# SBA Success Story: Northern Wings

## Метаданные

- **Канал:** U.S. Small Business Administration
- **YouTube:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6zAHXlI4Dc
- **Дата:** 01.05.2026
- **Длительность:** 4:39
- **Просмотры:** 718
- **Источник:** https://ekstraktznaniy.ru/video/50767

## Транскрипт

### Segment 1 (00:00 - 04:00) []

I'm Dave Goudreau, President and Founder of Northern Wings. We're located in Newberry, Michigan. We're an aerospace and defense company that provides a variety of services to prime contractors to the U. S. government, as well as the government itself. My military career began in 1977 as a seamen recruit in the U. S. Navy. It continued for the next 24 plus years where I served as an infantry officer in the Marine Corps and a helicopter aviator. I left the service in 2001 as a major. I started my business in 2003 in a rural town in northern Michigan. It was born out of the need of my employer, who was an aerospace company, that had difficulty in obtaining welding and machine repairs for commercial aircraft parts. Revenue for Northern Wings in the first year of business was not much. We made enough to cover the salaries, the rent, expenses, and anything that was left was plowed right back into the business. My first real contact with the SBA was when I received an invitation to attend a one-day per-month course at a university in lower Michigan. It was a Fundamentals of Government Contracting 101. The classes taught the huge advantages we would have in doing business with the government and its prime contractors. That's when I resigned from my employment and began to do Northern Wings full-time. Due to a measure of planning and knowledge learned from the Small Business Administration, we were actually profitable our first month. So as the company grew, we knew we needed a larger facility. When we searched for a building, Chris was the one that hosted us. It was quickly deduced that we needed to hire that young man. My name is Chris Burger. I'm Director of Operations for Northern Wings. I've been here for about 19 years now. Northern Wings is a HUBZone certified, a small disadvantaged veteran-owned business. And we are also a Native American owned company. Dave Goudreau, our company president, is a retired Marine, and also a proud Native American whose family goes back generations in this area. Our vision for growth is investing in our team, growing our capabilities, adding on to what we've already built so far. Growth is difficult, especially in a rural area. The SBA has been a partner with us for the last 25 years. We send our employees to SBA events. This is master's degree level stuff, which is very informative and very stimulating. Our business grew from a wheel and brake operation to a procurement provider due to the need to locate hard to find parts. We have four core pillars. procurement and logistics support; lifecycle management; we are a build to print manufacturer in accordance with customer design; finally, our efforts to create an Arctic training ground in our area. SBA has programs that take you from beginning to a mature company. VIP is Veterans Institute for Procurement, funded primarily by the Small Business Administration, so it's of no cost to the company. My first class was VIP START, an exposure to all of the latest government contracting mandates, operational requirements, everything one needed to know; because we live in a world of regulations. Next, I took the VIP GROW program, which provided tremendous insight into scaling your business to a much larger size. They're absolutely phenomenal. We've experienced great physical growth since we started from a horse pasture and a basement. Now we're at 23,000 square feet, building capacity about every four or five years through the demand we have from our customers. We are always seeking opportunity, and it doesn't matter what that opportunity might be. We find a way to solve the problem for the customer. Northern Wings does business with companies such as: L3Harris, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Boeing Defense and Space, and NASA. It means a great deal for us to be supporting our customers, and the American warfighter, to do our part to support our nation. Northern Wings has 32 current employees, roughly 20% of that is veterans. Working with Dave, he has been an incredible mentor to me, and provided a wonderful amount of opportunity that I'm very grateful for. Our current revenue hovers around $20 million a year. Our projected growth is only to get larger. There's no limit to aerospace. The advice I give other veterans that are considering entrepreneurship is: Do it. Don't wait for the perfect time. Start. It is a difficult journey, but the rewards are immeasurable.