FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
February 10, 2006
For more information contact:

Rachel Girt, Wyoming Business Council
Phone: 307.777.2851

Media: Please note that dinner begins at 7 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 13 at Little America in Cheyenne. The awards ceremony is tentatively scheduled to begin around 7:45 p.m. We will take high resolution photos of recipients present and email them to those interested.

Nine Wyoming businesses to receive Bravo! Entrepreneur Awards Monday

CHEYENNE - Nine Wyoming businesses from Casper, Torrington, Sheridan, Hulett, Cody, Cheyenne, Green River and Lander will receive awards for their entrepreneurial spirit at the annual Bravo! Entrepreneur Awards ceremony at 7 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 13 at Little America in Cheyenne.

In addition, Gov. Dave Freudenthal will honor a partnership of economic development interests for their recent efforts to recruit unemployed autoworkers to Wyoming.
Criteria for the awards include demonstrating the best traits of entrepreneurship, such as vision, drive, perseverance and willingness to take risk.

Lifetime Achievement Award: The True Family will receive this award for their lifetime of contributions to the state and its business community. Today the True companies include some 20 affiliated operations, most related to the core oil and gas business. True Drilling and True Oil continue on, along with Eighty-Eight Oil Co. and a few smaller oil
operations, such as Cambria, Smokey and Green Diamond.

Emerging Entrepreneur Award: Heath Van Eaton is the Emerging Entrepreneur Award winner for creating a new company that demonstrates the best traits of entrepreneurship. Van Eaton's company, Heartland BioComposites, is poised to grab a share of the wood substitute market, using wheat straw and recycled plastic to form a board that is far stronger than wood. The new factory is under construction in a business
park on the eastern edge of Torrington.

Governor's Award for Economic Development: The Wyoming Cooperative Recruiting Effort will receive the Governor's award, which recognizes businesses, organizations, communities or individuals that contribute to significant economic growth in Wyoming. This informal alliance has worked together to recruit workers to Wyoming. Sharing the award are representatives of the Casper Area Economic Development Alliance, Sweetwater Economic Development Association and the Campbell County
Economic Development Corp., along with representatives of the Wyoming Department of Workforce Services, Casper College, Western Wyoming College and the Gillette Campus of the Northern Wyoming Community College District. The private firm, P&H MinePro Services, of Gillette, will also be honored.

IQ Award: EMIT Water Discharge Technologies LLC, of Sheridan, will receive the Innovation Quotient (IQ) Award for developing an innovative product or service. EMIT Technologies has stepped up with a solution to the water discharged from coalbed (CBM) methane wells. The company manufactures and operates skid-mounted water treatment facilities for water discharged from CBM wells. The company, started in Sheridan in
August 2003, is owned by Joe Scott Enterprises, Nerd Gas Company LLC and EMIT Technologies Inc.

The following six companies were selected for being Bravo! Entrepreneurs in their region of Wyoming.

East Central Region: Timothy W. Renz, Richard Johnson and Scott Soulek, Emissary Pharmacy and Infusion, of Casper, will receive the award. Emissary Pharmacy and Infusion is a closed door pharmacy specializing in the delivery of pharmaceuticals to Long Term Care and HMO customers. Visit www.emissarypharmacy.com.

Northeast Region: James S. Neiman, Neiman Enterprises, of Hulett, will receive the award. Neiman Enterprises is well known for its sawmills, which are primary and secondary manufacturing facilities. Other enterprises include Rushmore Forest Products, Mountain West Millwork, Devils Tower Golf Course, and Neiman 77 Ranches. Visit:
http://neimanenterprises.com.

Northwest Region: Ted Blair, Blair Hotels, of Cody, will receive the award. Blair Hotels started with a single log cabin village in Cody and now has hotels in Cody, Riverton and Ucross. Visit www.blairhotels.com.

Southeast Region: Keith Richardson, Sierra Trading Post, of Cheyenne, will receive the award. Sierra Trading Post is headquartered in Cheyenne, employs more than 400 people, and mails nearly 60 million catalogs a year in the United States. He started Sierra Trading Post in 1986 in Reno, Nev. Today the company has three retail stores in Reno,
Nev., Cheyenne and Cody, Wyo., and two customer service call centers also located in Cheyenne and Cody. Visit www.sierratradingpost.com.

Southwest Region: Randy Hruska, Green River Ace Hardware, of Green River, will receive the award. Hruska opened his first neighborhood hardware store in Rock Springs 21 years ago and has expanded that into a chain of Ace Hardware stores in five other locations across Wyoming – Gillette, Riverton, Lander, Laramie and most recently Green River.

West Central Region: Chuck Guschewsky, Fremont Motors, of Lander, will receive the award. In 1938, Chuck Guschewsky's grandfather started Fremont Motors in Lander. Today, Fremont Motors has seven stores and currently employs just under 300 associates. Visit www.fremontmotors.com.

The annual awards program is sponsored by The Wyoming Business Report in conjunction with the Wyoming Business Council, the Wyoming Chamber of Commerce Executives and the Wyoming Economic Development Association. Corporate sponsors are American National Bank, Casper Area Economic Development Association, Casper College, First Interstate Bank, Great Lakes Airlines, Media Tech Productions, and Mountain States Lithographing. For more information on the awards program, visit www.wyomingbusinessreport.com.

The mission of the Wyoming Business Council is to facilitate the economic growth of Wyoming. For more information, please visit the Web site at www.wyomingbusiness.org.

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