent workforce and extended workforce management challenges.




Chris Beckage

Chris is a senior business executive with a record of success leading strategy, growth, and operations for a multi-faceted talent and workforce solutions provider. He comes with over 25 years of experience in providing talent acquisition services to companies across North America.

As an active participant and board member in numerous economic development groups in North America and associations including SIA, and Forbes, he is passionate about service excellence and has a strong drive for open communication, work ethics and collaboration.

Chris Beckage
Vice President, Business Development

Newgentek

 

 

Newgentek is a systems integrator focused on being a strategic partner for our clients.  Our Restaurant and Retail division serves multi-unit restaurant and retail operators and our Unified Communications division serves corporate and enterprise clients.  Our goal in both divisions is to turn customers’ infrastructure, network, point-of-sale, and audio visual requirements of any complexity into manageable, easy to use solutions through our industry leading workplace transformation processes.




Chon Nguyen

Chon Nguyen is a successful entrepreneur based in Tampa, Florida. At a young age, he started an IT managed services business that is still growing today. His strong interest in the hospitality industry led him to develop a kitchen recipe solution software for multi-unit restaurants, and he also became a partner at The Proper House restaurant group. In 2017, he created Newgentek to provide end-to-end, turnkey technology solutions for multi-unit operators, hospitality and enterprise markets.

Chon Nguyen
Founder and CEO

SGP Advisors

Shea Guercio Partners (formally known as SGP Advisors) is an independently owned and operated insurance brokerage with roots tracing back to 1995, when founder Vern Barclay, left a successful career in law firm administration to start the firm. In the early years of SGP Advisors our focus was strictly on lawyer’s professional liability insurance in Florida.

Over the years through strong organic growth and strategic acquisitions, the firm has grown to meet the needs of its clients in the following areas: Professional Liability, Employment Practices Liability, Cyber/Network Security Liability, Property/Casualty Insurance, Group Employee Benefits, Key Man Life Insurance, Individual Disability Insurance and Representation and Warranties Coverage. Additionally, our value-added proposition includes a vast offering of services to include, in-house capacity to conduct risk management audits, claims counseling and advice, policy analysis and a wide range of additional resources that address the everyday issues that arise in your business.

Presently, SGP Advisors proudly serves a wide array of professional service organizations beyond its original law firm niche. Some of these concentrations include Architects & Engineers, Accountants, Physicians, Allied Health Professionals, Real Estate and Title Agents, and many more.
Today, SGP Advisors is a multi-office specialist with a national clientele across all 50 states. Our firm principals have over 60+ years of industry experience. Its unique expertise has placed SGP Advisors in the top tier of insurance brokerages across the United States who dedicate themselves to the professional service industry.




Michael P. Shea

Mike P. Shea is a native of Tampa and a graduate of Florida State University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Finance. After a brief career in the banking industry, Mike accepted an advisor position at SGP Advisors.  At that time, SGP Advisors consisted of two partners and no employees operating only in Florida.  Mike became responsible for the firm’s geographic expansion and quickly grew the client base nationally.  Today, Mike is President/CEO of SGP Advisors, which maintains two offices, 20+ employees and clients in 42 states.  Mike is an advisory board member of the Downtown Tampa YMCA, services on the executive council of the Florida State University Risk Management and Insurance Council.  Mike resides in Tampa with his wife Leila Pallardy Shea and their two young boys, Reilly and Braden.

Michael P. Shea
President

Blind Tiger Cafe LLC

 

 

Blind Tiger Cafe is a 1920’s speakeasy style coffee shop. All pastries have been inspired by the ethnicities that make up Ybor City. Cuban, Italian, German and Spanish inspired vegan cookies, breads and cakes are the perfect pairings with their drink offerings.

Black & Denim
Made and sourced with 100% American Raw Materials, Black & Denim is a Lifestyle brand with a spirit as resilient as the American Dream. It conserves the essence of the History of American craftsmanship where it was born. Its authenticity is expressed through its collections made of casual articles of clothes & accessories for men & women that are inspired by Americana, Music, & the American lifestyle.




Roberto Torres

Roberto is the co-Founder and Managing Partner of Black & Denim Apparel Company, The Blind Tiger Coffee Roasters & Cass Street New York Style Deli. He is an entrepreneur specializing in the areas of accounting, audit, operations, logistics and financial services segments. He brings his expertise in retail and operations, both as a consultant and an executive, to assist start-ups and early companies with strategic, operational and expansion plans.

Black & Denim is a Lifestyle brand rooted in the Americana, Music & Lifestyle. Over the last eleven years, he has helped and advised numerous companies in the realm of retail, apparel, merchandising and technology. Roberto is a proud Seminole having earned a BS in Accounting and a BS in Finance from Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida.

The Blind Tiger Coffee Roasters is a speakeasy inspired coffee house in the heart of the Historic Ybor City District. Founded in November of 2014, the Café has a Coffee, Tea & full service breakfast & lunch offerings. It houses the flagship store for Black & Denim. It has over 8 locations in the Tampa Bay area.

Cass Street New York Style Deli is a New York style delicatessen serving the best Pastrami, Corned Beef, Latkes, Matzo Ball soup and the staples of a traditional New York Deli.

In the community, Roberto is the Marketing Committee Chair for the Ybor City Development Corporation. The YCDC is the Community Redevelopment Area designated by the City of Tampa. He has been a member for 6 years. Roberto is also a board member for the Tampa Bay Economic Development Corporation. He is also a Board Member for Feeding Tampa Bay (Tampa affiliate for Feeding America).

www.blackanddenim.com

www.blindtigercafe.com

www.cassstreetdeli.com

Roberto Torres
President

Elevate, Inc.

 

 

Elevate, Inc. (“Elevate”) is a Florida-based strategic business development consulting firm providing a multitude of services. Founded by community leader Aakash M. Patel in 2011, Elevate is in the business of helping our clients Learn, Connect and Grow.  Whether you are looking to expand your public relations efforts, community relations activities, or general marketing endeavors, the Elevate, Inc. team has the talent, experience, and resources to meet and exceed your organization’s goals. More than a traditional business development consulting company, Elevate, Inc. uses public relations efforts, community relations activities and general marketing endeavors to help clients achieve their goals. Through our unique relationship based approach, we set ourselves apart from our competitors.




Aakash Patel

As the founder of Elevate, Inc., Aakash Patel helps business owners learn, connect and grow in the community. Patel is a graduate of the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce’s Leadership Tampa, FBI Citizen’s Academy, Tampa Police Citizen’s Academy, Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn’s Mayor’s Neighborhood University, Tampa Bay Public Leadership Institute, Leadership Tampa Bay (Executive Committee since 2014), Tampa Connection, and College Leadership Florida. He is a current class member in the St. Petersburg Area Chamber of Commerce’s Leadership St. Pete program. Prior to Elevate, Inc.’s launch, Patel served as an Editorial Assistant at the Tampa Bay Times Tallahassee Bureau, the Public Relations Coordinator for the Westin Tampa Bay hotel and Aqua restaurant, and was the founding Business Development Director for Chamber.com.

Aakash Patel
President & Founder

VoltAir Consulting Engineers

 

 

VoltAir Consulting Engineers is a minority-owned engineering firm that affords mechanical, electrical, plumbing and fire protection engineering design with offices located in Texas and Florida. Julius D. Davis, P.E., LEED®AP, President and CEO, of VoltAir has provided quality professional engineering and related services for over 19 years. VoltAir is highly skilled in developing appropriate engineering solutions to meet the requirements of owners, architects and contractors on public and private projects involving renovations, additions, continuing services and new construction. VoltAir provides engineering design services for a variety of building types including airports, hotels, hospitals, prisons, schools, museums, retail, theatres, recreational facilities and office buildings. They are consistently seeking new and challenging opportunities in the A/E industry to help the business meet its full potential. VoltAir’s mission is to practice quality engineering as well as providing personal, cost efficient, dependable and professional services.

 




Julius Davis

Julius Davis, a native of Tampa, is President and CEO of VoltAir Consulting Engineers. Davis has over 18 years of experience in all phases of electrical engineering services, such as building interior and exterior lighting, power distribution and generation and specialty systems such as voice/data and security for a variety of building types including airports, hospitals and office buildings. Davis is currently pursuing his master’s in business administration through the Executive MBA Program at the University of South Florida, where he also completed his undergraduate. In addition to the Tampa Hillsborough EDC, he serves on the board for the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce, Hillsborough Community College, City of Tampa Planning Arts Committee and 100 Black Men. In 2013, Davis was appointed by Florida Governor Rick Scott to the Board of Directors for Enterprise Florida, Inc. and Space Florida Board of Directors.

Julius Davis
President and CEO