Rebecca Evans named top business counselor in Missouri

Sept. 28, 2012 - PRLog -- University of Missouri
Business Development Program
W1025 Lafferre Hall
MU College of Engineering
Columbia, MO  65211
573/882-1353
paulsellm@Missouri.edu

Photo, left to right: Chris Bouchard, state director, Small Business and Technology Development Center (SBTDC), Columbia, Mo., Larry Lee, director, Northwest Missouri State University SBTDC, St. Joseph, Mo., and Rebecca Evans, Northwest Missouri State University SBTDC

Evans named top Missouri business counselor

Rebecca Evans, director of the Northwest Missouri State University Small Business and Technology Development Center (SBTDC) in St. Joseph, has been named the top counselor in the state by the national Association of Small Business Development Centers, based near Washington, D.C.

The State Star Award was made at the Association of Small Business Development Centers national convention in New Orleans in late September with Chris Bouchard, state director, and Larry Lee, director of the Northwest Missouri State University SBTDC, in attendance.
"Rebecca is one of our very best counselors and brightest stars,” said Bouchard. “She has directly and materially contributed to the economic health of northwest Missouri, and small businesses consistently praise her for her business savvy and willingness to go the extra mile. So I am not surprised she won this prestigious award.”

The State Star Award is given annually to a small business and development employee in Missouri who shows a strong commitment to small business and makes significant contributions to his or her region.

In the last fiscal year, Evans helped create 69 new jobs and nine new businesses in the St. Joseph area, according to the SBTDC. She also increased sales of local small businesses by $7.2 million.

Evans has served in the St. Joseph SBTDC for five years and is a board member of the St. Joseph Chamber of Commerce.

The Northwest SBTDC is the only center in the state where all of its employees are recipients of the State Star Award. Lee received the award in 2004 and Steve Holt, director of the Northwest SBTDC in Chillicothe, received the award in 2007.

To learn more about MO SBTDC, go to http://www.missouribusiness.net; about the  Northwest SBTDC, go to http://www.nwmissouri.edu/services/sbtdc/index.htm.