The winners of this year’s Southwest Michigan Regional Chamber Business Recognition Awards have been announced. The chamber’s Sarah Spoonholtz tells WSJM News the annual Business Recognition Breakfast was held Thursday morning with about 200 people on hand in person. Seven awards were given out, including the Economic Impact Award, which went to B&L Information Systems of Bridgman for an expansion project.
“They not only doubled their square footage of their physical space, which started just before COVID, but they used primarily local suppliers for almost all of the expansion,” Spoonholtz said.
The Small Business of the Year is LEO + LAINE, a boutique digital branding and content creation agency. The Best New Business Award went to The Market, a new multi-faced retail and dining establishment in downtown St. Joseph. The Rising Star Award was given to Nick Shelton.
“Nick does double duty. Not only is he the mayor of Niles, and he has done great things since taking over the helm of that position for the last two terms, but he also works for his family’s business, Shelton’s Farm Market, which has been around for 75 years now.”
Spoonholtz says the Pat Moody Award, for those who have given back to the community, was given to Bob Burch of Sturgis Bank, and the Non-Profit Excellence Award has gone to Citizens Mediation Services, which provides people legal aid. Finally, the Ambassador of the Year is Sandi Kopach, the branch manager at the Royalton location of United Federal Credit Union. Spoonholtz says the nominations were all made by their peers.
