06/28/2005
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Montana/NFIB State Director Riley Johnson (left) and U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg (right) present Jeff Essmann with the Small-Business Champion award. |
NFIB member and State Senator Jeff Essmann is Montana's Small-Business Champion for 2005.
The national honor was conferred upon him by the Leadership Council of the National Federation of Independent Business/Montana, part of America's largest small-business advocacy group. Each year, NFIB singles out a small-business owner in all 50 states for special recognition and honors him or her with its prestigious "Small-Business Champion" award. This is the second year the national group has recognized small-business owners who go the extra mile for Main Street, mom-and-pop companies. Last year's winner was Gene Meier of Lewistown.
Essmann is owner of Valet Today Cleaners in Billings.
"Jeff Essmann embodies all the qualities that make small-business owners the pillars of their communities and the engine of the American economy," said Riley Johnson, NFIB/Montana state director. "When he leaves work, he doesn't run home to the couch, but instead gives selflessly of himself advancing the small-business agenda in his hometown and in the Montana legislature."
Essmann has been an NFIB member since 1984. He is a founding member of the group's Leadership Council and served as its chairman for six years. Essmann also sits on NFIB/Montana's PAC board. When NFIB established Area Action Councils four years ago, Essmann wasted no time in helping to get Billings' up and running. He was appointed to the Senate from Yellowstone County to serve in the just-completed 2005 session of the Montana legislature.
