Chamber 'Member of the Year' is into business

Chamber officials indicated that Freeman is receiving the awrd for his "dedication to the Woodland business community."

"He has given a tremendous amount of time and energy into helping businesses start and succeed," the chamber stated. "As a previous business owner, he provides the hands on experience which lends to his credibility. He is honest, with the utmost integrity and is someone you can always feel comfortable referring your customers to. He is a strong supporter of the partnerships with the Woodland Chamber of Commerce, the city and county. He helps out the Chamber staff covering the office when needed. He has held numerous marketing and training workshops. He also facilitated the 2010 planning session with the Board of Directors."

Freeman was the Western U.S. Credit and Finance Director for a Fortune 50 company, started his own business in 1977 and was bought out in 2004. This 26 years of running a $2 million-plus business has helped him to understand the problems of most small businesses in all areas such as employee management, financing, marketing and staying profitable.

During this time of business ownership, he taught both Ag. Business and Business at Yuba College for 20+ years, was a Nightingale Conant consultant for 2 years and an SBDC consultant for 5 years prior to becoming the Director in 2004.

In 2004, Ken retired but was enjoying working with business owners so became the SBDC director. His greatest joy is still working with the business owner to make their business successful. Often, he can see things the owner is blind towards and help turn a business into a profit maker.