After an 18-month delay, the 124th Emporia Area Chamber of Commerce Annual Meeting took place Saturday night inside of White Auditorium.
The event had to be postponed and rescheduled on multiple occasions over the past two=plus years due to COVID-19. Chamber President and CEO Jeanine McKenna says it was not the ideal situation, however, the final result was well worth the wait.
In addition to recognizing the 2021 Chamber Award Winners, the evening also gave special recognition to the 2020 winners. Among those recognized Saturday was 2021 Lifetime Achievement Award Winner Bill Barnes who previously served as plant manager of Modine Manufacturing and a former instructor of management at Emporia State University among other accolades.
Barnes says he is proud to have his name amongst other award winners and says he has always lived his life by a simple philosophy that has led him to great success professionally and personally.
Also recognized Saturday was 2020 Lifetime Achievement winner Steve Sauder, 2020 Business of the Year Mr. G’s Car Wash, 2021 Business of the Year the Olpe Chicken House, 2020 Volunteer of the Year Allison Hall, 2021 Volunteer of the Year Jennifer Ramsey, inaugural Community Impact award recipient Lyon County Public Health and the 2021 Community Impact winners longtime Emporia Special Projects Coordinator Jim Witt and former RDA President Kent Heerman.
Also during the meeting, 2021 Board Chair Nik Roth of PrairieLand Partners transferred his position to 2022 Board Chair Carla Barnett of Community National Bank & Trust. Barnett says she is very excited to be stepping into her new role to serve an organization that has given her so much throughout her career.
Barnett also stated the chamber board has multiple initiatives it plans to dedicate a lot of time to through the remainder of 2022, namely the hiring of a new Ignite Emporia Director.
Photos by Tagan Trahoon/KVOE News
