Category happenings

I really enjo­yed myself at last year’s Busi­ness of the Year awards, I was exci­ted to shoot this years’. I was even more exci­ted, and hum­bled, to be a nomi­nee as well! While I didn’t win, I had a lot of fun put­ting together my entry.

From the Cham­ber Press Release: The Chamber’s 2011 Busi­ness of the Year Awards Pre­sen­ta­tion & Cock­tail Recep­tion pre­sen­ted by Com­cast was held before a sell-​out crowd on Thurs., March 24 at One Liberty Lane Office and Con­fe­rence Cen­ter in Hampton.

An enthu­sias­tic crowd enjo­yed hors d’oeuvres and cock­tails from Galley Hatch Cate­ring and cele­bra­ted as this year’s win­ners were announced.

One Liberty Lane loo­ked amazing!

Ven­dor booths were set up pro­vi­ding the hono­rees and guests an oppor­tu­nity to meet and chat with some of the areas business.

The eve­ning star­ted with a few words from Cham­ber Pre­si­dent Mike Schidlovsky

And then Kellie Farrar from Coaching+, one of last years reci­pients, took over as the head of Cere­mo­nies and intro­du­ced each cate­gory and rea­sons why the win­ner was cho­sen before revea­ling who had taken the title.

Real Estate/​Construction/​Engineering: Ema­nuel Engi­nee­ring, Inc.

Manufacturing/​Technology: Northeast Lan­tern, Ltd.

Education/​Non-​profit less than 25 emplo­yees: Exe­ter His­to­ri­cal Society

Education/​Non-​profit 25 or more emplo­yees: Sea­coast School of Technology

(you may recog­nize this place.. I talk about it some­ti­mes.. I also took a lot of the pho­tos he used in his sub­mis­sion. haha) Tourism/​Hospitality: The Tavern at River’s Edge

Retail Who­le­sale: TIED – Coo­kies by Design Exe­ter and Cor­nu­co­pia Wine & Cheese

Health Care: River­Woods — My favo­rite part of Cathy’s accep­tance was the heart­felt thanks that some of the resi­dence of the faci­lity gave to her when River­woods won.

And the winner’s of the cate­gory I was nomi­na­ted in were the well deser­ving Busi­ness & Trade Ser­vi­ces: F.W. Webb Com­pany

But I had him in my cor­ner — and that’s way more than I nee­ded. That post-​it says “I vote for Mom”

In addi­tion, the Chamber’s newly esta­blished Lori Breard Achie­ve­ment in Lea­dership Award was pre­sen­ted to Exe­ter Bow­ling Lanes and Shooter’s Sports Pub owner Robert Ficara of Exe­ter. Ficara, an active Cham­ber mem­ber, was pre­sen­ted the award by Pam Came­ron and Breard’s daugh­ter Hallie Estle.

Robert Ficara was awar­ded the honor for his many attri­bu­tes that epi­to­mize the ins­pi­ra­tion and exam­ple set by Breard. They inc­lude: a high level of pro­fes­sio­na­lism, lea­dership, inte­grity com­bi­ned with a down-​to-​earth approach to life; a posi­tive atti­tude; and active men­to­ring. Also, Ficara is a strong busi­ness lea­der and active com­mu­nity member.

Ficara is an active mem­ber of the Cham­ber for many years, volun­tee­ring on a host of com­mit­tees over many years inc­lu­ding: the Ulti­mate Sports Tic­ket Raf­fle, Small Busi­ness Show­case, Sweeps­ta­kes, Fall Fes­ti­val, Bruins Alumni Bene­fit Game and Cham­ber Children’s Fund. Hos­ting net­wor­king events, spon­so­ring annual events and ser­ving at one time on the board of direc­tors have also been part of his Cham­ber par­ti­ci­pa­tion. His con­tri­bu­tions to the com­mu­nity extend well beyond the Cham­ber, from annual fun­drai­sers to ope­ra­ting two well-​loved local businesses.

Rob was so genui­nely touched and unsus­pec­ting I don’t think there was any one in the room that wasn’t a little emo­tio­nal at the ama­zing per­son Lori was, and that her daugh­ter Hallie embo­dies, and how deser­ving Rob is of this award.

Con­gra­tu­la­tions to all this year’s award recipients!