Blue Star Recyclers' Morris named Springs Small Business Person of Year
The Colorado Springs Small Business Development Center on Thursday named Bill Morris, president of Blue Star Recyclers, as its 2011 Colorado Springs Small Business Person of the Year, one of three awards presented at the agency’s annual Small Business Day celebration.
Morris was selected from a group of eight nominees by a committee of business leaders based on his company’s staying power, sales growth and number of employees as well as the company’s innovation and community contributions.
The committee also selected Etienne Hardré, owner of Next Exit Advisors, from among three nominees as the center’s 2011 Young Entrepreneur of the Year, which is given to an entrepreneur less than 30 years old who has boosted sales and profits, increased employment opportunities and developed innovative business methods.
Michelle Bracewell, owner of Bracewell Web Works, was named the center’s 2011 Volunteer of the Year from among its 30 volunteers. An entrepreneur since 1994, Bracewell started her Web design company in 2000. She serves on the center’s advisory board and has been a board member of the Old Colorado City Merchant Association and the Southern Colorado Women’s Chamber of Commerce.
Morris is a 25-year veteran of the telecommunications industry. He’s a former program manager for Community Intersections, a local nonprofit serving adults with disabilities, where he developed a training and work program using discarded electronics as a way to create jobs for the agency’s clients. Blue Star partners with Community Intersections; 10 developmentally disabled workers earn a salary disassembling and sorting electronics for Blue Star.
Morris served as chairperson of the Sustainability Committee for the 2009 and 2010 Pikes Peak Earth Day and is a member of the Sustainability Advisory Council of the Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce. Blue Star received the Business Champion Award for Diversity and Inclusion last year, and earlier this year won the Employer of the Year Award from the ARC of the Pikes Peak Region and the Recycler of the Year Award from the Colorado Association for Recycling. (Go here to read a Q&A from last year with Morris.)
Next Exit helps small and midsized businesses with buying, growing and selling businesses and offers outsourced financial management services for startups. Hardré has started or helped start nearly a dozen startup businesses and has been involved in analyzing business deals ranging from $50,000 to $500 million. Hardré is co-founder of the Springs Vision Forum, a board member of Peak Venture Group and treasurer of the group’s Middle Market Entrepreneurs organization.
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