Kirkwood SBDC director saluted for diligence in aiding business owners after Flood of 2008
(AMES, Iowa)— Alan D. Beach, regional director of the Kirkwood Community College Small Business Development Center, was presented with the Iowa Small Business Development Center (SBDC) Service Excellence and Innovation Award from the U. S. Small Business Administration (SBA) at the SMART Economic Development Conference held on May 6, 2010 in Des Moines.
The award, which honors a Small Business Development Center Service Center and its personnel for excellence in providing value to small businesses and advancing program delivery and management through innovation, was presented to Beach by Des Moines SBA District Director Joe Folsom.
Beach was nominated by Iowa SBDC State Director Jim Heckmann. Heckmann says, “I nominated Al especially because of the outstanding work he and his center did these past two years in helping hundreds of businesses in his region recover from the 2008 natural disasters and the resulting economic injury in the region.”
Beach first started counseling for the Kirkwood SBDC in 2006. In March 2008 he was named the center’s Regional Director and had barely settled into the job when the Floods of 2008 hit. The Cedar Rapids metro area, which is part of the Kirkwood SBDC’s service area, was the hardest hit in the state.
Beach and his staff worked diligently to help small businesses, assisting 230 business flood victims. The 2009 economic downturn added to the challenges facing Iowa’s small businesses. The Kirkwood SBDC provided counseling and assistance to other businesses in the region, while still continuing to assist businesses recovering from the floods.
In fiscal years 2008 and 2009 the Kirkwood SBDC provided over 1,000 hours of counseling to 426 clients, with Beach assisting 289 clients with 510 hours of counseling. In addition, his SBDC responded to nearly 1,500 requests for information. Programs and procedures implemented by the Kirkwood SBDC during this time have been used as the model for other SBDCs nationwide in regards to disaster response.
Beach’s state nomination package has been sent on to be considered for the SBA’s regional and national awards. Those winners will be announced during National Small Business Week, which is May 23-29, 2010.
Iowa’s Small Business Development Centers are an outreach unit of Iowa State University’s College of Business. Partially funded by the U. S. Small Business Administration and the State of Iowa, the organization has 15 regional assistance centers located strategically across the state. Since program inception in 1981, the program has helped hundreds of thousands of Iowa businesses and entrepreneurs through individual, professional counseling and affordable training.
For more information on SBDC programs or services, call (515) 294-2030 or visit www.iowasbdc.org.