EBO Awards Business "Stars"

The Ninth Annual Equal Business Opportunity Awards were held on April 22 at the Ten Oaks Ballroom in Clarksville. More than 150 people attended the breakfast gala to witness this year's stars receive the recognition they deserve. The awards program, hosted by the Howard County Economic Development Authority's Equal Business Opportunity Committee, recognizes the outstanding achievements and leadership by members of Howard County's diverse business community. Awards are presented in five categories: Outstanding Business Achievement Star, Outstanding Company Commitment Star, Outstanding Individual Achievement Star, Outstanding Individual Commitment Star and Rising Business Star.

The Outstanding Business Achievement Star went to Berkshire Associates, Inc. Dawn S. Hyde is president of the consulting and software development firm that specializes in affirmative action planning and salary equity analysis. A skilled human relations generalist, Hyde has over 21 years of experience working with legal, business and government communities in the preparation of affirmative action programs and on-site audit consultation. A member of numerous professional organizations and an acknowledged expert in her field, she has traveled extensively and written many articles.

The Individual Achievement Star category, which recognizes an outstanding accomplishment in the business community, had co-winners.

Suzanne Colvin of Allfirst Bank, a division of M&T Bank, has facilitated the approval of over $1.2 million in Small Business Administration Guaranteed loans to startups and small businesses and $15 million in traditional bank loans. She has done all of this in the four years she has been in Howard County. Colvin currently lists 38 women business owners among her portfolio of clients. As a small business advocate, she provides coaching and mentoring on developing business relationships and continually works to ensure that small and minority owned businesses are provided the right banking products and services. Colvin is president of the Business Women's Network.

Co-winner Betty H. Myers, of KaleidoSystems, Inc., has taught leadership and organization development, both at home and abroad, and is the author of several articles. Myers is a certified facilitator for several quality improvement strategies and consults with department heads striving for increased productivity. She creates and delivers seminars in leadership, personal development, team effectiveness and business process redesign. In addition, she coaches individuals seeking career transitions and guides executives to increase inclusiveness of women and minorities in corporations.

The Individual Commitment Star was awarded to Lehr Sorden, who has been a counselor with the Small Business Development Center for the past five years and has served as an adviser and mentor to minority- and women-owned businesses. Sorden works with minority-owned firms to develop capital and loan-packaging services for startups and expansions. In 2002, working with the Economic Development Authority's Business Resource Center, he was responsible for more than $3 million in new loans to the minority business community. He is currently providing business mentoring services to more than 30 women-owned businesses and more than 40 minority-owned firms.

The Business Commitment Star this year is JREF (The Jim Rouse Entrepreneurial Fund, Inc.) A private, not-for-profit organization dedicated to assisting small and emerging businesses located in Howard County, JREF provides integrated, comprehensive services to entrepreneurs to maximize successful business growth. Mary Becker, the executive director of JREF, has developed close ties with The Howard County Government, HCEDA and the local banking community. With their help, JREF is able to provide financing for promising businesses unable to receive funding from traditional sources. Since its founding in 1992, JREF has provided over $2 million in loans to 30 businesses and helped to create more than 250 new jobs in Howard County.

The Rising Business Star scholarship category, honoring a Howard County high school student who has demonstrated entrepreneurial spirit, went to Oakland Mills' Brittany A. Newsome. After studying filmmaking during the summer of 2001, Newsome created her own filmmaking studio, called Quiet Girl Productions, which makes and markets independent films. She has produced a 24-minute documentary that is currently being used by Howard County Public Schools for teacher training, and she has sold more than 100 copies of an elementary school awards program that she edited with music and special effects. Newsome will attend New York University in the fall of 2003, where she plans to continue developing her career as a filmmaker.

The Equal Business Opportunity Committee was formed in 1993 as a permanent committee of the Howard County Economic Development Authority. Its primary mission is to help foster a strong economic environment in Howard County by ensuring all businesses reach their fullest potential for business success. Businesses supported by EBO include all small and historically underutilized businesses, with special emphasis on those owned by minorities, women and individuals with disabilities. The EBO committee's programs, established in partnership with the Business Resource Center it helped to form, assists Howard County firms to overcome barriers to equal business opportunities.

A New Name

After the awards ceremony, Earl Saunders who, although staying on, announced that he would no longer be the chair of the Economic Business Opportunity Committee. The committee - often confused with the EBO Commission - is getting a new name. As of that morning, Saunders is chair of the Committee for Business and Economic Diversity. Except for the name change, the committee will remain the same.