Development corporation
celebrates client United Transmission Exchange’s entrepreneurship award

Santa Ana, Calif. – On Wednesday, Nov. 13, the chief executive officer of United Transmission Exchange was honored with a prestigious entrepreneurship award during a ceremony in Riverside for leading her company from crisis into success.

United Transmission Exchange CEO Karen Mason, a client of the Small Business Development Corporation of Orange County was named the 2019 Inspirational Entrepreneur during the Spirit of the Entrepreneur Awards. The annual event organized by Cal State San Bernardino’s Inland Empire Center for Entrepreneurship honors the inland region’s entrepreneurial men and women. 

Mason was one of 11 recipients this year who were recognized at the black-tie gala at the Riverside Convention Center. As she accepted the honor, she relayed to the audience the experience that she and her late husband and former NFL star Tommy Mason encountered in 2008 as their San Bernardino business faced demise. The couple along with a team of dedicated employees began to build up the struggling enterprise led by Tommy’s inspirational team approach. When Tommy’s health began to fail, Karen found herself in the chief executive’s role. She possessed no business management or relevant industry experience and ascended into a leadership position in the male-dominated heavy-duty trucks and transmission arena.

Today the company employs nearly 30 skilled staff members and is the largest independent transmission remanufacturing facility in California. United Transmission Exchange, or UTX, repairs, overhauls and remanufactures Allison transmissions, and distributes and sells parts over the counter for heavy duty commercial vehicles such as municipal buses, trash trucks, fire engines and utility work vehicles. 

In 2015, Small Business Development Corporation in conjunction with its partners at Pacific Premier Bank, assisted United Transmission Exchange in swapping out high interest rate commercial real estate debt financing for its facility in San Bernardino and supported a large working capital facility for the company. The move allowed the company to restructure its debt load for better term financing, ultimately saving UTX thousands in interest financing costs over the years. In return, the business has created and retained well-paying jobs in the Inland Empire and helped to stabilize a low-wealth community.

“Congratulations to my long-time friend Karen Mason and the team at United Transmission Exchange,” said Michael A. Ocasio, president and chief executive officer of the Small Business Development Corporation of Orange County. “Well deserved. Karen is a one-of-a-kind entrepreneur. She is an intelligent and most savvy business owner who has a deep commitment to the city of San Bernardino. And as a woman-owned enterprise, United Transmission Exchange is also an industry exception among heavy manufacturing industry firms which are predominantly operated by men.”

The development corporation’s connections helped United Transmission Exchange to secure conventional financing that allowed the company to invest in the growth of its business and opened the door to a long-term and supportive relationship with Pacific Premier Bank, Mason said. “It changed our business. Having the proper financing helped us turn our business around.”

The Spirit of the Entrepreneur Award allowed Mason to honor her husband and his legacy, she said, to acknowledge the company’s team of committed employees and pay tribute to General Manager Adrian Downs whom the Masons hired to help rebuild the firm. “If it wasn’t for our dedicated company family and the way we operate, we’d never be successful,” she said. 

For further information about Karen Mason and United Transmission Exchange, visit:
https://www.utxchange.com/united-transmission-exchange-wins-the-2019-spirit-award-for-inspirational-entrepreneur/

For further information about the Spirit of the Entrepreneur Awards, visit:
https://spiritawardsie.com/newsMgr/index.php?newsId=58&page=

ABOUT SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION OF ORANGE COUNTY 

SBDC of Orange County (http://sbfdoc.org) is a quasi-public/private 501(c)(3) not-for-profit public benefit corporation, which operates under the state’s public municipal bank, The California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank (iBank). SBDC of Orange County is not affiliated with the U.S. Small Business Administration. 

 The corporation, established in 2001, is a mission driven organization dedicated to assisting small business owners secure operating capital through its capital access programs including California’s State Loan Guarantee Program, Export Lines of Credit, bond conduit and Green Energy Initiatives to support small business access to credit.