The Greater Hall Chamber of Commerce announced Tuesday morning the 2023 Industry of the Year awards at their Industry Appreciation Luncheon.
The ceremony was held at the Ramsey Conference Center at Lanier Technical College where industry leaders were recognized for their economic impact, workforce excellence and corporate responsibility.
The 2023-24 Industry Awards were presented to the following:
-
pdblowers, Inc. (Small Employer category )
-
Corporate Storage (Medium Employer category)
-
Mar- Jac Poultry (Large Employer category)
The 2023-24 Recognition awards were presented to the following:
-
Carrol Daniel (Work Force Development Award)
-
Marel Food Processing (Safety Performace Award)
-
ZF Gainesville (Corporate Responsibility Award)
-
The Harris Products Group (Environmental Responsibility Award)
-
Performance Food Service (Work Force Excellence Award)
Professor Of Economics at Kennesaw State University Dr. Roger Tutterow was the keynote speaker at the event. Tutterow touched on many topics including challenges facing the American economy, the probability of a recession and how the world has changed since the pandemic.
“Quite candidly, I think the imbalances that were created over the last four years, a mild recession might help us correct some of those imbalances and set us up for more prosperity going forward,” Tutterow said.
Vice President of Economic Development with the Chamber of Commerce Tim Evans said the ceremony is a great way to show appreciation to local businesses.
Evans explained how the winners are chosen.
“We have an independent panel of business and industry leaders, and some of them are previous winners, that review the nominations for us [The Greater Hall Chamber] we help manage the process, but we're grateful to have some business leaders that participate with us and selecting the award winners for that,” Evans said.
President of pdblowers Inc. Jim Hene said he was surprised when he got the notification that his company was nominated.
“It was great, it came out of the blue, I got a notification from the chamber that we had been nominated for this role,” Hene said. “We typically fly pretty low under the radar so, you know, it was surprising.”
Hene expressed appreciation for the Hall County community.
“It's been very important to me. My wife and I made the decision to move to Gainesville in 1992,” Hene said. “Hall County was much smaller, but we fell in love with the area and fell in love with the people. It's been a great place to raise our family and to build a business.”
Vice President of Existing Industry with the Chamber of Commerce Nikki Chandler said the ceremony is a way to celebrate companies that benefit the community.
“We just feel like this is a great way to honor them for all that they do,” Chandler said. “Because they help our community so much, they hire a lot of our people and they're invested in our community.”
In Hall County, there are over 330 manufacturers and processors that greatly benefit the community Chandler said.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2023/11/1214570/greater-hall-chamber-of-commerce-announces-2023-industry-of-the-year-awards-1