Annual Events

Save the Date: Thursday, September 23, 2010

Business Community Honors Business Leaders During 2009 Excellence in Business Awards

Business leaders throughout our region honored numerous business and community leaders during the 2009 Excellence in Business Awards during the 90th Annual Meeting & Awards Ceremony held at the Rogue Valley Country Club on September 10.

This year’s Excellence in Business Awards hit a new high with an attractive and dramatic room setting and a tightly choreographed and scripted program due to the work of The Chamber’s Daria Land and The Maentz Agency. The emcee, Bill Anderberg, got the show rolling by thanking the evening’s sponsors, without whom the event would not be possible. “This evening is presented by Umpqua Bank. Our Spotlight Sponsors are Asante Health Systems, Rogue Disposal & Recycling and Valley Web Printing.  A special thanks to our Recognition Sponsors: Boise, Pacific Power, PremierWest Bank, Rogue Federal Credit Union and Rogue Regency Inn & Suites. Awards Sponsors include Knife River Materials, Lithia Motors, People’s Bank of Commerce, Providence Medford Medical Center and S&B James Construction.”

Before the first award of the evening was presented, business leaders honored Chamber President & CEO Brad Hicks for becoming a Certified Chamber Executive (CCE), the highest form of accreditation available to a chamber executive. Due to important legislation that demanded his attention, U.S. Representative Greg Walden taped his congratulatory message to Hicks ahead of time at KTVL, taking Hicks by surprise. “I’m extremely proud of your accomplishment of becoming a Certified Chamber Executive, the only national certification and the highest certification a chamber executive can receive. As you know, this certification assesses each applicants’ knowledge in core chamber leadership areas: management, planning and development, membership, communications and operations.” Walden said that only 455 executives have received this distinction since its beginning in 1938. “Like you, I know what serving the community means to you. I have watched you rise to the position of President and CEO, helping it become the largest and most influential. I know that you will say that it is the southern Oregon volunteer leadership who have made The Chamber this strong, which is true. But it’s also true that your dynamic and innovative leadership has helped to bring The Chamber to this level of excellence.”

Then John Snider, Representative Walden’s southern Oregon District Director, presented Hicks with a commemorative plaque that was created to acknowledge that the Representative read his achievement into the United States Congressional Record.

The first award presented by Knife River’s Don Skundrick was to the “New Member of the Year,” which is given to a person who joined The Chamber within the last three years and has become an active participant in Chamber activities and functions, and whose participation has allowed that individual to rise above the crowd and embody the virtues that The Chamber seeks to embrace. Skundrick presented the award to Bonnie Hall, Independent CAbi Consultant & Chamber Ambassador. Throughout the last five years this award has been given to Elvira Skurdall, Chick Parsons. Michael Burlingham, Chela Sanchez, and Alex Palowski.

The Business Excellence Award (Small Business) was presented by Bill Anderberg and was given to a Chamber member business that has achieved excellence through outstanding perseverance. This award was presented to John Larkin, owner of Roxy Anne Lanes and Chamber Board Member. Recent businesses honored with this award have been Butte Creek Mill, United Risk Solutions, Inc., The Rogue Creamery, The Maentz Agency, Inc, and Valley View Winery.

The Business Excellence Award given to a medium-sized business was presented by Skip Patterson, retired manager from Pacific Power and Past President of the Board, and was given to Monte Mendenhall, Regional Community Manager of Pacific Power. Recent winners of this award are People’s Bank of Commerce, Brotherton Pipeline, Noel Lesley Event Services, Sabroso Company, and Dutch Bros. Coffee.

The Business Excellent Award for a large company was presented by Roy Vineyard, CEO & President of Asante Health Systems and past board member. Vineyard gave this honor to Steve, Lynda, Sherm and Wanda Olsrud of Sherms Thunderbird and Food-4-Less. Past recipients include Providence Medford Medical Center, Rogue Valley Manor, Adroit Construction Company Inc., PremierWest Bank, and Lithia Motors, Inc.

Candidates for the First Future Citizen Award must be a graduating senior in the Class of 2010 with a GPA of 3.0 or higher. The finalists for this award were asked questions such as, “If you were the mayor of your community, what would be the top three issues you would focus on throughout your term?” Judges were asked to base their decision on the candidate they believe will make the best “First Citizen” of the future. Each finalist received a $1,000 scholarship and one student, Filiberto Vargas from South Medford High School, received the Future First Citizen $5,000 scholarship that was presented by John LaVoie, Vice President, Business Relationship Manager of Umpqua Bank and Past Chamber Board Member.

Scholarships were provided by: Umpqua Bank, Burrill Real Estate, PacifiCorp, Ed's Tire Factory, Knife River Materials, Southern Oregon Goodwill, Forest Capital , KOGAP, Hubbard's Ace Hardware, Regence Blue Cross Blue Shield of Oregon, and S&B James Construction Management.

Finalists included Hannah Gilder (North Medford), Kali McKee (South Medford), Baylee Hearns (North Medford), Garrett West (North Medford), Catherine Prechtel (Phoenix), Nilsa Gibson (North Medford), Cody Weeks (North Medford), Jenna Stevens (North Medford), Kendra McMillen (North Medford), and Connie McNair (South Medford).

The Chamber Member of the Year Award was given to a company or individual who has made a significant contribution to the development of The Chamber of Medford/Jackson County. This individual is a leader in every aspect and joins with past recipients such as Kathy Peckham, Valley Web Printing, Randy Jones, John Watt, and Curt Burrill. This award was presented by Craig Stone, President of CSA Planning and Outgoing Chairman of the Board, who gave this coveted award to Bill Maentz, President of The Maentz Agency, Executive Board Member, and Vice Chair of Promoting the Community.

The Retailer of the Year Award was given to a Chamber member who has a record of dependability, success, exceptional customer service, outstanding community service and leadership. Brad Hicks presented the award wearing a part of the Red Robin costume—fitting since the recipient was Bill Powell, Operating Partner of Red Robin. Past recipients include Rogue Regency Inn & Suites, Larson’s Home Furnishings, Jacksonville Inn, Grange CO-OP, and Sherm’s Thunderbird Market.

Past Chair Craig Stone then passed the gavel of leadership to incoming Chair Brue Hoevet, who reiterated his commitment to core Chamber objectives. He said that The Chamber is the largest and most influential chamber in Oregon. Yet like most member-driven organizations during this recession, we have experienced a decrease in membership. Though our decease in membership is nowhere as extreme as in other member-driven organizations, he said that increasing membership will be one of his most important goals during my his tenure as Chair. “I have been on the board for three years and have been truly amazed at the work that goes on behind the scenes for the benefit of not only our members but for all businesses in our area.”

 Legislative action from city hall to Salem will remain one of his top priorities. He said that the business community must help to elect pro-business leaders and defend policies that protect business so that when this recession wanes we will do more than survive but thrive in the not-so-distant future.
 
The Outstanding Corporate Citizen (For Profit) is given to Chamber members who engage in projects that significantly promote employee development, as well as to enhance the quality of life in the communities they serve. In the last five years The Chamber has honored US Cellular, LTM, Inc. (Knife River), S&B James Construction Mgmt., Gold River Distributing Co., and Rogue Disposal & Recycling. Don Skundrick presented the 2009 award to Bob Mayers, CEO and Co-Owner of Adroit Construction.

The award for our region’s Outstanding Corporate Citizen (Not for Profit) was presented by Marc Bayliss of PremierWest Bank to Ray Johnson, Superintendent of Cascade Christian High School. Recipients within the last five years include Southern Oregon Humane Society, St. Vincent de Paul Society, Rogue Community College, Southern Oregon Goodwill Industries, and La Clinica del Valle.

The First Citizen Award, the most prestigious of the night, was presented to a community member who has made significant contributions to the development of Jackson County. This award honors a body of lifetime accomplishments that spans decades of community service. Past recipients within the last five years include John Anhorn (PremierWest Bank), Bill Thorndike Jr. – (Medford Fabrication), Patsy Smullin (KOBI/KOTI), Sid DeBoer (Lithia Motors), and Bill Anderberg (Answer Page). April Sevcik, Financial Advisor for Morgan Stanley Smith Barney and Past Chair of the Board, gave a heart-felt presentation to Mike Burrill, Sr., CEO of Burrill Resources and Past Chairman of the Board. 

Burrill has served on numerous boards throughout southern Oregon and throughout the state, including The Chamber, The Oregon Community Foundation, Oregon State Criminal Justice Commission, Southern Oregon University Foundation and Regional Advisory, Mercy Flights Inc., Oregon State Aviation Board, Southern Oregon Regional Economic Development Inc., and the Oregon State Board of Forestry, among others.

The wood-product industrialist turned land-developer when regulations strangled lumber production in our region graduated from Prospect High School in 1960 and earned a business administration degree at Southern Oregon in 1965. For more than two decades he worked in various capacities at his family run business, Burrill Lumber before becoming president in 1985 and until production ended in 1997.

Please contact Daria Land at (541) 608-8520 for more information.

The Chamber would like to thank the following generous sponsors:

Presenting Sponsor

Thank you to Umpqua Bank for making this annual event possible.

Spotlight Sponsor

Red Carpet Sponsors

Adroit Construction Company, Inc.
Boise
Pacific Power
Providence Medford Medical Center
Rogue Federal Credit Union
Rogue Regency Inn & Suites
Rogue Valley Medical Center
Wal - Mart

Angel Sponsors

Harry & David
Knife River Materials
People's Bank of Commerce
S & B James Construction

Complimentary Wine Tasting Courtesy Of:

Agate Ridge Vineyards
Corks Wine Bar & Bottle Shoppe
RoxyAnn Winery
Valley View Winery
Weisinger's Winery

Dessert Sponsors:

Harry & David
Cary's of Oregon

Dessert Sponsors:

Grange Co-Op