03/16/2006
CONTACT: Martyn Hopper or Michael Shaw, (916) 448-9904
or Tony Malandra, (415) 664-9685
National honor awarded to independent bookstore owner Alzada Knickerbocker
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Davis bookstore owner Alzada Knickerbocker is NFIB's state Small-Business Champion of the Year for 2006, it was announced today.
The honor was conferred upon her by the Leadership Council of the 35,000-member NFIB/California, the state'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 third year the national group has recognized small-business owners who go the extra mile for Main Street, mom-and-pop enterprises. Last year's winner was Alan Test of Toluca Lake (Los Angeles County) and in 2003, the award was presented to Gary McKinsey of Modesto.
Knickerbocker is owner of the Avid Reader bookstore in Davis. Having just a tenth of her professional, civic, and community involvement would make a full life for most people. Just to scratch the surface of her resume, she has been an independent book seller for 19 years, a marketing director for the Sacramento Symphony Orchestra for eight years, a college instructor at Stanford University, a director of programming for a San Francisco public radio station, and a published freelance writer.
She has been an active member of the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association, the Davis Downtown Business Association, the Davis School Arts Foundation, and the International House of Davis. Among the enumerable awards and accolades she and her store have garnered are Best Customer Service in Yolo County, Best Independent Retailer in Yolo County, Best Bookstore in Yolo County, and Best of the Region, Editors' Choice, Solano Magazine.
For NFIB, Knickerbocker has served as a vice president of its Leadership Trust Committee, is a member of its Sacramento Area Action Council, and has attended the 2004 Small-Business Summit. "She is the biggest canon in our arsenal of small-business advocates," said Martyn Hopper, state director for the 35,000-member NFIB/California. "She not only knows of what she speaks, she articulates it supremely and convincingly well. Countless thousands of small-business owners up and down this state have had their firms made a little more solvent thanks to the expert testimony of Alzada Knickerbocker before legislative committees."
Knickerbocker will compete with small-business owners from 11 western states for a regional award. All award winners will be honored at NFIB's National Small-Business Summit in Washington, D.C., June 18 to 20.
