President Donna E. Shalala’s beaming visage adorns the September 2007 cover of South Florida CEO magazine. The pride in her expression is unmistakable, and with good reason. The prominent magazine named the University of Miami its 2007 Company of the Year.

“Many companies talk about transforming the landscape of their community,” the cover story begins. “But no local organization is putting such great literal effort into achieving this goal as the University of Miami. It has dedicated billions of dollars—and an army of shovels—to establishing South Florida as a thriving bioscience hub.”

The ten-page spread showcases the University’s most impressive recent accomplishments, particularly its boom of new academic and residential buildings, its recruitment of top-notch faculty and administrators from renowned institutions, its successful Momentum fundraising campaign, and its efforts in partnering with the City of Miami to create the Miami Health District. The article also tapped a few South Florida luminaries for their reflections on the University’s impact, including Lennar Corporation CEO Stuart Miller, J.D. ’82, Miami Mayor Manny Diaz, J.D. ’80, and Beacon Council vice president of research and strategic planning Jaap Donath.

“You can’t build a great city just on tourism,” President Shalala says in the article. “I believe the economic strategy for South Florida is very much the white-coat economy that we are creating.”

South Florida CEO initiated its Company of the Year award in 2006, when it honored FPL Group, parent of Florida Power & Light and affiliated companies. In her column in the September 2007 issue, editor Rochelle Broder-Singer cites several reasons why the University of Miami, a nonprofit institution, deserves this honor.

“Like many South Florida companies, the University of Miami works with sound management principles, strong executive leadership, and a focus on expanding its product lines,” Broder-Singer writes. “And with more than 10,000 employees and $1.6 billion in annual revenue, it does so on a larger scale than most of the region’s for-profit companies.”

At the October award ceremony, President Shalala professed the importance of taking chances as part of the strategy for the University’s aggressive pursuit of excellence. “Just being competitive isn’t good enough. I accept this award in the names of thousands of students, faculty, and staff and the new generation of leaders of the University, with the understanding on your part that our strategy is always going to be a strategy to be number one.”

UM Alumni Association president and NBC6 anchor Jackie Nespral, A.B. ’89, emceed the event, held at the Mandarin Oriental hotel on Brickell Key and cosponsored by South Florida CEO magazine, Lennar Corporation, Greenberg Traurig, and NBC6.