Alaska's small business person of the year: Susan DeLoach of Juneau is honored for her success in early childhood development.

• Author: Martin, Gary L.
• Position: CELEBRATING SMALL BUSINESS - Cover story

Each year, the U.S. Small Business Administration names a Small-Business Person of the Year for each of the 50 states and U.S. territories. For Alaska, the 2005 person of the year was Susan DeLoach of Juneau. She is the president and owner of Bright Beginnings Early Learning Centers.

After being named Small-Business Person of the Year for their states, the honorees are then considered for the national honor. The person receiving that badge was named in Washington, D.C., at the SBA Expo '06, during National Small Business Week. That took place April 9-15 (after the deadline for this edition of ABM). All of the candidates were invited to attend the festivities.

HER TRUE CALLING

DeLoach's academic background is in early childhood education, so she has always had an interest in children. She and her husband, John, have two sons who are currently attending college. They also have two adopted daughters from Korea who are in elementary school.

"My intention always has been to work with children and to provide them with the best possible start with their early years," said DeLoach. "After getting my degree, I began a small program in Oregon that grew and expanded. We sold the business in 1995 and moved to Alaska."

Upon arriving in Juneau, they thought tourism was their future. According to DeLoach, she and her husband brought the first trolley-car company to Juneau, which was used mainly by tourists coming off the cruise ships.

Although the company was doing well, DeLoach felt something was missing from her life.

"My heart was still in early childhood education," she said, "so we sold that business and opened our first child care center in Juneau. We started a small program in 1996, which was licensed for 12 children. We also had two employees; one of them was me.

"The need for quality care was so great that we soon developed into a center, which was licensed for up to 85 children. Today, with our three centers, we have about 300 children and 100 employees."

About six years ago, one of DeLoach's associates moved to Anchorage and discovered that there was also a need for quality child care there, so DeLoach started her first center in Anchorage, which is located on Jewel Lake Road. About a year ago, she opened her second center in Anchorage. It is located on Abbott Road near Lake Otis Parkway.

HIGH STANDARDS

DeLoach has always emphasized quality; she maintains the best possible professional staff, and she places a lot of emphasis on curriculum...