For changing lives, CEO earns honor

Colin Brown had to know his decision would profoundly improve lives. Still, it’s got to be heartening for him to hear what happened after JM Family Enterprises last year implemented a $16-per-hour minimum wage for 400 hourly employees.

Some workers were able to quit second jobs. Others were better able to afford diapers or school supplies for their children. Across the board, the pay hike restored financial hopes for struggling workers at the bottom of the pay scale.

For his leadership and urgency in raising his company’s minimum pay to almost twice the state’s minimum wage, Florida Trend magazine put Brown on its January cover and named him “Floridian of the Year.”

The honor is well deserved for Brown and the entire team at JM Family Enterprises, a successful group of auto-related businesses in Deerfield Beach that sets the high bar for corporate stewardship.

JM has long been lauded for its familyfriendly work atmosphere. In the most recent Fortune 100 “Best Companies to Work For,” it ranks 34th — the 17th time it has made the list.

Sure, JM is not the first company to raise its minimum wage amid discussions of fairness. Remember when President Obama, during his 2014 State of the Union address, gave a shout-out to Jaxson’s Ice Cream Parlour & Restaurant in Dania Beach for having raised its minimum wage to $10.10?

But JM raised its minimum wage to $16 per hour! For that, Brown deserves a seat in the gallery at this year’s presidential address. For not only did his team raise the hourly pay of starting workers, for the sake of fairness, they also raised the pay of another 600 employees who were already making $16 or more per hour.

In the magazine article, Brown says the company, which had sales of $13.1 billion in 2014, could afford the pay hike, which will add $6 million to this year’s payroll.

“For who we are, we thought this was the right thing to do,” he said. “If you’re part of our family, then we believe you deserve to have a quality of life. We wanted to make sure that people who live paycheck to paycheck have enough money to buy milk.”

Brown told Florida Trend that he would like other employers to follow suit and consider boosting pay for low-wage workers. He notes that putting more money into employee pockets is good for the economy and generates jobs. It surely sells more cars, too.

However, he stopped short of advocating a change in the state’s minimum wage, which remains flat at $8.05 this year. The federal minimum wage is even lower, at $7.25, though the president has urged an increase to $12 an hour by 2020.

In this era of flat wages, growing income inequality and JM’s status in the business community, Brown’s push to raise wages deserves to be discussed in more boardrooms.

But for the moment, listen to what some of his workers told Florida Trend:

Christina Hieber, 73, who provides coffee, sandwiches and hospitality to customers, says she was able to quit her second job.

Rich Wilson, an inventory specialist, says he can now better help his mother financially.

Victor Cabrera, 21, who puts protective film on the front of vehicles, says he can go back to school.

William Anthony, who does final vehicle inspections, says he can better provide for his family.

Brown, the award-winning executive who proudly calls South Florida home, says he wasn’t influenced by labor advocates, like those in the fast food industry, who are pushing for a higher minimum wage. He simply wanted to do what he thought was the fair and right thing to do.

Similarly, Florida Trend did the right thing by bestowing its Floridian of the Year honor on Colin Brown.