The Kentucky Small Business Development Center announced David Stevens, principal accountant, as the recipient of the 2015 Sutton Landry State Star for Kentucky. Stevens was recognized at a private reception during the recent America’s Small Business Development Center Conference in San Francisco.

The America’s SBDC honors a state star from each SBDC annually. The award is presented to an individual who is considered an example of excellence, makes a significant contribution to their center’s program and exhibits dedication to assisting small businesses.

“I was honored to accept the state star award at the ASBDC annual conference. I want to give special thanks to our State Director, Becky Naugle, for giving me this wonderful award and opportunity,” Stevens said. “In addition to receiving the award I was given a special tour of Silicon Valley visiting Intuit, Google and Facebook. It was a very educational opportunity which I will never forget.”

Naugle said, “This award is a wonderful way to honor David’s dedication and exemplary service to the small business community and KSBDC.”

Stevens began working at the University of Kentucky in 1980 and joined the KSBDC as the principal accountant in 1989. He is a UK graduate with a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting.

His dedication to crunching the numbers, proposal preparation and superb budgeting has contributed to the many successes the organization has realized over the past three decades. During his tenure, the network of Kentucky SBDC offices has been noted for extraordinary work, receiving statewide recognition for performance and productivity.

The Kentucky Small Business Development Center, part of the UK College of Agriculture, Food and Environment, is a network of 15 offices located throughout the state that helps existing and start-up businesses succeed by offering high quality, in-depth and hands-on services. KSBDC is a partner program with the U.S. Small Business Administration. For more information on KSBDC services, visit their website, http://www.ksbdc.org/.