On February 3, 2016, Grand Incentives celebrated its 10th anniversary. That's 10 years of providing travel and rebate incentives designed to help businesses gRow by acquiring, activating, retaining and renewing customers. And 10 years of fulfilling those rebates for thousands of customers. Quite an accomplishment, no matter how you look at it.

We marked the occasion with a catered lunch at our Sarasota headquarters. The entire staff gathered for the celebration, sharing in each other's company and joining in a terrific meal.

After lunch was over, Chief Operating Officer Larry Biondi read a poem that honored longstanding team members for their continued contributions to the company's success. Then, a more formal tribute was paid to the dozen or so team members who've been along for at least five years of the ride.

The story of the origin of Grand Incentives was recounted for newcomers to the party. And finally, presentations were made to the company's founders – Jose and Grace Martinez – with photos that documented the grand 10-year journey of Grand Incentives. With the photos was another piece of verse, composed to reflect the company's accomplishment:

And so begins another journey, as we look to build upon the success of the last 10 years, and apply what we've learned – the mistakes we made, the challenges we faced, the goals we accomplished – and use them as a compass to steer our course for the next decade.