Executive Series Lunch
Sep 18, 2009
President and CEO of Eastern Floral in Grand Rapids, Bing Goei, will be the featured speaker at the Executive Series Luncheon Sept. 24 sponsored by Cornerstone University.
A native of Jakarta, Indonesia, Goei immigrated with his parents to Michigan when he was 11 years old. He now heads up a floral business, which now has seven stores, about 100 employees and annual sales of more than $6 million.
Goei recently formed the International Center for Entrepreneurial Excellence (ICEE), an incubator focused on women- and minority-owned startups. It is located in Eastern Floral’s new corporate headquarters. For the startups he plans to restore a 60,000-square-foot former Kindel Furniture factory on 3.5 acres off Butterworth Avenue SW.
His community service has included being on the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce board of directors, and he currently serves on the Asian Professionals Organization Board.
He has earned numerous awards, including: 2000 Small Business of the Year; 2001 Minority Business Person; 2005 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year for West Michigan -; Retail Division; 2002 -;2007 Best Florist Awards by various publications; 2002 -; 2007 -Top 50 Teleflora Florist in U.S. and Canada; 2008 -; Michigan Floral Association Retailer of the Year and was inducted in 2008 into the J.A. West Michigan Business Hall of Fame.
He plans to speak on being prepared to do good works at the event scheduled from noon to 1:30 p.m. at the Gainey Conference Center on the Cornerstone campus.
The luncheon allows business leaders to discuss how their faith interacts with decision making, both personally and in the marketplace, according to Nancy Tigchon, organizer of the event for the Advancement Office.
“This opportunity to discuss business practices, successes and non-successes, in light of the speaker’s Christian faith and ethics makes the series a stimulating addition or alternative to what might generally be found at other typical business forums,” she said. “It is also a unique opportunity to network with other business and community leaders.”
Since 1995, local business leaders have come to Cornerstone’s annual luncheon to share how their Christian faith influences them in their business and in the marketplace.
Past Executive Series guest speakers include Doug DeVos, president of Amway, and Susan Sherer, executive director of the Detroit Super Bowl XL Host Committee.
Cost is $17 per person, which includes lunch.
Reservations can be made at www.cornerstone.edu/departments/advancement/events/execseries.
For more information, contact the Advancement Office at 616.254.1668 or advancement@cornerstone.edu.
