Marilyn D. Landis, owner and president of Basic Business Concepts, Inc. and an advocate for small businesses, has been named the U.S. Small Business Administration’s 2009 Financial Services Champion of the Year.

Landis has found success with Basic Business Concepts, which provides CFO level services to small businesses to keep them financially on track and growing. But it has been her long-time advocacy on behalf of small business owners that garnered her the prestigious national award.

“I set out on a course a long time ago to speak out on issues that were very important to me,” Landis said. “I learned a lot, as I moved through the many organizations that I worked for, about the many difficulties facing small businesses. Fortunately, recently I have had an increasing number of opportunities to advocate for small business.”

Those opportunities include testifying four times (and counting) before Congress, regarding issues such as credit card reform and the tax disparities facing small businesses. She also met with President Obama’s transition team before he was sworn in. Her first objective when advocating, she said, is establishing the important role small businesses play in the American economy.

“Small businesses have proved we are the engine of the economy,” Landis said. “More than half the U.S. population is employed by small businesses. Small businesses represent 60 percent of non-farm GDP in this country, and 90 percent of net new jobs are created by small business – we’re a powerhouse of creating new jobs.”

Landis’ own business is geared toward assisting small businesses with their finances, a need she noticed as she worked her way up in the banking industry from teller to branch manager, spending much of her 30 years in the business working as a commercial lender. She got to know hundreds of entrepreneurs who were talented at developing their product or service but typically lacked the financial expertise needed to run a company. She started her business in 2001 with an eye toward helping small businesses that weren’t large enough for a full-time CFO in presenting themselves to banks and other investors.

“As the banking industry got into small business lending in a big way, many of the larger banks – and later, even regional banks – were centralizing their decision-making process. They were pulling field people into central offices and replacing them with sales people who weren’t trained in explaining to customers the risks of debt,” Landis explained. “As a result, small business owners increasingly needed an expert to draw on.”

Landis recognized entrepreneurs required access to affordable CFO-level skills that were customized to each business. Her company, based in Pittsburgh with an office in Ebensburg, now has nine employees and has served hundreds of clients across the country.

“Our goal is to advise and train, so our clients are rarely with us for more than two or three years,” Landis said. “In my years in banking, I was paid to know what made that company tick and what its financial parts were. I’ve honed that experience into a very quick, efficient way to get to the heart of how the company works financially.”

Typically, companies like Basic Business Concepts – and there aren’t many – have “two ways to approach a client,” Landis said.

“They’ll come in with a preconceived package and implement it without regard to the individual needs of the client, or charge a whole lot of money to get to know the company as well as the owner,” she said. “We never come in and assume we know how to run their business. Our ideal goal for most clients is to train their staff financially – to help them turn their bookkeeper into a controller and their controller into a chief financial officer.”

Landis said her business is still growing, and that eventually she hopes to take it nationwide. In the meantime, she’s happy to talk to anyone interested in learning more about the state of small business in America today.

“Another advantage in starting my business is that it has finally let me speak out,” Landis said. “I’ve always felt deeply about issues impacting small business. Now I can speak up about what’s important without having to clear it with a corporate hierarchy.”

Landis will be presented with her award May 19 at a ceremony in Washington D.C.

“I have put so much of my time and effort behind what I believe, but there are times when you wonder if you’re making a difference,” Landis said. “This award tells me, yeah, it is making a difference. It’s so gratifying to think that maybe I am making a difference.”