Gwinnett Daily Post

DULUTH - Brian Perdue, owner of Salon 124, was honored as the 2008 Overall Gwinnett Small Business Person of the Year at the Gwinnett Chamber's Pinnacle small business awards dinner on Thursday. He will compete for the Georgia Small Business of the Year title, to be determined later this year.

Perdue was also named Gwinnett's Small Business Person of the Year for the 100 employees or more category.

"I didn't grow up dreaming of doing hair," Perdue said. "I got into business to impact people's lives."

Perdue said that God-given natural talent got him where he is today.

"I give God all the glory because he gave me talents," he said. "All of us work hard and diligently, but we also have natural talents."

Salon 124 has grown from an initial six employees to 190 and reached $7.5 million in revenue in 2007. It was recently honored by Salon Today in its annual Salon 200 issue, honoring the fastest growing salons in the nation.

About 370 guests attended Thursday's annual awards ceremony held at the Atlanta Marriott, Gwinnett Place. Also honored as Small Business People of the Year were Dave McMullen, owner of redpepper, in the 10 to 99 employee category, and Roger S. Green, owner of Green Financial Resources LLC in the nine employees or less category.

Employees, friends and relatives turned out to honor the Pinnacle Top 25 small businesses, which combined, represent $706 million in revenue. Those companies honored were selected from more than 300 nominations based on steady and above average growth and profitability, growth in number of employees, contributions to the community, overcoming adversity, original entrepreneurship and more, as defined by the Small Business Administration for its statewide and national awards.

SideBar: At a glance

Small Business People of the Year

Brian Perdue, Salon 124 - Small Business Person of the Year Overall and in the category of 100 employees or more

Dave McMullen, redpepper - 10 to 99 employee category

Roger S. Green, Green Financial Resources LLC - Nine employees or less category

Pinnacle Small Business Award Winners:

Allgood Pest Solutions, William "Perry" Tindol

AlphaGraphics, Jodi Pierce

CTR Partners, Robert B. Coatsworth and Kevin R. Murray

E2E Resources Inc., Raymer M. Sale, Jr.

Formetco Inc.

Hayes Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep Inc., Mike Hayes

Hire Dynamics, Dan Campbell

Husky Foundations Inc., Matthew F. Gottlich

Jordan, Jones & Goulding Inc., Charles A. Button

Kart's Enterprises Inc. d/b/a Kart's Landscape Services, Gary Kart

MasterWorks in Roswell, Bernie Smith

Mathias Corporation, Dave Heydinger

McMahan's Sartorial Clothing, Travis Giles

MNdustries Inc., Michael E. Nance, II

Nanston Inc., Kyle E. Anderson

Nexus Financial Group Inc., Brian Peart