SDA Celebrates Michigan's Top 50 Award

When Smith-Dahmer Associates was named one of Michigan’s Top 50 Companies to Watch in 2007, we did what any group of hard working people would do: we threw a party.

Typically when people think of office parties, awkward mingling and challenging small talk come to mind - not because of the just larger than bite-sized appetizers – but because they picture a group of people who don’t have a lot in common trying to relate to each other. But since SDA isn’t your typical office, this wasn’t your typical office party.

Clients, suppliers and SDA associates filled the Richard Hunt Gallery in Benton Harbor to celebrate the award, 16 years of excellent work and lasting relationships.

We can truly say that when we fill a room with the different people who make up our SDA world, we find ourselves among friends. We do all have something in common: our company’s culture.

As the Edward Lowe Foundation reviewed the various candidates for this year’s awards, SDA’s culture is something they noticed. In the words of Penny Lewandowski, Director of Entrepreneurship Development at the Edward Lowe Foundation,

“There are companies around that only dream of having one quarter of the culture you have established here – both in how you work and how you treat one another. Regardless of whether you’re talking about economic development or an individual company, culture trumps infrastructure every time.”

And we couldn’t agree more. Through periods of rapid growth, it is our company’s culture that has been the constant. Understandably, things like growth and earnings typically come first when the awards are passed out. And while those things are critical, we believe our company’s culture really makes what we do possible.