Four successful Tarrant County enterprises have received the 2018 Small Business of the Year Award from the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce. The annual awards were announced at Mayor Betsy Price’s State of the City address February 20 at the Fort Worth Convention Center.
The winners are:
Emerging Business – Site Barricades – a full-service traffic control company
1-10 Employees – The Paisley Heart, LLC – online shopping with personal service catering to women
11-50 Employees – Pointwise, Inc. — engineering software developer for computational fluid dynamics simulations
51-150 Employees – BorrowWorks, LLC — loan servicing and marketing for lenders and banks
“Small businesses are the foundation of a thriving economy,” said Allisen Prigel, chairman of the Chamber’s Small Business Council committee and vice president of Broadie’s Aircraft, a previous award winner. “These passionate and determined entrepreneurs reflect the competitiveness, creativity and diversity of Fort Worth’s business base.”
Recipients are categorized by either emerging business or number of employees and judged on business growth and performance, sound business strategies and practices, customer service strategies, business challenges, unique and innovative approaches, and community involvement.
The winners were chosen from a field of 142 nominees and a total of 12 finalists in four categories. Each finalist was judged on their written application and a site visit by business owners and professionals who are members of the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce, most of them past SBOY award winners. Top graduate students from TCU’s Neeley School of Business were also among the judges.
The 2018 Small Business of the Year awards program is presented by Independent Bank. Additional sponsors include CliftonLarsonAllen (CLA), TCU’s Neeley School of Business, Tarleton State University, Wells Fargo, Cendera Center and the Fort Worth Business Press.
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MORE ABOUT THE AWARD RECIPIENTS
Site Barricades
Jeff Schuessler, Co-Owner; Ben Wallace, Co-Owner
817-885-7483
www.sitebarricades.com
Site Barricades is a full-service traffic control company that specializes in maintaining the safety of workers, their employees and the traveling public through construction zones and special events. They opened November 2014, and in the span of less than three years, have established themselves as a leader in traffic control throughout North Texas. They pride themselves in customer focus, maintaining a high-level of employee morale, and recognizing the importance of social responsibility with the community. These three principles guided them to their present success and will serve as a beacon for future success.
The Paisley Heart, LLC
Brooke Howerton, Owner
817-845-0476
www.thepaisleyheart.com
The Paisley Heart brings affordable and unique boutique women’s clothing straight to your phone and/or computer taking the legwork out of a physical shopping trip. Maintaining a personal and intimate environment is key to continued success, as word of mouth is the best advertisement. They want women to feel like they went shopping with their best girlfriends and that they have experienced something they cannot wait to talk about and share with others. They were proud to be named “Best Women’s Fashion Store” of 2017 in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram’s “FortWorthy” contest.
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Pointwise, Inc.
John R. Chawner, President; Richard J. Matus, Ph.D.; Executive Vice President; John P. Steinbrenner, Ph.D., Executive Vice President
817-377-2807
www.pointwise.com
Pointwise writes engineering software for computational fluid dynamics (CFD), a “virtual wind tunnel” that simulates the flow of fluid through or around objects ranging from artificial heart pumps to wind turbines and the F-35 aircraft. Pointwise focuses on CFD’s most costly component: mesh generation, creating the digital version of the object. The International Meshing Roundtable has recognized Pointwise three times with their “Meshing Maestro” award. Seven magazine covers have featured customers’ use of their software. One of their meshes appeared on a U.S. postage stamp. Their employees’ professionalism, innovation and dedication to customer service has made their success possible.
BorrowWorks, LLC
Benjamin Gatzke, CEO
682-233-2223
www.borrowworks.com
BorrowWorks, LLC helps banks and other lenders make better lending decisions through data and technology. With more than $100 million in loan decisions managed, they have helped their clients launch new products in challenging regulatory and consumer credit environments. They have helped create consumer access to credit that banks to-date have not been good at providing – credit that is much needed in today’s economy. They employ smart, driven people and empower their creativity in innovation while driving growth that meets the high compliance standards of their partners.