May 6 brought the tenth Capital Region Small Business Awards to Sacramento Memorial Auditorium. The event sits under Capital Region Small Business Week, powered by SMUD (Sacramento Municipal Utility District), and is part of National Small Business Week. Heather Luzzi, who runs the SBA’s Sacramento District Office, took the emcee role and worked the program end to end. Nine awards went out that morning. The winners came from retail, construction, specialty manufacturing, engineering, aviation, and the arts. The District Office produces this ceremony annually, and the 2026 version had a smoother run-of-show than you usually see at regional events this size. Speakers were on cue, the transitions worked, and honorees weren’t hustled offstage to keep things moving. That last part is exactly where most regional awards programs run into trouble, when too many winners get squeezed into one morning.
For more information, our team reached out to Victor Migalchan, a Los Angeles-based film director, showrunner, and founder of Movieverse Entertainment, who arranged and led the media production, bringing his Los Angeles-based team to Sacramento. He watched the show from inside the operation. The event ran on schedule, reflecting strong preparation and disciplined execution. Migalchan emphasized the leadership of Heather Luzzi and her team, noting their ability to deliver a polished, high-caliber program while maintaining consistent energy and control throughout.
Heather Luzzi’s Leadership and Hosting Style
Luzzi emceed the entire program, not only the opening welcome. Migalchan compared the afternoon to the Golden Globes. What he meant was the quality and the high-end feel, which came from her hosting, paired with how the show was organized and run. Watching her, what stood out was the pacing and how she handled the moments in between. Hosting an event like this is about steering the energy of a room between formal segments, not reading names off a card.
The Sacramento District Office covers 21 Northeastern California counties, and Luzzi has run it for nine years. The office partners with chambers of commerce, lenders, SBDCs, SCORE, and Women’s Business Centers to deliver SBA programs across the territory. The annual awards ceremony is one of its most visible public moments.
Who Won at the 2026 Capital Region Small Business Awards
Nine winners in total. The two SBA Regional IX awards went to White Bear Construction, Inc., for Rural Small Business of the Year and Thermal Conductive Bonding, Inc., for Manufacturer of the Year. White Bear is headquartered in Alturas, up in Modoc County in the northeastern corner of the state, and the firm is both woman-owned and Native American-owned. Their work is site preparation, paving, concrete, and excavation. Thermal Conductive Bonding, on the other end of the district’s territory in Sacramento, has been supplying specialty bonding solutions to the semiconductor industry since 1998.
Five more winners came out of the SBA Local tier. Dr. Jennifer Vollbrecht, a Marine Corps veteran whose firm, J Vollbrecht Consulting, Inc., does project management work in defense and energy, took the Women-Owned Small Business of the Year. Veteran-Owned Small Business of the Year went to Troy John Oliver Smith for Trinity Builders, LLC, his Plumas Lake general building and electrical operation. The Sosners, David and Elizabeth, picked up Contractor of the Year for Creekside Commercial Builders, Inc. Non-Profit of the Year went to Capital Airshow Group, the 501(c)(3) that puts on the California Capital Airshow at Mather Airport. And Small Businessperson of the Year went to Maqsood Ali, who built TSI Engineering, Inc. up from a 2009 garage operation into a multi-location civil and structural engineering firm.
Two more honors came outside the SBA tiers. T&Y Market, the family-owned international supermarket founded in 1995 and now run by CEO Julie Lynhiavue, took the City of Sacramento Small Business of the Year. Kenya Bell of Black Widow Tattoo Studio in North Highlands picked up the County of Sacramento Changemaker Award.
Migalchan described the group plainly. They are employers. They make payroll. In his view, they are the people who actually keep California’s economy moving.
The list also reflects the district office’s territory. Three of the winners are in construction, covering general contracting, commercial work, and rural site work. The geography stretches from downtown Sacramento up to Modoc County. The rest of the roster runs through specialty manufacturing, engineering, defense and energy consulting, retail, a tattoo studio, and an air show.
A New Format for Honoree Presentations
Movieverse Entertainment produced video profiles for every winner. Migalchan’s LA crew handled the shoot and post. The team says it was a first for the Sacramento ceremony. Nine winners, nine short films, replacing the usual podium intros.
For Migalchan, the videos were the most memorable part of the afternoon, second only to Luzzi’s hosting. His team also handled photography and broader event coverage.
Video introductions are not new in awards programming, but they remain rare at SBA district ceremonies. The benefit to the honorees is direct. Each one leaves with a professional short they can run on their websites and social channels long after the event.
Why Recognition Events Matter to the Small Business Community
There’s a thing Migalchan keeps returning to about these events. They aren’t just performative. Much of the real business of the morning happens off-stage, in the lobby before the program starts, and again on the way out after the last name has been read. He has watched sponsors pick up clients on the walk to the parking lot. He has watched resource partners introduce themselves to operators who didn’t even know the SBA had a program for whatever they were trying to do.
He has worked with the Sacramento District Office before. It shows in how he talks about the relationship and about Luzzi. This is a repeat collaboration, not a one-off project.
The U.S. Small Business Administration website covers the agency’s national programs, services, and resource partner network. Information on Northern California counseling resources and upcoming events sits on the SBA’s Sacramento District Office page.
