By Gwen Green (gagreen@ualr.edu)
June 3, 2009
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Jennifer Bonds was recognized as the 2009 Small Business Resource Partner of the Year at the 19th Annual Arkansas Small Business Awards Luncheon Tuesday at the Statehouse Convention Center.
The award was presented by Linda Nelson of the Arkansas District of the U.S. Small Business Administration.
Bonds is the training manager for the Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center statewide network and coordinates more than 400 small business training events annually, frequently serving as trainer.
"We are very proud of Jennifer Bonds and pleased to see her recognized for her work on behalf of Arkansas small businesses," said Janet Roderick, ASBTDC state director.
Bonds joined the ASBTDC lead center at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 2000. In the past year, she has worked closely with small business owners and advocates through the ASBTDC's SBA-funded Veterans Assistance and Portable Assistance projects in north-central and southwest Arkansas, the 2009 Arkansas Procurement Opportunities Conference and the Get in the Game Entrepreneurial Conference and Business Expo.
She is a Certified Business Advisor® and a certified Guerrilla Marketer, a graduate of the Community Development Institute and a past recipient of the national Association of Small Business Development Centers' State Star award for Arkansas.
Major General William Wofford of the Arkansas National Guard received the District Director's Special Award for Entrepreneurial Leadership and also was named Veteran Small Business Champion.
Other winners included:
Robert H. Blair and Sharon Welch-Blair, owners of the Empress of Little Rock -
Small Business Persons of the Year
James G. Coffey, Metropolitan National Bank, Little Rock -
Financial Services Champion
Emma Agnew, Beacons & Bridges, Jonesboro -
Minority Small Business Champion
Roby Brock, Talk Business, Little Rock -
Small Business Journalist Champion
Lisa Massey, Taylor, Rodgers and Turner PLLC, Arkadelphia -
Women in Business Champion
Metropolitan Bank, Little Rock -
SBA Volume Lender (FY 2008)
Six Bridges Capital Corporation -
SBA 504 Lender (FY 2008)
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