SEMA Announces Industry Award Winners
SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association) presented its top awards during the annual SEMA Industry Awards Banquet during the 2021 SEMA Show in Las Vegas, the organization announced.
Winners of the awards are:
- SEMA Person of the Year: Sara Morosan, vice president, LGE-CTS Motorsports
- SEMA Gen-III Innovator of the Year: Matt Kossoff, founder, chief product officer, Driven Lighting Group
- SEMA Warehouse Distributor of the Year: Turn 14 Distribution
- SEMA Manufacturer of the Year: ORACLE Lighting
New SEMA Hall of Fame inductees Jessi Combs, Rick Love, Bob Moore and Carl Schiefer were also recognized that evening.
Morosan, vice president of LGE-CTS Motorsports and president of BAJA Forged, received the association’s award for SEMA Person of the Year. During the pandemic, Morosan formed BAJA Forged, a company specializing in off-road products and custom builds. She also dedicated hours of her time to volunteer for SEMA and the industry, most recently as chair-elect of the SEMA Businesswomen’s Network (SBN), a member of the SEMA Truck and Off-Road Alliance (TORA) select committee and a SEMA Cares Committee member, the organization said.
The 2021 Gen-III Innovator of the Year award was presented to Kossoff, founder and chief product officer of Driven Lighting Group. With his company, he created a commercially available projector retrofit lighting product. What started in his basement during college has developed into 80 full-time workers and a portfolio of six lighting brands.
Turn 14 Distribution was named SEMA Warehouse Distributor (WD) of the Year. Turn 14 Distribution has grown its business exponentially with technologically advanced, state-of-the-art warehouse facilities, SEMA representative said, and that the company makes data-driven decisions and is the first WD to implement a Brand Equity Specialist to ensure they comply with manufacturers that have real pricing policies.
The SEMA Manufacturer of the Year honor went to ORACLE Lighting. The company is a nominee for the 2021 Lantern Award (which honors excellence in manufacturing for the entire state of Louisiana) and has been named a “Small Business Champion” by the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, the Louisiana Exporter of the Year by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), Jefferson Parish’s Small Business of the Year by JEDCO, Millennial Business of the Year by the Greater New Orleans Business Alliance and winner of an American Business Award for Consumer Products Company of the Year (Bronze Stevie).
