FHC Receives National Tibbetts Award

April 27th 2012

FHC has received a national award from the U.S. Small Business Administration. On Tuesday, April 24, FHC was awarded with the Tibbetts award as one of 18 small businesses in the United States being recognized for their role in research and development and their success in creating new jobs through innovation strategies.

The Roland Tibbetts awards are presented to companies and individuals who participate in and support the SBA’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. Recipients are selected based on their participation in technological innovation, the economic effect of their work, and by meeting the needs of federal research and development. According to the SBA, the SBIR program accounted for more than $2.5 billion in the fiscal year 2011 for federal research and development funds.

Keri Seitz, president of FHC said “We’re really honored and thrilled to be recognized. It was nice to be considered and recommended to apply for the award. I didn’t necessarily expect that we would win one but it was a real honor and treat to be selected.” Seitz and FHC CEO Fred Haer were presented the award in Washington, DC by Karen Mills, SBA’s administrator.

Seitz and Haer credit much of the company’s success with the SBIR program to Dr. Lee Margolin, who has recently resigned from the company to pursue other interests. Dr. Margolin was FHC’s Director of Compliance and Research and was responsible for submitting many SBIR grant applications. The funding received through the SBIR program has allowed FHC to commercialize some ideas and products that were already on the horizon. “The company is doing well,” stated Seitz, who has been employed at FHC for seven years. FHC is in an industry that has not felt the financial challenges that many other businesses have been plagued with. “Our business is seated well to weather storms like that.”

When asked the significance of the award for the employees, Seitz indicated “It’s actually really important. I think it continues to fuel the enthusiasm and the pride that people who work at FHC take in their everyday jobs, to be recognized like this; to show that we’re advancing the sciences and helping pioneer some new technologies.”

FHC was founded in 1970 in Ann Arbor, Michigan and relocated to Maine in 1977. FHC now employs 92 people, including sales and technical support staff in Greenville, PA; Bucharest, Romania; and Medellin, Colombia. FHC is committed to the core values of collaborative innovation, outstanding quality and customer service, dedication to employee development, responsibility to its communities, and respectful business relationships.