Chris Madsen, CEO of Mad 4 Marketing, was named to the Junior Achievement 2010 Business Hall of Fame at a ceremony held March 3 at the JA World Huizenga Center at Broward College in Coconut Creek. Madsen was honored along with fellow laureates David Fee of Lotspeich Company, Michael J. Grimme of AMC Liquidators and AMC Furniture Outlet, and Wayne Huizenga, Jr. of Huizenga Holdings, Inc. The Business Hall of Fame honorees share a high level of achievement in business and have demonstrated business excellence, vision and innovation, and community responsibility.
Madsen, who founded Mad 4 Marketing in 1992, built the Fort Lauderdale based marketing and advertising firm into a full-service agency with annual billings in excess of $7.5 million. The award-winning agency has met with success for clients in the public and private sectors through a variety of traditional and non-traditional advertising campaigns encompassing interactive marketing, branding and innovative strategies.
“My experience with Junior Achievement touches every aspect of what I do today as a business owner,” said Madsen. “Years ago I led a group of Junior Achievement students. Guiding them through the process of bringing a product to market was phenomenal and helped me make the decision to be an entrepreneur.”
Junior Achievement is a non-profit organization which ensures every child in America has a fundamental understanding of the Free Enterprise System through a series of business, economics and life-skills programs that enhance the education of young people. Junior Achievement reaches more than 50,000 kindergarten through twelfth-grade students in South Florida annually.
Community service is important to Madsen, who is well known for her commitment to the South Florida community through her work with a host of organizations. Her civic involvement includes positions on the boards of directors of the Fort Lauderdale Film Festival, Governor’s Council for Sustainable Florida, Leadership Broward Foundation, The Commonwealth Institute, Women’s History Coalition, Nova Southeastern University and the Urban League of Broward County. Madsen is also the past president of the Florida Women’s Alliance and the Stranahan House, serves as an Executive Committee member of Broward Workshop and the Fort Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce, and is on the Advisory Committee of the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Her long list of awards and accolades includes the South Florida Good to Great award, Women’s Connections Woman of the Year Award, South Florida Business Journal Woman of the Year Award, March of Dimes Women of Distinction, and the Greater Fort Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce Small Business Leader of the Year Award, to name a few.