Published: June 17, 2009 11:58 pm      

Tamarack Foundation’s Artisan Resource Center receives honor

The Tamarack Foundation’s Artisan Resource Center was presented the 2009 Home-Based Business Champion Award Wednesday at the 2009 Small Business Awards Celebration at the Tamarack Conference Center.

Artisan Resource Center Executive Director Sally Barton and Artisan Services Director Ron DeWitt were presented the award by SBA West Virginia Director Judy McCauley.

The center works closely with artisans to provide technical business assistance they need to grow and develop home-based businesses.

Keynote speaker Bridget Bean, SBA acting regional administrator, praised small business owners in West Virginia.

She said Tamarack had helped her “appreciate the talent and ingenuity of small businesses of West Virginia.”

“The craftsmanship is world-class,” Bean said. “As if that’s not enough, I was gifted enough to get the stories behind the people who have their products here.

“It made me realize the diversity that exists in West Virginia.”

In February, Barton reported that the Tamarack Foundation contributed $18.6 million to the state economy, $5.9 million in income and supported 236 jobs during fiscal year 2008.

Bean said the small business community is a vital part of the state and national economies.

“It’s going to be small businesses that continue to make us competitive in the global market in the next 50 years,” she said, “It’s been the creativeness, the ingenuity of small businesses that have advanced technology and science ... And that is what will take our country into the next 50 years, to make us more competitive.

“That passion to succeed resides right here in West Virginia.”

Steve Pilato, regional representative for Gov. Joe Manchin, spoke at the ceremony.

“West Virginians are hard workers,” he said. “They truly are hard workers.

“They never give up,” he said.

Also receiving awards were:

2009 Small Business Person of the Year, Joseph Lillard Jr., president, Washington Homeopathic Products, Berkeley Springs.

2009 Financial Services Champion of the Year, Marten Jenkins, executive director and Joe Brouse, business lender, Natural Capital Investment Fund, Shepherdstown.

2009 Entrepreneurial Success Award, James R.J. Martin II, president, CityNet, Bridgeport.

2009 Jeffrey Butland Family-Owned Small Business of the Year, Pat Oliverio, president; Philip Oliverio, vice president; and Petrina Bonamico, secretary, Oliverio’s Ristorante Inc. Bridgeport.

2009 Small Business Journalist of the Year, David Whalen, publisher, B2B Outlook LLC, Martinsburg.

2009 Women in Business Champion of the Year, Lotus MacDowell, owner, Artworks, Bridgeport.

2009 SBA Young Entrepreneur of the Year, Magdalena De La Cruz Cook-Garcia, managing member, Maggie’s Salsa LLC, Charleston.

2009 Minority Small Business Champion of the Year, Michelle Foster, CEO, Kanawha Institute for Social Research & Action Empowerment Center, Dunbar.

2009 Small Business Exporter of the Year, Angelo Petitto, president; James Petitto, vice president; and George Marshall, secretary/treasurer, Petitto Mine Equipment, Inc., Morgantown.

Large National Bank & Lender of the Year, Huntington National Bank, Clayton Rice, president, West Virginia Region.

Community Bank of the Year, First State Bank, Ostie Mathisen, vice president.

— E-mail:

jfarrish@register-herald.com