Strata-G brings Dream Big award home to Knoxville

Knoxville engineering firm Strata-G has won the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Dream Big Small Business of the Year Award from a field of 19 finalists, the chamber announced.

The prize, presented by MetLife, comes with $25,000, according to a news release. It “celebrates the achievements of small businesses and honors their contributions to America’s economic growth,” the announcement said.

“We are honored by our selection as the Dream Big Small Business of the Year and dedicate the award to our employees who have embraced our core values of integrity, service and quality, and to our clients who give us an opportunity to serve them,” Dan Hurst, Strata-G president and founder, said in a company news release.

Hurst told the chamber during a Q&A that he planned to devote the prize money to a matching grant with Knox Area Rescue Ministries and Westview Community School, improving education for local homeless and underserved inner-city children.

“We want to build on the strengths of both organizations to bless children and families in Knoxville challenged by homelessness and poverty,” Hurst said in the Strata-G news release.

Strata-G employs about 230 engineers, project managers, environmental scientists, and safety professionals, working on environmental, nuclear and utility projects nationwide, according to the chamber. The company was founded in 2002. Its website is www.stratag.org.

“The Dream Big Awards celebrate the very best in American small business – the innovators, risk takers, dreamers, and doers who contribute to our country’s growth and prosperity,” Tom Sullivan, chamber vice president of small business policy, said in the chamber’s news release. “The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is proud to honor small businesses across the country who embody the spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship. Thank you for all you do, and congratulations to Strata-G and all of our award finalists.”

In addition to the Dream Big award, the chamber gave out six Business Achievement Awards. Coonhound Camping of Knoxville, a camping equipment delivery and set-up firm founded in 2017 by four University of Tennessee Haslam College of Business students, won both the Community Excellence and Young Entrepreneur Achievement awards.

The winners were announced at the Summit for Small and Growing Businesses in Washington, D.C.

Source: Knoxville News Sentinel, by Jim Gaines

The East Tennessee Economic Development Agency markets and recruits business for the 15 counties in the greater Knoxville-Oak Ridge region of East Tennessee. Visit www.eteda.org

Published October 18, 2019