Cleaning Teeth, And Providing Some Backbone

Tue., June 3, 1997

Associated Press

A Washington state manufacturer who makes sound-wave-powered toothbrushes was honored by the U.S. Small Business Administration as the top small businessman in the nation.

Vice President Al Gore presented the National Small-Business Person of the Year award Monday to David Giuliani, president and chief executive officer of Optiva Corp., based in Bellevue, Wash.

“You really are the backbone of America,” Gore said in honoring participants from all 50 states. “Small businesses have helped America prosper in many ways, and you’ve done it by relying on old-fashioned values - ingenuity, sacrifice, risk-taking, hard work, more hard work, even more hard work, entrepreneurial drive, community spirit, and more.”

Optiva started in 1988 as a technology transfer project for the University of Washington. With the help of a grant obtained through the SBA, the company has grown from 10 to 250 employees and $50 million in sales.

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Cleaning Teeth, And Providing Some Backbone

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