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.