Madison, NJ – Karen Martinez, founder and president of BRAVO! Building Services, Inc., will share her entrepreneurial experience at Rothman Institute of Entrepreneurship’s 10th Annual Female Entrepreneur Lecture. The event will take place on Friday, April 5 at 6 p.m. at Fairleigh Dickinson University’s College at Florham in Madison, NJ.
Martinez founded BRAVO! Fifteen years ago and under her leadership, the company has become one of the largest privately-held, facility and outsourcing companies in the country, with over 3,100 employees. BRAVO! is headquartered in Green Brook, N.J., and serves 14 states throughout the North and Southeast. In the process of providing janitorial and maintenance services, BRAVO! has helped dozens of their customers achieve LEED certification. Her company is committed to reducing its carbon footprint and has embraced chemical free cleaning. In 2009, BRAVO! received a CIMS Green Certification with Honors.
Martinez was named the NJ 2011 Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst & Young and has also been honored by the Boy Scouts of American and the YWCA.
The lecture continues a strong annual tradition of influential Female Entrepreneur Lecturers at the Rothman Institute. Previous speakers include Lindsay Phillips, founder of SwitchFlop, Ranjini Poddar, Co-Founder and President of Artech Information Systems LLC, Lillian Rodriguez Lopez, president of the Hispanic Federation, Ann Limberg, President, Bank of America New Jersey, Doris Drucker, who started a national manufacturing company from scratch at the age of 82, Peg Brady, Executive Director of Medical Missions for Children, and Diahann Lassus, CFP and CPA, co-founder and president of Lassus Wherley & Associates, P.C.
The annual lecture is part of the Female Entrepreneurs’ Alliance, which was founded to educate and support women business owners. It will be held in conjunction with the awards ceremony for the 2013 New Jersey Business Idea Competition, a program designed to nurture an entrepreneurial mindset among high school students.
The event will begin with a reception at 6 p.m. and the lecture will start at 7:15 p.m. in Lenfell Hall in Hennessy Hall, on FDU’s College at Florham, located at 285 Madison Ave., Madison, NJ 07940. It is free and open to the public; due to limited seating, registration is required by March 26. For more information, call 973-443-8842 or visit http://www.fdu.edu/rothman.