Minority Small Business Advocate of the Year
Stephen F. Mee
Program Manager, Facility & Waste Operations-
Cerro Grande Rehabilitation Project, Los Alamos National Laboratory
P.O. Box 1663, MS M769
Los Alamos, New Mexico 87544
The efforts of Stephen F. Mee truly show how one man can make a difference and
help heal wounds that have afflicted a community for over a half century. His
assignment is land reclamation, but he is reclaiming something far more
challenging—trust between disparate cultures.
Stephen accepted his position as Program Manager for the Facility and Waste
Operations–Cerro Grande Rehabilitation Project (FWO-CGRP) in August 2000 to
manage the extensive work of erosion control, forest thinning, cultural site
assessments, and restoration of over 43,000 acres on and around the Los Alamos
National Laboratory (LANL) that had been damaged by the May 2000 Cerro Grande
Fire.
With direct responsibility and accountability for work worth $120 million,
Stephen immediately looked for ways in which regional small businesses could
help and contracted more than half of his field activities to either 8A,
woman-owned, Native American-owned, or HUBZone-certified companies in Northern
New Mexico.
Stephen awarded contracts of nearly $1 million each to the pueblos of Santa
Clara, San Ildefonso, Cochiti, and Jemez—the first such contracts the laboratory
has entered into with these pueblos in its 59-year history. He accomplished this
by establishing a business relationship with these pueblos based on respect of
their traditional cultural values. Stephen provided professional training to
pueblo accounting staffs, safety training for work crews, and procurement
training to their business managers. His support of the Native American business
community goes beyond his managerial and professional responsibilities and
includes mentoring to provide strong foundations for business infrastructure. In
response to the time-sensitive nature of this emergency-funded work, Stephen has
used innovative approaches to be able to include significant contracts with
these local businesses and sovereign nations as part of his planning and
execution. In October 2002, these efforts resulted in Mr. Mee’s receipt of the
Allan F. Johnson Small Business Advocate Award by the Northern New Mexico
Supplier Alliance for his support of regional vendors.
Andrew Quintana, Governor of the Cochiti Pueblo, writes, “For more than fifty
years we have been locked out of sacred lands, our places of worship, lands our
forefathers walked, places we were to protect as part of our sacred trust to
those who have gone before…Desecration and contamination caused great pain and
anger and now comes the Cerro Grande Fire; it was like peeling off a scab from a
wound that would bleed again…Then enters Steve Mee expressing a desire to work
with the Pueblo Nations on a government to government basis. He expressed
respect for the Pueblo spiritual ways and Pueblo culture …In the end, we may
have won some opportunities to economically benefit from such devastation caused
the Cerro Grande Fire, but more importantly we learned and experienced something
far greater than money could ever buy; it is the beauty of sharing, of learning
from one another, of building trust and sharing confidence in working for a
common purpose based on respect and compassion…Steve Mee brought us a long way
along this journey and by his advocacy, there is a renewed hope that we can
improve the quality of life by redefining our relationship and the need for a
respectful coexistence…If his efforts and that of his remarkable staff were to
be replicated, it very well may be the first step in closing the gap between the
haves and have-nots and between them and us attitudes that have been destructive
in our collective relationships with LANL”
Veteran Small Business Advocate of the Year
Dennis DeMolet
President, DeMolet Consulting
839-B Wittelsbach Dr.
Kettering, Ohio 45429
Corporal Dennis DeMolet and a companion were eating lunch in the USO Club in
DaNang, Republic of Vietnam on December 30, 1966, when Dennis noticed a raging
fire in the club’s kitchen. Rushing into the kitchen to extinguish the flames,
the two Marines saw that the fire had been caused by a leaking butane gas
bottle. They quickly disconnected the bottle, carried it out and put it on the
ground a safe distance from the club. As Dennis rushed back into the building to
make sure all were out safely, sparks ignited the gas fumes, causing a flash
fire that burned him severely. Because of his bold action, Dennis received a
Navy commendation medal.
Since his two terms of service in Vietnam, Dennis has never stopped being a bold
and fearless advocate for his fellow veterans. Born in Dayton, Ohio, Dennis
attended Sinclair Community College, where he founded the Sinclair Veterans Club
and served as its first president. He has since attended Wittenberg University
in Springfield, Ohio, where he studied East Asian culture and business. He
continues studies at Wittenberg in organizational leadership.
Dennis was named Disabled Veteran of the Year for the State of Ohio in 1978. He
has worked with veterans organizations as a professional counselor in the
capacity of chairperson for the Disabled Veterans Outreach Program. He created
and hosted radio and television programs supporting veterans in the work force.
In 1998, Dennis established DeMolet Consulting to serve companies interested in
establishing a presence in the federal and state governments, particularly in
the U.S. Department of Defense. Among the services DeMolet Consulting provides
are networking of communications and design, document imaging and management,
document conversion, satellite and wireless communication, and knowledge
management.
He has worked with Fortune 100 companies including Digital Equipment
Corporation, Hughes Aircraft Division, and Raytheon Systems; with the Foreign
Technology Division (now National Air Intelligence Center), U.S. Air Force; and
with Systems Development Corporation and other government contractors.
An active member of the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association
(AFCEA), Dennis serves on the local chapter’s board of directors as director of
corporate membership. He serves on the small business committee for AFCEA
International. He has been International AFCEAN of the Month and received the
Meritorious Service Award for 2001. Dennis serves on the Dayton Area Chamber of
Commerce Military Affairs Committee and is a member of the board of trustees for
the Miami Valley Military Affairs Association. He was selected as a Federal 100
award winner for 2001 by Federal Computer Week.
Among his many achievements for veterans, his resume includes speaking on a
radio program to increase awareness of returning veterans, counseling Vietnam
veterans on business opportunities, working with the National Veterans Business
Development Corporation, lobbying for Ohio state contracting opportunities for
disabled veteran-owned enterprises, and assisting other states in drafting
similar legislation.
A recent focus has been increasing awareness of the Veterans Entrepreneurship
and Small Business Development Act of 1999. He has gone out of his way to locate
other service-disabled veteran business owners to fulfill government contracts.
He has worked with the Veterans Administration to send information about the law
to recipients of disability incomes. Like his military service itself, his bold
advocacy on behalf of disabled veterans truly merits an award—that of Veteran
Small Business Advocate of the Year.
Women In Business Advocate
Diane L. Browning
President
Appalachian By Design, Inc
208 South Court
Lewisburg, West Virginia 24901
Rural Appalachia’s rugged terrain is nearly impossible to develop commercially
and makes transportation a major issue for workers. Jobs rarely pay a livable
wage. In West Virginia, almost 70 percent of the women who work full time earn
less than $20,000 annually; 20 percent earn less than $10,000.
Diane L. Browning created Appalachian By Design (ABD) as a means to empower
these rural women by creating a new industry in West Virginia through home-based
knitting businesses. She has worked tirelessly for the last 10 years to develop
a network of businesses that support one another, creating a vision and mission
that recognizes the importance of balancing work and home life, and recognizing
that part-time income earned at home can be a key component to sustaining
households in our most rural places.
Diane has been able to develop support from a diverse group of funding partners
that includes the USDA, ARC, the Governor’s Guaranteed Workforce Program, and
SBA-PRIME. On a more local level, she succeeded in obtaining waivers from the
unemployment office for income generated by women’s knitting businesses while
these entrepreneurs were receiving training and purchasing their equipment.
ABD provides a technical training program free or at low cost to people
interested in starting home knitting businesses. Over 175 people have received
this training since 1994 and 110 have had businesses in operation for two or
more years. First ABD began training knitters to be peer trainers. Then the
program began to let trainees take machines home while they were being
trained—to practice and assess the fit of the potential new business within
their household. Recently the program has begun matching peer trainers to
trainees on a one-to-one basis for in-home training.
To make the network of knitters more competitive, Diane opened a production
center to finish and ship the network’s goods, bringing the unit price down by
25 to 30 percent. When it became clear that the apparel business was too
seasonal to keep knitting businesses operating year-round, she launched an ABD
line of home furnishings, which was followed by a successful line of baby
clothes. Seasonality dropped significantly. Sales of ABD products quadrupled
from their introduction in 1997 to 2000. In that year, Diane opened a shop at
the Greenbriar Resort, where the network’s products are sold at retail prices
along with other Appalachian-made items. This became the launching pad for a
collection of high-end women’s apparel, with Diane providing over 25 hours of
free training to five business owners that met the stringent quality
requirements. The knitters’ earnings on this collection are 70 percent greater
than on other products they produce for ABD.
Diane has been careful to create a variety of career ladders for the women in
her network. Through her free Train the Trainers course, experienced knitters
can earn extra fees by becoming trainers. Knitters can become designers, helping
to create and sample new products. Voluntary membership in ABD’s steering
committee provides an opportunity for leadership development, often rare for
rural women. In addition to technical training, ABD offers free business and
legal training specific to home-based businesses.
Diane is working with several knitters and board members to create a retirement
savings program for knitters using an individual development account model where
savings are matched by grant funds from ABD to create an incentive for saving.
Lack of retirement assets is a problem for women nationwide. Diane is committed
to making sure that ABD provides its network members an opportunity for this
kind of asset building.
It was difficult in the early years to get women to team up with other women
from “across the mountain”—there was competition, defensiveness, and fear of
what others might take from them. By creating participatory structures from the
beginning and ensuring that ABD worked with the highest integrity, Diane has
been able to break down these boundaries and create opportunities for betterment
that combine home and work.
Home Based Business Advocate of the Year
Christopher L. Hansen
Owner
Home Based Business Council, Inc.
P.O. Box 2067
Neptune City, NJ 07754
Christopher L. Hansen is the founder and president of the Home Based Business
Council, Inc. (HBBC), a not-for-profit corporation of the State of New Jersey.
The organization was founded in 1995 as a result of Christopher’s efforts to
address a New Jersey financial disclosure law passed in 1992 that drove elected
officials with home-based businesses out of office because New Jersey zoning
laws make the majority of home-based businesses illegal.
A local elected official and Chamber of Commerce administrator at the time,
Chris scoured the state to determine the impact of zoning on home-based
businesses. What he found was a subculture of successful entrepreneurs who could
not participate in their communities because of a realistic fear of discovery.
They were unable to purchase affordable health insurance, qualify for commercial
liability insurance, and testify on their own behalf at public meetings because
to do so would reveal their “illegal” status. In effect, Chris uncovered a group
of citizens who had lost their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination
because they chose to provide for their families with a home occupation.
Chris saw the growing problem and decided to do something about it. He placed a
small ad in a local newspaper, calling home-based business owners to a meeting
to discuss the challenges they faced. This was the first gathering of what was
later to become the HBBC. The response to that first meeting was overwhelming.
Not only local but national attention resulted from a CNBC Money Line
report featuring the suppression of home-based businesses by local government.
Chris recognized his time and abilities could better be used and resigned from
the Chamber in order to form and manage the HBBC. Throughout this time, Chris
was the owner of an office supply store. He also operated a management
consulting firm out of his home—in violation of local zoning laws. He knew that
industrial-age zoning regulations were not appropriate for the information age
and that they would have to change. He made it his personal mission to effect
that change.
In 1996 Chris cofounded the New Jersey Partnership for Work at Home to educate
elected and appointed leaders about the changing nature of the home-based
business economy. As part of his voluntary leadership, Chris authored a
comprehensive white paper on incorporating home-based businesses into the
community. He has since written numerous articles that have appeared in national
publications and those of the New Jersey Conference of Mayors and League of
Municipalities, for which he developed a “road show” to educate officials and
planners.
On the state level, Chris worked with the legislature over five years,
negotiating and revising changes to win approval of a bill to legalize home
occupations. Although the bill has yet to pass, Chris was able to call together
a statewide coalition of business organizations called the New Jersey Coalition
for Jobs and Entrepreneurship to construct guidelines for making home businesses
legal.
Locally, Chris developed a model home occupation zoning ordinance for municipal
officials and planners. He created, produced, and moderated (at his own expense)
a weekly cable television program, Reuniting Work & Home, on which he
interviewed legislators, business leaders and commentators, and home-based
business owners.
Chris has been recognized by the New Jersey Association of Women Business Owners
and the New Jersey Small Business Development Center for his efforts. He has
twice been recognized as one of New Jersey’s business leaders and has been
featured in the press as well as in the book, Free Agent Nation by Dan
Pink. Since its founding, the HBBC has become a nationwide organization, with
members from 27 states. This proud owner of a home-based business has taken his
enterprise from the shadows. He has crusaded without tiring for similar owners
to be recognized and valued for their innovative additions to our information
age economy.
SBA Entrepreneurial Success Award
Himanshu “Sue” Bhatia
Chief Executive Officer
Rose International
16401 Swingley Ridge Road, Suite 300
Chesterfield, MO 63017
In 1993, Himanshu Bhatia, along with her
husband, Gulab, founded Rose International in St. Louis, Missouri. From the
beginning, Himanshu had a vision of what she wanted her company to become. Today
that dream is being realized as Rose has grown from simply a technology staffing
firm to a more complete information technology services (IT) firm with global
service offerings, By paying close attention to her clients’ needs, Himanshu
became aware that they needed more than warm bodies staffing their IT
departments—they needed accomplished individuals who could help them develop
broad-based, personalized solutions to suit their technological needs. Whether
the problem is network-, database-, or application-based, Rose has developed the
technological expertise to deliver rapid, practical solutions customized to its
clients.
The result is dynamic
growth from a localized, five-employee company to a nationwide firm employing
nearly 400 people. Rose has won contracts with large companies, such as
Anheuser-Busch, Ameren, Chevron Texaco, SBC, and Maritz.
On the government side,
Rose has been a prime contractor with 13 different Department of Defense and
civilian agencies over the last few years, and works as a subcontractor with
several other federal agencies. Also, Rose won prime vendor status in five out
of seven service areas on the highly competitive State of Missouri Statewide IT
Contract in 2002, beating out many larger companies competing for the contract.
Himanshu and Gulab left
New Delhi for the United States in 1987 in search of higher education and better
opportunity. They settled in St. Louis, Missouri, where they completed their
master’s degrees at area universities. Himanshu accepted a position with
Electronic Data Systems while Gulab continued his research in medical technology
at Washington University. With the help of a Small Business Innovation Research
grant for the 3-D medical imaging that Gulab was pioneering, they launched Rose
Imaging. In the interim, Himanshu went to work in the IT department of Edward
Jones, a St. Louis-based brokerage firm, where the use of consultants made her
see their value and the opportunity they presented for Rose Imaging. Himanshu
left the brokerage in the spring of 1995 to apply these ideas at Rose; and Eric
Token, a colleague at Edward Jones, followed suit in January 1996 to partner
with the couple. In 1999, the Bhatias moved to California to oversee the firm’s
growth firsthand in that strategic region, while retaining the company
headquarters in St. Louis.
In just a short time,
Himanshu’s dream of developing a world-class firm has been realized. The couple
attributes this unparalleled growth to building solid client relationships
through high-quality service at a reasonable price. This level of service has
led to a strong track record of repeat business in addition to new clientele.
Also, employee retention remains well above the industry average.
Throughout the years, the
company has been honored with numerous awards and acknowledgements, including
the NationsBank Excellence in Small Business Award and the Missouri Governor’s
Torch of Excellence. Rose is one of fewer than 60 companies in the country to
receive the Corporate Plus designation from the National Minority Supplier
Development Council. The firm has ranked twice on the Inc. 500, and has
ranked in the Deloitte & Touche Technology Fast 500 and St. Louis Regional Fast
50, where it achieved number one status in 2000.
Himanshu
attributes her firm’s success to two very basic principles—a well-developed work
ethic throughout the company and a practical, results-oriented approach to
addressing customer needs.
Small Business Exporter of the Year
William A. Wilson
President
Wilson Forest Products, Inc.
1216 Jefferson Rd.
P.O. Box 269
Jefferson, PA 15370
No glue, chemicals, or solvents are used to seal the barrels beautifully crafted
by Keystone Cooperage from white pine supplied by its parent company, Wilson
Forest Products. The flavor that permeates the wine stored in the barrels is
that of wood roasted to coconut/vanilla-flavored perfection.
The process starts with logs purchased by Wilson Forest Products in the
Appalachian region. At the plant, the wood is cut into barrel staves and
barrelheads. Each stave must be cut precisely on the correct grain, with no
knots. Once they are cut, the staves and barrelheads are aged for 18-24 months
before they are ready to be exported and used in the making of a barrel.
Family-owned and -operated for three generations, Wilson Forest Products, Inc.,
was founded in 1931. The plant, in the heart of Southern Pennsylvania’s
Appalachian region, covers more than 50 acres and includes a stave mill, a
barrel plant, more than 30 acres of drying yards, 55,000 square feet of
manufacturing and office space—and 55 or more employees. It sells 99 percent of
its product—worth $6.7 million—to overseas markets.
The company has increased its importance as an exporter under the leadership of
its current President, William A. Wilson. Bill has been finding effective
solutions to export-related problems since purchasing the company from his
father in 1970. To solve problems that developed when his agent “batched” Wilson
Forest Products wood with that of other less reputable companies, Bill developed
his own channels of exportation, which allowed his company to retain its
well-earned excellent reputation. Another problem arose when some larger
overseas customers changed their payment policies, moving the timing of payment
from when the product was ordered to when it was delivered. Because the wood
must be aged 18-24 months before delivery, that change created a cash flow
problem, which Bill solved by using a guarantee through the Export-Import Bank
to secure an increase in the company’s line of credit. By implementing this
solution, Bill was able to meet his customers’ need and even to pick up some
customers from competition that had left the business.
In an effort to further market the company overseas and meet the needs of his
customers, Bill created Keystone Cooperage, a subsidiary that purchases the
high-quality white oak staves and barrelheads to make finished barrels. To make
the barrels, skilled coopers tighten and level the staves into hoops and cut
grooves to hold the barrel heads. A bunghole is cut in the middle, temporary
hoops are replaced with galvanized steel, and the barrel is sanded into the fine
piece of furniture it is. The price of a barrel is $280—a bargain compared with
some of the competition’s barrels, priced at $480 to $1,000.
As a result of Wilson’s innovations, sales have increased 97 percent and profits
121 percent over the past seven years. And over the past decade, employment has
increased 267 percent.
But that’s not all of the story. Bill has also looked out for other small
businesses interested in exporting. With his encouragement, a small logging
company has flourished and is now one of the largest logging companies east of
the Mississippi, exporting logs all over the world. He has also exported veneer,
and referred business to other small veneer companies when he has not had enough
to fill an order. And he has educated other small businesses on the export
market and the intricacies of the export sales cycle.
Wilson Forest Products’ secret? Fine finished quality—meaning, quite literally,
cash on the barrelhead.
SBA Young Entrepreneur of the Year
Scott Jones
Owner
Beyond Clothing, LLC
P.O. Box 26551
Eugene, OR 97402
Scott Jones, an avid outdoorsman since youth, coached crew while attending the
University of Oregon. Because he could not afford to buy one, he sewed his first
fleece jacket with the help of the campus craft center. Scott honed this new
skill by designing and sewing jackets for friends as he developed the vision
behind Beyond Clothing. This single-member LLC owned and operated by Scott is an
innovative niche outdoor clothing manufacturer and retailer. Beyond Clothing
employs direct marketing to sell custom, technically designed clothing primarily
through an interactive website with an easy-to-use order placement system.
He began the business in earnest in 1996 with income as a college rowing coach.
The first two years of this venture were difficult. As school took most of his
time during the day, Scott would awaken at 5:00 a.m. to complete a three-hour
session of sewing before his first class, with another session lasting well into
the night.
After Scott graduated in 1998, the company’s first website went live, and Scott
began to sew full time. As a rowing coach, he would once again rise at 5:00 a.m.
but this time to be on the water by 6:00. Only after that would he settle into a
full day of sewing. Locals visiting Scott’s shop and hundreds of website orders
kept him very busy. Custom sizes and options were standard from the beginning.
Each garment was made specifically for the person who ordered it.
With the help of patient customers, Scott focused on developing an algorithmic
system that today lets the company develop a perfectly sized garment for anyone.
Beyond Clothing’s website allows shoppers to custom fit clothes—something no
competitor has been able to do. Along with a custom fit, Scott understood that
the market was tired of look-alikes from the big corporations. Scott is
constantly introducing new fabrics and styles using the latest technology. His
innovative approach and website design allow for significant increases in sales
with little additional capital expenditure.
A lean and hungry strategy from the start has enabled Scott to push
profitability to a maximum. Most of the outdoor clothing industry shows profit
margins of 3 to 5 percent. During 2001 and parts of 2002, Beyond Clothing’s
profit margins were almost 20 percent. He has seen sales increase from $17,778
in 1999 to $185,200 through the first nine months of 2002. This growth was aided
by a $31,000 SBA 7a loan in 2001 and a second one for $35,000 in 2002. With the
help of product reviews and awards in high-profile magazines like Backpacker,
Scott projects sales of over $450,000 in 2003.
The company’s growth has contributed to the local job market by creating 13
full-time positions over the last three years. This is in high contrast to the
trend of large clothing companies moving their manufacturing overseas where
labor is less expensive. Scott expects to increase his work force to 20 by the
busy season next year. The company has come a long way from the years when Scott
did all the production work, sometimes sewing through the night to ensure orders
were filled on time. At one point, Scott was living on one dollar a day for
food. For the past six years he has not taken a salary from the business, but
has withdrawn only enough to meet living expenses.
Although he isn’t sewing alone any more, Scott keeps tight control over the
quality of his product. Over the past six years, he has produced over 8,000
garments. None have been returned due to quality complaints and only two percent
have been returned for size problems. Of these, none have been returned after
the second try.
Scott Jones’ venture in niche marketing has been successful because he chose an
area he feels passionate about and used state-of-the-art marketing techniques to
sell an innovative and customized product of high quality to those who share his
passion for the great outdoors. Of course, his passion for hard work has also
had a little something to do with it.
Financial Services Advocate of the Year
Mr. Fran Jabara
Principal
Jabara Ventures Group, L.P.
P.O. Box 782050
Wichita, Kansas 67278-2050
“For 50 years, I’ve been a student of business,” said Fran Jabara, at a Wichita
State University event naming Jabara Hall in his honor. “My greatest thrill,” he
said, “is to learn something new.” That says a lot, coming from someone who has
spent so much of his life’s energy teaching entrepreneurship to others.
Fran first learned the meaning of work at age eight during the dust bowl days of
the Great Depression. He started by helping his father, an immigrant from
Lebanon and a merchant in the small town of Burden on the Kansas prairie. By age
10, Fran was driving, making deliveries to customers in all kinds of weather.
Cash was a scarce commodity, and Fran learned early to prize “value added”
enterprises over pleasure or depreciable assets.
As he grew older, he began investing in residential and commercial real estate
and earned a CPA. In 1949 he joined the faculty of Wichita State University
where he served 40 years. He was appointed distinguished professor and was dean
of the College of Business Administration for seven years. His life work has
been creating value added as an entrepreneurial educator.
In 1977, Fran saw a need for students to learn both the fundamentals of
entrepreneurship and how to apply them. He approached the business school dean
and asked if he could offer business entrepreneurship courses. The dean agreed
to a summer workshop, but only if Fran found a way to cover the cost—so Fran
persuaded Beech Aircraft to underwrite it. More than 300 students enrolled, and
one of the first Centers for Entrepreneurship was born. Fran served as its
director for more than a decade and in 1999, friends and associates donated $1.5
million to the Center’s scholarship fund in Fran’s honor.
In 1991, upon discovering that a student’s attitudes toward institutions and
occupations are heavily influenced by as early as the fifth grade, Fran founded
Venture Kids to enable minority fifth graders to learn about the opportunities
business may offer. Fran gives each child who participates a $50 savings bond
with a personal challenge to invest and grow the money into something more
valuable.
Over the years, Fran’s accounting and financial expertise as well as business
wisdom, created great demand for his services. Upon retiring from the university
in 1989, Fran used his 45 years of business expertise and, together with his son
Harvey, created Jabara Ventures Group. The company has invested, ventured,
financed, or consulted with more than 150 clients and created a reputation for
fairness and quality service. Millions of dollars in investments have been moved
on Fran’s counsel. His advice to entrepreneurial hopefuls looking for money is
to use the four S’s: stop spending, start saving. To investors he says, “Gain
knowledge of the industry, then find honest and qualified people to run the
business.”
Business owners looking for financial advice could well take to heart the
counsel Fran gave in a speech commemorating September 11, 2001: “Our nation’s
budget must be more entrepreneurial,” he said. “There must be a new assessment
on how we spend our resources, not only on a national level, but on the state
level, the county level, the city level, and on our personal level…Now it is
time to build again.”
Research Advocate of the Year
Dr. Robert Herold Brockhaus, Sr.
Coleman Foundation Chairholder in Entrepreneurship
Director, Jefferson Smurfit Center for Entrepreneurial Studies
Saint Louis University
3674 Lindell Blvd.
St. Louis, MO 63108
The Jefferson Smurfit Center for Entrepreneurial Studies has a reputation for
being among the best institutions of its kind. Robert H. Brockhaus, Sr., became
director of the center, located at Saint Louis University, in 1987. In February
1991, Dr. Brockhaus was installed as the Coleman Foundation Chair in
Entrepreneurship. Success Magazine in 1996, 1997 and 1998 (until it discontinued
the rankings) named the faculty of the graduate program in entrepreneurship that
he directs the best in the country. Since 1998, US News and World Report
has listed the program in the top 30 in the nation.
Dr. Brockhaus has also held the L.L. McAninch Chair of Entrepreneurship at
Kansas State University. He was a Fulbright fellow at the University of Waikato
in New Zealand and the Schoen Professor of Private Enterprise and
Entrepreneurship at Baylor University in Texas.
But Bob’s knowledge of entrepreneurship comes from experience as well as
academia. He has been involved in the business world as an employee or a small
businessman most of his life. He served in management positions for Ralston
Purina Company in the 1960s and today is president of Progressive Management
Enterprises, Ltd., a family consulting and real estate management firm founded
in 1969. He and his wife, Dr. Joyce Brockhaus, provide consultation services to
family businesses and have spoken in over 20 countries.
Dr. Brockhaus has also served as state director for Missouri Small Business
Development Centers, national chairperson of the Academy of Management’s
Entrepreneurship Division, president of the National Small Business Institute
Directors’ Association, president of the International Council for Small
Business and an elected delegate to the 1986 and 1995 White House Conferences on
Small Business.
In addition to teaching graduate and undergraduate courses on entrepreneurship,
Dr. Brockhaus conducts research on entrepreneurship from psychological,
sociological, and environmental perspectives. This research has appeared in over
a dozen academic journals including the Academy of Management Journal,
Academy of Management Review, and Internationales Gewerbearchiv. He
has served as associate editor of the Family Business Review and as a member of
the editorial review boards of the Journal of Small Business Management, the
Academy of Management Review, the Journal of Business Venturing,
Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice, the Southern Africa Journal of
Small Business Management, and the Journal of Small Business Economics.
In addition, he is the author and co-author of 12 books and more than 80
research papers on various aspects of entrepreneurship. In short, he is among
the most cited independent entrepreneurship researchers anywhere.
Dr. Brockhaus is listed in Who’s Who in the World, Who’s Who in America,
Who’s Who in Finance and Industry, International Who’s Who in
Education, International Businessmen Who’s Who, and more than 15 other
biographical sources of distinction. He has been an invited speaker in
Australia, Brazil, China, England, Egypt, Finland, Germany, Japan, Korea,
Lebanon, Mexico, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa, Switzerland, and Canada,
as well as throughout the United States.
Bob takes a special interest in family-owned businesses and has taught courses
to ensure their success for generations to come. Family is clearly important to
him: perhaps one of his best titles is “Father of the Year,” awarded by the
Lindbergh High School Student Council in recognition of his active role in his
children’s schools. He currently assists the Lindbergh Alternative High School
with its entrepreneurship program.
Small Business Journalist of the Year
Jeff Feingold
Editor
New Hampshire Business Review
McLean Communications
150 Dow Street
Manchester, NH 03101
“Small business is business in New Hampshire—it’s basically the heart and soul
of the state’s economy,” says Jeff Feingold, editor of the New Hampshire
Business Review. A frequent guest on New Hampshire radio and television
programs about business, Jeff also works closely with the staff of the Small
Business Development Center to publish NH Entrepreneur, the SBDC’s
quarterly insert in the New Hampshire Business Review.
Jeff’s 26+-year career as a journalist has included work at weekly and daily
newspapers, where he has covered everything from sports to taxation, world
trade, and work force matters. Since 1991 Jeff has been a regular panelist on
NHPTV’s channel 11 Outlook program, where he regularly speaks his mind on a
variety of issues dealing with legislation, politics, and business.
Jeff’s grandfather arrived from Rumania after World War I and started a
business, Feingold Novelty & Button, in New York’s Garment Center. Jeff’s father
took over the business in the early 1960s and built it into one of the two
largest suppliers of buttons and fasteners for women’s garments in New York.
Jeff describes them both as “creative, strong-willed, and courageous, really—the
traits that almost every small business person has.” Though neither Jeff nor his
brother chose to carry on the family business, Jeff embodies traits that made
the earlier generations successful in his passion and conviction about timely
issues.
Two business issues Jeff identifies that are making news right now are the
inheritance tax and corporate accountability. “When giant corporations either
break the law or ignore the rules, they’re getting an even greater—and
egregiously unfair—advantage over small businesses in their industries,” he
says. Among issues that the New Hampshire Business Review has been the first to
report on with Jeff as editor are the evolution of the state’s business tax
structure, the development of the business enterprise tax, the establishment of
interstate banking in the state, the widespread consolidation of industries,
environmental regulations that affect small business, and the effect on the
lending industry of lifting the state’s interest cap.
He’s written about the effects of September 11, 2001, on New Hampshire
retailers, about a streamlined law governing how New Hampshire businesses can
obtain venture capital, and about a new business resource network offering both
on-line and hands-on assistance that involves SBA and private sector sponsors in
a partnership. He’s written editorials urging New Hampshire business owners to
contribute to charitable causes, urging consideration of whether the government
should ban smoking in restaurants, and urging new owners of paper mills to
“seize the day” in revitalizing the New Hampshire “North Country”
Recent stories include interviews with business owners, including Hall Fogg, a
promoter of a new sales process; Brooke Savage and his wife Melissa Habon,
cowinners of New Hampshire’s High Tech Council Entrepreneur of the Year award;
Susan Hebert, owner of a Merrimack travel agency that serves both corporate and
leisure travelers; and Joanna Oliver, owner of the 1875 Inn and Patriot’s Tavern
in Tilton. This year, under Jeff’s direction as editor, NHBR is initiating the
Business Excellence Awards to honor owners of businesses with fewer than 100
employees.
Stories of these small business people—people like Jeff’s father and
grandfather—are particularly fascinating to readers, Jeff says, adding, “I don’t
think people get tired of reading about—and learning from—the lessons that every
businessperson learns from his or her experience.”
