The U.S. Small Business Administration has named Rose Bednarz-Luglio, Gateway Community College professor of Business and Program Coordinator of Entrepreneurial Studies, the 2013 Connecticut Woman in Business Champion.

Bednarz-Luglio was honored for being “committed and supportive to small business throughout her career,” according to the announcement made by Bernard M. Sweeney, Connecticut's SBA District Director. The SBA paid tribute to her work as a SCORE counselor, a business owner, a sponsor for high school entrepreneurial programs that highlight women-owned businesses and her work with Veterans’ business programs. The award stated that she has devoted a “lifetime to helping support small businesses.”

Christopher R. Runyan, Owner/President of Milford-based GameXChange has been named the U.S. Small Business Administration's 2013 Connecticut Small Business Person of the Year, SBA's top award. Runyan, Bednarz-Luglio and the state’s other SBA award winners will be recognized at the Connecticut Small Business Week celebration Wednesday, June 5 at the Hartford Club in Hartford.

“Rose combines a practitioner's skill of understanding small businesses with the passion and deep understanding of classroom teaching and learning,” said Mark Kosinski, GCC Dean of Academic Affairs. “Her students consequently are enriched by this powerful blend of the practical and scholarly skill-sets needed in today's global economy.”

Bednarz-Luglio has been teaching at GCC for 21 years. She is also the coordinator of Gateway’s Fashion Merchandising/Retail Management program and is the founder of the Gateway Small Business Center. She has been a lecturer at the University of Connecticut and she was an associate professor and department chair of Fashion Merchandising and Retailing at the University of Bridgeport.