With the large presence of military; including both active and retired veterans located throughout Virginia, the Virginia Small Business Development Centers (VSBDC) has placed a special emphasis on acknowledging veteran owned businesses. The VSBDC created the Small Business Veteran of the Year Award to recognize the accomplishments of this special group of Virginia entrepreneurs that have given their time and dedication to not only their business, but to their community and country.

For a nominee application and more information about eligibility, visit www.smallbizvetaward.org.  Each SBDC location in Virginia selects a local Small Business Veteran of the Year.  Completed application packets must be sent to the local SBDC office where the business is located.  Each of the local winners will be sent on for the state award which will be announced in March 2010.  The deadline to send in packets to the Small Business Development Center of Hampton Roads (500 East Main St., Suite 700, Norfolk, VA 23510) is December 1, 2010.

The 2009 Small Business Veteran of the Year Award recipient was Mark Klett of Hampton Roads.  Klett Consulting was founded in 2002 and consisted of just Mark working out of his home.  A graduate of the US Naval Academy, Mark holds a Masters in Engineering Systems Technology from the Naval Post Graduate School in Monterey.  Mark was able to capitalize on this extensive education as well as 20 years of operational experience gained in the Navy.  He established himself as a Subject Matter Expert in the area of Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence (C4I) and worked in providing the Navy with Enterprise Architectures within the Global Information Grid and Network-Centric Operational Environments.  Since its founding, Klett Consulting has consistently grown in the total dollar amount of contracts successfully bid and does work worldwide.  Locally, Klett Consulting has been recognized as one of the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce’s “Rising 25” and the 2009 “Top 10 to Watch” in last year’s Hampton Roads Small Business of the Year Awards.  Mark is a strong supporter of the Service Disabled Veteran Owned Business Council as well as a member of the Tidewater Association of Government Contractors-Tidewater Government Industry Council.