From Our Executive Director
On behalf of our Board of Directors, I would like to welcome you to the 2021 Somerset-Pulaski County Chamber of Commerce Virtual Awards Banquet. This is our region’s premier business event where we celebrate the successes of our business community over the past year.
The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically impacted our business community, and we are all working hard to recover. Our organization has continued to evolve and grow with the generous support of our communities, sponsors, members and volunteers.
The world seemed to turn upside down in 2020. However, these events spurred the Chamber to use an innovative, outside-the-box approach to re-think its vision and provide more value than ever for our local business community.
Along those lines, we have decided to hold our banquet virtually this year as current guidelines will not allow us to hold our traditional event. Although different, I believe this year’s banquet has the possibility to be viewed by thousands instead of hundreds of people.
On behalf of the Chamber, I cannot thank you enough for your support over the last twelve months. Brighter days are ahead and as we work to recover, the Chamber will be there every step of the way helping our local business community.
Sincerely,
Bobby Clue
Executive Director
Somerset-Pulaski Co. Chamber of Commerce
Video From Our Chamber President
2021 Board Members
Weichert Realty
History of the Chamber
As long as commerce has existed, traders have banded together for common protection against enemies, to govern the conduct of trade, and later to exert influence on legislation. In the United States, early chambers promoted the sale of goods, organized markets, made and enforced rules of trade, protected goods in transit, and even operated their own trading floors. But, their activities were limited to those directly connected with commerce.
The Somerset-Pulaski Chamber of Commerce was organized in 1925 for the soul purpose of advancing the business of Somerset. Mr. Ralph Hill was the first president and soon it was obvious that a group of business men had a stronger voice than individuals standing in the woods alone.
As the Chamber advanced, the Somerset Chamber realized there were many other businesses that wanted to partner with them that were not located in the city, so the decision was made to include any business that was located in Pulaski County as well as Somerset.
There is a 19 member Board of Directors that makes up the policies for the Chamber of Commerce. This is a total volunteer board. The Chamber hires an Executive Director who carries out the policies and takes care of the day-to-day activities of the Chamber of Commerce. Currently, there are over 900 members in the Somerset-Pulaski Chamber of Commerce.
World Class Sponsors
Chairman Circle Sponsors
Ambassador Circle Sponsors
Past Chamber Presidents
Ralph E. Hill 1925
E.H. Patton 1926
V.D. Roberts 1937
W.H. Ramsey Sr. 1938
M.E. Burton 1939
Alonzo Carter 1940
W.H. Ramsey Jr. 1941
George A. Joplin Jr. 1942
H.W. Cain 1943
M.E. Graybeal 1944
J.T. Wilson 1945
R.G. Williams 1946
Austin Brinegar 1947
Sam C. Kennedy 1948
Dr. J.F. White 1949
M.N. Berry 1950
Chester Copeland 1951
Frank Ellis 1952
R.B. Waddle 1953
Ira Yeary 1954
Harold D. Strunk 1955
Jack Goldenberg 1956
Victor Sams 1957
Mike Layman 1958
Barnett Eldridge 1959
Paul Hughes 1960
Jesse Wilson 1961
Dr. J.K. Cross 1962
Glen Neikirk 1963
Kenneth G. Whitaker 1964
Mike Layman 1965
Carlos LaFavors 1966
Robert J. Haney 1967
Harold D. Rogers 1968
Charlie Bell 1969
Toby Rendlemen 1970
Dr. Roscoe D. Kelley 1971
Steven J. Fischer 1972
Kenneth C. Bean 1973
Herman Schoolcraft 1974
Cy Waddle 1975
Alton E. Blakely 1976
T.B. Grissom Jr. 1977
Ronald W. Coldiron 1978
J. Allen Brown 1979
John T. Mandt 1980
James B. Ramsey 1981
Frank B. Barker 1982
Michael W. Smith 1983
Oscar Hornsby, Jr. 1984
Reed C. Hall 1985
G. Nolan Kenner 1986
Judy Burdine 1987
Roland New 1988
Don Hampton 1989
Mike Whitaker 1990
H.R. ‘Butch” Tyson 1991
Jack Evans 1992
Mike Simpson 1993
Martin Shearer 1994
John Nelson 1995
Susan Wilson 1996
Walt Williams 1997
Mike LaFavers 1998
Brenda Peckinpaugh 1999
Sharon Wheeldon 2000
Ann Zwick 2001
A.C. Donahue 2002
Don Bloomer 2003
Mike Tarter 2004
Teresa Hail 2005
Mark Ross 2006
Jack Wilhelm 2007
Allen Anderson 2008
Charles Coldiron 2009
Cathy Epperson 2010
Mike Chandler 2011
Doug Parkey 2012
Leah Taylor 2013
Chris Girdler 2014
Megan Damron 2015
Mark Brenzel 2016
Seth Atwell 2017
Daniel Cheshire 2018
Linda Skaarup 2019
Troy Lovell 2020
A special “shout out” to Dustin Fenison and Ramin Zangeneh for spending an incredible amount of time and effort in providing video production services for the 2021 Virtual Banquet. Their effort and talents are appreciated very much by The Chamber and business owners alike. For more information, contact Live Fish Productions at LFeventpro@gmail.com.
We’d also like to give a special “thank you” to The Center for Rural Development for developing and delivering our brand new website and virtual banquet landing page for this year’s event! The Chamber appreciates The Center’s hard work and dedication in helping make this year’s virtual banquet a reality. For more information about The Center for Rural Development and its services, contact Laura Glover at lglover@centertech.com or visit www.centertech.com.