The Leading Brands of Spain Forum has granted the ‘Friends of the Spain Brand’ and ‘Friends of the Spanish Brands’ Awards to several public figures and companies from the United States, in a ceremony held on April 10th at the Four Seasons hotel in Houston, Texas.
This award is granted to institutions or companies from foreign countries that have stood out for showing their support and collaboration to honoring the image of Spain or its companies. The award is an initiative of the Leading Brands of Spain Forum in collaboration with the Spain-US Chamber of Commerce and ICEX Trade and Investments of Spain.
The event was chaired by Ángeles Moreno Bau, Spanish Ambassador in the United States, where other authorities and institutional and business representatives also participated, such as Carla Arimont, Vice-Chairwoman of the Spain-US Chamber of Commerce; Julia Alicia Olmo, Consul General of Spain in Houston; Sofia Osborne, Chairwoman of the Leading Brands of Spain Forum; Javier Serra, CEO of the Institutional Cooperation and Coordination of ICEX; and Jaime Montalvo, International Director of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce.
The companies awarded as ‘Friends of the Spain Brand’ in the United States were:
- H-E-B: an American supermarket chain with more than 430 stores throughout Texas and Mexico. Founded as a woman-owned business in 1905 by Florence Butt, H-E-B is proud to partner with various suppliers and local small businesses. H-E-B offers its customers more than 1,800 Spanish products in the H-E-B, Central Market, Mi Tienda and Joe V stores in Texas, in addition to more than 1,000 products from Spain in H-E-B stores in Mexico.
- MD Anderson Cancer Center: is one of the most valued centers in the world focused on cancer care, research, education and prevention. It’s ranked first in US News & World Report’s ‘Best Hospital’ for cancer treatment and has been named one of the top two hospitals for said treatment in the US since the beginning of rankings in 1990. There’s another center also in Madrid.
- Univision: leader in Spanish-language media in the United States, its commitment is to inform and entertain the Hispanic community in the US through top-level news coverage, sports programming and entertainment content. Univision has become the main landmark for raising Hispanic voices and culture, and in 2023 hosted the Latin Grammys Awards in Seville.
Those awarded as ‘Friends of Spanish Brands’ in the United States were:
- Nina Magon, friend of the Cosentino Group in the US.
- Chris Pappas, friend of the Osborne Group in the US.
- Joseph Perez, Purchasing Manager of Goya Foods: Friend of Spanish Brands in the US.
- Jody Hall, Purchasing Manager of H-E-B: Friends of Spanish Brands in the US.
The statuette given to the award-winners is a figure made traditionally by Lladró.
This has been the thirteenth edition of the ‘Friends of the Spain Brand and the Spanish Brands’ Award. In the past, award ceremonies have been held in different markets such as: China (Shanghai) in 2010; in Russia (Moscow); United Kingdom (London) in 2011; in the United States (Miami) in 2013; Japan (Tokyo) in 2014, China (Hong Kong) in 2015 and the United Arab Emirates (Dubai); Mexico (Mexico City) in 2016; Belgium (Brussels) in 2017; France (Paris) in 2018; United States (New York) in 2019; and United Arab Emirates (Dubai) in 2022.
