Hudson Valley Paper Company Certified by Women's Business Enterprise National Council. (Albany, NY) – Hudson Valley Paper Company announces that the company has received certification by the Women's Business Enterprise National Council (WBNEC). According to Samantha T. Jones, president of the company, "We are honored by this recognition and impressed by the company we keep among business owners today. It’s phenomenal that nearly one in three privately owned U.S. businesses today are majority owned and controlled by women.” Founded in 1997, the WBENC is the nation's leading advocate of women-owned businesses as suppliers to American's corporations. With this certification, Hudson Valley Paper Company becomes part of one of the nation's largest third-party organizations certifying businesses owned and operated by women in the United States. The non-profit WBNEC fosters diversity in business with programs and policies designed to expand opportunities and eliminate barriers in the marketplace for women business owners. In 2003, American corporations spent almost $80 billion with minority and women-owned businesses, an increase from the $47 billion spent in l999. Today, 80 of the Top Fortune 100 companies have supplier diversity programs aimed to encourage and track spending among women- and minority-owned businesses. According to Jones, “We know that national corporations seek the unique certification of WBNEC when they are looking to enhance their supplier diversity program. This certification is yet another opportunity for Hudson Valley Paper Company to present our value proposition to corporate end-users of paper.” The paper merchant also expects that the WBENC certification will deliver major benefits to its core customers of printers by enlarging market opportunities for them. Founded in 1875, Hudson Valley Paper Company is believed to be the oldest paper merchant still owned by the same family. Throughout the generations, women and men of the Jones family have been involved in the company. Andrew B. Jones was the first generation of the family to be the owner of the company. The second generation included Sydney T. Jones, Sr., who was named the next president of the company. Sydney T. Jones, Jr. became the company's third generation Jones family president. The tradition continued into the fourth generation when Sydney T. Jones, III was named president in 1971. Although women in the Jones family have served as shareholders in the company, Samantha Jones is the first woman to be its executive leader. The executive office of Hudson Valley Paper Company is located in Albany, New York, with additional sites in Rochester, New York, Burlington, Vermont and Hartford, Connecticut. Since 1875, the people have changed but the philosophy has not. Hudson Valley Paper Company still offers the best qualities of paper products available, maintains broad inventories in each of its locations, and continues to instill in our employees a spirit of service. The company is proudly woman owned and is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), the New York State Division of Minority and Women-Owned Business Development (DMWBD), and the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBNEC).