May 25, 2022 – Congratulations to Randall Shepard, selected as SBA’s Veteran-Owned Small Business of the Year for North Florida!

Acceptance Speech: “Thank you, Small Business Administration, for this honored award. In many ways it’s your award because without the assistance of the SBA and the Veteran’s Business Outreach Center (VBOC) at Gulf Coast State College in Panama City, Florida, RSAE Labs may not have survived. I accept this award on behalf of our extraordinary employees, contractors, vendors, and customers who, after clawing their way out of the crater left in the wake of hurricane Michael, quickly climbed out of the COVID well, and joined in an urgent effort to squeeze every bit of efficiency and security from global logistics. For the first time, vessels, containers, chassis, pallets, and cartons can all be securely tracked and monitored using the same mobile interconnected sensor technology, mist®. Together, we will make a positive impact on the challenges of today’s global supply chains. Because of the United States Small Business Administration and our local Veteran’s Business Outreach Center, RSAE Labs has the opportunity to make it happen.”

Presenting the award in Jacksonville, Florida are Allen Thomas, SBA’s Regional Administrator (left), Southeast Region; Randall Shepard (center); and J. Malcolm Richards, SBA’s District Director North Florida (right)

 

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Watch the U.S. Small Business Administration’s business highlight of RSAE Labs, Inc. Click Here.

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RSAE Labs is a small leading-edge logistics technology and engineering systems integrator based in Panama City, Florida. Chief Executive Officer, Randall Shepard, is a retired Air Force officer. The company’s Chief Technology Officer, Chief Scientist and several key employees are also all US military veterans. Although government contracting has been a stable source of business for RSAE Labs, a significant portion of its revenues come from the private sector, specifically from European-based logistics customers. The global shutdown of production in China significantly impacted the European market well before the US logistics shipments worldwide, prompting the cancellation of the substantial equipment contracts orders and tracking services RSAE Labs provides. Additionally, when Florida schools closed, company employees with children were forced to reduce their hours significantly and try to work part-time at home.

RSAE Labs leadership was determined to lessen the stress on its employees by continuing their regular pay and benefits despite the drastic reduction in the company’s revenues. On April 7, RSAE Labs submitted an application for the Payroll Protection Program (PPP) loan from its corporate bank. After no response, the company sought counsel from the VBOC for alternative lenders. Our staff reached out to several banks with whom we have a working relationship. Only one offered a conduit to the PPP, Pensacola Florida-based Community Enterprise Investment Inc, a CDFI and small business lender focused primarily on supporting minority-owned small business. Through CEII VP Grover Brown, RSAE Labs was directed through a loan broker to Northeast Bank. Almost a month to the day, RSAE Labs received the full amount requested.

“We are so grateful for all the assistance we’ve received from the Florida VBOC in the past and especially now. The PPP loan will allow us to retain all of our employees as we pivot to develop an entirely new mesh-based and highly-secure reliable personal physical distancing social distance monitoring technology very much in demand by large manufacturing and industrial companies here in the US and abroad.”

Randall Shepard, USAF retired and CEO, RSAE Labs, Inc., a veteran-owned small business.

The Florida Veterans Business Outreach Center is funded in part through a Cooperative Agreement with the US Small Business Administration. All opinions, conclusions and/or recommendations expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the SBA.