Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, May 11, 1990                   TAG: 9005110149
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: GEORGE KEGLEY BUSINESS EDITOR
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

TIRE DISTRIBUTOR WINS SMALL-BUSINESS AWARD/ SKILLED-LABOR SHORTAGE CALLED NO.

The overwhelming response at a series of regional round tables of small business operators was "I can't find enough qualified people," said O'Donnell, director of small business and financial services for the department.

That problem emerges as a shortage of college-educated computer programmers in Northern Virginia and a lack of people who can read and write in Southside Virginia, he told a Small Business Week seminar of the Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce.

O'Donnell had no word about the labor supply in Western Virginia, but Bob Carter, head of the retired executive counseling program of the Small Business Administration in Roanoke, said he's heard no complaints. The unemployment rate in the Roanoke area was a low 3.4 percent in March.

O'Donnell warned the small business leaders that if they haven't faced a shortage of skilled labor, they should prepare for it in the future. Business and government, as well as development and education people, should cooperate to work on the problem, he said.

The need for qualified labor in the state was supported by David Fresquez, assistant director of business development for the Small Business Administration. Fresquez, who recently moved from Denver, said the major problem there was financing for small business; in Virginia he found a concern for labor.

O'Donnell said 97 percent of the approximately 120,000 companies in Virginia have fewer than 100 employees, but they provide jobs for 43 percent of the private sector employees in the state, he added.

The chamber presented its annual Small Business Person of the Year award to David R. White, president of White Tire Distributors.

White, a Tazewell native, started a one-man business in Roanoke 18 years ago that has grown to 64 employees and projected sales of $10 million this year in Roanoke and Kingsport, Tenn. His is the largest locally owned tire seller in the Roanoke Valley, said Richard Lynn, chamber president.

Ed LoBello, a management consultant, was chosen small-business advocate of the year, a new award. Both winners are eligible for state recognition, Lynn said.

Other nominees for the business person honor were James P.H. Green of Green & Associates; Scott McCoy, Roanoke Glass Shop; Mike Pietrzyk, Little Caesar's Pizza franchise owner; R. Coleman "Sam" Reid, Murray Cider Co.; William C. Snead, Southwest Virginia Window Co.; James R. Ridenhour, Ridenhour Music; and Barton J. Wilner, Entre Computer Center.