R.I. business leaders honored at SBA event

LINCOLN – On Friday, May 11, the U.S. Small Business Administration honored the 2018 Rhode Island SBA award winners at the annual “Salute to Small Business” luncheon, hosted by SCORE.

Held at Kirkbrae Country Club in Lincoln, this year’s event was kicked off with remarks from SBA District Director Mark S. Hayward, and SCORE Chairman Ed Gromada. Also addressing the near 300 attendees was SBA Regional Administrator Wendell G. Davis, along with Lt. Gov. Daniel J. McKee, Secretary of State Nellie M. Gorbea and General Treasurer Seth Magaziner.

The 2018 SBA awardees included 21 small business owners and champions in 14 diverse categories, including Small Business Person of the Year awardee, Kelly Mendell, President of MIKEL. Located in Middletown, MIKEL is a woman-owned, undersea warfare company that specializes in products and services used in the defense industry. Mendell took over as president of MIKEL in 2008, and has been a client of SBA resource partners, SCORE and The Center for Women & Enterprise. Mendell has also taken advantage of the SBA’s Small Business In- novation Research (SBIR) grants to help further her companies research and development capabilities.

Also honored was the National Subcontractor of the Year, Evans Capacitor Company, located in East Providence. Evans Capacitor, founded by Charles Dewey and David Evans, is a capacitor manufacturer and distributor working in the aerospace and defense sectors. Nominated for the award by Lockheed Martin, Evans continues to display innovation and quality that makes them a leader in their field.

“To have a Rhode Island small business be selected for a national award is a testament to the incredible small business community we have here,” said Hayward. “The SBA’s Office of Advocacy reports that there are 29.6 million small businesses in the United States and the fact that of all of those businesses the best subcontractor was right here is truly remarkable and well deserved,” he added.

Of the 14 winners recognized, 10 were in the running for regional awards, with Rhode Island businesses securing three of those awards in the categories of Financial Services Champion, Veteran-Owned Small Business, and Woman-Owned Small Business. New England Financial Services Champion was awarded to Buck Harris, Vice President of Community Lending for Community Investment Corporation (CIC). New England Veteran-Owned Small Business was awarded to John Shepard, founder and CEO of Veterans Assembled electronics (VAe). Also, New England Woman-Owned Small Business was awarded to Carol Dancer, president of Absorbent Specialty Products.

Cheryl Watkins Snead, founder and CEO of Banneker Industries, was posthumously honored with the Rhode Island District Director award. Accepting it were her sisters, Rene Payne and Linda Watkins, as well as protégé Junior Jabbie. Jabbie thanked the SBA for honoring Snead and proclaimed that the day was not to be a solemn one, but rather a celebration of the leader, small business owner, trailblazer and human being that Snead was.

The Rhode Island District Office of the SBA will begin accepting nominations for the 2019 awards later this year. For more, contact Ryan Brissette, public information officer, at ryan.brissette@sba.gov or 202805-9168.