By David Blanchette Carole Keating’s entrepreneurial success can be simply summed up. “I really don’t take ‘no’ for an answer,” Keating said. “If I hit an obstacle, I always keep going. That pretty much sums it up, perseverance and hard work.” That perseverance has paid off, most recently with Keating’s acquisition of Egizii Electric, located [...]
By Carey Smith Selected as one of the best places to work in 2008 by Springfield Business Journal and United Community Bank, Crawford, Murphy & Tilly, Inc. (CMT) began in 1946 with the idea that engineering could significantly improve our country’s post-war infrastructure. Friends and civil engineers Len Crawford, Pat Murphy and Ray Tilly began [...]
By Carey Smith As the Springfield Railway Improvements Project moves toward completion, an increasing number of businesses have been impacted, with more to come. Benmar Sunrooms was the first business to be displaced in 2014, and since then, an additional 18 businesses have had to relocate as a result of work taking place along the [...]
By Holly Whisler The phrase “these unprecedented times” has been overused this year, yet still rings true. When the Federal Reserve cut interest rates to near zero in March, the area economy responded. Consumer lending - specifically, home and auto loans - gained momentum over the summer months, despite high levels of unemployment and uncertainty [...]
This is the 18th year that Springfield Business Journal has partnered with United Community Bank to recognize 15 outstanding small businesses in the local area. To qualify, a business must be located in Sangamon or Morgan county, have been open for at least two years and have 15 or fewer full-time employees. A business is [...]
By PETER HANCOCK, Capitol News Illinois phancock@capitolnewsillinois.com Black-owned businesses in Illinois face significant barriers to growth and opportunities that would enable them to compete with their white-owned counterparts, a problem that many Black leaders say is directly tied to Black unemployment rates and the deterioration of Black neighborhoods. That was the message state lawmakers heard [...]
By Catherine O’Connor Springfield lost two community-minded entrepreneurial giants, Louis Myers and Arnold Stern, within the first week of September 2020. Though Stern and Myers were three years apart in age, they were lifelong friends who had much in common, beginning with primary education at Butler Elementary School followed by graduation from Springfield High [...]
By Holly Whisler Springfield business MB Heating & Cooling realized that many of their employees were facing a dilemma: go to work, or stay home with kids who are learning remotely. General manager Doug Gholson explained that last spring, the company had a plumber and an installer who could not work a full week because [...]
