KEDCO Announces Award Winners At Annual Meeting
November 3, 2020 at 3:36 a.m.

KEDCO Announces Award Winners At Annual Meeting
By Staff Report-
"This was such a special opportunity to recognize the public and private sector investors that make our work possible and to shine the spotlight on businesses and individuals who are making a difference in our community," said KEDCO CEO Alan Tio. "I’m excited about the momentum our team is building and look forward to more achievements yet this year to propel us into 2021."
KEDCO highlighted successes such as launching the Small Business Relief Fund to support clients with business recovery and job retention during COVID-19. The fund was launched with support from the city of Warsaw, county, town of Winona Lake and the Office of Community and Rural Affairs (OCRA). Funding is still available for small businesses and the application is available at the KEDCO website.
Other accomplishments during 2020 include KEDCO completing its new brand identity and relocating its offices to Warsaw City Hall, partnering with the city of Warsaw and the town of Winona Lake to develop a vision plan for the Argonne Road Corridor, forming a marketing strategy for the Warsaw Tech Park and leading planning for an innovation center, and continuing to build the agribusiness, entrepreneurship, housing, redevelopment and talent initiatives.
"This year we have continued to refine our economic development initiatives to meet the specific needs of clients and communities," said Tio. "We are transitioning from the ‘startup’ phase to the ‘scale-up’ phase as we work to build a best-in-class organization."
KEDCO recognized 30 local businesses with Business Impact awards and 20 individuals with Rising Leader awards – the inaugural winners of the organization’s new awards programs. The Rising Leader award is KEDCO’s take on a “Forty under 40" program to identify emerging leaders in the community. The Business Impact award recognizes local businesses in the county that have added jobs, expanded their operations, or made COVID-19-related investments in the community during 2020. Projections from these local companies include $135m in personal property or real estate investments in local operations, 550-plus new jobs and $11.2 million in wages for new job creation.
Recipients of the 2020 Business Impact Award are Aluminum Insights LLC, Avalign Technologies, Crossroads Bank, CTB Inc., EnPak LLC, HopLore Brewing Co., Innovative Metalworks, Instrumental Machine & Development, Ivy Tech - Warsaw, Kosciusko Community Hospital - Lutheran Hospital, Lake City Bank, Louis Dreyfus Company, Maple Leaf Farms, Network Partners, Nextremity Solutions Inc., NN Life Sciences/PEP, OrthoPediatrics, Owl Manor, Medical, Paragon Medical, Polywood, Rayco Tools Inc., ServIT, Silveus Insurance Group Inc., Streven Distilling Co., The Lab, Warsaw Machinery Inc., Williamsburg Marine, Winona IT, Winona Powder Coating and WishBone Medical.
Recipients of the 2020 Rising Leader Award are Tiffany Aites, Port Winona Wine + Market; Jason Brown, 110 Craft Meatery; Nate Carver, Instrumental Machine & Development; Wes Gensch, CoolCorp Inc.; Kelsi Griffith, Grace College; Anna Haldewang, Plan Bee; Alex Hall, Illy Center for Lakes & Streams; Bill King, Owl Manor Medical; Matt Linville, Zimmer Biomet; Yuzhu Liu, WishBone Medical Inc.; Cody Manges, North Webster/Tippecanoe Fire Department; Aleigh Myers, Louis Dreyfus Company; Jennifer Phillips, Wawasee Community Schools; Jeremy Porter, Porter Estates; Lyle Schrock, The Lab; Dan Stichter, Nextremity Solutions; Adam Turner, Turner Valentine LLC; Niki Waltz, Kimiko Dance Studio; Jessica Wienhorst, Bowen Center; and Chris Wiggins, Lake City Bank.
Find KEDCO on Facebook, Linkedin and Instagram (@kosciuskoedc) and visit www.kosciuskoedc.com.
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"This was such a special opportunity to recognize the public and private sector investors that make our work possible and to shine the spotlight on businesses and individuals who are making a difference in our community," said KEDCO CEO Alan Tio. "I’m excited about the momentum our team is building and look forward to more achievements yet this year to propel us into 2021."
KEDCO highlighted successes such as launching the Small Business Relief Fund to support clients with business recovery and job retention during COVID-19. The fund was launched with support from the city of Warsaw, county, town of Winona Lake and the Office of Community and Rural Affairs (OCRA). Funding is still available for small businesses and the application is available at the KEDCO website.
Other accomplishments during 2020 include KEDCO completing its new brand identity and relocating its offices to Warsaw City Hall, partnering with the city of Warsaw and the town of Winona Lake to develop a vision plan for the Argonne Road Corridor, forming a marketing strategy for the Warsaw Tech Park and leading planning for an innovation center, and continuing to build the agribusiness, entrepreneurship, housing, redevelopment and talent initiatives.
"This year we have continued to refine our economic development initiatives to meet the specific needs of clients and communities," said Tio. "We are transitioning from the ‘startup’ phase to the ‘scale-up’ phase as we work to build a best-in-class organization."
KEDCO recognized 30 local businesses with Business Impact awards and 20 individuals with Rising Leader awards – the inaugural winners of the organization’s new awards programs. The Rising Leader award is KEDCO’s take on a “Forty under 40" program to identify emerging leaders in the community. The Business Impact award recognizes local businesses in the county that have added jobs, expanded their operations, or made COVID-19-related investments in the community during 2020. Projections from these local companies include $135m in personal property or real estate investments in local operations, 550-plus new jobs and $11.2 million in wages for new job creation.
Recipients of the 2020 Business Impact Award are Aluminum Insights LLC, Avalign Technologies, Crossroads Bank, CTB Inc., EnPak LLC, HopLore Brewing Co., Innovative Metalworks, Instrumental Machine & Development, Ivy Tech - Warsaw, Kosciusko Community Hospital - Lutheran Hospital, Lake City Bank, Louis Dreyfus Company, Maple Leaf Farms, Network Partners, Nextremity Solutions Inc., NN Life Sciences/PEP, OrthoPediatrics, Owl Manor, Medical, Paragon Medical, Polywood, Rayco Tools Inc., ServIT, Silveus Insurance Group Inc., Streven Distilling Co., The Lab, Warsaw Machinery Inc., Williamsburg Marine, Winona IT, Winona Powder Coating and WishBone Medical.
Recipients of the 2020 Rising Leader Award are Tiffany Aites, Port Winona Wine + Market; Jason Brown, 110 Craft Meatery; Nate Carver, Instrumental Machine & Development; Wes Gensch, CoolCorp Inc.; Kelsi Griffith, Grace College; Anna Haldewang, Plan Bee; Alex Hall, Illy Center for Lakes & Streams; Bill King, Owl Manor Medical; Matt Linville, Zimmer Biomet; Yuzhu Liu, WishBone Medical Inc.; Cody Manges, North Webster/Tippecanoe Fire Department; Aleigh Myers, Louis Dreyfus Company; Jennifer Phillips, Wawasee Community Schools; Jeremy Porter, Porter Estates; Lyle Schrock, The Lab; Dan Stichter, Nextremity Solutions; Adam Turner, Turner Valentine LLC; Niki Waltz, Kimiko Dance Studio; Jessica Wienhorst, Bowen Center; and Chris Wiggins, Lake City Bank.
Find KEDCO on Facebook, Linkedin and Instagram (@kosciuskoedc) and visit www.kosciuskoedc.com.
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