2013 Nominations Begin June 25, 2013
Sort Nominations By:
Announcing the 2011 Small Business Influencer Champions
August 23, 2011 -- With 520 nominations, over 125,000 votes and thousands more Tweets and Likes, Small Business Trends and Smallbiztechnology.com are happy to announce the Small Business Influencer 2011 Champions and Honorees. Congratulations to all nominees who participated – being nominated is itself an honor.The Small Business Influencer 2011 awards -- sponsored by BlackBerry, Infusionsoft and Sage -- is an opportunity for individuals, companies and organizations in North America to be recognized for their commitment to small businesses. (Read more about the Awards... )
SELECTION PROCESS
The selection process involved two stages: voting by the community (weighted at 40%) and voting by a panel of Judges (weighted at 60%).
The criteria for judging included the following:
"... a person, company or other organization that has made a meaningful and lasting impact on the North American small business market. Impact may mean (i) providing products widely used by significant numbers of small businesses, or (ii) influencing significant numbers of small businesses by being a thought leader, or (iii) providing information or services of note to significant numbers of small businesses."
The first consideration involves the numbers of small businesses influenced.
The second consideration is the way and to what extent the nominee impacts a small business.
Let’s take the fictional example of a company that sells electricity to millions of small businesses. Clearly they touch millions. But how much did that electricity-selling company influence those small businesses to be successful – either in increased efficiency, sales or profitability, or by empowering them to enter into and stay in business, or by influencing their thinking and behaviors, or by revolutionizing the way they could do business, or through other means? These are the types of questions considered in the judging process – we looked for nominees that not only reached small businesses but where the nature of the impact was significant.
Choosing only 100 Small Business Influencer Champions was beyond challenging; it was a grueling process. After all, the small business market in North America is huge. There are countless thousands who meet the above criteria – whether internationally, within their countries, within their local communities, or within their industries. One can be an “influencer” and have a giant impact within a small town or a narrow vertical industry. While for some, the numbers of small businesses they reach may not be large as others, the depth of the impact they have could be a signal of their influence.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
With 520 nominees, it was tough to choose. Many were very close. Because there could only be 100 in the Champions list, we created a separate category of honorees who were very close in votes, as well as those who did not get a large popular vote but surely deserve recognition. That list of Honorable Mentions is here.
THE 100 SMALL BUSINESS INFLUENCER 2011 CHAMPIONS
Drum roll ... congratulations ... to the following official list of 100 Small Business Influencer Champions (in alphabetical order):
|
Abrams, Rhonda AllBusiness.com America's Small Business Development Center Network Armstrong, Mario Babson College Ball, Alison Barone, Lisa Bates, Cindy Bellamkonda, Shashi Berry, Tim Better Business Bureau Black Enterprise Blumenthal, Mike Borders + Gratehouse Brelsford, Harry Brodsky, Norm Cisco Citrix Online Clark, Brian Connolly, Joe Constant Contact Cornwall, Jeff DeBaise, Colleen Delaney, Laurel Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp Eberson, Ilana Elance Emerson, Melinda Entrepreneur Fenn, Donna Goltz, Jay Greene, Patricia Gregory, Alyssa Hoover's Hewitt, John T. HP MagCloud HubSpot Inc. Magazine Intuit It's Your Biz Jantsch, John Kahn, Richard K. Kerrigan, Karen Kukral, Jim Kurtz, Rod Lawson, John Lesonsky, Rieva Levin, Robert Manta |
Marks, Gene Mask, Clate McCabe, Laurie McCray, Becky Merlino, Nell Miller, Sharon Mills, Jerry L. Microsoft National Federation of Independent Business Nilssen, David New York Times Nolo O'Berry, Denise ODesk O'Hara, Pamela OPEN Forum PartnerUp Ploeger, Nancy Popick, Janine Ramberg, JJ Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center Roth, Carol Sage SBA SCORE Shah, Dharmesh Shaheen, Jennifer Shane, Scott Shephard, Bob Shinder, Marcy Simonds, Lauren Simmons, Michael Stanleigh, Sean Startup Nation Strauss, Steve The Guardian Life Insurance Company University at Buffalo School of Management Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership UPS U.S. Chamber of Commerce Verizon Wireless Vistaprint Wall, Aaron Wall Street Journal Ward, Missy Ward, Susan Weltman, Barbara Wood, Cheryl WordPress Yancey, Ken YoungEntrepreneur.com |
To grab an Award Badge to display to show you are a Champion, visit our Awards Badge page for a selection.
Celebrate with us at the official Awards Gala on September 13th from 6-9pm at the New York Institute of Technology Auditorium on Broadway in New York City. Influencers, nominees, judges, members of the media and the small business community will join together for an evening of celebration, networking and fun. Click here for more information on the event.
Champions, Honorable Mentions and Judges: for VIP registration to the event, please email ramon@smallbiztechnology.com.
Subscribe
See Who's Talking About Small Business Influencers
Latest News Updates
Produced By:
