SBA Names January Dennison Florida Small Business Person of the Year

For immediate release
Date: 22 February 2006

Contact:  Leatrice West, Public Relations Manager 863-419-8860
ext 123

Haines City, FL   January Dennison has been singled out by the Small Business Administration (SBA) as the 2006 Florida Small Business Person of the Year for her hard work, innovative ideas and dedication to community. Mrs. Dennison, who founded Technology Research Consultants, Inc. (TRC) in 1998, has molded the company into a highly respected engineering and manufacturing firm.

Upon hearing that she would receive the SBA award, Mrs. Dennison commented, “I am deeply honored to represent the state of Florida as Small Business Person of the Year and thank the Small Business Administration for this exciting opportunity to highlight our firm, our employees and our community.”

Mrs. Dennison joins other small business leaders in Washington, DC on April 12-13 during the celebration of National Small Business Week, which recognizes outstanding small business owners for their personal achievement and contributions to the US economy. Small businesses represent more than 99 percent of all employees, provide 75 percent of new jobs, and generate a majority of American innovations.

Headquartered in Haines City, Florida, TRC provides new technology for the critical needs of the military. The company manufactures a wide range of avionic products including gyroscopes for the Black Hawk helicopter, a mainstay of the American Armed Forces. TRC is noted for its consistent revenue growth, 100% on-time delivery, and its corporate citizenship. With its continued exponential growth, revenues of $16M are projected for 2006.

Under Mrs. Dennison’s management, TRC has grown to over 80 employees and serves the community by creating and bringing highly paid jobs to Central Florida. Employees are encouraged to participate in TRC’s Executive Leadership Program that provides training opportunities in management skills, quality control, and business ethics. TRC and its employees have gained a solid reputation for not only high-quality products and services, but also for good corporate citizenship.

The TRC Foundation annually funds $100,000 for local non-profit agencies to ensure education opportunities and engineering scholarships for underprivileged youth, and to charities like the Sunshine Foundation that fulfill the dreams of critically and terminally ill children. In addition, the company also provides it employees and their dependents with excellent education benefits.

As a seasoned Hispanic businesswoman, Mrs. Dennison attributes her success in business to hard work and a solid commitment to innovation, quality and corporate integrity. Born in El Paso, Texas, she grew up in Seoul, Korea where her mother and father worked as civil servants for the United States Government. She joined the United States Army after high school and served for four years as a Korean linguist. Mrs. Dennison has an undergraduate degree in Electrical Engineering and Math, and an MBA from the University of Alabama. While serving as the Vice President of manufacturing for a Fortune 500 company, she started TRC. Mrs. January Dennison’s actions and unwavering commitment to her principles make her the embodiment of the ideals of the SBA’s 2006 Small Business Person of the Year Award for Florida.

“When we re-engineer and integrate new technology into existing systems, we ensure the capabilities and the safety of our Warfighters.”
Extensive first article testing included environmental, vibration, electromagnetic interference and maintenance flight tests on UH-60L, UH 60HH and UH-60A Black Hawk helicopters. Qualification and testing involved the collaboration of the following agencies: US Army Redstone Technical Test Center (RTTC); US Army Aviation and Missile Command (AMCOM); US Army Black Hawk Program Office, US Army Communications-Electronics Life Cycle Management Command (CECOM) and AMCOM Airworthiness Engineering Directorate (AED). Tobyhanna Army Depot, Lakehurst Naval Air-Base, and Air Training Test Center (ATTC) personnel provided avionic test engineers throughout the final phase of the critical qualification. Key to the success of this program was the extensive subject matter expertise provided by the Defense Contract Management Agency.
Headquartered in Haines City, Florida, Technology Research Consultants, Inc. provides the Department of Defense with critically required Modernization, Technology Insertion and Obsolescence Mitigation Solutions. TRC is a woman-owned, SBA certified 8(a) vendor.