Published June 2004

Wens named runner-up in national SBA competition

SCBJ Staff

Rocky Wens, president of ESP Inc. of Lynnwood, an engineering firm that has become a nationally recognized defense contractor, was chosen in May as a second runner-up in the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Small Business Person of the Year competition at its annual awards program in Orlando, Fla.

Wens, previously selected as the SBA’s Minority Small Business Person of the Year for Washington state, the Snohomish County Business Journal’s 2003 Executive of the Year and then the SBA’s Small Business Person of the Year for the state in 2004, competed with SBA-selected business owners from 49 other states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Guam.

“It was quite a ride,” Wens said in a telephone interview from Orlando shortly after the awards presentation. “There were a lot of heavy hitters here. Out of 25 million small businesses in the country, it’s a real honor to be selected by the SBA for this competition.”

Over the past 20 years, Wens’ company has grown from one employee to 325 people at 38 sites in 17 states and Japan, with sales exceeding $18 million.

ESP Inc. provides highly skilled management, engineering, technical and administrative service professionals for government programs in a field dominated by large Fortune 500 defense contractors. His clients include the U.S. Department of Defense, top-tier aerospace and industrial companies, and state and local government agencies.

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