Anchorage entrepreneur named Alaska Small Business Champion of the Year
JUNEAU, Alaska, October 28, 2009 – Anchorage entrepreneur Al Tamagni is the Solveras/NFIB Small Business Champion of the Year for Alaska, it was announced today.
The honor was conferred upon him by the Alaska Leadership Council of the National Federation of Independent Business and Solveras Payment Solutions, one of the nation’s leading payment processing companies for small business. Each year, NFIB and Solveras single out a small business owner in all 50 states for special recognition and honor him or her with the prestigious Small Business Champion of the Year award. This is the sixth year America’s leading small business association has recognized small business owners who go the extra mile for their fellow entrepreneurs.
“Small business owners in Alaska have no better friend and advocate than Al Tamagni, who has always been willing to fly to Juneau on a moment’s notice and testify on legislative issues,” said Denny DeWitt, state director for NFIB/Alaska. “He helped craft NFIB’s position on the gross receipts tax and his expertise in pensions and annuities make him a trusted and valued resource in the halls of our state capitol. And as a founding member of the Tort Reform Group, he successfully helped craft and shepherd legal reforms through the Legislature, which were upheld by the Alaska Supreme Court in 2001.”
Tamagni owns Pension Services International in Anchorage, which he founded in 1984 after seeing a need for third-party administrators of retirement plans for small business owners. He also owns Financial Diversified Service, Inc., an insurance brokerage firm specializing in annuities for workers’ compensation injuries and for civil-liability, personal-injury cases.
When Tamagni is not testifying in Juneau and serving on NFIB’s Leadership Council, he spends a heroic amount of time serving his community. He is currently president of the Abbott Loop Community Councils, a member of the Anchorage School District Capital Projects Committee, and a member of the Federation of Community Council. He was also a former scout master for Troop 2009 for five years.
His knowledge is so valued by the state and professional associations that Tamagni also serves as a member of the State Personnel Board, the National Institute of Pension Administrators, and the National Structured Settlement Association. He is a former chairman of the Alaska Labor Relations Board and the Anchorage Board of Examiners and Appeals. He has also served the Alaska Chiropractic Review Board, AMATS Advisory Ranking Committee, and the Anchorage Comprehensive Plan Committee.
