Jill Sommers, QSBJ Business Writer
A business media writer could take several angles to this story as it provides for a lot of background material that could be used. There can be some wonderful backgrounders taken as you will see. There were five categories for West Virginia's Business of the Year awards.
WV Small Business Person of the Year
This award went out to Kenneth Allman, president of PracticeLink.com and MountainPlex Properties of Hinton, WV. Mr. Allman was nominated by the former Mayor of Hinton, Cloe Mathews. What PracticeLink.com does is connect more lthan 5,000 WV hospitals, medical practices and healthcare groups together. I will put the SBA website link at the end of this article.
Small Business Exporter of the Year
It is interesting that they had exporter as a category. If anyone knows if this is the same name as an award for last year, let me know. The Exporter of the Year is Chad Remp of the Wheeling Truck Center, Inc. in Wheeling, WV. The Truck Center is the oldest continuously operating White/Volvo truck deal in America and exports to 93 countries. Chad is a fourth-generation owner of the family business that started in 1933.
Family-Owned Business of the Year
This business has a heart-warming story in itself. We have not yet gotten to the Quad State region's winners yet, but this business just celebrated its 100th anniversary from starting out delivering meat from door to door. The winner is Christopher Wendling of A.F. Wendling, Inc. of Buckhannon, nominated by Stephen Foster of the Upshur County Development Authority. The business serves 53 counties in WV and also serves selected areas in PA, MD and Ohio.
Young Entrepreneur of the Year
This honor goes to Bridget Rowsy of Bridget's Dance Academy of Huntington, WV and was nominated by Amber Wilson, SBDC director at the Huntington office. That is the rest of West Virginia. Now let's bring it into our region.
Veteran Small Business Champion of the Year
Now we reach the Quad State region! This honor goes to Jeannette King. And I will allow their copy to describe the business. The winner in this category is Navy veteran Jeannette King of Strategic Resolution Experts, Inc. in Martinsburg. Ms. King was nominated by Christina Lundberg of the SBDC in Berkeley County. King, Navy Veteran, founded Strategic Resolution Experts, Inc. in 2007 to provide strategic management and IT consulting services to the federal civilian and defense agencies.
She has built a management team of certified professionals and continues to show her support for veterans oversees and in the U.S. SRE is the largest corporate sponsor for Final Salute, Inc. King also serves on the board of this organization which provides safe and suitable housing for homeless female veterans and their children.
Women In Business Champion of the Year
This award went to Quad State business owner Pam Neely of State Farm in Martinsburg. Ms. Neely was nominated by Tina Combs of the Martinsburg-Berkeley County Chamber and is the second nominee winner selected by Christina Lundberg of the SBDC in the area. I suppose one could say that if you are looking for your business to be nominated, you might do your business good if you could have the Panhandle's SBDC nominate you! Neely is the owner of a local State Farm office and has been active in the Martinsburg-Berkeley County Chamber of Commerce as Chair of the Women’s Network.
In 2013, Neely coordinated the Chamber’s third annual Women’s Network Book Club. Neely led a networking session that included a variety of techniques she learned in her corporate work. The Chamber’s Women’s Network under Pam’s leadership provided professional development to 138 women in the workshops and 71 women in the conference.
Two WV Banks Also Came Out on Top This Year
It is interesting that the WV SBA had two awards to give: the Community Bank of the Year award, won by Community Trust Bank; and the Lender of the Year award won by Huntington National Bank.
We salute our Panhandle winners and look forward to hearing from other areas in our Quad State region. ###
