MCCANDLESS TWP, Allegheny County — The Pittsburgh North Regional Chamber had a lot to celebrate Tuesday evening at its annual meeting at The Chadwick.

Mainly it had reversed its financial fortunes in the past 12 months.

A year ago it reported a deficit, but now it reported a small profit.

Executive director Jim Boltz presented the state of the chamber report, which detailed accomplishing four major goals, the first of which was strengthening its finances.

Last year as chairman of the board Boltz, who was hired to lead the chamber in the spring, had to break the news that the chamber had a deficit of more than $80,000 after having traditionally been financially sound.

But Tuesday night Boltz proudly announced to the more than 100 members in attendance that the chamber is back in the black.

By cutting costs, collecting more membership dues and turning a solid profit on events, the chamber finished nearly $89,000 ahead of last year, and ended with a profit of about $1,000.

Boltz also said the organization reinvested in itself to expand services and offer new ones.

Along with strengthening its finances, Boltz said the chamber wanted to rebuild relationships with its members and the community, improve the value of membership, and boost marketing efforts.

Boltz highlighted a number of accomplishments in those areas.

The chamber overhauled its website to make it more mobile-device friendly and produced new marketing materials.

It simplified its dues structure from six levels to two levels — small business and corporate. It created additional membership packages that provide discounts on bundled chamber services and events. It also allows members to pay dues on a payment plan.

The chamber made its electronic newsletter monthly and opened it up to the municipalities the chamber covers.

Boltz said registration for chamber events has increased and the chamber's networking meetings have strong attendance. It also added more educational programming for members.

As a result, he said membership has grown by more than 50.

Boltz and John Laslavic, chairman of the board, thanked all the chamber members, directors, committee leaders and staff who helped steer the chamber in a positive direction.

They also presented the chamber's 2014 Business Excellence Awards. More than 50 nominations for the five awards were received.

Winners are:

• Distinguished Business Award — Basilone Office Staffing Solutions

• Prestigious Business Leader Award — John McCool of Legal Shield

• Outstanding Volunteer Service Award — Lisa Hunt of USX Federal Credit Union

• Women Entrepreneur Excellence Award — Autumn Edmiston of the Edmiston Group

• Young Professional of the Year — Dr. Dan Turo of Turo Family Chiropractic

Also speaking was Chris Allison, an entrepreneur who led a technology startup for 10 years during the 1990s and early 2000s that was acquired for $2 billion.

Allison, who now writes and teaches entrepreneurship at Allegheny College in Meadville, spoke about the moments that shape a person's life and how business owners can succeed by finding new ways to solve their customers' problems.