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The ambiance was festive and joyous at the first ever French-American Business Awards organized by the French-American Chamber of Commerce of San Francisco.
Four categories of awards were given to entrepreneurs and businesses: Agribusiness, Gastronomy and Wine, High Tech, Personality of the Year, and Sustainability and Life Science. “It’s a great occasion to unite spheres that don’t normally mix, as well as two worlds that are rather far from each other on opposite sides of the bay: Napa and Silicon Valley,” explains Sophie Woodville Ducom, the director of the French-American Chamber of Commerce.
The Gold Award in the first category went to the Boisset family, who founded their estate in the Napa Valley in 1961. “If the ocean separates France from the United States, it’s wine that brings the two together,” declared Jean-Charles Boisset upon receiving his award. The Special Distinction was given to Fabriques Délices, provider of artisanal pâtés and sausages in the United States since 1985.
In High Tech, Criteo recieved the Gold Award. The French advertising businesses has become extremely successful thanks to their use of algorithms to provide personalized and relevant online advertisements in real time. The global leader in location-aware mobile marketing Placecast came away with the Special Distinction. Placecast’s founder and president Anne Bezancon used the opportunity to declare, “Some leaders are just born women.”
Fruition Sciences, a company that combines technology with viticulture, won the Sustainability and Life Science Gold Award, and the Special Distinction went to solar power company Enphase Energy.
Lastly, business is impossible without personality. The Gold Award for Personality of the Year went to Jean-Baptiste Rudelle, co-founder of Criteo, who left carrying two awards. CEO of online lending company Lending Club Renaud Laplanche received the Special Distinction.
President of the French-American Chamber of Commerce of San Francisco Frédéric Stemmelin rejoiced over the success of the first ever French-American Business Awards: “I would like to thank the 37 members of the jury for their involvement, their time, and their impartiality in choosing the winners,” he said.
“We would like to continue the success of this first awards ceremony with a second ceremony in mid-2015,” added Sophie Woodville Ducom.
