Kaufman, Certified Business Analyst and Program Manager of the Advisory Board Council (ABC) program of the SBDC at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, was selected as the Florida Star for the excellence she has demonstrated through her guidance of the ABC, along with her outstanding leadership and contributions in innovative program development, creative special projects, enhanced center performance and client impact.

“Jill has guided the ABC to attract larger, higher performing companies with greater potential for growth and recruited the ABC’s highest revenue client to date, a $10 million construction company,” according to Eunice Choi, Regional Director of the SBDC at UCF. Choi added that “as of March first, the program had 29 active companies and 266 active volunteer advisors.”

From 2006 through 2010, Kaufman has helped her clients create 207 jobs and retain 454; increase sales by $36.5 million; obtain over $9.5 million in capital formation; and win over $30.6 million in contracts.

Kaufman said, “It is an honor to be recognized by the ASBDC for my efforts and management of the Advisory Board Council program. In my four and a half years of service with the SBDC at UCF, it has been very gratifying to facilitate the growth and development of many small businesses in Central Florida.”

The ABC program is recognized nationally as an innovative program of considerable note and, in 2009, won the Innovative Program and Best Practice Award by the FSBDCN.