toledoblade.com --

Billy Joe Smith spent 19 years in advertising, marketing, and public relations before being asked to help start a minority-owned asphalt paving business.

Knowing that only one other minority-owned asphalt paving firm existed in northwest Ohio - and that a percentage of state construction business must be given to such concerns - Mr. Smith in 1986 helped start Ebony Construction Co. Inc.

And that risk helped the Sylvania highway paving company's president be named yesterday as one of Northwest Ohio's seven Entrepreneurs of the Year during a ceremony at downtown Toledo's Valentine Theatre.

Joining Mr. Smith in the honors from Ernst & Young LLP were James Aston, president of Ohio Concrete Sawing & Drilling Inc. of Sylvania; Roger Benz, president of Seneca Medical Inc. of Tiffin; Thomas Cousino, president and chief executive of Front Street Ventures of Toledo; Thomas Kiser, president and chief executive of Professional Supply Inc. of Fremont; Joseph Kunkle, strategic business unit manager for SSOE Inc. of Toledo; and Michael McAlear, president of Service Spring Corp. of Millbury.

Mr. Aston founded Ohio Concrete, which works for contractors, in 1981 and now has 100 employees. Every month he writes a company newsletter for 8,000 current and former customers.

Mr. Benz started his medical-surgical supplies distribution company in 1990. The 250-employee firm has a stock ownership plan that enables workers to own 90 percent of the company, as well as a profit-sharing plan.

Mr. Cousino, who got his start in his father's restaurant business at 12, transformed the eastern banks of the Maumee River across from downtown Toledo with The Docks, a restaurant row. His company has six Cousino restaurants: Cousino's Steakhouse, the Navy Bistro, Tangos Mexican Cantina, Eileen's Wine Bar, Gumbos, and The Courtyard at the Navy.

Mr. Kiser started his company in 1979 with a small loan and his wife's wedding ring as collateral. He designed a heating and air conditioning system that in 1986 was installed for the firm's first major customer, the Ford Motor Co. plant in Sandusky, now part of Visteon Corp.

Mr. Kunkle joined the giant architectural and engineering firm in 1983 and was pivotal in an internal restructuring that introduced strategic business units. The units have provided specialization and improved market focus for the firm.

Mr. McAlear started working at Service Spring, which makes products for garage doors and to clean drains, as an hourly worker in 1978 after graduating from high school. He has introduced a number of innovations at the company started by his grandfather, including a process to reduce by about a week the time to get products to customers.

The entrepreneurs are eligible for the National Entrepreneur of the Year award to be announced Nov. 22 in Palm Springs, Calif. Seven judges selected by Ernst & Young, one of the main sponsors of the award, chose the winners from 19 finalists.

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