The employee-owners of Riverview Community Bank are proud to support the Business Growth Awards. Although this is the bank’s first year as the presenting sponsor, it is not likely to be the last. We are equally honored to be involved with such a strong group of sponsors and top notch companies led by top notch individuals. We are proud to be a part of this program celebrating the success of business in Southwest Washington.
Congratulations to all of the nominees for their hard work and dedication that is not only serving them well, but rewards the entire community by creating jobs and boosting the economy.
Founded in 1923, Riverview is the only publicly traded bank headquartered in Southwest Washington. We’ve earned a reputation for listening and providing our clients with the right financial solutions for business growth and development.
~ Kim Capeloto
Executive Vice President
Riverview Community Bank
Start Up
Michael’s Flooring Covering
WINNER
Spend a few minutes inside Michael’s Floor Covering in Northeast Vancouver and it’s easy to forget this business is a start-up. With his company’s impressive showroom and team of seasoned employees (many of them having 15 to 20 years of floor covering experience), owner Mike Haasl hit the ground running in January of 2010 with an emphasis on business versatility, customer service and product knowledge.
By the end of 2010, Haasl had proof that his business model was paying off; Michael’s first-year gross sales revenue was nearly double what they originally forecast.
Nearly halfway through 2011, Haasl said positive word of mouth has continued to fuel sales.
Start Up
Pasta Gigi’s
FINALIST
Like many others in our community in 2009, Gigi Hoole and her husband Greg found themselves out of work at the hands of The Great Recession. Rather than giving up, the pair took action. Greg started a successful safety training company and Gigi quickly hatched a plan to bring Pappardelle’s Pasta (found at select farmer’s markets around the nation) to the Portland Vancouver metro area.
2010 was quite the whirlwind year for Gigi. In a six-month span, she went from operating a booth at the Battle Ground Village Outdoor Market to the opening of her very own store, appropriately named Pasta Gigi’s.
When asked what motivates her on a day to day basis, Gigi’s responded by saying “working in a cubicle is very difficult.” But what really matters, she said, is that Pasta Gigi’s has given her more time to spend in her community and with her family.
Fastest Growing 1-5 Years
Premier Pump & Power
WINNER
During a time when many businesses
struggled to simply stay in business, 2010 was a banner year for Premier Pump & Power of Vancouver. In an era of vanishing manufacturing facilities, Premier Pump & Power sold more of its custom-manufactured pumps throughout the United States than ever before, increasing its gross product sales by more than
100 percent.
William Scholtes, owner of Premier Pump & Power, said the increase in sales was the result of good old fashioned hard work.
“We worked hard for a few years to secure this business,” explained Scholtes. “We were finally able to secure new customers that we didn’t have before, I guess the timing was finally right for them.”
This year, Premier Pump & Power expects to grow sales in 2011 by another 50 percent over the 2010 levels.
Fastest Growing 1-5 Years
Aadland Dental
FINALIST
Like many other BGA finalists, Aadland Dental owner Kristine Aadland, DMD has been faced with the daunting task of not just keeping her business afloat in a down economy, but growing it as well. If you were to ask her how she does it, she’ll tell you the fact that her last name starts with two A’s doesn’t hurt; It puts her at the top of almost every list.
Name aside, Aadland credits her growth in 2010 to community involvement, marketing and networking.
“It’s really about going out and making the connections,” she said.
With the support of those connections, Aadland Dental has enjoyed continual growth since the business began just a few years ago. In fact, the practice’s profitability has allowed Kristine to open an additional business within her building, called Fusion Fitness and Nutrition. In June 2010, Aadland hired a second dental assistant, an aesthetician and a massage therapist.
When asked about the future of her practice, Aadland doesn’t hesitate to say she’s feeing good about where her business is headed.
Fastest Growing 1-5 Years
Home Instead Senior Care
FINALIST
Since it was founded in 2006, Home Instead Senior Care in Vancouver has experienced growth in each and every year to date – including increasing gross revenue by almost 15 percent in 2010, an impressive task considering the sluggish economy we’ve witnessed in recent years.
In 2010, the success of Home Instead allowed Owner Julie Williams to move her office into a brand new location. Williams attributes her business’s success to being involved with local events, going above and beyond when it comes to customer service and working hard to establish a reputation of integrity.
“If you consistently do the right thing for your clients and for your employees, there will be times where you might actually lose in the short run,” she said. “But in
the long run, if you’re doing the right thing it always
pays off.”
Fastest Growing 6-10 Years
nLIGHT
WINNER
A past Business Growth Award winner, nLIGHT’s story is one of new technology, new markets and new opportunities.
Since its inception, Vancouver-based nLIGHT has been on a mission: to be the leading supplier of high-power semiconductor lasers and to develop innovative products that enhance laser applications.
In 2010, nLIGHT carried out that mission by increasing its engagement with key customers in the defense market, finding new opportunities in the industrial and medical fields, and by manufacturing products that lend to the development of cleaner, more efficient electronics. Those efforts resulted in an increase in gross profit of more than 50 percent. The company also added more than 20 employees to their Vancouver workforce.
Fastest Growing 6-10 Years
Applewood Restaurant & Bar
FINALIST
Applewood Restaurant & Bar has a long, outstanding reputation in our community. But for owner Peter
Gallin and his staff, it was moving to a new, bigger location in one of Vancouver’s fastest developing areas that gave the restaurant the boost it needed to become
one of Southwest Washington’s most successful
businesses in 2010.
Gallin calls the move the biggest part of Applewood’s current success. However, location alone doesn’t make a good restaurant. Other aspects Galin said he continually focuses on are quality and service. To that end Applewood increased its total employees from 8 to 32 in 2010.
“We have an A La Carte menu, a great happy hour and one of the best wine lists in Vancouver,” he said.
Going as far as you can to serve your customers and being in the right place is quickly proving to be Applewood’s winning formula for success.
Fastest Growing 6-10 Years
Audigy Group
FINALIST
According to Brandon Dawson, president of Audigy Group, it takes three core elements to build a successful business: vision, commitment and execution. This philosophy has brought the Vancouver-based hearing care management company impressive gross revenue growth over the past year – almost 40 percent – as well
as adding 27 new employees in 2011.
Since Audigy Group was founded in 2004, the
company has established a record of steady, substantial growth. When The Great Recession came along, Dawson said he stuck by his principals. He now believes the
down economy has actually proven to be a positive for his company.
“It allows people to open their mind to alternatives rather than just doing what they’re used to doing,”
he said.
Today, Audigy Group is a widely recognized and respected brand in the hearing care industry.
Fastest Growing
In business longer than 10 Years
MacKay & Sposito
WINNER
MacKay & Sposito didn’t just survive 2010, the company came out of it thriving. During the course of the year, the Vancouver-based engineering, surveying, planning and landscape architecture firm added 29 new hires, returned to profitability and secured the three largest contracts in the company’s history growing their net income by more than 500 percent.
Tim Schauer, president and CEO of MacKay & Sposito, attributed much of his firm’s success in 2010 to the ability to adapt.
“We really recognized that the market was changing for us a little before everyone else,” he said. “We realized a tremendous amount of our work was being funded by energy. So we realigned our market sectors around that source of money in the economy and we found much larger veins of work out there.”
Mackay & Sposito has become a regional firm with offices in Kennewick, and Sherwood and Bend, Oregon.
Fastest Growing
In business longer than 10 Years
On Line Support Inc.
FINALIST
The numbers don’t lie when surveying On Line Support’s success in 2010: gross profit up nearly 20 percent; net income up more than 450 percent.
Eric Olmsted, the Vancouver-based computer network, Internet, phone and technology consulting company’s owner, doesn’t have an elaborate reason why his company experienced such success. Olmsted said it boils down to customer service and hard work.
“We’re technology consultants, not just computer guys and not just phone guys,” said Olmsted. “We have a deep knowledge of many different things and because of that we’re kind of a one-stop shop.”
Olmsted’s company proved to have the right stuff when it comes to keeping up with the rapidly changing world of technology. In 2010, On Line expanded the types of services it offers including telephone systems and data backup.
“Everything continues to change,” he explained. “I now carry an iPad everywhere I go when not too long ago I carried a paper notebook. We are a change agent so we have to change ourselves.”
Fastest Growing
In business longer than 10 Years
Silicon Forest Electronics Inc.
FINALIST
Like many of our BGA finalists, electronics manufacturing service provider Silicon Forest Electronics utilizes a business model that allows the company to be responsive, flexible and nimble. This model allows the company to stay ahead of the changing needs of the customer – a critical point when economies change.
On top of keeping existing clients satisfied, 2010 saw the additions of new customers in the medical and defense industries. While those relationships are still in their infancy, Silicon Forest VP of Business Development Jay Schmidt said his company is feeling good about where they’ll be in the next two to three years.
“Those will grow quite well and keep us on that path,” he said. “That was a small victory… Positioning ourselves so that when the economy does turn around we’ll be in the
best position to capitalize on it.”
Innovator
REDpoint International
WINNER
To say 2010 was a big year for REDpoint International might be the understatement of the year. For in 2010, this Vancouver based medical device company first introduced its innovative StedLine IV Sleeve – a simple, yet groundbreaking device designed to stabilize an intravenous needle when fastened to a patient without the use of tape or glue. For hospital staff, this means a dramatic reduction in complications that arise from preventable dislodgements. For patients, the IV sleeve means added comfort and safety.
Behind the strength of its StedLine product group, REDpoint is projecting revenues of $13.5 million by 2012 in the U.S. alone. Entering the international market could very well double that figure.
If you ask Chuck Nokes, REDpoint’s president & CEO, about his motivations, they have little to do with the numbers. He’ll tell you it’s all about improving the lives of people who are in need.
Innovator
Mini Mozarts’ Preschool LLC
FINALIST
In more ways than one, 2010 was music to the ears of Thomas and Janet Lindsley, owners of Mini Mozarts’ Preschool. The downtown Vancouver preschool & music studio tripled its student enrollment from 2009, saw an increase of community participation in school-related events and acquired a 2,500 square foot gravel lot directly behind the school that will soon be transformed into a multi-use outdoor play area and community garden.
Thomas called the new space a “true community project,” as local businesses partner with the preschool to develop new stimulating and educational activities for the students.
“The sense of community that happens downtown is astronomical,” he said. “Everything that we’ve done has been helped along the way by our fellow businesses with a sense of community pride.”
It’s easy to come to work each day, according to the Lindsleys, especially when you can look into the eyes of a child and see inspiration growing with the power of music.unity pride.”
It’s easy to come to work each day, according to the Lindsleys, especially when you can look into the eyes of a child and see inspiration growing with the power of music.
