Area entrepreneur wins SBA award for veteran-owned business

Jeremy Harris, owner of IT Mindshare, was named the SBA West Virginia 2018 Veteran-Owned Small Business of the Year.
The honor was announced recently by The U.S. Small Business Administration.
Harris was nominated  by Jesse Bumps, from Clear Mountain Bank, and Todd Crump, a business coach for the West Virginia Small Business Development Center, according to a press release from the SBA.
IT Mindshare is a Morgantown-based technology company specializing in responsive local and regional IT services, including core onsite Information Technology, phone and voice services, data cabling and relocation, strategic consulting, and web design services.
The company works with    commercial, government and nonprofit organizations to formulate a scalable, cost-effective and efficient technology strategy.
Harris’ time in the U.S. Army was spent working with technology and analytics in remote parts of the world as a part of a  small team, according to the press release.
Working in that environment  helped ingrain a mindset of “this must be done,” knowing  there often wasn’t a backup plan and people were depending on him to be successful and carry out his mission.
“This same mindset is often needed as a business owner, knowing that employees and clients are counting on you, and you have to perform,” Harris said in the release. “Our people, processes and company culture are the separating factor between IT Mindshare and other area IT firms. We have invested a great deal of strategic thinking, time and money to achieve a company culture that attracts the best talent and rewards them for being team players and treating customers well.
The SBA West Virginia 2018 Veteran-Owned Small Business of the Year award honors one veteran-owned and operated business that has sustained growth and thrived in all aspects of business.
Since 2015, IT Mindshare has almost doubled in every way —    employees, clients, gross revenue and office space, the release states.
“We currently have 13 awesome employees and have open career postings to keep up with our growth,”  Harris said. “But we’re very selective. Our employees have to align with our company culture or we don’t hire them. We have a saying that we picked up from Patrick Lencioni, a well-known business author, and that is that our employees have to be ‘humble, hungry and smart.’ In short, they have to think of others, be willing to work hard, and have the technical skills and professional skills to do a great job.”
Harris praised his employees and said the firm as a whole was honored to receive the award.
“IT Mindshare is truly honored to be recognized for this award from the SBA. I believe that this award is a testament to our awesome employees that work so hard to build trust and loyalty with each other and with our clients. We feel very fortunate to have the support of the SBA and our clients to enable us to do great work. A special thank you to Todd Crump at the WV SBDC for his business coaching, nomination and assistance with this entire process,” Harris said in the release. “We’re proud to be in Morgantown, where we can continue to grow and serve clients in the local region.”