NovaVision Honored with 2012 Entrepreneurial & Business Excellence Hall of Fame Award

Six area businesses were recently announced as this year’s Entrepreneurial & Business Excellence Hall of Fame (EBE HOF) honorees.

Honored for business excellence are Burkett Restaurant Equipment, based in Toledo; Clouse Construction Corp., based in New Riegel; NovaVision Inc., based in Bowling Green; and Riker Products, based in Toledo. Mel Lanzer Company, based in Napoleon, is honored for excellence in family business. Solar Spectrum LLC is honored for excellence in startup innovation.

The companies will be inducted during a ceremony at 5:30 p.m. Nov. 8 at The Pinnacle, 1772 Indian Wood Circle, in Maumee. Tickets are $85. The Davenport-Longenecker Lifetime Achievement Award for Business Advocacy will be announced at the event.

The EBE HOF, presented by the University of Toledo, recognizes entrepreneurs who have built and sustained growing businesses and created jobs in the region as well as businesses that display technological innovation, said Adam Davenport, EBE HOF chairman and president of Gorillas & Gazelles, founding sponsor of the event.

“We’re really excited,” Davenport said. “We have a few construction companies, a restaurant supplier, solar once again through the University of Toledo, an automotive supplier, a security label manufacturer. There’s just a lot of diverse industries represented this year.”

Gary Frye, president and CEO of Riker Products, said, “We feel very, very honored to receive this award.”

Riker Products, which has been in business since the late 1940s and employs about 180 people, buys and bends tubing for use in heavy-duty exhaust systems and sells its products to trucking, mining and agricultural companies worldwide. Frye has been with the company for more than 40 years, starting as a laborer while still in high school and working his way to head of the company.

Mike Messmer, vice president and general manager of NovaVision, said the company is honored.

“One person could not do what we’re doing and the fact that we can grow is because we have such an excellent team,” Messmer said.

Founded in 1994, NovaVision has about 45 employees and specializes in technologies that provide anti-counterfeiting and anti-tampering features, including hologram labels, tamper-evident stickers, security tape, security seals and more. Its products are used worldwide, including by federal and state governments, military, airlines, ski resorts and collectibles dealers, Messmer said.

More than 700 people attended last year’s ceremony, Davenport said.

“It’s just a breath of fresh air to see that so many people will come out and support an event like this that showcases some of the inspiration stories and companies around this area,” Davenport said. “One thing we’re told is it’s an inspiration to many people out there that there are a lot of great things happening around here."