WILMINGTON, DE – May 2, 2014 – Marian Young and Mark Lannan, co-owners of BrightFields, Inc. (www.BrightFieldsinc.com), have been selected by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) as the 2014 Delaware Small Business Persons of the Year. For over 50 years, National Small Business Week has recognized the outstanding achievements of America’s small businesses for their contributions in their local communities and to our nation’s economy.

Young and Lannan will be honored in Washington, DC, on May 15-16, during the 2014 National Small Business Week Awards, and they will be recognized at SBA’s annual Delaware “Celebrate Success” event on May 21 at DuPont Country Club in Wilmington. Click here for registration information.

This is the second time the BrightFields’ owners have received this award, as Young and Lannan were previously honored as the Delaware 2008 Small Business Persons of the Year.

Young and Lannan were nominated for the 2014 award by Juanita Beauford, Program Director at the University of Delaware SBTDC Procurement Technical Assistance Center, who has served as an advisor to BrightFields in the areas of state and federal marketing and procurement. She states, “I see a terrific collaboration between Mark and Marian. They attribute a large part of their own success to their ‘complementary’ personal styles and business skills. While both partners have extensive technical experience, Marian as a soil scientist and Mark as a geologist, they focus on different aspects of the business. Marian provides leadership in the areas of business development, community relations, large-scale project management, and staff training and mentoring. During the recession, she created and managed a very effective marketing campaign that broadened the client base and service areas for BrightFields. Mark has strong analytical skills, both scientific and financial. In addition to handling a growing backlog of environmental remediation projects, during the recession he tracked and shared bidding and sales activity graphically, on a monthly basis, with the employees to align and encourage them to create increasing revenue. He has tightly managed cash flow and made prudent use of cash resources to ensure company viability and growth.”

Young commented, “We are extremely honored to be selected. The Award really goes to ALL of BrightFields’ team for their faith in the company, for the incredibly hard work they personally put in to pull BrightFields out of the recession, and for their commitment to grow and expand our service lines and our geographic footprint.”

Lannan seconded those thoughts, adding, “We met the challenges of that period head-on and led BrightFields to new levels of success, thanks to our technically strong proactive team and the firm’s solid pre-recession finances, as well as strategic advice from SBA-backed SCORE counselors Earl Norman, a former Senior Executive at The Boeing Company, and Rick Hynes, former Director of Global Marketing at Hercules Inc. Since our start in 2003, we have expanded from 12 to 42 employees and increased our annual revenue seven-fold.”

Lannan and Young devote significant time and resources to supporting community projects and organizations. Over the past 5 years, they and BrightFields have given $35K and hundreds of hours of in-kind service to non-profits, including the Kalmar Nyckel Foundation, Habitat for Humanity, the Delaware Center for Horticulture, The Challenge Program for at-risk youth, Delaware Humane Association, Main Street Delaware City, KIDS Fund, Toys for Tots, the Goddard School Garden, and Sunday Breakfast Mission.

BrightFields, Inc. was retained by the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) to plan and manage the remediation, restoration and maintenance activities at Mirror Lake in Dover, Delaware.  DNREC’s goal is to lift the current fish advisory at Mirror Lake, by the in-situ remediation placement of a layer of activated carbon onto the lake bottom sediments to sequester the existing contaminants so they are no longer bio-available to fish and aquatic organisms.  Restoration activities included creating an intertidal wetland, bank stabilization, installation of grade control structures, and riparian buffer planting.

The remediation of the lake sediments was done by uniformly spreading SediMite™ throughout the lake and the surrounding up and down stream areas.  SediMite™ was spread from the bank of the lake using a telebelt, as well as from boats on the lake through the use of an induction air horn, Vortex spreaders, and by hand.  SediMite™ was spread by three different methods to overcome access and water depth issues.

• A total of 79 tons of SediMite™ was used to cover the entire lake and stream bottoms in the project area.
• Volunteer hours were used to spread SediMite™.

The restoration of the lake and surrounding areas included the pruning of plants along the east and west banks, the enhancement of the existing sandbar on the east side, the creation of an intertidal wetlands, the reinforcement of the west bank with coir logs and mulch. Two rock vanes were constructed upstream of the wetlands to assist in directing the natural flow of the Thalweg.

• The intertidal wetland was created over an area of approximately 20,000 square feet using over 1,325 tons of sand.
• The two rock vanes were installed using 120 tons of large stone and riprap.
• 800 linear feet of 16-inch diameter coir logs were placed along the west bank.
• Over 3,000 plants were planted and 7 rolls of coir matting were placed to create wetland habitat.

To learn more about the Mirror Lake project, please check out the video on DNREC’s YouTube channel.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(WILMINGTON, Del., October 23, 2012) Marian Young, president of BrightFields Inc., has been selected as the 2012 recipient of the Society of Women Environmental Professionals of Greater Philadelphia’s Annual Touchstone Award. Young will receive the award on November 7, 2012, during a SWEP reception at Trust, 249 Arch Street, Philadelphia. Judy Wicks, founder of the Sustainable Business Network of Greater Philadelphia and co-founder of the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies, will be the keynote speaker.

The annual SWEP Touchstone Awards, initiated in 1997, are an integral part of the organization’s mission to support and promote the leadership and achievement of women professionals in the environmental field (www.swepweb.com). “SWEP’s Award recipients set a high standard for quality and excellence, and are distinguished by their professional commitment, leadership and achievement,” according to Joanna Waldron, co-chair of SWEP’s Touchstone Award Reception. Named for the fieldstones used by gemologists to test the purity of gold, the Touchstone Award showcases women who have made or are making a significant contribution to the environmental field and who have truly set a benchmark in the environmental profession.

Young, in conjunction with Mark Lannan, purchased the assets of WIK Associates in 2003 and formed BrightFields Inc. (https://www.brightfieldsinc.com). She led the charge in growing BrightFields from a start-up of 12 people to a staff of 37 focused on brownfield property redevelopment. She has been at the environmental forefront of reclaiming Wilmington’s waterfront over a 15-year transformation from industrial wasteland to a vibrant urban center. In 2008, she earned recognition as the SBA Small Business Person of the year for the state of Delaware.

Young serves on the board of directors and co-chairs the Environmental Committee for the Committee of 100, a Delaware-based business organization focused on responsible economic development and quality of life issues. She is also the vice president of DEED – Delawareans for Environmental and Economic Development, a coalition of labor and business leaders. Twice appointed to Governor’s Working Groups to address Recycling and Solid Waste issues, Young currently serves on the New Castle County Recharge Protection Technical Advisory Council and on the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control Brownfields Committee.

As volunteer Environmental Advisor to Delaware Center for Horticulture, Young developed a system of liners for raised garden beds to allow safe urban agriculture on brownfield properties, an approach adopted in Community Gardens throughout the city and in Wilmington’s first Urban Farm.

A former president of Main Street Delaware City Inc., a nonprofit revitalization group affiliated with the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Young currently chairs Delaware City’s Ecotourism Program, focused on restoring, interpreting and marketing the natural environment of this charming riverfront town. Successful fundraising has included grants from the Citizens Involvement Advisory Council and the Audubon Society.

Young demonstrates Backyard Composting and Kitchen Scrap Worm Composting for urban Wilmington schoolchildren every Earth Day. She ensures that the company and its employees give back to the community by supporting numerous nonprofits, charities and events through donations, in-kind services and volunteerism, including serving on committees and boards; each year, BrightFields employees donate their time to Habitat for Humanity for Long-Term Stewardship monitoring on brownfield redevelopment projects.

BrightFields Inc. is an environmental consulting and remediation services firm with offices in Delaware, Pennsylvania and Maryland. Certified as a woman-owned business in these three states and by the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council, BrightFields has built a solid reputation for excellent client service and technical quality. BrightFields specializes in:
• Brownfield Redevelopment
• Phase I & II Investigations
• Residential and Commercial Energy Audits
• Soil and Groundwater Remediation
• Asbestos and Lead Services
• Underground Storage Tanks
• Environmental Permitting, Auditing and Compliance
• Stream bank Restoration

Visit www.brightfieldsinc.com or call Cheryl Titcher at 302-656-9600 for more information.

BrightFields is pleased to announce our new membership with Habitat for Humanity of New Castle County’s newest out-reach program, Habitat Young Professionals Committee.    The vision of the Habitat Young Professionals Committee is to raise money, create awareness, and promote volunteerism for Habitat for Humanity of New Castle County, Delaware.

In the six years that BrightFields has been working with Habitat for Humanity of New Castle County, we have helped transform potentially environmentally contaminated and under used brownfield properties into clean and safe working environments for Habitat volunteers to construct safe and affordable homes for families in need.  We have seen a total of 24 homes completed and are currently working on completing another 21 homes.