Marstel-Day Hosts Senator Mark Warner for Small Business Panel
Fredericksburg, VA (PRWEB) September 05, 2013 -- The new Fredericksburg headquarters for environmental consulting firm Marstel-Day, LLC provided the venue for a panel of small business advocates and Virginia Senator Mark Warner (D) to discuss small business incentive programs in Virginia and the Fredericksburg area in particular. The panel was sponsored by the Fredericksburg Economic Development Authority (EDA) and hosted by Marstel-Day.
"We were honored to host this informative gathering," said Rebecca R. Rubin, President and CEO of Marstel-Day. "If you define small business as those having 500 or fewer employees, then small businesses account for 99.7 percent of US firms. So, small businesses are obviously critical to the economic revitalization in our region."
Senator Warner followed a panel discussion of small business incentive programs available to woman-owned, minority-owned, veteran-owned and HUBZone (Historically Underutilized Business Zone) companies. Panelists included Natalia Olson-Urtecho, Regional Administrator of the SBA's Mid-Atlantic office; Amy LaMarca, Director of Business Development at Affinity Fidelis Consulting; and Brian Baker, Executive Director for Entrepreneurship and Business Development at the University of Mary Washington's Center for Economic Development. Christopher Hornung, EDA President, served as the session moderator.
Following the panel discussion, Senator Warner emphasized the importance of start-ups to American job creation, citing a Kaufman Foundation report that found that in the last 30 years fully 85% of all new jobs were created by start-ups.
Addressing Small Business Administration incentive programs available to woman-owned, minority-owned, veteran-owned, and HUBZone programs, Warner said: "I don't believe this is some progressive notion, just good business sense." In Virginia, which is broadly represented by women, minorities and veterans, he estimated that 85% of to working-age population would qualify for incentive programs.
Recognized for five consecutive years as one of the Inc. 5000 fastest-growing companies in the nation, Marstel-Day is a certified woman-owned, small, HUBZone business. The company offers an array of natural resource, conservation and environmental consulting services to its clients in the public and private sectors. Marstel-Day has been recognized for its environmental ethic and was most recently awarded the AWE (Alliance for Workplace Excellence) leadership award and the Rappahannock Sierra Club's "Living Green" award for its demonstrated ecological leadership. In addition to its principal office in Fredericksburg, VA, the company has offices in Alexandria, VA; Annapolis, MD; Oakland and Oceanside, CA; Stennis Space Center, MS; and Dallas and San Antonio, TX.
Rebecca R. Rubin, Marstel-Day, LLC, http://www.marstel-day.com, +1 (703) 839-5512, [email protected]
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