The National Glass Association received the 2019 Gold Stevie Award for the Best Business Book at the 17th Annual American Business Awards for “An Owner's Guide to Exit & Succession Planning: A Complete Introduction with Case Studies from the Glass Industry.”

The book was a collaboration with Kevin Kennedy and Joe Bazzano, both of Beacon Exit Planning and frequent contributors to Roofing Contractor on the topic of exit planning.

Another one of their books, “The Contractor’s 60 Minute Exit Plan”, was featured in the October 2018 issue of Roofing Contractor. The 82-page book offers a guide for roofing contractors to navigate the scary and sometimes treacherous process of exiting their business when the time is right.

The American Business Awards are the premier business awards program in the U.S. All organizations operating in the U.S. are eligible to submit nominations — public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small. More than 3,800 nominations from organizations of all sizes and in virtually every industry were submitted this year for consideration in a wide range of categories.

 “An Owner's Guide to Exit & Succession Planning” aims to help business owners as they navigate the complex process of exiting a business and developing the next generation of leaders.

This guide features in-depth exit management information from Beacon Exit Planning paired with case studies from the glass industry, compiled by Glass Magazine editors. In these case studies, owners from a range of industry companies share their stories of ownership and management transition. Editors spoke to a family business finding a way to pass the company to the fourth generation of owners; to the owner of a billion-dollar supplier navigating a path to retirement; to a glass fabricator managing a sale to a private equity firm; and others.

“This book provides key information to an industry of owners at a critical time. [It is] well-written, filled with salient facts (and myths debunked!), and warmed up with case histories. This is a fabulous tool that an owner would WANT to read and explore,” according to one Stevie Award judge.

“[The] practical advice seems immediately applicable and/or easy to build specific planning goals around,” said another judge. “The addition of case studies added a component of realism and real world, lived experience significance.”

More than 200 professionals worldwide participated in the judging process to select this year’s Stevie Award winners.

“The nominations submitted to the 2019 American Business Awards were outstanding. They illustrate the continued vibrancy of innovation and high level of achievement across the American economic landscape,” said Michael Gallagher, president and founder of the Stevie Awards.