The Greater Irvine Chamber presented its 2022 business awards during the Celebrate Irvine event on June 16 at the Irvine Marriott.
Meet the award recipients:
Business of the Year - Tax Relief Advocates
The experts at TRA are committed to making a fundamental difference in the lives of its clients through knowledge and support to taxpayers to help them save money. TRA is is focused on its mission to advocate on behalf of its clients. The TRA team develops strategies personalized for each client to resolve outstanding tax balances and prevent future problems.
Entrepreneur of the Year - Ramin Mousavi, President & CEO, CathWorks
Ramin Mousavi leads an innovative global medical device company focused on transforming the diagnosis and treatment of coronary artery diseases. Prior to his current role, he led the patient monitoring and digital health portfolio at Baxter International and held leadership assignments at Edwards Lifesciences, Panasonic, and Rockwell Collins.
Entrepreneur of the Year - Joseph Zaki, Founder and CEO, Loko AI
Joseph Zaki is a pioneer in artificial intelligence with a specialization in real-time computer vision and autonomous systems. He has 20 years of experience delivering ground-breaking Academy and Emmy award-winning visual effects, virtual reality, and mixed reality for top Hollywood studios, advertising agencies, Fortune 500 companies and game studios. He holds numerous U.S. Patents in machine learning, computer vision, and synthetic data and is passionate about creating jobs and career pathways for underserved communities.
Business Philanthropist of the Year - Charles Antis, Founder & CEO, Antis Roofing & Waterproofing
A roofing expert, entrepreneur, and humanitarian, Charles Antis serves with Orange County Habitat for Humanity, for which his company has donated every roof installation of every home built by Habitat since 2009. Antis is a founding partner of the California Love Drop program, which provides meals and supplies to hospitals, medical centers, fire departments, police stations, grocery distribution centers, and more.
Nonprofit of the Year - Easterseals of Southern California
Throughout Southern California, Easterseals serves more than 15,000 children and adults with disabilities, autism, seniors, and veterans, by teaching independent living skills and how to find meaningful employment. They are leading the way to full equity, inclusion, and access through life-changing disability and community services.
Nonprofit of the Year - The Wooden Floor
Founded in 1983, The Wooden Floor is a creative youth development organization. The Wooden Floor transforms the lives of young people in low-income communities through the power of dance and access to higher education. In Orange County and through national licensed partners, they use a long-term approach grounded in exploratory dance education to foster the confidence and gifts within each child to innovate, communicate, and collaborate. 100% of students who graduate from their program go on to enroll in higher education.
Spirit of Hospitality - Art Forman, Irvine Marriott
Art Forman has devoted nearly four decades of service to Marriott International and has been working at their Irvine location for 22 years in the engineering department. As a leader and collaborator, he inspires all associates to do their best. He hosts a monthly associate service training session, Art of Hosting, for the entire Irvine Marriott team. He is a contributor to his community teaching bible study classes and helping with local food banks.
Celebrate Irvine included a fireside-style chat with Irvine Mayor Farrah N. Khan and Greater Irvine Chamber President and CEO Bryan Starr, providing an opportunity for attendees to get to know Mayor Khan better and hear why Irvine is an economic powerhouse and healthcare hub. Mayor Khan also shared about Irvine’s commitment to diverse housing options, sustainability, the next phase of transit, and an update on developments at the Great Park.
Larry Zeiber, Jr., vice president of philanthropy, City of Hope Orange County, gave presenting sponsor remarks during Celebrate Irvine. Other sponsors were: community partner OC Soccer Club, resilience sponsor Irvine Water Ranch District, corporate sponsor Tax Relief Advocates, business sponsors FivePoint, Colab Space, and University California, Irvine, and table sponsors Albertsons, Antis Roofing & Waterproofing, Cathworks, Chapman University, City of Irvine, Cox Communications, Easterseals Southern California, Edwards Lifesciences, Google, Greater Newport Physicians, HAMC Irvine Center, LLC, Irvine Marriott, Kaiser Permanente, Loko AI, New York Life, Orange County Power Authority, The Wooden Floor, Waste Management, Wells Fargo, and Zillow Group.
