The W. P. Carey School of Business honored five Arizona companies for their outstanding entrepreneurship during tough economic times at the Spirit of Enterprise Awards ceremony on Thursday.
The companies honored at the 13th-annual award ceremony were D. P. Electric, Inc., Express Digital Solutions, Answer 1 Communications, Terralever and Caliente Construction, Inc. Ten finalists were honored at the event.
About 800 people were present at the ceremony hosted at the Arizona Biltmore Resort and Spa. After the ceremony, W. P. Carey Dean Robert Mittelstaedt said the school wanted to honor the people that go through the struggle of starting a business.
“People that go through small businesses, almost every one of them has a great struggle that the outside world doesn’t know about,” Mittelstaedt said. “We want to honor people that go through these struggles and do these things, because ultimately it benefits society because it creates jobs.”
ASU graduate Chris Johnson, a managing partner of online marketing agency Terralever, said the last two years have not been an exciting time for businesses, so it was inspiring to hear the stories of people finding success.
“It’s inspirational to hear all these stories, and we’re honored to be included with them,” Johnson said. “It really motivates us to keep going on and keep doing what we’re doing.”
Terralever, which has worked with companies like Adobe, Facebook, Microsoft and Red Bull, received the Emerging Entrepreneur Award.
Johnson said his company’s innovation is what keeps him happy.
“It’s exciting to work in an environment like that with people who really drive that innovation,” Johnson said.
Caliente Construction, Inc. received the Overcoming Adversity Award after Lorraine Bergman, president and CEO, overcame the struggles of taking over the business her husband left after passing away from cancer in 2005.
Bergman succeeded in rebuilding the company after key clients and employees left, and increased growth by choosing not to expand like other companies did.
“We’re continually changing the way we do business, and we are diversifying and expanding the services that we offer our clients,” Bergman said. “If you don’t change, you’re going to achieve the same results [as always].”
Bergman said Caliente Construction, Inc. expects to see a 20 percent increase in revenue for the year and has hired new employees.
Economics and finance junior Matt Kolano was one of many business students who attended the ceremony.
“It was really influential and inspirational,” Kolano said. “As a student going through school at a time such as this, it is really neat to see real-life examples of what [Dean Mittelstaedt] was talking about.”
Kolano said he thinks the awards ceremony has developed from year to year and he’s excited to see where it goes in the future.
“I’m definitely planning on coming in the future and maybe even winning some of the awards one day,” Kolano said.
Reach the reporter at salvador.rodriguez@asu.edu.
