Doug Fieldhouse of Vesta, ClearEdge Power, ID Experts, nLIGHTand BRING Recycling Are Selected as this Year’s Award Winners
Sept. 18, 2008,Portland, Ore. — The Oregon EntrepreneursNetwork (OEN) announcedthe winners of the 2008 OEN Tom Holce Awards for Entrepreneurshipduring its 15th annual awards ceremony on September 18, 2008. Theceremony, held at the Oregon Convention Center, honored finalistsin four categories: Entrepreneurship Award for IndividualAchievement; Development Stage Company of the year; Working capitalStage Company of the year; and the Growth Stage Company of the year.
Doug Fieldhouse of Vesta received the 2008 Entrepreneurship Award for IndividualAchievement. “Dougexemplifies the entrepreneurial spirit that we celebrate with theseawards,” said Bob Sternberg, judging chair for thisyear’s awards. “He thinks big and looks for ways tomake a tremendous impact, and he has the ability to execute onthose ideas in ways that scale up effectively. His success withVesta is just one example of his ability to change and jump intonew opportunities and persistently grow the business overtime.” In addition, he has a long history of mentoring andcoaching young entrepreneurs.
In the Development category, ClearEdgePower of Portland,Oregon is this year’s winner. ClearEdge Poweris a pioneer and provider of ultra-clean and efficient on-siteenergy generation systems. They have a substantial marketopportunity and are professionallymanaged, well funded and are making substantial progress withproduct development and early adoption customers.
ID Experts of Beaverton is the winner in the Working Capital Category. ID Expertsprovides identity theft protection services for individuals,corporations and the public sector. They havesuccessfully adapted to the changing needs of the market whenrequired. Their painstaking and labor intensive process to restorecustomers’ identities will make it difficult for othercompanies to compete successfully against them in this marketplace.Due to these efforts, they have a 100 percent success raterestoring identities.
The winner of the Growth Category is nLIGHT Corporationof Vancouver,Washington.
nLIGHTdevelops andmanufactures photonics modules for industrial, defense, and medicalapplications. The company had the vision tointelligently re-invent itself in the early stages of the collapseof the telecom bubble and the temerity to implement that newstrategy under extremely difficult circumstances. It applied itsskills and ingenuity in the marketplace to create, shepherd andgrow a novel mentoring program (MAPS—Mentoring for AdvancedProgram for Students) that is having a real impact on localeducation and the future of this community.
BRING Recycling is this year’s winner of the Non-profit Award. BRING Recyclingcollects and resells low-cost used building materials as well asprovides deconstruction and recycling services. Revenues generatedfund conservation and education programs about the best way toreuse and recycle. BRING Recycling was selected for itsorganizational and entrepreneurial strengths overall, and how theorganization was able to change course to meet changing demands inthe community. BRING Recycling received a $5,000 award from theMeyer Memorial Trust at the Awards Ceremony.
“Therecipients of this year’s awards have been successful becauseof their determination, independent thinking, and their ability tochange direction and chart their own course.” said LindaWeston, executive director and president of OEN. “From cleanpower to identity protection, these Oregon and Southwest Washingtoncompanies are making innovative contributions that make adifference in our communities and beyond.”
The winners werechosen from 14 finalists by the OEN award judging committee,chaired by Bob Sternberg. Companies from throughout Oregon andSouthwest Washington were nominated for the Awards, and werenarrowed to the 14 finalists after hundreds of hours of duediligence, including site visits and face-to-face interviews. Acomprehensive list of winners and finalists follows this release.
List of Nominees and winners
IndividualCategory
Doug Fieldhouse, Vesta- Winner
Ray King,AboutUs.org
Susan SokolBlosser, Sokol Blosser
Working CapitalCategory
ID Experts- Winner
Beaverton, OR
Pop Art, Inc.
Portland, Oregon
PV Powered
Bend, Oregon
Growth Category
nLIGHT Corporation- Winner
Vancouver, WA
HemCon Medical Technologies, Inc.
Portland, Oregon
Timbercon
Lake Oswego, WA
DevelopmentCategory
ClearEdge Power- Winner
Portland, Oregon
AboutUs, Inc.
Portland, Oregon
Jama Software
Portland, Oregon
Plas2Fuel Corporation
Chris Ulum
Kelso, WA
About OEN
Founded in 1991,the Oregon Entrepreneurs Network is a not-for-profit corporationdedicated to providing opportunities for Oregon entrepreneurs andimproving the business climate for emerging, growth-orientedcompanies statewide. The organization has members throughout Oregonand southwest Washington. For more information about the OEN, visitits website at www.oen.org.
For more information, press only:
Jessica Foote
OnPR
503-802-4406
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