AUGUSTA – Michael J. Fiori, a Maine entrepreneur who has started several successful small businesses including Columbia Classic Cars and The E.Y.E. Foundation, has been named Maine’s Champion of Small Business for 2004 by the National Federation of Independent Business, Maine’s largest small-business advocacy organization.

He is the former owner of Downeast Pharmacies, which he sold in the late 1990s.

Fiori of Brunswick is chairman of NFIB’s Maine Leadership Council, a group that advises the NFIB state chapter on issues of concern to small business.

An NFIB member for 15 years, Fiori was a 1995 delegate to the White House Conference on Small Business.

Each year in every state, NFIB recognizes a high-achieving small-business owner with its prestigious “Small Business Champion” award. This is the second year the national grassroots advocacy organization has recognized small-business owners who go the extra mile for Main Street businesses.