The Sacramento District Small Business Award Winners include two construction firms and a manufacturer
In celebration of National Small Business month, U.S. Bank bankers in Sacramento had the honor recently of seeing three of their clients recognized by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA).
At an event held by the SBA’s Sacramento District, Thermal Conductive Bonding, Inc. took home Region IX Manufacturer of the Year; Creekside Commercial Builders, Inc. won Contractor of the Year and White Bear Construction, Inc. earned Region IX Rural Small Business of the Year.
“Each year, the Sacramento District SBA awards celebrate the inspiring stories of local entrepreneurs who are building the small businesses that strengthen our community and fuel our economy,” said Anjalise Ah Yen, a U.S. Bank business banking relationship manager who has worked with some of the winning businesses. “At U.S. Bank, we are honored to work alongside many of these business owners and support them as they pursue their dreams.”
Here’s a closer look at the winners:
Sacramento SBA Region IX Manufacturer of the Year: Thermal Conductive Bonding
Thermal Conductive Bonding (TCB) is a leading provider of high-quality bonding solutions. But at its core, TCB is in the business of solving problems.
“Our opportunity is when a customer needs to do something better,” said Wayne Simpson, who co-founded TCB nearly 30 years ago with his business partner, Ryan Scatena. “We don’t sell anything; we solve problems.”
TCB provides bonding solutions primarily to the high-technology community, and the ability to join materials together with specific properties used in semiconductors, flat-screen TVs and automobiles, just to name a few.
Simpson and Scatena have used their problem-solving skills to grow TCB from a two-person firm to a company with some 50 employees that has operations in San Jose, Sacramento and Germany. Together, they own about 15 patents for manufacturing processes between them.
Simpson and Scatena founded TCB in 1998 because they were trying to solve a problem of their own: the company they both worked for decided to close the San Jose, California, manufacturing facility they managed and didn’t offer them new roles elsewhere.
“We didn’t want to go through that pain again, so it didn’t take us long to figure out we should start our own business,” Scatena said. “We had good relationships with our customers and there was still a lot of demand in the market.”
Business quickly picked up, and within a few years they expanded overseas to meet the needs of clients. One of their biggest milestones came in 2019, when they decided to relocate their headquarters to Sacramento to make it easier to find employees in a competitive labor market. They pitched the idea to existing employees first, Scatena said, and “they almost all said yes because they could actually afford to buy a house in Sacramento.”
U.S. Bank became TCB’s bank after the move, and their bankers “took the time to understand our company and see our vision,” Scatena said. “They really brought a personal touch to the banking relationship.”
Winning the Sacramento region SBA award for Manufacturer of the Year has given the founders an opportunity to reflect on everyone who has supported them along the way, especially their families and employees, Scatena said.
“We don’t just build products, we build relationships with our customers and our own employees,” he said. “That trust and ability to have candid conversations is a big part of our success.”
White Bear Construction: Region IX Rural Small Business of the Year
For owner Amanda Hoy, winning the SBA Sacramento District’s Rural Business of the Year is a credit to both her company and her community of Alturas, California.
“It’s an absolute honor — and the first time our town has received this kind of business recognition,” Hoy said. “We’ve developed this company in one of the most rural and remote areas you can, and this award shows you can do it — it just takes perseverance and grit.”
Hoy and her husband founded White Bear Construction, Inc. in 1999, drawing on deep roots in the trades — he is a third-generation contractor, and Hoy has a contracting background of her own. They grew the company in phases, balancing entrepreneurship with raising a family.
The turning point came when their son, Austin Hoy, wanted to return home to the Shasta Cascades region and help expand the business.
“When he said he wanted to grow it, we made the determination we were going to go all in,” Hoy said.
As White Bear ramped up, the SBA became an important partner. Hoy credits training and advising resources — from business planning support to workshops on reviewing federal solicitations — with helping her professionalize operations and compete in the federal marketplace. She also participated in the SBA THRIVE program, a multi-month executive education experience she describes as “like a mini master’s degree” in building a durable, scalable business model.
That preparation helped White Bear break into a customer base that is primarily federal. Hoy estimates roughly 80% of the company’s work comes from government projects, a focus that has enabled the team to take on jobs across California and beyond.
Two years ago, the company expanded further by acquiring the local concrete plant — a strategic move that strengthened the supply chain in a small town where dependable materials can make or break a project schedule. The acquisition also allowed White Bear to serve as both a contractor and a concrete materials supplier.
Along the way, White Bear has built a reputation as a broad site and heavy civil contractor — tackling water and sewer lines, site work and projects that require operating far from major population centers. One standout milestone: helping deliver a new hospital in Alturas by completing key site work and supplying concrete locally, meeting stringent seismic standards.
“There aren’t a lot of contractors in California that can say they helped build a new hospital,” she said.
Hoy says the company’s choice to remain rooted in Modoc County, the far northeast corner of California, is intentional. While growth might have been easier in a larger market, the family wanted to build a business that creates jobs and opportunities at home.
“One of the things I’m most proud of is that we bring employees on who may not have construction experience and give them all the training they need,” she said. “We try to stay true to our community and hire local.”
Sacramento SBA Contractor of the Year: Creekside Commercial Builders, Inc.
When David and Elizabeth Sosner decided to move from Southern California to Elizabeth’s small hometown in Gold Rush country for a better life, there was just one problem: there weren’t a lot of job opportunities.
So David, who had a contractor’s license and background in commercial construction, decided to set up shop out of a cabinet in his garage, he distinctly remembers, with a sticker that said fishin’ without the g.
What started as a one-man business 20 years ago evolved into Creekside Commercial Builders, Inc., which employs nearly three dozen people. The firm’s projects include a 33-unit student housing facility for Lake Tahoe Community College, a veterinarian hospital in Truckee, several senior living facilities, more than 1,000 units of multi-family projects and numerous public projects for state and local government.
“We target projects that bring value to the community and try to bring a good name to the word ‘contractor’ through integrity and transparency,” David said. “Our goal isn’t to be the biggest contractor, it’s to be the best.”
The Sosners know firsthand that construction can be a roller coaster ride tied to the economy. Creekside started just at the peak of California’s real estate boom in 2006, then endured the Great Recession by taking on tenant improvement projects and skipping paychecks for themselves.
“We’ve learned to be flexible and pivot to learn new markets,” David said. When commercial work slowed, Creekside moved into the publicly financed affordable housing space. As tax incentives for those projects dried up, his team moved into public sector projects.
“It’s one of our values to be adaptable,” he said. “Failure is not an option.”
The Sosners are now focused on transitioning Creekside Builders to the next generation and iteration; their son Cody is the firm’s chief financial officer and other longtime employees are in the chief executive officer and chief operations officer roles. David currently continues to work with the estimating team for Creekside, and the Sosners have shifted their focus to enjoying their grandchild and building Elizabeth’s art career. She works primarily in the medium of alcohol inks, and her work can be seen at Eliza Anne intuitive Arts.
Winning the SBA award “is not only great advertising, but it couldn’t have come at a better time with this transition,” David said. “It lets our employees know we are a pretty cool company, and reminds the community that we are a partner for generations to come.”
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