Nebraska Business Development Center hosted a luncheon on May 24, 2011 for statewide small business award winners at the State Capitol in Lincoln.  Special guests included Nebraska State Senators;  Louis Pol, Dean of the College of Business Administration at UNO, Kathleen Piper, Assistant District Director for the Small Business Administration, and Ron Withem, Associate Vice President and Director of Governmental Relations, University of Nebraska.

Dr. Robert Bernier, Director of the Nebraska Business Development, announced that this spring, NBDC received notification that it received accreditation as a Small Business and Technology Center.  The accreditation by the Association of Small Business Development Centers is recognized by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA).  It designates a Small Business Development Center program as qualified to assist entrepreneurial companies in commercializing technologies.

The Small Business Administration funds 63 Small Business Development Center programs.  NBDC is the Small Business Development Center for Nebraska.  Only seven Small Business Development Centers have the Small Business and Technology Development Center accreditation.

Several small businesses who have achieved distinction were honored at the luncheon, which included Signal 88 Franchise Group of Omaha, who won the award for NBDC Government Contractor of the Year.   The award was presented by Dr. Robert Bernier, State Director for Nebraska Business Development Center, and Andy Alexander, Manager of the PTAC Program for NBDC.

For more information the Nebraska Business Development Center (NBDC), please contact Joni Craighead at (402) 554-4085 or jcraighead@unomaha.edu or visit http://nbdc.unomaha.edu/.