Royal Sonesta Hotel, Cambridge, MA
Thursday, May 3, 2018, 6:00 p.m.

 

The 2018 ILC Immigrant Entrepreneur Awards Dinner will honor outstanding Massachusetts immigrant entrepreneurs in four categories: business growth, neighborhood business, high-tech business and life science business. The evening will commence with a networking reception, followed by an elegant dinner and an awards ceremony with special guest speaker Jay Ash, secretary of housing and economic development for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and Master of Ceremonies Shannon Dooling, reporter at WBUR.

Sponsorship & Tickets

There are many levels of sponsorship opportunities available.

Schedule of Events

6:00 PM Cocktail Reception
7:00 PM Dinner
8:00 PM Awards Ceremony

Nominations

This year we honor 40 nominees from 24 countries who founded businesses in Massachusetts, create jobs, serve our neighborhoods and fuel the innovation economy. Here’s an interactive map showing this year’s nominees across the commonwealth.

 

Business Growth

Boppanda Ganapathy, Boston Services, LLC in Burlington
from India

Fausto Garcia, Five Star Plating in Lawrence
from Dominican Republic

Jose Garcia, Ebi Sushi in Somerville, Sapporo Ramen in Cambridge and Sushi Kappo in Boston
from Guatemala

Elias and Juana Interiano, El Potro Mexican Bar & Grill in Lowell, Malden and Somerville
from El Salvador

Yan Liu, TVision Insights in Boston
from China

 

 

Neighborhood Business

Maria Alcantara, Lawrence Training School, Inc. in Lawrence
from Dominican Republic

Adolfo Alvarado, Tu Y Yo Mexican Restaurant in Somerville
from Guatemala

Yovanny Arias, Sharps Barber Shop in Hyde Park
from Dominican Republic

Umesh Bhuju, Zumi’s Espresso in Ipswich
from Nepal

Veronice Biscalquim, Outstanding Cleaning, Inc. in Somerville
from Brazil

Freddy Blanco, Don Quijote Market in Boston
from Dominican Republic

Jitka Borowick, Cleangreen, Inc. in Barnstable
from Czech Republic

Brad Brown, The Blue Frog Bakery in Jamaica Plain
from Canada

Margarita Druker, Persona Jewelry in Boston
from Moldova

Tania and Antonio Forte, Red Fez Bar and Grill in Chicopee
from Portugal

Fernanda Ghi and Guillermo Merlo, Artango Dance School in Brighton
from Argentina

Shelia Gibbs, Optical Expressions in Springfield
from Guyana

Fahri Karakaya, Pera Mediterranean Bistro in Williamstown
from Turkey

Inna Khitrik, Inna’s Kitchen in Boston
from Russia

Sun Kim, Sun Kim Bop in Springfield
from South Korea

Ekaterina Morozova, Lash Boutique in Hyannis
from Russia

Rodrigo Souza, Comeketo Brazilian Steakhouse in Leominster
from Brazil

 

 

High-Tech Business

Aki Balogh, MarketMuse, Inc. in Boston
from Hungary

Panos Bethanis, survey.com in Boston
from Greece

Sridhar Bogelli, Apps Associates LLC in Acton
from India

Lior Div, Cybereason, Inc. in Boston
from Israel

Max Faingezicht, ThriveHive in Boston
from Costa Rica

Alexander Falk, Altova, Inc. in Beverly
from Austria

Bart Heilbron, BlueConic, Inc. in Boston
from Netherlands

Bettina Hein, Pixability in Boston
from Germany

Qichao Hu, SolidEnergy Systems in Woburn
from China

Natan Linder, Tulip Interfaces, Inc. in Somerville
from Israel

Christina Qi, Domeyard LP in Boston
from China

 

 

Life Science Business

Guangping Gao, Voyager Therapeutics, Inc. in Cambridge
from China

Michael Koeris, Sample6 Technologies in Woburn
from Germany

Bernat Olle, Vedanta Biosciences, Inc. in Cambridge
from Spain

Jonathan Thon, Platelet BioGenesis in Cambridge
from Canada

Judging

The ILC Immigrant Entrepreneur Awards selection committee reviews nominations and selects one winner in each category. The 2018 selection committee members are:

Business Growth

• Debi Kleiman, Arthur M. Blank Center for Entrepreneurship, Babson College
• Denzil Mohammed, Public Education Institute at The Immigrant Learning Center, Inc.
• David Parker, Entrepreneurship for All
• Jose Luis Rojas Villarreal, Boston Private Bank

Neighborhood Business

• Leandro Freire, Accion
• Denzil Mohammed, Public Education Institute at The Immigrant Learning Center, Inc.
• Theresa Park, City of Lawrence
• Saritin Rizzuto, Metro Credit Union

High-Tech Business

• Doug Banks, Boston Business Journal
• Abi Barrow, Massachusetts Technology Transfer Center
• Kathleen Hagan, Hagan and Company
• Denzil Mohammed, Public Education Institute at The Immigrant Learning Center, Inc.
• Julianne Zimmerman, Reinventure Capital

Life Science Business

• Lauren Celano, Propel Careers
• Alison Farquhar, GTL Coaching & Consulting, LLC
• Bonnie Fendrock, Cyta Therapeutics, Inc.
• Denzil Mohammed, Public Education Institute at The Immigrant Learning Center, Inc.