Larry Armstrong doesn’t shy away from long days.
His work on Tuesday started at 6:30 a.m. at Moving Ahead, the Garden City Park-based moving and storage company he runs as general manager, he said.
And the Mt. Sinai resident often stays in the area late into the evening to help with Greater New Hyde Park Chamber of Commerce events, the chamber president, Jerry Baldassaro, said.
Armstrong’s dedication to the chamber over the past decade led him to be picked as its 2017 Business Person of the Year. He’ll be honored alongside outstanding merchants from across Nassau County at the Nassau Council of Chambers of Commerce annual awards breakfast in October.
“You never have to ask Larry to do anything,” Baldassaro said. “He’s right front and center and always rolling up his sleeves to help out.”
Armstrong, 60, started working with Moving Ahead in 1988 after searching for a change from his work in construction, he said.
The company, headquartered in Garden City Park for the last 25 years, handles about 5,000 moving jobs a year throughout Long Island and in New York City, Armstrong said.
Armstrong’s daily duties range from dispatching trucks in the early morning to handling billing for larger accounts, he said. He was even folding workers’ uniform T-shirts on Tuesday.
Armstrong attributed his dedication to “a sense of duty.”
“You got to take care of your company,” he said. “This is where I made my living.”
Armstrong has served on the New Hyde Park chamber’s Board of Directors for the last seven of the 10 years that he’s been an active member. He also serves as co-chair of the chamber’s Ambassador Committee, welcoming new members and recruiting businesses to join.
Involvement with the chamber helps Moving Ahead stay connected to the local business community, Armstrong said.
“He’s made our job as chamber members a lot easier,” Baldassaro said.
Armstrong is also the chairman of the board and past president of the Long Island Moving and Storage Association, an 83-year-old trade group with 30 member companies that maintains performance and ethics standards for movers.
Mark Laytin, a previous New Hyde Park chamber president, and the group’s two most recent Business Person of the Year honorees picked Armstrong as this year’s winner, Baldassaro said.
Armstrong said he’s honored to have been chosen.
“There’s a lot of people that are worthy of this recognition besides me,” he said.
Armstrong and other honorees from the Nassau Council of Chambers’ 49 member groups will be recognized at the 33rd annual Small Business Person of the Year and Legislative Breakfast at Crest Hollow Country Club.
