(L to R) Walter Gatti and Fred Sutton | 2011 Business Hall of Fame Laureates

Walter Gatti President, Tensor Engineering | Fred Sutton Managing Partner, Sutton Properties

On Saturday, March 5, Junior Achievement of the Space Coast honored Walter Gatti and Fred Sutton as their 2011 inductees into the Space Coast Business Hall of Fame.

This year the event celebrated its 25 anniversary. Since it was established in 1986 to recognize individuals who have made outstanding contributions to free enterprise and to society, the Hall of Fame has welcomed 63 laureates.

About the 2011 Hall of Fame Inductees:

Walter Gatti – President and Office Manager, founder of Tensor Engineering Company

Walter Gatti has had 55 years experience as a Structural Steel detailer and project manager and has been involved in most of the major steel structures built in this country.  He has personally supervised the structural steel fabrication detail and field erection drawings for over 3,000 bridges. Gatti has been retained by the American Institute of Steel Construction and has given many seminars including presentation of a paper at the National Bridge Symposium in 1993, 1996 and 1998.  He has participated in Steel Bridge Seminars for Caltrans and the Departments of Transportation of Massachusetts, Illinois, Minnesota, Nebraska and Florida.  He is presently the Chairman of the NSBA/AASHTO committee on standard presentation for design drawings, detail drawings, the approval process, and electronic data transfer.

Fred Sutton – Managing Partner and co-founder of Sutton Properties, LLP

Fred Sutton and his brother, Dr. Harold Sutton, founded Sutton Properties in the early 1970s following Fred’s post-college employment at Reynolds Smith & Hills, Architects-Engineers-Planners, Inc., of Jacksonville, FL. Under his leadership, Sutton Properties has grown to be one of the largest family-owned real estate development firms in Brevard County.  Sutton Properties has built, owns and/or manages over 1,000,000 square feet of residential and commercial properties including but not limited to Woodlake Village, Woodlake Commerce Park, DRS Technologies Building, Lakewood Village Mobile Home Community and Interchange Square Shopping Center.

Junior Achievement is a volunteer-driven organization with more than business people, parents, and college students visiting local K-12 classrooms. Each volunteer makes 5 to 8 visits to the classroom to complete a Junior Achievement program. Junior Achievement is funded entirely from contributions received from area businesses, foundations and individuals.