Engineering firm wins Small Business of Year

Trabue, Hansen & Hinshaw, Inc., an engineering consulting firm, was named the Columbia Chamber of Commerce’s 2010 Small Business of the Year during a luncheon Friday at the Courtyard by Marriott.
Other finalists for the award were The Add Sheet!, Bucket Media, Designer Landscape, LLC and Midwest Computech. The award ceremony, which 125 people attended, was part of the Chamber’s 2010 Small Business Week.
“It’s a fantastic honor,” Gene Hinshaw said. “It’s tremendous, the amount of work the Chamber throws into this program,” Tom Trabue added.
THHinc (pronounced “think”) was also nominated for Small Business of the Year in 2009. The company started operating in April 1996 with 12 employees working in a 1,000-square-foot office and now has 35 employees and a 10,000-square-foot office. Hinshaw said one reason for their success is that eight of the original 12 employees are still working for the company.
THHinc’s major projects include Mizzou Arena, MU’s Discovery Ridge research park, Boone Hospital’s expansion, the Missouri Department of Conservation offices and, most recently, two new city fire stations.