Business & Tech

San Diego Businesses Honored with BBB Torch Awards

Mount Helix editor Eric Yates helped judge essays that awarded five San Diego high school students BBB scholarships as well.

The 13th annual Better Business Bureau (BBB) Torch Awards for marketplace ethics were held Tuesday, Dec. 7. The annual awards banquet is a popular event that honors local San Diego businesses for their commitment to consumer trust, high level performance, and workplace integrity.

In addition, five San Diego teens were given BBB Torch Award Scholarships based on 400-word essays that they submitted on the subject of ethics and integrity in their communities. I had the privilege to be one of the essay contest's judges and was on hand for the event Tuesday.

The five scholarship winners were: first place—Thomas A. Keller of Lakeside, from Granite Hills High School; second place—Brett Huff of Ramona, from Christian High School; third place—Russyan Mark Mabeza of Paradise Hills, from Morse High School; fourth place—Amber Michaelis of Encinitas, from San Dieguito Academy High School; and fifth place—Brent Neely of San Marcos, from San Marcos High School.

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The awards were emceed by George Chamberlin, a San Diego business journalism icon who in addition to serving as executive editor for the San Diego Daily Transcript is also the business editor for NewsRadio 600 and a financial advisor for NBC 7/39.

The keynote speaker for the event was former USC Trojans and Los Angeles Rams head coach John Robinson. Robinson told the crowd of hundreds that there were  times that he faced many ethical dilemmas as coach of USC, whether they be looking at a copy of the Notre Dame playbook that was sent to him before their showdown, giving lavish gifts to star recruits, or helping pay for a player to travel home after the death of a loved one, an NCAA violation.

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Robinson encouraged the crowd of business leaders and award nominees in their daily struggle with ethics in the business landscape.

"It's easy to talk about ethics when they are someone else's ethics," he said. "But how you do your business, how you treat people and how you establish yourself as people with character is what counts. Congrats for putting yourself out on the line, and for having the kind of inner strength to do things the right way."

The following business were either finalists or winners of 2010 BBB Torch Awards (winners in bold):

One-Four Employees Category

RSVP Publications

Major League Heating & Air Conditioning

A-1 Hearing Aid Center

 

Five-10 Employees Category

K-Co Construction, Inc.

Health Savings Associates Insurance Services, Inc.

Murray Lampert Construction

 

11-24 Employees Category

DSD Business Systems

Pure Financial Advisors, Inc.

ReSource Floors, Inc.

 

25-99 Employees Category

Anderson Plumbing, Heating & Air

Marrokal Design & Remodeling

ASI Hasting Heating & Air

 

100-249 Employees Category

JW Floor Covering

Coles Fine Flooring

CarMax, Inc.

 

250-499 Employees Category

Skillstorm

 

Charity/Nonprofit Category

Pacific Safety Council

National MS Society, Pacific South Coast Chapter

Outreach For Humanity


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