Louise Cassano, owner of LuCas Communications, has been selected as the Levittown Chamber of Commerce's Small Business Person of the Year.

Small Business Person of the Year is a title bestowed on one member of each chamber of commerce in Nassau County every year. The honorees are selected by their own chamber of commerce and are then honored by the Nassau Council of Chambers of Commerce for their service to the community.

Members selected for this honor must be the owner or manager of a business located in the community, must have made a meaningful and important contribution to the local economy, to the advancement of the chamber and made a meaningful and important contribution to the general welfare of the local community. This criteria has been established by the Nassau Council of Chambers of Commerce and the individual chambers selected their honoree based on these guidelines.

According to Levittown Chamber of Commerce President Jacklyn Nogan, Cassano has met all the established criteria and has been an asset to the Levittown Chamber. Nogan explained that she compiled a list of people who have been very active in the community and helpful in the chamber and then sent that list to all the board members for them to vote on who they felt was deserving of this award.

Cassano is currently serving her first year on the board of directors of the Levittown Chamber of Commerce and is on the bylaws committee of the chamber. She also served on the chamber's committee for the Installation Dinner, put together the journal for the Installation Dinner, took care of all the entertainment for the chamber's festival and was at the festival every day to make sure that everything was running smoothly. Nogan noted that Cassano is a person who she can always call on when she needs something done, adding, "If I call and ask her to do something, it's done. There's not a question, she just does it. She's very active in that way."

LuCas Communications, Cassano's public relations business, which is located in Levittown, has been in operation since April 1994. Cassano explained that she works mainly in the educational community with school/business partnerships. The business also involves other types of public relations work ranging from media relations to desktop publishing.

Cassano was an award-winning community news journalist prior to establishing her business and has now received many awards in recognition of her accomplishments in public relations. She serves on the board of directors of the International Association of Business Communicators, Long Island Chapter, serves on the marketing committee for Long Island United Way, is a member of the Levittown Property Owner's Association, serves on the board of directors of the Levittown Chamber of Commerce and Yours Ours Mine Community Center, and is the founder and president of the Levittown Community Council. She participated on the events committee of the Levittown 40th Anniversary Committee and was the committee chairperson for the 50th Anniversary celebration. In listing Cassano's contributions to the community, Nogan stated, "It is our privilege to have such an extraordinary person live and work in our town."

Prior to being named Small Business Person of the Year, Cassano's most recent honor was IABC, Long Island's Communicator of the Year Award, which she received this past summer. After the 50th Anniversary celebration Cassano received the Achievement in Communications Award from the same organization. According to Cassano that award was in recognition of the work that she had done for the 50th Anniversary, which was picked up by media all over the world. A 1985 graduate of SUNY Old Westbury, Cassano received an award from the school's communication department and from their Alumni Foundation for Excellence in Communications.

When asked about her most recent award, Small Business Person of the Year, Cassano said, "It's very exciting and it feels very nice to be recognized." She added, "This is very different because it is directly linked to my business in terms of what I've accomplished here in the local community." She noted that when she joined the Levittown Chamber of Commerce about five years ago, she wanted to concentrate on making a presence in and around Levittown. She explained that she had been very active in the community prior to going back to school and then going back to work full time, but had to give up many of those connections at that time and wanted to re-establish them when she began her own business in Levittown. "So this is really a culmination of achievements during those five years and it makes me very happy that I'm able to give back to my community and to have a presence here as well as in the greater Long Island community," concluded Cassano.

Cassano and the other honorees from around the county will be honored by the Nassau Council of Chambers of Commerce at a breakfast at the Imperial Manor on Oct. 15.