SBW 2014 - Washington DC - Breakfast Awards

Welcome to national small business week 2014. My name is John Spears and I'm the Director of Clusters and Skills Initiatives at the sba. And I'll be your MC for the morning. We have had an incredible week so far. We kicked things off in San Francisco on Monday at Twitter headquarters and then we crisscross the country holding events in Kansas City, New York City, online. Yesterday we were in Boston and today we're here in Washington D.C. to honor some incredible people at this awards breakfast. On behalf of everyone at SBA and all of our sponsors, we are so, so glad you are here today. This morning's program will include an awards presentation for a number of SBA programs followed by remarks by a very special guest from the White House. We're very excited about this. We'll also be recognizing Score's anniversary. This year marks their 50 year anniversary. Congratulations Score. And this is pretty incredible. Since their founding in 1964, SCORE has served more than 10 million entrepreneurs, providing mentoring and counseling and coaching sessions for entrepreneurs and small business owners. SCORE has a network of over 320 chapter locations and 11,000 volunteer mentors dispersed throughout the country. And our partnership with SCORE is incredibly important to achieving our shared goals and we couldn't be happier to celebrate with them today. But to begin our program Brief Video sba We say we are a small agency with a big mission. We have 68 district offices across the country and partners like SCORE, Small Business Development Centers, Women's Business Centers, and Veteran Business Opportunity Centers. And through these local resources, we focus every day on what we call the three C's and a D Access to Capital, Counseling and Contracting and the D stands for Disaster Relief. Together they form SBA's core mission, supporting America's 28 million small businesses and ensuring that they have the tools and the resources that they need to grow and create jobs. The following video will give you a glimpse into our work and how we impact communities across the country. We hope you enjoy.

Hi, I'm Maria Contrera Sweet, administrator of the U.S. small Business Administration. At SBA, we're dedicated to helping small business owners and and those who would like to be a small business owner and those who would like to be a small business owner start, grow and succeed in their business ventures. Every large business started as a small company and we've helped some of the most recognizable brands along their journey to success. FedEx, Apple, Under Armour, AOL, Ben and Jerry's, Dogfish Head, Stonyfield Farm, Toms of Maine, Nike, JetBlue Airways, Chobani, just to name A few for people throughout the United States and all our territories. SBA is here to help at any stage of your business. From writing a business plan to securing working capital to exporting your products overseas. SBA has district offices across the country. These offices help entrepreneurs with what we call three Cs and a D contracting, counseling, capital and disaster assistance. Government contracting can be a critical tool for growing your small business. The government has many categories of contract opportunities set aside exclusively for small businesses. These help level the playing field for women, for veterans and the socially and the economically disadvantaged. SBA also offers participation in matchmaking events and the Mentor Protege Program to help small businesses compete more successfully for federal government contracts. Through our district offices and extensive network of resource partners, SBA offers hands on training, mentoring and expert advice tailored to your needs. Our online Learning center is also available around the clock so you can explore take training courses at your convenience. Many entrepreneurs need financial resources to start or expand a small business and they must combine what they have with other sources of financing. While SBA doesn't loan money directly to small business owners, we can help facilitate a loan with a third party lender such as a bank or credit union by guaranteeing that a certain portion of the loan will be repaid. SBA guaranteed loans can be used for various business needs and including replenishing seasonal inventory, building, expansion or renovation, purchasing equipment and working capital. Finally, when a natural disaster is declared, such as a flood, a wildfire, a hurricane, a tornado or an earthquake, SBA is there to help business owners, homeowners and renters pick up the pieces and get on their feet. We offer low interest long term disaster assistance for loans for physical and economic damage caused by a declared disaster. So are you ready to start or grow your small business? Visit SBA.gov to learn more about how we can help and to find the location of your nearest SBA District office or resource partner. We're the US Small Business Administration, your small business resource.

So let's get right to it. The winner of the Small Business Development center of the Year is Cliff Parietes of the USTA International Trade Center. If I could actually have Carol Thomas come back up on stage and she could be joined by Erin Andrews. Now it's time to announce our score winner. The winner of the score mentor of the year is dennis wright and ed reardon of the orange county score chapter. Women play an important role in this economy and so it's important that we recognize the great work that the Women's Business Centers do. It's time to introduce the Winner of the Women's Business center of the Year S. Briles Johnson of the Women's Business center of North Carolina. Could Barb Carson from our veterans office come up to the stage please?

Good morning.

Veterans serve our country and now they're starting small businesses in record numbers. So with that, it's helpful to get counseling and training from the Veterans Business outreach centers that are all across the country. The winner of the Veterans Business Outreach center of the Year is Brent Peacock of the VBOC of Gulf State College. Congratulations to all our mentors, counselors for the great work that they're doing out there. Let's give them another hand. It's now time to honor the best and the brightest in our government contracting programs. Could I have Cal Jenkins from our government contracting Business Development office join us on stage, please? So let's get right to it. The National 8A graduate of the year is Nanu Nobis of Nobis Engineering. And I think we saw Nanu last night, but I think he was having some trouble getting here this morning. So we'll accept it in his honor. You'll have to take a picture with yourself, Cal. The winner of our Eisenhower Award this year goes to Charles Eaton of Hensel Phelps Construction. The winner of the prime contractor of the year is Denise Garcia Van Weingart of Indigo it. And the winner of our subcontractor of the year is patrick cobler of vtech engineering. Those are some great contractors. Now it's time to honor the best small business investment company. These funds of funds invest in small businesses all across the country to help startup grow and succeed. Could I have Dave Hambrick from the Office of Investment Innovation join us on stage please? The winner of the sbic of the year is doug england and stuart cole of the riverside company. Next up is the Phoenix Awards. These awards recognize the courageous and inspiring work of our public officials, our volunteers and our small business owners who have stood up in the face of disaster and natural disasters. With that, I would like to welcome our assistant Administrator for Disaster assistance, James Rivera to the stage. On May 20, 2013, a tornado with 200 mile an hour winds to destroyed entire neighborhoods of Moore, Oklahoma. Deidre Ebre, the Director of Economic Development and Marketing for the city became a central figure during the aftermath. She provided answers, support and most importantly, comfort to those who needed it. Our 2014 Phoenix Award to a public official goes to Deidre Ibre of Moore, Oklahoma.

I had to give a hug. We hug in Oklahoma. Guys, it is so great to be here today and after what we witnessed A year ago. It is great to be anywhere, actually. And what a timely award this is. We are right in the middle of our planning for our one year anniversary. So as he said, May 20th of last year was our terrible storm and it was the worst day of my life. I can honestly say that we had so many challenges and yet so many people came to assist and the SBA was right there and I was a horrible host. I will tell you. I was awful. Who could come in from the outside and help my small businesses like I could, but actually I could offer them nothing other than just a shoulder to cry on and a hug and empathy. And the SBA was there and Mark Randall came and he was unflappable. He stayed by my side and he stayed by our small businesses side the entire time. And he had the true resources that our businesses needed. Again, it was such a joy to be able to work with the federal government in that way. And I encourage you all to watch the news this coming weekend. And I hope that you're as proud of our recovery as I am because it is monumental and it took so many people and it took you all. And thank you for your thoughts and your prayers and your love that you sent our way. We heard every single one of them and they matter and they still matter. So thank you all so much. It's truly an honor. And I'll leave right after this and we'll get back to the the one year anniversary and again, we are more strong. Thank you all so much.

After Hurricane Sandy devastated parts of the Tri state area of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, we all know that we needed a mama in a tough time. Gianna Serbon Tioli, known as Mama, sprung into action. She started cooking meals, providing care packages for people who suffered devastating losses. Meanwhile, her business was severely impacted, but she stepped up and helped others. Our 2014 Phoenix Award for outstanding volunteerism goes to Gianna Sir Bone Tioli.

Thank you so much. I'm humbled and I'm honored. But we are builders, we are survivors, we are entrepreneurs. I look at every one of us and I believe that every one of us can make a change. The economy, it's time for us to build. I didn't look at it as a devastation. I looked at it as a time of need. We are in need to help each other and rebuild. This is our time where we are going to make a major change in society. I want to thank the SBA that came out at the moment that we really needed them. Most of the businesses in the area, everyone Forgot about Long Island City because it's like a little, you know, hole in the wall in New York. But they came out. They. I gave them my restaurant, and they did so much for our local businesses. And I want to thank them again from the bottom of my heart. I thank all of you. Thank you.

You know, Hurricane Sandy affected so many people. Lars Arkerland was no different. His coffee shops were damaged and flooded. Lars applied for and received an SBA disaster assistance loan and got right down to work. He started the rebuilding process, and now his coffee cafes are back, and he's opened a new chocolate factory that was scheduled to be open before the disaster in Tribeca in downtown Manhattan. In the process, Lars has also added 12 new employees. Our 2014 Phoenix Award for outstanding small business is. Lars Arkerlund.

Congratulations. Thank you so much. Wow. I'm so humbled and honored just to share the stage here with all of you guys. I came to New York from Sweden eight years ago. That's why I have this weird accent and to fulfill my dreams. And I started to dream about this when I saw Tom cruise in cocktail. 1989, I went to chef school. And 2001, I visited New York and. And I completely fell in love. This is my home. It took about 6, 5 years to save up money to open up my first coffee store on 58th Street. The day we opened up, I had $247 left in my pocket. But 17 hours a day, seven days a week for two years do the trick. We open up our second location, the third location, and the fourth location just grown organically. When Sandy hit us, I really thought it was the end. We pay tons of money like everybody else in insurance, but we did receive nothing. Of course, the bank almost laughed at us, and we turned to sba, and I can honestly say it's saved not only my life, but so many employees. For two months, we took out the last of the cash we had just to provide for our staff. That was the most important thing. I called up all my landlords and vendors that you have to hold off. So you stick with me, and I will be faithful to you for the rest of my career. And each and every one did that. It took about two months to receive the funds. And about that time, I had bought everything. Paid utility bills on the American Express card. So they were very happy that I received a fund. We had four stores at that time. When Sunday hit and I was so amazed what SBA did for us, I was almost crying. When I was frustrated, I was in panic, and I called Them maybe three, four times a day for two months. And everybody just calmed me down and say everything's going to be okay. Not only did we open up and recover, not only did we have the most beautiful chocolate factory in Tribeca, we don't only have these Behold Foods Dinner Luka hotels, we did not only open up a six store two months ago and we not only built five stores. Now at the same time, 1st of August, we're going to open up our 13th store. And this is only because of sba, that would never even be remotely close to it. So if somebody asks, does SBA do a good job, give them my phone number. When the sand hit, we were about 30 employees. I think first week in June, we will exceed 100 employees. My thought is, I never seen anybody come so close in a disaster. And I was so humble. Everybody, people I didn't even know find out about my phone number, my email. And I think you experienced this as well. And everybody just says, how can I help? What can I do for you to recover and what can I do? As a small business, we have cancel every vendor that doesn't manufacture in United States. And we use 5,000 paper cups each and every day. And we call up our vendors and the factory that doesn't produce it in locally or in the United States, we can sell and find the one that did that. And we took to the next stance. How about the chocolate boxes? How about the paper boxes? How about gift bags? What happened with that? At my vendor that's been a business with for many years, they was forced because now we have so many stores. They start to manufacture here locally, in Massachusetts, Long island, they have customer and they want to be, they want to be a part of this too. I want to have this US made bag also. So it was a domino effect coming more and more. So I took in my Swedish Volvo car, so now I drive my Chrysler instead. And there's much more work to do. But this is just a small contribution, what we want to do. And of course I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for my wife. Behind every handsome, beautiful man, it's a strong woman as well. So thank you so much. And our goal, no bragging, but we signed. There's only one corner store in the whole World Trade Center. They say it is most attractive retail store on the planet. They didn't want to do business with anybody else than us. So we signed that contract last year. So we're going to open up. And that is such an honor to be be part of that with a virtual center site and it's going to open up first March and we're going to aim for that's going to be the 20th store. So from four stores down to one after Sunday. And now we're almost short of 10 months to open up our 20 store. So thank you so much. I'm humble. Thank you.

Well, those are some really inspiring stories. We want to take a moment before we move on to the next thing if you're wanting to know more about sba, as some of these businesses and some of these SCORE chapters and some of these business development centers folks already know about the good work we do. But if you're looking for more information for sba, make sure you sign up for our newsletter. Go to SBA.gov, you'll be prompted to put in your email address. Follow our newsletter Over a million people already get it each week and it's full of tips, tools and trainings to help your small businesses grow. I encourage you also to sign up for our Twitter feed as well, which has a lot of good information, links to our blogs and other content on our site and including how to build and use a business plan. So with that, I would like to introduce Tameka Montgomery back to the stage, who is our Associate Administrator for Entrepreneurial Development. And Tameka will present a special award.

Well, happy National Small Business Week and a special congratulations to all of our winners. Congratulations. As Fred mentioned, my name is Tameka Montgomery and I'm the SBA's Associate Administrator for the Office of Entrepreneurial Development, which means part of my role is working with school, SCORE and our entire network of counseling partners. This year marks 50 years since Score opened their doors in 1964. Each and every day, Score provides vital services to small business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs, and we'd like to take this opportunity to celebrate their organization. SCORE's 11,000 volunteer mentors welcomes folks who want to own their own company or need advice on how they can grow the companies they have. Together, SCORE helps create successful small businesses and thriving communities, mentoring over 10 million entrepreneurs since its inception. 10 million entrepreneurs? That's amazing. Last year alone, Score mentored nearly 125,000 aspiring business owners. Their efforts helped start over 38,000 businesses, create over 67,000 jobs, and increase profits for 40,000 clients. Score's impact is is felt in businesses in every corner of our country. Businesses such as Corsetti's in Portland, Maine. Chris and Chris Di Sarchi founded Corsetti's Restaurant in 1974 with the help of their local SCORE chapter. They've grown in recent years from a breakfast, lunch and dinner restaurant to today, serving a full menu and and operating an award winning bakery and ice cream shop. I'm excited to take this opportunity to celebrate score's work over the past half century. SCORE plays a vital role in helping us accomplish our mission here at sba and we value their collaboration. Now, I'd like you to direct your attention to the video screens for a short video marking this occasion.

Hello, I'm SBA administrator Maria Contrera. Sweet. I want to take this opportunity to congratulate Score on its 50th anniversary. That's half a century of volunteer mentors donating their time, knowledge and passion to helping over 10 million of America's small businesses start and grow. On behalf of the entire staff of the U.S. small Business Administration, I would like to say how proud we are to support SCORE as part of our resource partner network that counsels and trains entrepreneurs across the country. I'd also like to thank the hundreds of thousands of SCORE mentors over the years that have helped to achieve this incredible milestone. As a SCORE mentor, your contributions have assisted so many in following their dreams and making the American economy the best in the world. I wanted to start a business because when I retired, I was looking for something to do. I couldn't sing, I couldn't dance, and I can't paint. I established this business to take seniors on tours and help them set their events. I came over to score. I was assigned a mentor. My mentor is Kimberly Lewis. She gave me her name, phone number, email, and offered any assistance that I may need at any time. One of the major hurdles was all of the legal work that you have to have done. And you just need to let the government know that you are a real person and a thriving business. And that's what she's helped me to do.

SCORE has helped over 10 million companies in the last 50 years.

It's a huge resource to be able to just go in and talk to.

Somebody that was an expert in that industry and have their mentorship. They provide help not only from the traditional sense of bookkeeping, writing a business plan, but now they also help them.

With how to grow a high tech company.

A resource partner is an organization that we work with, that work directly with the businesses, so they provide workshops or technical assistance so that we're able to reach more small businesses. I refer SBA clients to their local school office and also to the national website when they're in the pre business phase, when they're Kind of still trying to figure out exactly what kind of business they want to do and where they want to take it.

SCORE stood for Service Corps of Retired Executives. But we've eliminated that because it gives the impression that all of our members are retired and maybe even out of touch.

Our motto now is for the life.

Of your business, whatever that entails, to make your business better. People that have retired are often doing a lot of other things. They are actually still working. And we have a lot of young, active people volunteering to help small businesses. We are very much engaged.

I think what we try to do here at our office is to try.

To customize, if you will, that match between the client and the SCORE mentor.

It positions that business owner on a road to success.

A SCORE mentor comes in all sizes and shapes. We are people who have been in business, people that really want to give back to their community and usually have lots of great business experience. People that, in fact, have started small businesses, maybe even people that have run large corporate organizations, are all going to be successful mentors. And we've learned a lot. We've made a lot of mistakes. The goal now is to pass that information on to new businesses, and we.

Hope to let them avoid mistakes that.

We'Ve made in our careers.

Score's mission is building small businesses across.

America one at a time. We help entrepreneurs get started. We help small businesses take their business to another level.

And we're very committed to that mission.

We'd been in the brewing business about 20 years when we moved to Anaheim, and we realized that there was not a tavern or a gathering spot.

And so we decided to open our own brewery.

The first challenge that we faced when we opened the business was trying to communicate our brewers plan with other people.

So I did research on the Small Business Administration, and then I also found.

The SCORE website and set up an appointment. And just talking face to face with the mentor helped me really put together a solid financials in order to present to the bank.

And we were approved the very first time. That was the reason I actually went to school, to actually help me out the balance myself.

Going to the marketing meetings, figuring out.

The fabrics, and 24 hours was not enough. The highlight of my experience working with small businesses is just the fact that I get to meet some amazing people with unbelievable ideas. Terry was my SCORE mentor. She is my older sister. We would meet often, usually every two weeks, discuss what she had planned and how could we make a difference. Even my CPA at the time thought I was crazy. We had fabulous people with financial backgrounds. One that I knew well. So I introduced them, and away she went with that person. I always called us the unconscious incompetent. I didn't know what I didn't know and kind of had to learn along the way from people who did know.

Well, here we're filming Dog is Good.

A great personal story here. SCORE helped our business in a number of ways, really honing what our brand message was.

When we met with our SCORE mentor, we were discussing where the brand was going, and he began to ask a lot of the right questions. What is our message going to be? And once we were able to grasp what our message was, we knew we kind of. We had it.

We had taken the right fork in.

The road and we were on our way.

Because this is why we joined score.

You could just smile and say, gee.

I really helped them there. Because none of us are paid.

We totally volunteer our time. We only have the reward of seeing.

The people we help succeed themselves.

Thanks, score. What a wonderful 50 years. Thank you everyone who helped me.

I'd like to congratulate score on 50 years of service.

For without them, I don't think we would be exactly where we are today.

Thank you for 50 years of service.

Of the SCORE organization.

And I am so happy to have found them for us old people like me that won a second career.

Thank you.

So again, congratulations to score on its 50th anniversary. Here's to another 50 years of helping small businesses start and grow. Thank you.

And now I would like to invite chairman of score's board, Jerry Glynn and President and CEO Ken Yancy of SCORE to come up to the stage. And if Jack Bianco, Deputy Director of the Office of Entrepreneurship, is here, I'd like him to join us as well.

That.

Thank you, Tameka. And congratulations to all of this morning's winners. I am very excited about the next part of our program. And it is my pleasure to introduce a special guest for this morning. Chief of Staff to First Lady Michelle Obama and Executive Director of the White House council on girls, Ms. Tina Chen. In her role as Chief of Staff to The First Lady, Ms. Chen serves as a key advisor to Michelle Obama. The First Lady's major priority initiatives have included. Let's Move. A campaign to bring together community leaders, doctors, nurses, moms and dads in a nationwide effort to tackle the challenge of childhood obesity. And Joining Forces, a nationwide initiative to give our service members and their families opportunities and support that they have earned and to raise awareness of military families unique needs as it pertains to education and Wellness. Prior to joining the First Lady's team in 2011, Ms. Chen was the director of the White House Office of Public Engagement. She was previously a partner at a corporate litigation firm in Chicago, and in that capacity, she represented public agencies and state and federal class actions. Ms. Chen is the recipient of many awards, including the Leadership Award from the Women's Bar association of Illinois in 1999, the women of Achievement Award from the Anti Defamation League in 1996, and the Chicago Lawyer Person of the year award in 1994. This morning, Ms. Chen has joined us to talk about the work that the first lady is doing for our nation's veterans, including veteran entrepreneurs and in her own work as the director, the executive director of the White House Council on Women and Girls. Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming Ms. Tina Chen to the stage.

Well, good morning. I am just delighted to be here and thank you, John, for that introduction. It is just my honor to be here as you close out National Small Business Week. I had a meeting with your wonderful new SBA administrator, Maria Contrera Sweet last week, and she sort of said, well, we're busy. We got a busy week next week because it's National Small Business Week. And I said, well, I have to be there. I want to be there. I have to be there because. And as I came in to listen to these stories, because I love hearing small business stories. I mean, really, the stories of what you all are doing and the successes that you have are some of the most exciting to hear on what is really happening out there on the ground and making it happen. And I want to congratulate everyone at the sba, I mean, really, those hard working men and women across the country at the SBA who are making this all happen. And especially also to congratulations to all of the award winners, to all of you who are small businesses who are also making it happen, who are employing people, who are doing innovations, who are really expanding our economy. So on behalf of both my bosses, the President and the First Lady, I want to convey their greetings to all of you, their thanks to all of you, and their congratulations. We really know, and the President says this a lot. I mean, small businesses truly are the economic engine of growth. You are 28 million firms strong across the country. You're employing 60 million Americans. That's 40% of our private sector workforce. You've been through hard times with us back in 2009. You remember as well as many of us who were in the White House at the time, remember how hard things were then, how bleak it looked, looked a lot like the weather outside today. And every day, which was, you know, you had lost, you know, two thirds of job losses. New business formation had fallen by 17%. And the president, though, took that to heart. And an important part of our Recovery act and an important part of how our economy has healed over the last five years has been the rebounding of small business. As part of the Recovery act, you know, the President strengthened the lending programs for the SBA. He signed the Small Business Jobs act of 2010, which was, you know, one of the most significant pieces of small business legislation in the last decade. And you have now come back and you are steadily, once again accounting for two out of three every new job, new jobs that are created in this country every month. As we look at those new job numbers, that's a real testament again to what you are all doing and the strength that you are showing. And I especially want to thank you, as John said, on behalf of the first lady for what you all are doing. For our veterans, Joining forces is a key program and initiative of our East Wing First Lady's office because as the first lady has said many times, she and I are both not from military families. And so it is over the course of this journey to Washington where both of us have learned and met with veterans and their families and military and active duty service members and really understood the strength and the sacrifice that these families are making every day on behalf of us, especially as there are 99% of us who are like me and the first lady, who are not from military families. And it is really the 1% that has spent the last decade at war, more, more than a decade to serve and protect all of us. And we owe, we have a lifetime of enduring commitment that we owe to all of them when they return home. And small business has been a big part of that. The International Franchise association has made a commitment to us through joining forces for their franchisees to be hiring veterans. We have the Veterans Boots to Business program here at the Small Business Administration that is helping veteran owned businesses get started and expand. And we especially know that veteran owned businesses hire other veterans. And if you haven't hired a veteran, do that. You will find veterans are some of our best, most skilled, most talented workers. They are leaders, they are committed to service. And it has been a great part of what we've been able to do together with the private sector. And that is to, over the course of the last two and a half years, you know, we have over, you know, half a million new jobs for veterans and military families that companies have committed to, and we've had actual hires into those jobs and we are committed to keeping to do that in the First Lady's office. And then, as John said, my other job in the White House is to be the Executive Director of the White House Council on Women and Girls. And a key part of the President's commitment has been to expand the opportunities for our women owned businesses. As I've traveled across around the world and sat in a lot of these multilateral economics forums that we have, I will say that the thing that surprises so many other countries, and I've had really fascinating conversations with ministers of finance and women's ministers from other countries, is the sba. When we tell the story about what the SBA can do for women owned businesses, that to them is almost a revelation on what government can do to help and foster and grow entrepreneurship and to support folks like women owned businesses to get their feet on the ground, to go where they can't get loans through traditional banks and to expand those businesses. And it's something that we're starting to replicate around the world based on your example. And so between January 2009 and December 2013, SBA lending expanded, making $17.2 billion available to over 57,000 women owned businesses. In 2013 alone, the SBA made 3.8 billion in capital available to women, which was a 31% increase in the last five years across all three portfolios. And we, you know, after, you know, several, several decades of trying to get the women owned small business federal contracting rule out, we were able to do that and to really open the doors of federal contracting to women owned businesses. Now on my last point, what we also know, what we're spending a lot of time on at the White House, is trying to make sure that our workplaces for women really match the changing nature of our labor force. And I think you all see that. I see a lot of heads nodding. Among all others women owned businesses, small business owners see that up close and firsthand. Because what we need to do is really build 21st century workplaces that match what our 21st century workforce looks like. Our workforce is now almost half women. 75% of women ages 25 to 54 are now working. Two thirds of our children live in a household where all the adults are working. They're either in a household with two adults where both mom and dad are working, or they are in a single headed household where mom or dad is working. So this is a really different labor force that we're confronting now. And these changes are only going to grow over the next 10 years. So the companies and the businesses that want to succeed are going to have workplaces that match the needs of these workers and allow them to thrive, allow them to continue their careers, allow them to balance the demands of work and home in a way that works for them and works for their employer as well. And the President knows how important this is. That's why he addressed these issues in the State of the Union and that's why he has announced we are holding the first ever White House Summit on working families on June 23rd here in Washington, D.C. thank you. What we're going to do, we're going around the country making the case that this is something that is good for business. You will have a workforce that is more focused on their work when they're there and more productive. They're not coming to work when they're sick. They will be able to balance those needs and make sure that you have all the skills. You don't have to train someone and then only to have them lead just when they get to their most productive, because now they've got a kid at home and they need to balance that. And you will have workers who are loyal to you because you have been loyal to them. Now, I know for small businesses, on the one hand, a lot of you maybe started your small business because I hear from a lot of women who have gone out to start their own small business to get that flexibility. That's one of the things they were looking for and were able to achieve. But I also know that it's hard. You know, you don't have the margins, you know, you don't have a lot of employees. If one third of your workforce all of a sudden gets pregnant at the same time and they're all going out on maternity or paternity leave, that's not that easy when you're a small business to cover that. If everybody gets the flu at the same time, that's not easy to cover. But you also small business are showing that it can get done. So at the State of the Union, the Mascondas family was there in the box. They are from Nicholas & Company, which is a third generation food service company. And throughout their entire family owned business, when they have done that, they have built a culture of mutual respect and care among its employees. They've been emphasizing work life balance and benefits like maternity, paternity leave, bereavement and sick leave. So they have a workforce that's more productive and expanding. And just two weeks Ago, when we had a Chicago regional meeting for the Workplace, our Working Family Summit, I met Theresa Ging. She runs Sugar Bliss Cake Boutique in Chicago, a small business that she has started. And she's made a point of making sure that her workers have sick leave, have maternity leave because she feels her businesses and her employees are much better off when they do that, as she knows. And she said her frontline employees in her store are the face of her company and she needs to invest in them. And if she invests in them, they she will get a return on that investment. So we want to keep working through practical solutions and show best practices and help all of you who want to do this know how to do it. So that's what the Working Families Summit is all about. You can find out more about it at workingfamilies.org, so all one word.org you can sign up if you want to nominate yourself for an invitation. We don't have a lot of seats, but we want to get people from across the country. So tell it. Tell us your story as well, what you're doing on Working Families. And if you're from Boston or San Francisco, we will have regional sessions later on this month. Next week, May 19th in Boston and May 27th in San Francisco. So you can register for those onworkingfamilies.org and we really hope you will be part of this ongoing conversation. This is a national imperative and the president feels this strongly. You have all only to look at the example in Japan. I sometimes say Japan is actually expanding maternity leave and paternity leave and childcare because they know, they know that they need to have women in their workforce in order for their economy to grow. And that's the global competitiveness we are facing in this country. Small business has been the key to our economic success. You can be the key to this part of our growth as we move into the next decade of the 21st century. And we want to work with you and congratulate you on everything you've done. So thank you for having me here. It is really, as I said, always great to be with small business owners. So congratulations and thank.

You. Thank you, Tina. And please convey our gratitude to all the work that the first lady is doing on behalf of our country. So this concludes this morning's awards breakfast. We now have exciting panels on access to capital, which will be held here in this room, as well as Business counseling, which is in the Vista Room, CB and A just out in the back. We also have plenty of breakfast burritos left, so if you're hungry or need something to drink, please visit the food area over here before stopping at your next event. Business matchmaking will also begin now, and so if you've already signed up, please review your schedule for location and times. Thank you so much. This was a great morning and congratulations to all the.

Winners.