BURLINGTON, Vt. — The $31 million Opportunities Credit Union (formerly the Vermont Development Credit Union) is celebrating the success of Mark Harvie, one of its members who invented a bladder relief system for pilots.
Harvie invented, developed and holds a patent on the system and has been awarded a $3 million contract from the Department of Defense to produce the system for use by Air Force Pilots. Opportunities helped finance Harvie's along the way.
"I came to Opportunities with three other people for a small business loan. We wanted to buy some machining equipment. We had all intellectual property and no assets and had been turned down by all the banks in town," recalled Harvie. "We met with Dede Schlageter and showed her our business plan. I knew we could do this in Vermont and not Colorado. They got involved where a lot of bankers wouldn't and they got to know me."
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Harvie's company that he started to produce the system, Omni Measurement Systems, has announced plans to purchase a building in a Burlington business park and is expected to employ 67 area residents, the CU said.
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