Office Depot recently teamed up with Tony Stewart and Greg Biffle to provide small business owners with a one-of-a-kind opportunity to become the sixth annual “Official Small Business of NASCAR, Courtesy of Office Depot.”
This year, two finalists were randomly selected in the sweepstakes and both were introduced during a special segment on SPEED-TV’s “NASCAR Race Hub” this past week. The two finalists, Rose Berger and Mike Pagano, were joined by Stewart and Biffle during the show.
Both small business finalists will receive a $10,000 small business makeover from Office Depot and a VIP experience this weekend at Dover International Speedway. Plus, each finalist will have a chance to win $1 MILLION!
ABOUT THE FINALIST:
Finalist Rose Berger from the Official Small Business of NASCAR, Courtesy of Office Depot poses with NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion, Tony Stewart. Photo credit: Action Sports Photography
Rose Berger, Owner of Professional Cleaning Service in Greer, South Carolina
Rose Berger, who is an avid NASCAR fan, started Professional Cleaning Service in 1995 as a family-run business in Greer, S.C. All three of Berger’s daughters work for the full-service cleaning company in some capacity. In fact, her eldest daughter, Jessica, recently opened the company’s first satellite office in Columbia, S.C., and will travel with her mother to Dover International Speedway.
Berger plans to use her $10,000 small business makeover prize from Office Depot to purchase new buffers and vacuums available from OfficeDepot.com, as well as new computers for her business.
Finalist Mike Pagano poses with NASCAR Cup driver Greg Biffle. Photo credit: Action Sports Photography
Mike Pagano, Owner of PaganoPhoto – Photos by Mike Pagano in Cedar Brook, New Jersey
For Cedar Brook resident Mike Pagano, being a finalist in the “Official Small Business of NASCAR, Courtesy of Office Depot” sweepstakes is a chance to prepare his small business for the future. The father of two has nurtured his passion for photography on evenings and weekends while also working full-time as a Supervising Environmental Specialist in the State of New Jersey’s Department of Environmental Protection for the past 23 years. He launched PaganoPhoto as an official business venture in 2009 and plans to make it a full-time endeavor when he retires. Currently, he’s the sole PaganoPhoto employee, but makes it clear that his business wouldn’t work without the frequent help provided by his wife, Gayle, and children, Phillip and Sarah.
Stewart and Biffle will each feature one finalist’s small business logo on their respective race cars during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series AAA 400 race on Sunday. Berger was randomly paired with Stewart, while Pagano was matched with Biffle.
The small business featured on the highest-finishing driver’s car at the end of the race will be named the 2010 “Official Small Business of NASCAR, Courtesy of Office Depot.” And if Stewart or Biffle win the race, the small business featured on the winning car will take home $1 million.