Congratulations to Joseph Melookaran of JMA, who received the 2008 Small Business Advocate of the Year Award from the National Small Business Association.
I had the pleasure of working with Joseph very early in my career when the CPA firm that I worked for teamed up with Joseph’s firm for a couple of projects. Two of these projects still stick out in my mind today.
The first was an audit for a governmental agency who suspected that one of their vendors was committing fraud. They had seized several file cabinets of documents from this vendor. When we (me and another auditor) showed up, we were shown to what was essentially a large closet with the file cabinets and told “we think there is fraud going on, see what you can find”. That’s not a direct quote, but that’s what I remember. Anyway, we actually did find some evidence which was turned over to the Justice Department, but I never heard the final outcome of the case.
The second project I remember was doing some work for the Resolution Trust Company (RTC) during the cleanup after the Savings & Loan crisis. This was the first time I got to lead a team of 8 -10 people, most of whom were at least 5 – 10 years my senior, where I didn’t have “direct line authority” over the team members. I learned a lot during that time about leading a team, getting things done in a bureaucracy, and connecting with people of different backgrounds and cultures.
Based on my personal working relationship with Joseph, I am sure he is well deserving of this award and will continue to help other small business owners realize the American Dream.
Congratulations Joseph!
Bill Brelsford Small Business Marketing Consultant
