Banquet Celebrating
Success of Businesses

The successes, achievements and contributions of businesses in Whatcom County will be celebrated March 28 at Resort Semiahmoo in Blaine.

Business Pulse will present its 2000 awards banquet and a full ballroom of 400 people is expected to honor some of the top business leaders in the county.

Twelve people and businesses have been named as finalists in three categories:

Business Person of the Year: Terri McKee, Industrial Credit Union; Peter Paulsen, Hotel Bellwether and Paulsen Office Building; Terry Smith, Smith Gardens; and Ken Stremler, Farmers Equipment and other businesses.

Small Business of the Year: Barron Heating/Air Conditioning, Cloud Mountain Farm, McEvoy Oil, Snapper Shuler Kenner Insurance and Victoria/San Juan Cruises.

Start-up Business of the Year: Barbo Furniture, FiberCloud and Siscosoft.

Profiles of each nominee follow in this special section of the magazine.

Also, Business Pulse publisher Tony Larson will announce the recipient of the Lifetime Business Achievement Award at the banquet.

Peter Legge, president and chief executive officer of the largest independently owned magazine publishing company in Western Canada, will deliver the keynote address. Legge heads Canada Wide Magazines & Communications, Ltd. in Vancouver, B.C. Its 16 magazines include BC Business, the province’s senior business authority.

Legge also is an internationally acclaimed professional speaker and author of four books: How to Soar with the Eagles, You Can if You Believe You Can, It Begins with a Dream and his latest book, If Only I’d Said That.

Tickets for the evening cost $30 for individuals or $240 for those who want to reserve a table for eight. To purchase tickets, send $30 per ticket to Business Person of the Year, c/o Business Pulse, 1732 Iowa St., Bellingham, WA 98226. Please include a return envelope and allow four days for delivery.

Registration and a networking social hour will start at 6 p.m., followed by the awards program at 7 p.m. and dinner at 8 p.m.

For more information, call Business Pulse at (360) 671-3933, send e-mail to jessica@businesspulse.com or send a fax to (360) 671-3934.

The event was started by Business Pulse in 1986 with the presentation of the Whatcom County Business Person of the Year Award. The goal was to recognize local business professionals who contribute their time, money, energy and expertise to benefit job creation and economic stability, as well as enhance the civic health of our communities.

The process became formalized in 1989 with the help of local sponsors. An awards banquet, attended by more than 200 business leaders, was presented to honor the finalists.

An additional category, Small Business of the Year, was added in 1990 to recognize the accomplishments of companies with 100 or fewer employees.

Also, David Morse of Morse Hardware became the first recipient of the Whatcom County Lifetime Business Achievement Award and had his name engraved on the perpetual trophy.

The Start-up Business of the Year Award was added in 1994 to recognize the efforts of entrepreneurs who risk their time and capital for the benefit of the community. To qualify, companies must have been operating successfully for two years or less as of Dec. 31 of the award year.

Nominations for the awards are sought from business leaders, officials of business-related organizations and Business Pulse readers. After finalists are chosen by the magazine, a selection panel developed independent of the nominating process reviews the finalists to determine the winners.

This year’s event is sponsored by Advanced Telcom Group and co-sponsored by Alcoa Intalco Works, Consolidated Cellular, KeyBank, KGMI NewsPlus 790, Microsoft, Port of Bellingham, Puget Sound Energy, Resort Semiahmoo and Towner Press.