Evans Quinlivan and Madison County Commission Chair Mike Gillespie presented the Distinguished Service Award to Congressman Bud Cramer at the last year's Annual Membership Meeting Evans Quinlivan and Jim Bolte, Toyota Motor Manufacturing Alabama, presented the Industry of the Year to Tony Jones of The Boeing Company. (Click photo to enlarge)

The past two winners, respectively, were former U.S. Rep. Bud Cramer (2008 award) and Jim Hudson (2007), founder of the HudsonAlpha Institute of Biotechnology. The 2009 winner will be announced at the meeting, as will the Industry of the Year award which recognizes the community’s highly successful large businesses.

Click here for the full list of past Distinguished Service Award winners. »

The first two winners of the Industry of the Year award included Toyota Motor Manufacturing of Alabama and The Boeing Company. Modeled after the annual Small Business Awards Celebration, the Industry of the Year award recognizes the accomplishments, success, employee relations and community involvement of the community’s larger companies and is limited to companies with 350 or more local employees.

The 2010 annual membership meeting will be the Chamber’s 74th and will once again be held at Von Braun Center North Hall beginning at 11:30 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 28.

The keynote speaker for the 2010 meeting is retired four-star general John Abizaid. At the time of his retirement, he was the longest-serving commander of United States Central Command, with responsibility for an area spanning 27 countries in the Middle East, Southwest Asia, and the Horn of Africa.

The Annual Membership Meeting is one of the Chamber’s premiere events of the year and the program includes an overview of the previous year while recognizing the accomplishments of community leaders and Chamber volunteers. In addition to the speech by Abizaid, the DSA and the Industry of the Year recognitions, current Chamber board chair-elect Don Nalley will be presented the gavel from 2009 Chamber Board Chair Irma Tuder to take over as the new Chamber board chair.

Only a few seats remain for the membership meeting. To register for this event or for more information, click here. »