Gary Milgard, President and CEO of Milgard Manufacturing, Inc., has been named winner of the Lifetime Achieve-ment Award as part of the University of Washington Tacoma Business Admin-istration Program’s second annual Business Leadership Awards. Josi Callan, director and CEO of the Museum of Glass, has been named winner of the Rising Star Award.

Milgard and Callan will be honored and eight local business leaders will receive Business Leadership Awards at the event Jan. 30. One of the Business Leadership Award recipients will also be named Business Leader of the Year.

The event, presented by the UW Tacoma Business Advisory Board and Business Examiner Newspaper Group and sponsored by Heritage Bank, will begin with a reception at 5 p.m. at the Washington State History Museum. The awards ceremony starts at 6:30 p.m. The winners were selected from a group of 21 nominees.

Milgard and his father started Milgard Glass Company in 1958 in a small building in Tacoma. Within four years, the Milgards had diversified into aluminum windows and Gary left to start his own aluminum window fabricating company. He called it Milgard Manufacturing, Inc.

Today, Milgard Manufacturing is the largest supplier of quality residential windows in the western United States. Milgard employs about 4,000 people and was named the top quality vinyl window manufacturer in the U.S. in 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001. Milgard himself was named Washington State Entrepreneur of the Year in 1994.

Part of Tacoma’s quiet infrastructure, the Milgard family has long supported education, health and art in the community.

As leader of the new Museum of Glass, Josi Callan has helped develop a renewed sense of pride in downtown Tacoma. Her savvy leadership, focus, drive, insistence on quality and sense of fun has given the world a magnificent contemporary art museum.

Callan selected the museum’s inaugural exhibitions, tracked the building’s design and construction and established the educational programming that would define the museum’s role in the community. She positioned the non-profit institution as an integral business partner and established its role as a regional asset. Her energy prompted enough enthusiasm in the community that over 3,000 people became museum members before the final shingle was fitted to the cone. More than 136,000 people have visited since the museum opened in July.

The award winners were nominated by members of the community and selected based on criteria that included 2002 accomplishments, strategic thinking, integrated business knowledge, teamwork, professionalism and communication – competencies emphasized in the UW Tacoma Business Administration program. Judges also considered nominees’ contributions to the individual’s field of business, the region’s business climate and the community at large.

Judges for the award included members of the UW Tacoma Business Advisory Board, Business Administration faculty and the publisher of the Business Examiner.

The eight Business Leadership Award winners will be announced Jan. 19. Admission to the Business Leaders of the Year awards event is $15, including one complimentary drink and hors d’oeuvre. To order tickets, call 253/692-5641.