Maine’s Bernard Featherman Named Finalist for 2005 Small Business Advocate of the Year Award

March 4, 2005

Washington, D.C. — The National Small Business Association (NSBA) has named Bernard Featherman of Kennebunkport, Maine, as one of its finalists for the 2005 Small Business Advocate of the Year Award. The winner will be named as part of NSBA’s Washington Presentation, to be held May 11-12 at the Wyndham Washington, located at 1400 M Street NW in Washington, D.C.

Featherman was selected from a pool of nominees hailing from Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont. Finalists from other parts of the United States include Stephen Cornell of San Francisco, Paul A. Hense of Grand Rapids, Mich., Elaine M. Longer of Fayetteville, Ark., and Valerie W. Perlowitz of Vienna, Va.

"Small business advocacy has remained the driving force behind our organization," NSBA President Todd McCracken said. "We always have been mindful that the best advocate for small business is not an association, a lobbyist, or a ‘spokesperson.’ The real advocates are the small business owners themselves, who give every day to make their businesses, their employees, their communities, and their nation a better place. We have dedicated this award to these small business advocates."

Featherman currently serves as acting president of the Biddeford Saco Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Saco, Maine. Today, as it was in 1768 when the first chamber in America was formed, the basic concept of the Biddeford-Saco Chamber of Commerce remains the same: a voluntary organization representing the business community marshaling the energies and efforts of its membership toward the accomplishments of common goals. Most of Biddeford’s members are small businesses.

Featherman also serves as a partner for Pennsylvania Steel Company, Inc. The company was founded in 1972 as Pennsylvania Steel and Aluminum Company, Inc. Initially, the company operated out of a 2,500-square-foot warehouse in Huntingdon Valley, Pa., just outside of Philadelphia. The company is proud to remain a privately owned industry leader and has worked hard to grow in size but worked equally hard to maintain the same commitment to developing satisfied, loyal customers that our company was built upon.

Featherman is extremely active advocating for small business. He testified in front of the U.S. Small Business Committee on behalf of small businesses in Southern Maine. Featherman also met with Jack Cashman, Maine’s commissioner of the department of economic and community development, on behalf of several of his clients seeking financing and tax incentives.

And Featherman served as the mentor for a visually-handicapped 22-year-old man and helped the man, Fred Hendrickson, start a business, author a business plan, appoint a board of directors, and set up the bank account. Featherman provided all of his services pro bono.

Since 1937, NSBA has been an advocate for the interests of small businesses throughout the country, reaching more than 150,000 small businesses today. NSBA is proud to be the first national small business advocacy organization in the United States.