12 honored at 10th NHBR Business Excellence Awards

Twelve businesspeople were honored Monday night at New Hampshire Business Review's 10th annual Business Excellence Awards, which recognize the accomplishments of owners of companies with 100 employees or fewer.

More than 250 people attended the event, which was held at the Radisson in Manchester. WMUR-TV anchor Erin Fehlau was the night's emcee.

PHOTO BY JODIE ANDRUSKEVICH

NHBR Editor Jeff Feingold praised this year's winners not only for the success of their companies, but for their dedication to the state's greater business community.A portion of the proceeds from the evening benefited Court Appointed Special Advocates of New Hampshire, or CASA-NH, which advocates for children in the state's court system in cases of neglect and abuse.

"We would like to salute all of the nominees, the people who nominated them and the winners themselves for their contributions toward making New Hampshire a great place to do business," he said.

While each winner had a different path to success, what they have in common "is determination, industriousness and the ability to come up with innovative solutions that have allowed their businesses to survive and thrive, regardless of economic conditions, and a commitment to serving their communities," said Sharron McCarthy, president of McLean Communications and publisher of NHBR.

Awards were presented in 11 categories. The winners of the 2012 NHBR Business Excellences Awards were:

• Business Services: Michael Steinberg, Relyco Sales Inc.
• Construction: Scott Knightly, EnviroVantage
• Finance: Mary Carroll Murphy, Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.
• Health Care: Lisa Ganem, Home Instead Senior Care of Seacoast and Southern New Hampshire•
• Hospitality: Chris Barstow, Favorite Foods
• Manufacturing: Nancy Sampo, Enviro-Tote Inc.
• Media & Marketing: Lisa Landry, Print Savvy
• Nonprofits: Jamie Coughlin, abi Innovation Hub
• Professional Services: Tod O'Dowd, Avery Insurance Agency
• Retail (tie): Laurie Vachon, Boomerang Furniture and Funky Stuff Ltd
• Retail (tie): Heather Owen, H2O Salon Spa
• Technology: Joe McEachern, QA Café

Sponsors of the event were Citizens Bank, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care of New England, OTT Communications, Bank of New Hampshire, Public Service of New Hampshire, Devine Millimet, Merrimack Street Volvo, NH Economy, and media sponsors WGIR-AM and New Hampshire Public Television.