Select Design is the winner of the Burlington Business Award and Jeffrey L Davis of JL Davis Realty is the winner of the Tim Halvorson Award, which are presented by the Burlington Business Association. The 33rd Annual Burlington Business Association Dinner & Awards Ceremony will be held April 7th at the Hilton Burlington Hotel
The Burlington Business Award, originally the Small Business Award, was established in 2002 to honor exemplary business practices, contributions to the community, promotion of a positive image for Burlington, and overall business success. This year, Select Design will join the Burlington Business Award Hall-of-Fame, with past recipients including Seven Days, SkiRack, Lake Champlain Chocolates, Run Vermont, TruexCullins, Gardner’s Supply Vermont Lake Monsters, Shanty on the Shore, and Lois Bodoky ‘Hot Dog Lady’.
So what is Select Design? What do they do? Well, you might have heard of some of their clients: Pepsi, Dunkin Donuts, Burton Snowboards, Green Mountain Coffee, Whole Foods, Guess, MTV, Phish, Ben & Jerry’sâ ¦ just to name a few. Select Design helps fuel the creativity behind these and several other nationally and locally-known brands by taking a vision and creating a reality. Select Design develops visual solutions in various forms; from bottle packaging for Pepsi to T-shirts for Phish, Facebook strategy for Timerberland to design and production of Burton hoodies, flasks and hats.
In 1983, Select Design founders and current principals Kevin Owens of Boston and Jeff Beer of New York met while attending the University of Vermont. In an attempt to raise money for a ski trip, the duo began selling T-shirts at the 1988 NCAA Ski Championships. After selling all 400 they had produced, the two realized they were on to something. Twenty-three years of dedication and creative genius has helped Select Design to develop an impressive and well established client base.
Aside from their business success, Select Design is a company that is invested in the Burlington community. Each year they raise thousands of dollars for local charities through their ‘second’s sale’ and more recently, hosted a benefit concert at Higher Ground to help support Pete’s Green, a local farm whose crops and supplies were devastated by a fire last month.
The Tim Halvorson Award, established in 2009, recognizes an individual for outstanding contribution to the economic vitality of Burlington. The 2011 winner, Jeffrey L. Davis, President of J.L. Davis Reality, Inc. is a Burlington native and graduate of both Burlington High School and the University of Vermont. He is the owner of the Richardson Building, former home of Abernathy’s at Two Church Street, as well as the Courthouse Plaza at the foot of Church and Main Streets.
Davis is a member of the University Of Vermont Board Of Trustees and on the Board of Directors at Merchants Bank. Davis maintains a long history of involvement with up-and-coming Burlington businesses; both as a landlord who can be flexible when need be and in his role with one of our finest local lending institutions.
Jeff currently works out of an office in his building at Two Church Street, is a father of three and lives in Underhill with his wife, Karen and their new puppy.
Earlier this month, BBA announced that Champlain College’s Roger H. Perry Hall is the winner of the 2011 Architectural Excellence Award in honor of Hertzel Pasackow, granted to a project contributing significantly to the physical or architectural quality of Burlington.
The BBA Annual Dinner will be held at the Hilton Burlington on April 7th from 5:30 ‘ 9:00pm, beginning with a cocktail reception, followed by a live auction and the awards ceremony. During the ceremony BBA will present awards in the three major categories: the Burlington Business Award, Tim Halvorson Award, and the Architectural Excellence Award.
The public is invited to attend the BBA Annual Dinner to celebrate and applaud our award winners as well as the Burlington Business community.
Member dinner tickets are $65 and non-member tickets are $75. Members can also purchase a table of 10 for $650 and non-members for $750. Tickets to attend the dinner and award ceremony are available through the BBA website at www.BurlingtonBusinessAssociation.com/BBA_Annual_Dinner.
The Burlington Business Association has over 200 member businesses with the majority being located in Burlington. The Association and its members work to promote the economic vitality of Burlington.
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