{"id":21939,"date":"2011-03-29T08:29:11","date_gmt":"2011-03-29T12:29:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=21939"},"modified":"2018-07-02T11:27:12","modified_gmt":"2018-07-02T15:27:12","slug":"sbdc-client-named-small-business-person-of-the-year-for-north-florida","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/sbdc-client-named-small-business-person-of-the-year-for-north-florida\/","title":{"rendered":"Small Business Person of the Year for North Florida"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><figure id=\"attachment_21940\" style=\"max-width: 450px;\" class=\"figure\"><figcaption class=\"figure-caption\">Photo above (L to R): Fernando Pereira with his wife Claudia and Eunice Choi, director of the SBDC at UCF.<\/figcaption><\/figure><strong><\/p>\n<p>Fernando C. Pereira, president of Orlando-based Pegasus Transportation, was named the 2011 U.S. Small Business Administration North Florida District Small Business Person of the Year.<\/p>\n<p>The Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at UCF, which is part of the College of Business Administration, nominated him for the award.<\/p>\n<p>Pereira and his wife Claudia have run Pegasus Transportation since 1994. Starting the transportation service company with a single 15-passenger van and one driver, Pegasus has overcome several struggles including the travel industry collapse following the tragedy of September 11 and, more recently, the nation\u2019s economic recession.<\/p>\n<p>To compensate for the recent domestic downturn, Pegasus focused on the international travel market, resulting in a 300% increase in net income.<\/p>\n<p>With strong financial stability, Pegasus was approved for two SBA 504 Loans, enabling the company to expand into a new 3,000 square-foot office space, as well as an expansive 3,600 square-foot shop on a 2.5 acre property.<\/p>\n<p>Over the past decade, Pereira and his wife Claudia took advantage of many of the services offered by the SBDC at UCF including 10-years of in-depth business consulting, training and skill development, as well as referral resource support through the SBDC\u2019s Small Business Resource Network.<\/p>\n<p>Today, Pegasus, with offices in Orlando and Miami, operates 20 coach buses and offers itinerary planning, meet-and-greet services, luggage assistance, and on-site supervision.<\/p>\n<p>Pereira states, \u201cThe SBDC has been on our side since 2001 and we couldn\u2019t be more thankful for it.\u201d Pereira and his family will be honored at the center\u2019s annual small business awards luncheon, Tuesday, May 17, at the Citrus Club, downtown Orlando. The luncheon will be part of the National Small Business Week celebration, May 16-20.<\/p>\n<p><em>You can learn more about the SBDC by visiting their\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/sbdcorlando.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">website<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fernando C. Pereira, president of Orlando-based Pegasus Transportation, was named the 2011 U.S. Small Business Administration North Florida District Small Business Person of the Year. The Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at UCF, which is part of the College of Business Administration, nominated him for the award. Pereira and his wife Claudia have run Pegasus Transportation since 1994. Starting the&hellip;","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":21940,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"template-twocol.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"lazy_load_responsive_images_disabled":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[4,31,6],"tags":[4155],"tu_author":[],"class_list":["post-21939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-college-of-business-administration","category-community","tag-sbdc"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.3 (Yoast SEO v27.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Small Business Person of the Year for North Florida | University of Central Florida News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Fernando C. Pereira, president of Orlando-based Pegasus Transportation, was named the 2011 U.S. Small Business Administration North Florida District Small\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/sbdc-client-named-small-business-person-of-the-year-for-north-florida\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Small Business Person of the Year for North Florida\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Fernando C. Pereira, president of Orlando-based Pegasus Transportation, was named the 2011 U.S. Small Business Administration North Florida District Small\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/sbdc-client-named-small-business-person-of-the-year-for-north-florida\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"University of Central Florida News | UCF Today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UCF\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-03-29T12:29:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-07-02T15:27:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2011\/03\/pereira_ut.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"450\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"338\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jonathan Gabriel \u201906\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@UCF\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@UCF\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jonathan Gabriel \u201906\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/sbdc-client-named-small-business-person-of-the-year-for-north-florida\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/sbdc-client-named-small-business-person-of-the-year-for-north-florida\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jonathan Gabriel \u201906\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/614945980e57f800c1e937eb3f63ecfa\"},\"headline\":\"Small Business Person of the Year for North Florida\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-03-29T12:29:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-07-02T15:27:12+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/sbdc-client-named-small-business-person-of-the-year-for-north-florida\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":319,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/sbdc-client-named-small-business-person-of-the-year-for-north-florida\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/blogs.dir\\\/20\\\/files\\\/2011\\\/03\\\/pereira_ut.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"sbdc\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Business &amp; Economy\",\"College of Business Administration\",\"Community\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"copyrightYear\":\"2011\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/sbdc-client-named-small-business-person-of-the-year-for-north-florida\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/sbdc-client-named-small-business-person-of-the-year-for-north-florida\\\/\",\"name\":\"Small Business Person of the Year for North Florida | University of Central Florida News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/sbdc-client-named-small-business-person-of-the-year-for-north-florida\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/sbdc-client-named-small-business-person-of-the-year-for-north-florida\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/blogs.dir\\\/20\\\/files\\\/2011\\\/03\\\/pereira_ut.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-03-29T12:29:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-07-02T15:27:12+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/614945980e57f800c1e937eb3f63ecfa\"},\"description\":\"Fernando C. Pereira, president of Orlando-based Pegasus Transportation, was named the 2011 U.S. Small Business Administration North Florida District Small\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/sbdc-client-named-small-business-person-of-the-year-for-north-florida\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/sbdc-client-named-small-business-person-of-the-year-for-north-florida\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/sbdc-client-named-small-business-person-of-the-year-for-north-florida\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/blogs.dir\\\/20\\\/files\\\/2011\\\/03\\\/pereira_ut.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/blogs.dir\\\/20\\\/files\\\/2011\\\/03\\\/pereira_ut.jpg\",\"width\":450,\"height\":338,\"caption\":\"Photo above (L to R): Fernando Pereira with his wife Claudia and Eunice Choi, director of the SBDC at UCF.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/sbdc-client-named-small-business-person-of-the-year-for-north-florida\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Small Business Person of the Year for North Florida\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"University of Central Florida News | UCF Today\",\"description\":\"Central Florida Research, Arts, Technology, Student Life and College News, Stories and More\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/614945980e57f800c1e937eb3f63ecfa\",\"name\":\"Jonathan Gabriel \u201906\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f395cc627c1d252c6c938ea054f5cd5536bd19dd807835dd8c6322573aaaa319?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f395cc627c1d252c6c938ea054f5cd5536bd19dd807835dd8c6322573aaaa319?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f395cc627c1d252c6c938ea054f5cd5536bd19dd807835dd8c6322573aaaa319?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jonathan Gabriel \u201906\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/author\\\/jo555933\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/sbdc-client-named-small-business-person-of-the-year-for-north-florida\\\/#local-main-organization-logo\",\"url\":\"\",\"contentUrl\":\"\",\"caption\":\"University of Central Florida\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Small Business Person of the Year for North Florida | University of Central Florida News","description":"Fernando C. Pereira, president of Orlando-based Pegasus Transportation, was named the 2011 U.S. Small Business Administration North Florida District Small","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/sbdc-client-named-small-business-person-of-the-year-for-north-florida\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Small Business Person of the Year for North Florida","og_description":"Fernando C. Pereira, president of Orlando-based Pegasus Transportation, was named the 2011 U.S. Small Business Administration North Florida District Small","og_url":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/sbdc-client-named-small-business-person-of-the-year-for-north-florida\/","og_site_name":"University of Central Florida News | UCF Today","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UCF","article_published_time":"2011-03-29T12:29:11+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-07-02T15:27:12+00:00","og_image":[{"width":450,"height":338,"url":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2011\/03\/pereira_ut.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Jonathan Gabriel \u201906","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@UCF","twitter_site":"@UCF","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jonathan Gabriel \u201906","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/sbdc-client-named-small-business-person-of-the-year-for-north-florida\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/sbdc-client-named-small-business-person-of-the-year-for-north-florida\/"},"author":{"name":"Jonathan Gabriel \u201906","@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/614945980e57f800c1e937eb3f63ecfa"},"headline":"Small Business Person of the Year for North Florida","datePublished":"2011-03-29T12:29:11+00:00","dateModified":"2018-07-02T15:27:12+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/sbdc-client-named-small-business-person-of-the-year-for-north-florida\/"},"wordCount":319,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/sbdc-client-named-small-business-person-of-the-year-for-north-florida\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2011\/03\/pereira_ut.jpg","keywords":["sbdc"],"articleSection":["Business &amp; Economy","College of Business Administration","Community"],"inLanguage":"en-US","copyrightYear":"2011","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/sbdc-client-named-small-business-person-of-the-year-for-north-florida\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/sbdc-client-named-small-business-person-of-the-year-for-north-florida\/","name":"Small Business Person of the Year for North Florida | University of Central Florida News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/sbdc-client-named-small-business-person-of-the-year-for-north-florida\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/sbdc-client-named-small-business-person-of-the-year-for-north-florida\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2011\/03\/pereira_ut.jpg","datePublished":"2011-03-29T12:29:11+00:00","dateModified":"2018-07-02T15:27:12+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/614945980e57f800c1e937eb3f63ecfa"},"description":"Fernando C. Pereira, president of Orlando-based Pegasus Transportation, was named the 2011 U.S. Small Business Administration North Florida District Small","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/sbdc-client-named-small-business-person-of-the-year-for-north-florida\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/sbdc-client-named-small-business-person-of-the-year-for-north-florida\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/sbdc-client-named-small-business-person-of-the-year-for-north-florida\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2011\/03\/pereira_ut.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2011\/03\/pereira_ut.jpg","width":450,"height":338,"caption":"Photo above (L to R): Fernando Pereira with his wife Claudia and Eunice Choi, director of the SBDC at UCF."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/sbdc-client-named-small-business-person-of-the-year-for-north-florida\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Small Business Person of the Year for North Florida"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/","name":"University of Central Florida News | UCF Today","description":"Central Florida Research, Arts, Technology, Student Life and College News, Stories and More","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/614945980e57f800c1e937eb3f63ecfa","name":"Jonathan Gabriel \u201906","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f395cc627c1d252c6c938ea054f5cd5536bd19dd807835dd8c6322573aaaa319?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f395cc627c1d252c6c938ea054f5cd5536bd19dd807835dd8c6322573aaaa319?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f395cc627c1d252c6c938ea054f5cd5536bd19dd807835dd8c6322573aaaa319?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jonathan Gabriel \u201906"},"url":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/author\/jo555933\/"},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/sbdc-client-named-small-business-person-of-the-year-for-north-florida\/#local-main-organization-logo","url":"","contentUrl":"","caption":"University of Central Florida"}]}},"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2011\/03\/pereira_ut-300x225.jpg","primary_category":4,"primary_tag":4155,"author_byline":"Jonathan Gabriel \u201906","acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21939","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/132"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21939"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21939\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87262,"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21939\/revisions\/87262"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21939"},{"taxonomy":"tu_author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tu_author?post=21939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}