Global Moisture Management named Innovator of Year

Ridgeville-based Global Moisture Management was named the 2008 Innovator of the Year during an event Wednesday at Memminger Auditorium.

The company, owned by Andrew Fuller, makes devices that automatically shut off water leaks and then, once the leak is fixed, allow service to resume with the touch of a button. His product and those of the other nominees were independently judged on originality, power, challenge and value.

“When I started this, I never ever expected anything of this magnitude,” Fuller said immediately after accepting the award before an audience of more than 225 people, many of them entrepreneurs themselves.

Each year, Innovators recognizes companies and individuals involved in growing the Lowcountry’s knowledge-based economy.

The event and awards are presented by The Charleston Regional Business Journal, which partnered with sponsors Bryan, Truesdale Adkins and Williams; the College of Charleston’s Tate Center for Entrepreneurship; the Lowcountry Graduate Center; ThinkTEC; Spirit Telecom; ECPI College of Technology; and Knology.

Like many of the entrepreneurs and businesses nominated for Innovators 2008, Fuller said his company’s product grew out of a need that wasn’t being filled. The licensed builder, who also owns Claycor Contractors Inc. in Ridgeville, saw what water infiltration and mold could do to a structure and developed his product after not finding something comparable.

Other winners included:
Absolutely Charleston
eThority
EverGreen Concepts
Fisher Recycling
Lynne Ellen Inc.
Modus 21
Pensarc Software Development
Sawgrass Technologies — M ink
Scout Boats Inc