Chamber dinner celebrates business
SLIPPERY ROCK — Around 300 chamber members attended the annual Celebrate Business dinner hosted by the Butler County Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday evening.
The dinner, held at Slippery Rock University's Smith Student Center, served as a graduation ceremony for the 2019 Leadership Butler County class and a night of recognition for two awards.
Jordan Grady, the chamber's new executive director, was a member of this year's class.
“I loved Leadership (Butler County),” Grady said. “I made many friends and meaningful business connections for life.”
This year's leadership class graduated 25. They come from different trades and backgrounds to accomplish a goal.
“No task or challenge seemed to rattle this group,” said Seth Prentice, class chairman. “I hope we've made and continue to make all of you proud.”
This year, the leadership group raised money through events and used their brains and brawn to overhaul parts of the Glade Run Adventures facility, a horse-riding school that provides therapeutic experiences for people with mental or physical challenges.
“I really thought I knew Butler County,” said Autumn Patterson, office manager of Northwest Bank. “But Leadership Butler County showed me that I don't know half of what's going on here.”
This year, one of the chamber's annual awards received a new name.
Butler County Commissioners Leslie Osche, Kim Geyer and Kevin Boozel received the newly named “David L. Lloyd Memorial” Chamber Business Champion award, on behalf of the county.
Lloyd, who passed away in 2018, was a former chairman of the chamber's board, a 2009 recipient of the William A. Morgan Jr. Entrepreneur of the Year award and the founding director of the Community Development Corporation of Butler County, among other accolades.
David Lloyd Jr. spoke about his father.“He would have been stunned, humbled, but also very grateful,” Lloyd said. “He was a man who loved this community.”Lloyd said people approached him throughout the evening with thoughtful, gentle reminders of the legacy of his parents. He described his mother's strong presence behind the scenes.“I didn't realize he had that impact on people, almost instantly,” Lloyd said.The county was recognized as this year's recipient because of its fostering of a positive business atmosphere.As her part of the three-part speech by the commissioners, Osche said business leaders of the future need to embody the ideals the late David Lloyd held.“That connectedness means we don't just do business transactions together,” she said. “We know each other.”Tom Taylor, owner of Fairground Market, received the William A. Morgan Jr. Entrepreneur of the Year award.Taylor said he wakes up at 3 a.m. each day and gets to work by 4:30 a.m. He said he had served most of the people in the crowd, but it was nice to be catered to for a change.“Sometimes it's nice to be on the other end of the job,” he said. “I'm just overwhelmed with pride to be here with all these people.”Chamber President Stan Kosciuszko said he was thankful to all who support the Leadership Butler County program.He said the leadership program will be the key to continuing to grow the business leaders of tomorrow.In an analogy earlier in the night, Kosciuszko said a pessimist complains about the wind and an optimist will accept the wind as it is.“The leader adjusts the sails,” Kosciuszko said.
