By Georgia Thelen
Review Staff Writer
The Orion Chamber of Commerce has announced the 2016 recipients of the annual Impact Awards. The Impact Awards were created to give recognition to members of the Orion Area Chamber who have positively impacted the Orion Community.
The Impact Award nomination process begins in September, with recommendations open to Chamber members for all six categories. Members are asked to nominate local business owners and Chamber of Commerce leaders who they believe are making a difference in the Lake Orion community and deserve to be recognized and rewarded for their hard work and dedication to the community.
“This year we had double the amount of entries as compared to last year. We got a really great response to all categories,” said Kim Urbanowski, Orion Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director.
All nominess must be Chamber members in good standing with different business qualities. Business Person of the Year must have a strong impact on the community, Youth Impact nominees must have youth ties, Community Beautification nominees must excel in sustainable practices, Entrepeneurs of the Year must be the founder, owner, CEO, or President of a company and Economic Impact nominees must impact jobs in the Orion area.
With six categories and an abundance of nominations, the Orion Area Chamber decided to bring in some outside help during the review and voting process.
“This year we included three members from outside of the board to choose winners; we expanded to outside of the board for opinions,” said Urbanowski.
Board members and their non-board member counterparts got time to review all of the candidates and choose their top picks.
“Then we came together for discussion and a secret vote,” Urbanowski said.
This year’s 2016 Impact Award winners are:
Business Person of the Year: Drew Ciora, Lockhart’s BBQ Lake Orion.
Youth Impact Award: Patti Charette, North Oakland Community Coalition.
Community Beautification Award: Pam Omilian, API Consulting.
Entrepreneur of the Year: Dana Mosure-Judge, Oakland Sports Chiropractic.
Economic Impact Award: Brian Birney, The Birney Directive.
Aspiring Entrepreneur of the Year: Alex Chudzinski, Cracked Electronic Repair.
The Community Impact Awards Luncheon will be held on December 1, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. at Kings Court Castle at Canterbury Village.
The winners will all be awarded for their dedication to the Orion community at the ceremony and will get a trophy to take back to their business.
For more information on the awards or the Orion Area Chamber of Commerce, visit orionareachamber.com.