The Huntsville/Madison County Chamber honored several local small businesses and individuals this past Thursday night. The 38th Annual Small Business Awards Gala was held at the Von Braun Center Saturn Ballroom. ‘

Since the Small Business Awards Gala coincided with Huntsville Music Month, the gala also showcased a live performance by Huntsville singer/songwriter Victoria Jones to start the show. Victoria also co-hosted the event with Matt Mandrella, Huntsville Music Officer. In total there were 15 winners representing a variety of different categories. We have included a list of the winners along with some information about each recipient.

Congratulations to all the winners:

Young Professional of the Year: Terica Pope – Director of Operations for the Huntsville Housing Authority since August 2023. Pope has eighteen years of experience in office management, administrative support and ensuring customer service, and is the former Superintendent of Housing Operations
Nonprofit of the Year: Village of Promise – Family Advancement Center founded to address the needs of children and families in distressed, high poverty neighborhoods. Their mission is to empower families to advance out of poverty using a multigenerational approach.
Construction Company of the Year: Bret Slaton Homes – Bret Slaton has either been the winner or runner up of Alabama Remodeling Excellence Awards a total of seven times. Services provided include kitchen remodels, bathroom remodels, whole home remodels, windows, doors and garages.
Minority-Owned Business of the Year: MB Solutions – A customer focused, women owned small business that provides superior solutions to the warfighter in logistics, program support and cyber security for the Department of Defense and Civilian-Federal Sectors.
Emerging Business of the Year: 106 Jefferson Huntsville Downtown, Curio by Hilton – Surrounded by eateries, entertainment and businesses, this hotel is close to several of Huntsville’s top attractions. The hotel features an onsite restaurant and the Baker & Able Rooftop Lounge.
Professional/Technical Services Business of the Year: Red Sage Communications – One of Huntsville’s and Decatur’s top full-service agencies offering traditional and digital marketing, advertising, public relations and website design solutions.
Engineering/Defense Business of the Year (Small): TriVector Services – A company that provides quality aerospace engineering solutions to complex problems through a renowned team of engineering professionals.
Engineering/Defense Business of the Year (Medium): HigherEchelon – They aim to optimize organizational performance to meet the rapidly changing requirements of today’s world by developing resilient and adaptive leaders, implementing transformational technology solutions and modernizing and enhancing processes.
Engineering/Defense Business of the Year (Large): Trideum Corporation – Whether it is the development of new processes and tools, implementing information assurance procedures, maintaining budgets or facilitating a working group, Trideum continues to continue to foster a customer support reputation that is top quality.
Veteran-Owned Business of the Year: Offset Strategic Services – OSS applies unique technologies, tactics, skill sets and peak performance principles to enhance and augment teams to perform their best influence on strategic outcomes.
Hospitality Services Business of the Year: Pizzelle’s Confections – A unique chocolate shop co-owned by Chef Michelle Novosel and General Manager Caitlin Lyon. The menu includes a large selection of chocolates made with fair-trade Felchlin chocolate.
Arts & Recreation Business of the Year: Von Braun Center – Downtown Huntsville’s premier entertainment and business venue with an $80 million economic impact for the 2021-2022 fiscal year.
Health/Social Services Business of the Year: Alabama Colon and Gastro – Services provided include colonoscopy, liver biopsy, upper GI endoscopy, ERCP, fibroscans and other advanced GI procedures.
Woman-Owned Business of the Year: OTC – A woman owned small business earning a reputation of solving complex technical and management, programmatic and logistics challenges posed by today’s evolving technologies into warrior-ready, operational capability.
Russell G. Brown Executive Leadership Award: Susan Wagner, Huntsville Botanical Garden – Wagner joined the Huntsville Botanical Garden as CEO in October 2019 after serving as Vice President for Education and Information at the Morton Arboretum in Chicago.

The Huntsville/Madison County Chamber hosts this annual event to recognize the outstanding work of businesses and individuals who make an impact in our community. Scoring and judging was handled by the Plano, Texas Chamber of Commerce.