Best and brightest shine at San Diego celebration

The San Diego event featured outdoor mimosas and red-carpet interviews.

With new categories to honor and an enthusiastic crowd on hand at a new venue, the Best and Brightest Companies to Work For celebrated success at its recent program at the Farmer & the Seahorse in San Diego.

The fourth annual B&B celebration honored San Diego’s Best and Brightest Companies to Work For and Best and Brightest in Wellness in an event that featured outdoor networking and mimosas.

The San Diego Best and Brightest event featured panelists Kristin Bragg, vice president of human resources at American Specialty Health; Meredith DeMartino, executive vice president of people at Event Network LLC; Thad Hamilton, president and CEO of TRI-AD; and Steve Newman, chief operating officer at Rivo Holdings.

Once inside, the event turned to Kai Dickens, founder of Playology, who facilitated an interactive connection game designed to help attendees make new connections with others outside their own workplace and network.

Jackie Crea, a reporter with NBC-7 moderated a C-Suite panel discussion sharing knowledge on gender-diverse workforces, boosting workplace well-being and compensation and benefits best practices. Panelists included Kristin Bragg, vice president of human resources at American Specialty Health; Meredith DeMartino, executive vice president of people at Event Network LLC; Thad Hamilton, president and CEO of TRI-AD; and Steve Newman, chief operating officer at Rivo Holdings.

Diversity and inclusion speaker Devin C. Hughes gave what organizers called “a phenomenal presentation” on navigating workplace diversity and leaving our biases.  Angel Chelik offered a presentation on behavior change strategies to help with mental well-being of any organization’s employees.

Devin Hughes spoke about diversity issues at the San Diego Best and Brightest event.

More than 120 people attended the event, which was sponsored by HUB International, SONY Electronics and Wilson Turner Kosmo.

This year’s event included a new elite category for both programs: Best of the Best Medium Business Elite and Best of Best Wellness Philanthropic.

Join us in congratulating the winners:

Elite winners:

Best of the Best Wellness Employer: San Diego County Credit Union

Best of the Best Wellness Provider: American Specialty Health

Best of the Best Wellness Philanthropic: Neighborhood House Association

Best Large Business: SONY Electronics

Best Medium Business: Rivo Holdings

Best Small Business: Power Digital Marketing

Best and Brightest Winners

1point21 Interactive

ALDI

American Addiction Centers

American Council on Exercise

AMNHealthcare Inc

AppFolio, Inc.

Aya Healthcare

Blueboard

Brandetize

Burwood Group

Cabrillo Credit Union

CBIZ

COBRA PUMA Golf

FieldLogix

Harley Ellis Devereaux (HED)

Host Healthcare

Initium Consulting Inc

JLab Audio

Marcus Evans

MIVA

MRC Smart Technology Solutions

NextGen Global Resources

NextGen Leads

Physicians DataTrust

Ro Health, Inc.

Smashtech

Teradata Corporation

TRI-AD Benefits Administration

VisionTree Software Inc

Zeeto

Best & Brightest in Wellness Winners

American Council on Exercise

Blueboard

Burwood Group

Cali Bamboo

Client Solution Architects

Commercial Builders Inc.

Event Network

General Atomics and Affiliates

Heartfullness Institute

Jazzercize Inc.

Lytx, Inc.

Palomar Health

SleepScore Labs

SweetLabs

The Ken Blanchard Companies

The Organic Life LLC

TRI-AD Benefits Administration

USE Credit Union

Wright Brothers Inc.