Apex Environmental Engineering & Compliance, Inc.
2007 Small Business Person of the Year
for Florida
An Orlando businessman whom the Small Business Development
Center at UCF has assisted for nine years was named the SBA’s
2007 Small Business Person of the Year for Florida.
Rod Vargas, president of Apex Environmental Engineering &
Compliance Inc., was nominated for the award by the Small
Business Development Center at the University of Central Florida
in recognition of his contribution to the Central Florida
business community and his active role as a community leader.
Apex, an Orlando-based company, was founded in 1997 by Vargas
and Chris Parent. The company specializes in providing
high-quality environmental engineering, construction,
environmental health and safety and waste management services
from planning and design through project administration and
construction management.
Apex started with a staff of two and gross revenues of
$75,000 in 1997. Today, the company has a staff of 32
professionals, regional offices in Merritt Island and Tampa and
$5.2 million in revenues.
Eunice Choi, the interim director of the SBDC at UCF who
nominated Vargas, said she has “assisted Vargas since 1998, and
it is a privilege to witness how impressively his company has
grown. He is highly deserving of this award not only because he
accomplished so much through his company, but also because he
has such a big heart for giving to the community.”
Vargas received a management audit from the SBDC shortly
after he started his business. The audit examines essential
functions such as finances, marketing and human resources.
Groups of UCF students later developed a marketing plan and
human resources guidelines for Vargas, and he frequently has
sought Choi’s advice.
In 2006, Vargas graduated from the SBDC’s award-winning
Advisory Board Council program, which provides established
businesses with no-cost advisory boards comprised of area
professionals who volunteer their expertise and experience. The
Advisory Board Council program is sponsored by Orange County
Government.
Vargas mentors many businesses and connects them to available
resources. He has a special interest in working with
minority-owned businesses. Apex provides pro-bono consulting to
emerging and nonprofit organizations in need of environmental
support, civil design and permitting assistance.
Vargas leads the Feed the Homeless ministry at his church and
has led many mission trips that provide supplies to orphanages,
support local churches and help in the reconstruction of
devastated communities in Peru, Nicaragua, Asia and Spain.
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“The
SBDC is a source of information for me and an encouraging force
for my business."
Rod Vargas
Apex Environmental Engineering & Compliance, Inc.
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SBDC