AP President Donald Trump presents Mark Lamoncha, CEO of Humtown Products, with the Small Business Person of the Year award during a event with small business owners, Monday, in the East Room at the White House in Washington.

WASHINGTON — A Mahoning Valley business leader has been awarded the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Small Business Person of the Year honor at a ceremony at the White House.

Mark Lamoncha, president and CEO of Humtown Products of Columbiana and Boardman, accepted the award from President Donald Trump and SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler in the ceremony in the East Room of the White House on Monday.

The event, which marked the start of Small Business Week in the United States, brought together entrepreneurs from more than 130 industries, including manufacturing, food production and retail. It honored the role small businesses play in fueling the American economy.

Humtown, with headquarters in Columbiana and a production facility on Market Street in Boardman, is a global leader of conventional and 3D printed sand cores and molds.

“Small businesses are big business for America,” Lamoncha said. “We largely drive America’s employment and the prosperity of our local economies.”

President Donald J. Trump welcomed Lamoncha to the stage and highlighted Humtown’s turnaround in conventional manufacturing as well as pioneering 3D sand printing.

Trump praised Lamoncha’s leadership over the growing Valley company as “amazing” and added that Washington could use more leaders like him in the federal government.

In his remarks at the White House, Lamoncha said, “I would like to thank you for the opportunity and the privilege to represent the 36 million small business people, to be an ambassador for the largest part of our economy.

“And I would like to thank you from the Humtown Products Industrial Athletes team that I have the privilege of serving every day as their head coach.”

Guy Coviello, president and CEO of the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber, said, “Mark Lamoncha is one of the most extraordinary business leaders I’ve had the opportunity to work alongside. His innovative thinking and utter selflessness have been a source of inspiration for me. Mark is a steady presence for his employees and his community. He represents the very best of what it means to a business leader in the Mahoning Valley and carries on the legacy created by great industrialists, inventors and entrepreneurs that have come from the Valley.”

In her remarks at the ceremony, Loeffler said, “We are a nation of builders again thanks to President Trump’s historic wins for Main Street, and I’m honored to mark National Small Business Week alongside him and the job creators who fuel our local communities — particularly as America celebrates 250 years of freedom and free enterprise.”

Lamoncha last month was selected as Ohio’s Small Business Person of the Year and competed with all other state honorees for the national title.

Humtown is a third-generation family-owned company and has served the foundry industry for more than 60 years. The business started out as a pattern shop in 1959.

LaMoncha’s business and civic leadership roles include serving as a board member, Ohio State Board of Education; president, Mahoning Valley Manufacturers Coalition; and as a board member of the Ohio Manufacturers’ Association and the YSU STEM Advisory Board.

Lamoncha is expected to join Loeffler and U.S. Rep. Mike Carey, R-Clinton County, for a National Small Business Week award ceremony Wednesday at The Ohio State University in Columbus, according to an SBA advisory.

National Small Business Week continues throughout this week both online through a free virtual summit, and in person through a nationwide tour. Starting Tuesday, Administrator Loeffler will embark on a roadshow for state award ceremonies and small business visits in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio, North Carolina and Georgia.