NDC honors four Newton businesses at Thursday lunch

Members of the Newton Development Corporation and area businesses gathered at DMACC/Sodexho for the 2007 Salute to Business and Industry Luncheon Thursday afternoon. Four local businesses were recognized including Iowa Telecom, Caleris, Hanson Directory and PDP. Alan Wells, president and CEO of Iowa Telecom, said he was pleased the company, which recently moved its operations into the former Maytag headquarters building, was acknowledged for the work Iowa Telecom has done across the state and more importantly in the community. “I and the company are honored to be recognized for what we’ve done,” Wells said today. “We’ve tried to be a good corporate citizen and we’re pleased to be recognized.” Caleris, Iowa Telecom’s neighbors at the headquarters building, also was recognized for their recent relocation to and impact on Newton. Sheldon Ohringer accepted the award for himself and Rick Grewell who started the business in Des Moines in the 1990s and expanded their operations opening in Newton earlier this year. “It’s a been a great experience moving here and working with NDC and Iowa Telecom and everyone has made our transition so easy, they are just a step above the rest, so to be recognized by them, we’re so happy,” said Grewell after the luncheon. Bill Hanson, president of Hanson Directory, said he was honored that his company, which was founded by his father Lloyd L. Hanson in his Newton home in 1973, was being recognized at the luncheon. “It’s a very special thing and to be recognized by your peers is a great honor,” Hanson said. “I only wish my father, the founder of the company, could have been here with us today. He would have been very proud of this.” Don Fisher received the NDC’s entrepreneur of the year award for his company PDP, which he started with his wife in 1997 in a single-stall garage. Fisher left his job at Maytag in 2000 and began working on his business full time. Today, PDP is located in a 10,000 square foot building and works with companies across the United States. “It was shocking” Fisher said of the honor. “I’m humbled and grateful for the opportunity to tell what our company does.” Kim Didier, executive director of NDC, said the group decided to host the luncheon as a way to thank the local businesses and recognize their contributions to the local economy and the community as a whole. “This is a way to recognize that fundamentally it’s our existing businesses where 80 to 90 percent of our growth can come from and will happen at,” Didier said following the program. “And it’s a way to say thank you and to share with them our appreciation.”