High Desert businesses showcased at Spirit of Entrepreneurship gala

Ambar Martinez with Cali Auto Glass in Victorville has been named a finalist in the 20th annual Spirit of Entrepreneurship.

Also, three High Desert-based businesses have been nominated as finalists for the first-ever Special Legacy Award.

The black-tie gala ceremony on Thursday at the Riverside Convention Center will spotlight 28 top-performing businesses and people in Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

The Inland Empire Center for Entrepreneurship sponsors the event, where the top performers were selected from 200 nominees.

Martinez and her Cali Auto Glass team provide windshield replacement, repair, and calibration services for all makes and models.

They work with all makes and models of Vehicles, RVs, semi-trucks, and some aircraft at the shop located at 15370 Cholame Road Unit 12 in Victorville.

Martinez and Cali Auto Glass have been selected in the Service-Based Entrepreneur - Business to Consumer category along with:

• NextGen Flight Academy Inc., Brandon Martini – Riverside

• Renewing Hope Family Counseling Center, Inc., Cassondra Marie Rose – Murrieta

• Ruff & Ready Moving, John Ruff – Temecula

The other finalists and their categories include:

Distribution/Wholesale Entrepreneur 

• Modern Pro Solutions, Bobby Tetsch – Chino

• Quality Marble & Granite, Evan Cohen – Ontario

• Reliable Source, Inc., Ronald Stockwell – Fontana

Financial Services Entrepreneur

• Chino Commercial Bank, Dann Bowman/Melba Buenafe-Rey – Chino

• Elite Tax Partners, Nicole Albrecht – Temecula

• Elizabeth’s Insurance Services, Inc., Elizabeth

• Rodriguez – Moreno Valley

• Goldamity Insurance Services Inc., Elvia J. Rodriguez – Grand Terrace

General Entrepreneur

• Caravanserai Project, Mihai Patru – Palm Springs

• Forefront Construction Services / Winv Inc., Todd Wohrman – Corona

• Freeway Trucks and Vans Inc., John B Palmieri – Corona

• Koury Engineering & Testing, Inc., Michele Shams – Chino

Manufacturing Entrepreneur

• American Fire Glass, Matt Doll – Lake Elsinore

• Phenix Technology, Inc., Angel Sanchez, Jr. – Riverside

• RISCO, Incorporated, Joseph & Lisa Frainee – Beaumont

• SignFastic, Grace Bays – Ontario

• The Ollie World, Hindi Zeidman – Rancho Cucamonga

Service-Based Entrepreneur-Business to Business

• Mountain View Services, Inc., Eric L. Goodman – Redlands

• Precision Material Handling Inc., Robert G. Ybarra – Banning

• Xtelligent, Michael Lim – Ontario

• A&G Infusion Nursing Services, Angelica Maria Gonzalez – Moreno Valley

Small/Emerging Enterprise

• Qwiktarp Inc., Michael Jones – Palm Springs

• Roses Say, Rose Study – Chino Hills

• StarNav LLC, Joshua Morales – Riverside

• Things They Love, LLC, Victoria Chediak – Riverside

Legacy Award finalists  

The three 2022 Legacy Award finalists from the High Desert include Angelica Lopez from Angy’s Angels Cleaning in Hesperia, Roger Hayes from Valew Quality Truck Bodies in Adelanto, and co-founders Kevin Mahaffy and Eric Schmidt from Exquadrum in Victorville.

Exquadrum oversees a wide range of projects and has contracted with private firms and government agencies, including the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Department of Defense’s Missile Defense Agency, and the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, Schmidt said.

Hayes operates Valew Quality Truck Bodies, a family-owned company that manufactures mainly truck bodies. It was founded in 1954.

Nearly 35 years ago, at age 25, Hayes took over the company from his grandfather and father and built the company from 11 to more than 250 employees today.

Before she started her Angy’s Angels Cleaning business in 2014, Lopez was a single mother raising her children while working for the Hesperia Unified School District, attending Victor Valley College, and cleaning houses.

Today, an estimated 100 employees work for Lopez, who has offices in the High Desert, Fontana, Los Angeles, and San Diego.

The 20 finalists of the Legacy Award were selected from a field of previous award recipients from the past 20 years of the Spirit of the Entrepreneur Awards.

The Remaining Legacy Award finalists include:

• Accessory Export LLC dba Marketplace Valet, Laura Land & William Land - Riverside

• Acorn Technology Services, Mickey McGuire - Riverside

• Aleph Group Inc., Jales A. De Mello - Riverside

• BMW Management, Gary & Sally Myers - Temecula

• Boudreau Pipeline Corporation, Alan J Boudreau - Corona

• Brandini Toffee, Brandon Weimer - Rancho Mirage

• Buzzbox premium cocktails, Rod Vandenbos - Indio

• Cibaria International, Inc., Kathy Griset - Riverside

• Combustion Associates, Inc. (CAI), Kusum Kavia - Corona

• Fox Transportation, Mike Fox - Rancho Cucamonga

• Intelesys, Richard Balzer - Ontario

• Mach One Air Charters, H. Dan Hill - Chino

• Miguels Jr., Javier Vasquez - Corona

• Poindexter Consulting Group, Vikita Poindexter - Murrieta

• StratosFuel, Inc, Jonathan Palacios-Avila - San Bernardino

• The 100 Mile Club, Kara Lubin - Norco

• Vantage LED, Chris Ma - Corona

A portion of the proceeds from the event will benefit the Spirit of the Entrepreneur Scholarship established by Dr. Mike Stull, Director of the Inland Empire Center for Entrepreneurship at California State University, San Bernardino.

The 20th annual Spirit of Entrepreneurship gala is scheduled from 5 to 9 p.m. on Thursday at the Riverside Convention Center, 3637 Fifth Street, Riverside.

Ticket prices for the black-tie event can be booked online at www.spiritawardsie.com.

Daily Press reporter Rene Ray De La Cruz may be reached at 760-951-6227 or RDeLaCruz@VVDailyPress.com. Follow him on Twitter @DP_ReneDeLaCruz.

This article originally appeared on Victorville Daily Press: High Desert businesses featured at Spirit of Entrepreneurship gala