Small Business Person of Year - Christi Jean Bond

Independence Coffee Co.'s mission is to create a passionate community of coffee and tea enthusiasts by providing the highest quality hand-roasted and packaged 'world' coffees and hand-blended tea products (on time) to our customers while honoring traditional 'old school' roasting and blending methods that pay respect to coffee's rich history...while of course, having a blast doing it.

You'll still see Christi and I 'hand-delivering' our coffees and teas to grocery markets, convenience stores, offices and other family-owned establishments.  It's just what we do. If you see us stocking shelves, feel free to say hello! Ragan Bond-Roaster

8(a) Graduate of Year - Denise S. Navarro

After earning a bachelor of arts in computer information systems and a master of business administration (MBA), both from the University of Houston – Clear Lake, Navarro dedicated herself to a career supporting the federal government and commercial industries, before launching Logical Innovations and its majority owned/managed joint ventures.  Logical Innovations, Inc. provides, to  the federal government and the commercial sector, a complete line of services to complement and enhance your existing business and new business pursuits. Our services include, Program / Project Management, Information Technology Support, Training Design/Development/Delivery, Performance Improvement Initiatives, and more.

Michael was raised in Beaumont, Texas. He received his undergraduate degree in construction science at Texas A&M. He initially established Arch-Con as a resource for the local commercial market in the areas of office and industrial design-build construction. Along the way, the business expanded into the markets of retail, healthcare, corporate interiors, hospitality and community construction.He founded the Arch-Con Corporation in 2000 and has helped shape the commercial landscape of Houston and Dallas and throughout the state of Texas. Arch-Con has received local and national recognition for excellence, currently ranked in ENR’s Top 400 Contractor’s List and Houston Business Journal’s Top 25 Commercial Contractors List as well as being named to Inc. Magazine’s Fastest Growing Companies, Entrepreneur Magazine’s Hot 500, Texas A&M’s Aggie 100 Top 10 and Houston Business Journal’s Fast 100.

Family-Owned Business of Year - Janice & Robert Jucker

Beginning in Europe, nearly 200 years ago, Three Brothers Bakery has become a Houston institution, most well known for their traditional Jewish breads, cookies, pies, cupcakes, custom cakes, and more!

JaniceJucker knows all about the domestic arts.The San Antonio native's career ranges from lobby manager and hospitality expert at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York to the manager of a contract sewing factory in Houston.And now, she's the president of Three Brothers Bakery, the multigenerational family business she married into that still makes its challah and rye breads from handed-down recipes more than 200 years old.

Three Brothers Bakery owner Bobby Jucker was named one of the top bakers in the country in 2016.