Burnsville machine shop, CEO earn top honor

U.S. Chamber of Commerce names Burnsville company its 2008 Small Business of the Year.

Last update: April 22, 2008 - 7:01 PM

Darlene Miller, CEO of Burnsville's Permac Industries, shook hands with President Bush on Friday for the second time in as many weeks. Miller met with the president after the U.S. Chamber of Commerce named her company its 2008 Small Business of the Year.

"I'm on the highest high you could ever imagine," she said Friday in a phone interview from Washington.

Permac Industries competed with hundreds of companies nationwide for the award, which is given to the company that best demonstrates excellence in financial performance and business history, staff training and motivation, community involvement, customer service and planning. Seven regional finalists advanced to the awards banquet.

Permac Industries is a high-precision machine shop that takes clients' blueprints and makes custom parts. Its customers include John Deere, Toro and Harley Davidson. Miller said her 42 employees deserved credit for making her company stand out and emphasized it was not an individual award for her.

Miller said she related the banquet and awards ceremony to winning an Oscar and that she is "living the American dream."

Miller said she looks forward to "going back home to reality, back to building the business, keeping the business growing and congratulating employees."

A week earlier, Miller said she and eight others met President Bush in the White House's Roosevelt Room. They were being honored as small-business people who were taking advantage of the recently passed economic stimulus package to buy equipment.

After receiving the Small Business Award of the Year, Miller ended her thank-you speech at a Thursday night banquet with a "Yay Minnesota!" She met Bush for the second time the day after she received the award.

TOM MORAN

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