HispanicBusiness

Anthony 'Tony' Jimenez, a decorated Army veteran, founded an information technology and network support firm, MicroTech LLC, in 2004. On Wednesday, the company announced that Mr. Jimenez has been named Veteran Entrepreneur (Vetrepreneur) of the Year by Veteran Business Journal.

Mr. Jimenez enlisted in the Army and worked his way up to sergeant, then obtained a commission as an officer and eventually retired as a lieutenant colonel after a 25-year career that included service in Haiti, Kuwait, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Somalia, Liberia, Qatar, Panama, and El Salvador.

After mustering out he joined Unisys and spent a year there before setting out on his own. He founded the Vienna, Va.-based MicroTech just two years ago, to serve the information technology support needs of government agencies, both military and civilian. By this year MicroTech had sales of $60 million.

In June, the company landed its biggest contract ever, a five-year, $56 million a year job as a contractor team leader for a Veterans Administration project. That contract was the largest ever awarded by the federal government to a service-disabled veteran-owned small business, or SDVOB.

In a release, Mr. Jimenez said the Vetrepreneur award was important because "it honors the entrepreneurial spirit that lives and thrives among veteran-owned small businesses and it is recognition that comes from other veterans who understand the challenges of transitioning from military service to the corporate business community."

Veteran Business Journal accepts nominations of veteran-owned small businesses from anywhere in the country. Criteria for nomination include size of the company, annual sale, percentage of growth revenue in 2004, 2005, 2006 and projection for further growth.

MicroTech describes itself as both a service-disabled veteran-owned small business and a Small Business Administration 8(a) Hispanic-owned small business.