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Adams Transfer named family business of the year by Small Business Administration
0523ADAMS
Jimmy Adams of Adams Transfer & Storage Co. in Gainesville, center, recently received the Family Owned Business of the Year award from the Small Business Administration. Presenting the award are Adrienne Sipe of Meridian Financial, left, and Terri Denison, Georgia district director of the Small Business Administration. - photo by For The Times

Adams Transfer & Storage Co. of Gainesville was named the Jeffrey Butland Family Owned Business of the Year in Georgia by the U.S. Small Business Administration.

The award was presented during a luncheon Thursday in Atlanta.

The award recognizes a family owned business with outstanding growth in sales and profits as well as one that provides employment opportunities for both family and non-family employees.

"This award says a lot about the people who work with us and the quality of people who have chosen to be on our team," said company president Jimmy Adams. "We’ve always tried to hire the best people, and this is evidence of their efforts in making us the family business of the year."

The company’s roots go back to 1903 in Athens, when J.L. Adams began meeting the arriving trains with a horse and wagon to haul steamer trunks and other baggage of rail passengers.

In 1949, R.E. Adams opened a moving and storage company in Gainesville. His son, Jimmy, joined the business while in college. The company expanded into data storage. Adams Data Management is the largest privately held records management company in the state. The company also has 2.25 million square feet of real estate space.

"Jimmy Adams has been a constant servant to our community, as well as a leader in our business environment," wrote Kit Dunlap, president and chief executive of the Greater Hall Chamber of Commerce in her nomination of Adams. "Adams Transfer and Storage has a long history of strong leadership, and its legacy is continued and increased each day with Jimmy Adams at the helm."

In 2003, the company was presented with the Cox Family Business of the Year, presented by Kennesaw State University’s Cox Family Enterprise Center.

Jimmy Adams is a past chairman of the Greater Hall Chamber of Commerce and a director of Chattahoochee Bank of Georgia, which is being organized in Gainesville.