Charlie Kettle, 2011 Chair of the Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County Board of Directors, presents Bob Ludwig the Distinguished Service Award.

View Kiplinger's keynote address here.

Kettle passed the gavel to 2012 Chair Jim Bolte.

The Chamber’s Annual Membership Meeting is among the largest events of the year and highlights the year’s successes. The event was presented by S3 at the Von Braun Center.

Charlie Kettle, 2011 chair of the Chamber’s board of directors, said members really helped pull the community through a challenging year.

“Now, as we reflect on 2011, we can be proud. It was a challenging year for many of your companies, but we continue to weather these struggles with success because this is a community of smart, determined, resourceful people. Just look at how everyone worked together to make the BRAC transitions go as smoothly as they did. Redstone Arsenal is now home to 4,600 new government employees, who we are proud to call our neighbors,” Kettle said.

Among the many highlights of the event is the announcement of the recipient of the Chamber’s Distinguished Service Award, the highest honor the Chamber bestows.

This year’s honoree was retired Huntsville Times publisher Bob Ludwig.

“He has worked behind the scenes with numerous projects, and he is considered a valuable confidant by governors and all sorts of movers and shakers. At the newspaper as well as in the community, Bob is known as a man who is tough but fair and wise. He’s also known as someone who loves to have fun,” Kettle said of Ludwig.

“I am truthfully humbled by looking at this list of past winners. The Chamber of Commerce is a great organization and all of you make it that,” Ludwig said.

Knight Kiplinger was this year’s keynote speaker. He said it has taken him far too long to get to Huntsville, but he was glad that he had finally made it.

“I’m woefully late to be making a visit to Huntsville. I am appalled at how few of my peers in the media haven’t been here before. Their readers are missing out,” Kiplinger said.

View Kiplinger's keynote address here.

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By identifying the colleges which we want our children to attend and from where we wish to recruit our workforce, we can determine the ACT requirements that define our expectations and hold our schools accountable. Please note: We understand that not all students will go to a 4-year college – and not all students need to – but the requirements for college and career-ready are becoming more similar. The ACT is not a perfect measure, but it is a simple and quantitative proxy for community expectations. Our schools can and should be as good as we demand.

“Our Huntsville office has grown tremendously in recent years, with more than 50 employees supporting Army customers there,” the company said in a release.

Among the reasons the company cited for moving headquarters were the diverse number of federal organizations on Redstone Arsenal such as Army, NASA, DOD, DIA, ATF, FBI, and MDA and growth anticipated to come with the completion of BRAC.

“This is a transition step we feel is needed to take even better care of our customers and make enGenius an even better company,” the company said. An official ribbon cutting will be held within the next month for a grand opening.

• Nomination Form • Reserve your table

Fifteen companies in Huntsville/Madison County will be selected as the “Best Places to Work” – while nine employees will be named the “Most Valuable Employees” at the fifth annual Best Places to Work awards luncheon at the Von Braun Center. The event is co-hosted with the North Alabama Society for Human Resource Management on Tuesday, May 8, beginning at 11:30 a.m. and presented by First Commercial Bank.

Winners are based solely on a survey completed by employees and are selected in three categories: organizations with 25 to 74 local employees; organizations with 75 to 249 local employees; and employers with 250 local employees or more.

Once nominated, Quantum Workplace, a company that specializes in measuring workplace satisfaction around the country, will administer a survey to employees and will tabulate the results. Winners are based exclusively on the outcome of the employee surveys. The survey measures companies based on the following criteria:

• Team Effectiveness
• Retention Probability
• Alignment with Goals
• Trust with Co-workers
• Individual Contribution
• Manager Effectiveness
• Trust in Senior Leaders
• Feeling Valued
• Work Engagement
• People Practices
  

They include:

• Jana Humphrey, Walden at Providence, Manager of the Year Level 1
• Abby Glenn, A Quiet Cove, Property of the Year Level 2
• Sealy Management Company, Management Company of the Year
• Joe Copp, Roto-Rooter Plumbers, Associate of the Year
• The Reserve at Research Park, Reaching for the Stars
• Arch Street, Beautification Level 1
• Darryl Clark, The Reserve at Research Park, Leasing Professional of the Year Level 2
• Kristi Simpson, Walden at Providence, Assistant Manager of the Year Level 1
  

Madison County's unemployment rate fell again in December, reaching 6.4 percent, which is a marked improvement from 8.1 percent at the beginning of 2011. Madison County’s rate was 6.8 percent in November.

Statewide, the jobless rate declined from 8.7 percent in November to 8.1 percent in December.

The jobless rate in Madison County hasn't been below 6.4 since April 2009, according to the Alabama Department of Industrial Relations.

The December rate represents Madison County 10,989 people without jobs, compared to 11,730 people in November and 11,994 in December 2010.

Counties with the state’s lowest rates in December were: Shelby at 5.2 percent, Coffee at 6.0 percent and Madison, Limestone, Pike and Lee at 6.4 percent.

Here’s a look at Madison County’s jobless rates in 2011:

This year, the awards will be presented at an 11:30 a.m. luncheon on Wednesday, June 20, at the Alabama Activity Center in Montgomery. Applications are now available at www.alabamamoty.org. If you wish to nominate your company, or another business, those nominations are due by April 10. Completed applications are due May 10.

Awards are made in three categories based on number of employees: large, 400 or more employees; medium, 100 to 399; and small, one to 99. An additional award, Emerging Manufacturer of the Year, may be presented to a company in operation for five or fewer years that has demonstrated superior performance. Recent past winners in that category have included Hyundai Motor Manufacturing of Alabama, Montgomery; Micor Industries, Decatur; and Decatur Plastic Products, Gadsden.

Everything you need to apply for the awards is online at www.alabamamoty.org, including the application, registration information about the June 20 program, and answers to your questions. Don't delay! Apply today.