Andrew Field, founder and president of PrintingForLess.com of Livingston, Montana is First runner-up 2006 National Small Business Person of the Year

State Winners From Montana and Missouri State are Runners-Up

Eric A. Hoover of Conneaut Lake,
Pennsylvania, who overcame childhood rheumatoid arthritis and built a
thriving machine tool company from scratch in the scenic northwestern
Pennsylvania resort town where he was born and raised, was recognized as
National Small Business Person of the Year during ceremonies today at SBA
Small Business Week 2006, the agency’s two-day conference marking National
Small Business Week.

"Every year, the SBA selects a small business owner who epitomizes the
creativity and commercial risk-taking that are the characteristics of a
successful American entrepreneur," said SBA Administrator Hector V.
Barreto. "These are the qualities that make small businesses such a great
force in the American economy, and these are the characteristics that make
Eric Hoover the National Small Business person of the Year. His company,
Excalibur Machine Company, embodies the best of entrepreneurship,
citizenship, and the American dream."

First runner-up is Andrew Field, founder and president of
PrintingForLess.com http://www.PrintingForLess.com of Livingston, Montana. Second runner-up is Robert
Shatto, president and CEO of Shatto Farms, of Osborn, Missouri.

Also announced today was the winner of the National SCORE Chapter of
the Year, the Cincinnati SCORE chapter. The volunteer counselors of
Cincinnati SCORE provided help to more than 3,400 entrepreneurs through
counseling and workshops last year, a record year for the chapter and a 25
percent increase over the previous year, according to Chapter Chair Mary
Jane Good.

Hoover’s company, Excalibur Machine Company was founded in 1988.
Excalibur provides original equipment manufacturing, machining and
fabricating services for major manufacturing companies. In the past five
years Excalibur has experienced continual growth in a difficult industry,
and has posted sales growth of more than 350 percent, giving Hoover the
time to launch three other companies: Camelot Consolidated, a sales
organization; Blade Transport, a trucking firm and Lancelot Construction, a
construction firm.

The company serves manufacturers of locomotives, rail cars, material
handling systems and equipment for mining, glass handling and heavy
construction.

Hoover was born and raised in Conneaut Lake, a small town in northwest
Pennsylvania. At an early age, Eric was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis
and although doctors predicted he would spend the rest of his life in a
wheelchair, Eric was determined to prove them wrong and fulfill his dream
of making a difference in the lives of those in need.

Andrew Field, the first runner-up, is what one might call a "serial
entrepreneur," having launched three successful businesses since 1976. His
current venture, PrintingForLess.com, started in 1999 with 6 employees and
$600,000 annual sales when a customer at his conventional print shop asked
him to print a brochure that had been created on a computer.
Today, that company has grown to 125 employees, posting more than $20
million in sales, and is working on the construction of a 46,500 sq. foot,
state-of-the-art facility set for completion in May 2006.
PrintingForLess.com has been named to Inc. Magazine’s 500 fastest growing
companies in the United States for a third year in a row, and is a leader
in the field of Internet- based color printing.

Big dreams, new ideas, perseverance and SBA financial backing gave the
second runner-up, Robert "Leroy" Shatto, the drive and wherewithal to save
his family’s dairy farm and restore its profitability. Marrying into a
family that had been milking Holsteins in Missouri since the 1800s, Shatto
embraced new ideas and equipment that turned him from a producer who sold
his milk to other processors into a bottler who sells a variety of finished
dairy products directly to stores.

After consulting with SCORE, Shatto developed the idea of reaching out
to families with great-tasting raw milk with no hormones or chemicals
added. Through dogged determination to succeed, several SBA-backed loans
and timely business counseling and assistance, Shatto Farms, Inc., today
employs 20 full- time and part-time employees, delivers its products to 56
stores, and has become a home-grown small business success story.

The national small business awards are a highlight of SBA Small
Business Week, the agency’s annual celebration honoring the nation’s
leading small business entrepreneurs, co-sponsored by SCORE, "Counselors to
America’s Small Business."

The winners are selected on their record of stability, growth in
employment and sales, financial condition, innovation, response to
adversity, and community service. For more information on these companies
and on the rest of the state Small Business Person of the Year award
winners, visit the SBA Web site at http://www.sba.gov/expo/ and click on
"2005 Winners."

For additional information on Small Business Week 2006, including a
full schedule of events and information on all award winners, go online to
http://www.sba.gov/sbw.

Small Business Week 2006 is co-sponsored by the following
organizations: Sam’s Club, Intel, Microsoft, SCORE, Raytheon, the Kauffman
Foundation, Nationwide, IBM, Verizon Communications, Johnson & Johnson, BAE
Systems, KBR, Cisco Systems, Fiducial, Aetna, Administaff and Symantec.

"Disclaimer: The support given by the U.S. Small Business
Administration to this activity does not constitute an express or implied
endorsement of any cosponsor’s or participant’s opinions, products, or
services. All SBA programs and cosponsored programs are extended to the
public on a nondiscriminatory basis. Reasonable arrangements for persons
with disabilities will be made, if requested at least 2 weeks in advance,
by contacting [email protected]. Authorization # 2006."

SOURCE U.S. Small Business Administration
Web Site: http://www.sba.gov/

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Livingston man national runner-up for SBA small business award
By JO DEE BLACK
Tribune Staff Writer

Livingston printing entrepreneur Andrew Field is not only Montana’s Small Business Person of the Year. He’s the runner-up for the national award, too.

The president and founder of PrintingForLess.com was recognized Thursday in Washington, D.C. Eric Hoover, founder of Excalibur Machine Co. in Pennsylvania, took the top honor.

PrintingForLess.com is an Internet-based printing company with customers across the United States. The business started in Livingston with six employees in 1999 and has grown to 130 and become the largest online commercial printer in the country.

Full Story: http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060414/BUSINESS/604140337/1046