[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 132 (Tuesday, December 5, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2072]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      RECOGNIZING BUSINESSWOMAN AND ENTREPRENEUR KATHLEEN M. BALUS

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. BRIAN HIGGINS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, December 5, 2006

  Mr. HIGGINS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to one of 
western New York's business leaders. Kathleen M. Balus will be honored 
tomorrow, Friday, November 17, by her corporation, Pioneer Credit 
Recovery, for her lifetime of achievement.
  Ms. Balus founded Pioneer Credit Recovery while a senior at the State 
University of New York at Buffalo. She graduated with a B.S. in 
business administration. Following graduation, Ms. Balus incorporated 
Pioneer and built it into the industry-leading collection agency that 
it is today.
  Ms. Balus has, throughout her career, been recognized as one of 
western New York's most distinguished business leaders. She has been 
awarded four Entrepreneurial Excellence Awards from Working Women 
Magazine. She has also been awarded the 1999 Better Business Bureau's 
Torch Award for Marketplace Ethics; the Wyoming County Business 
Development Corporation's Retail/Service Business of the Year; U.S. 
Small Business Administration's 2000 Small Business Person of the Year 
for the State of New York; Buffalo Niagara Partnership's ATHENA Award; 
MDA's 2005 Humanitarian of the Year; and in 2006, she was named a New 
York State ``Woman of Distinction.''
  Ms. Balus has also affected her community through her efforts in the 
public sphere. She has served as a Sardina town board councilmember; 
Sardina town supervisor; member of the Small Business Administration 
Advisory Board and the board of Wyoming County Business Development 
Corporation. She is a past president of the New York State Collector's 
Association as well as serving two terms on the board of directors.
  Mr. Speaker, it is with great pleasure and gratitude that I stand 
here today to recognize the work of Kathleen M. Balus, a business 
leader and admired community member of the western New York region.

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