SBA to Celebrate Small Business Week May 8th with Annual Conference and Awards Luncheon

By Harry Menta
SBA Celebrates Small Business Week with May 8th  
Awards Luncheon and Program on Doing Business with the Govt.
MONROE, NJ—The U.S. Small Business Administration’s New Jersey District Office will celebrate National Small Business Week on Friday, May 8th with its Annual Small Business Week Awards Luncheon.
This year’s luncheon is sponsored by the New Jersey State Chamber of Commerce and will be held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Monroe, New Jersey.  The SBA will honor seven New Jerseyans for their outstanding achievements as business owners and advocates of small business issues.
The agency will recognize Ravi Gupta, president of Sovereign Consulting Inc. of Robbinsville  as the 2009 New Jersey Small Business Person of the YearAmy Lewis, assistant vice president, TD Bank of  Lodi as SBA’s  2009 Financial Services Champion of the YearErnestine Watson, assistant vice president of  supplier diversity for University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey of Newark as SBA’s 2009 Minority Small Business Champion of the YearGerald Wright, CEO of UTRS, Inc. of Cherry Hill as SBA’s 2009 Regional Prime Contractor of  the YearLorraine Allen, regional director of New Jersey Small Business Development Center at The College of New Jersey of Ewing as the SBA’s 2009 Small Business Development Center Service Excellent Innovation CenterSuzanne M. Cerra, Esq. for Nukk-Freeman & Cerra, PC of Short Hills as SBA’s 2009 Women in Business Champion of the YearPenni Nafus, director the Women’s Business Center of Chatham as SBA’s 2009 NJ winner of the Women’s Business Center of Excellence Award.
This year’s morning program will feature How to Secure State and Federal Government Contracts for your Business.  Henry Savelli, president of Henry Savelli & Associates and Michelle Heremlee, government consultant for BH SKY Associates will lead discussions on both topics.
Also participating in the conference is Dolcey Chaplin, Esq., director, NJIT Defense Procurement Center; Richard Zilg, assistant district director for SBA’s 8(a) Business Development: and Debbie Gideon, manager, NJ Department of Transit’s Office of Supplier Diversity.  The speakers will discuss opportunities available through the State of New Jersey and how to tap into the federal prime contracting markets and how to obtain subcontracts from large business prime contractors who do business with the federal government.  Special small business certifications that can give small business owners an advantage over their competition will also be discussed.
The government contracting portion of the program is scheduled from 9:30 a.m. – 12 Noon.  The Small Business Week Awards Luncheon will take place from 12 Noon to 2:00 p.m.  SBA’s New Jersey District Director, James A. Kocsi will be the luncheon keynote speaker and will be discussing the key provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and how small businesses can access these programs. 
There is a $70 fee to attend both the conference and SBA Awards Luncheon; $60 if you are a member of the Chamber of Commerce.  The fee for just attending the awards luncheon is $55.  For registration information on this event, contact Carol Gabel of the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce at 609-989-7888 or register online at  https://www.njchamber.com/events/procurement%20seninar%20sba%20luncheon%2008.asp.