By Matt Wiley
It’s been quite a year for the Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce (WCCC). From broadening its borders to welcoming hundreds of new businesses, the Chamber continues to grow and its exiting chair of the Board of Directors gave members a rundown of its busy year — as well as honored the memory of the WCCC’s late membership director Cindy Freeman — during the organization’s Sept. 1 annual breakfast at the Pasco-Hernando State College Porter Campus at Wiregrass Ranch.
During the breakfast meeting in the college’s conference center, about 100 Chamber members listened as the outgoing Board chair — chiropractor Dr. Micah Richeson of Cypress Creek Chiropractic Care — reflected on the past year, but not before a moment of silence to remember Cindy Freeman, who tragically passed away on August 29 after a short battle with esophageal cancer.
“This community is like a family and this Chamber is like a family,” Dr. Richeson said. “Let’s take a moment and remember one of our family, Cindy Freeman.”
Board treasurer and local attorney Mercedes Hale outlined some changes to the Chamber’s by-laws and structure to ensure continued growth and continuity among other chambers of commerce — including changing current WCCC executive director Hope Allen’s title to president and CEO of the WCCC.
“We’re positioning ourselves to really get to a higher level as a Chamber,” Hale said, before handing the microphone back to Dr. Richeson.
“We met a lot of goals in 2015,” Richeson said. “We did fantastic. We’re excited as a Board and you should be excited as a Chamber.”
Richeson then called Valerie Rudman, of Everlasting Beauty, up to the podium to be recognized as the Chamber’s 2015 “Ambassador of the Year.” Rudman also should receive a Neighborhood News award for appearing in the most ribbon-cutting photos in these pages (wink!). Board secretary Jennifer Cofini, of Parks Ford of Wesley Chapel, was honored as the 2015 Chamber “Board Member of the Year.”
“I wasn’t expecting this,” a stunned Cofini said as she approached the podium. “I was writing it (the name of the award) down when they announced my name.”
Rob Kellogg also was recognized as an exiting Board member, but he wasn’t able to attend the meeting.
“2015 brought us an opportunity to establish ourselves as leaders in the business community,” Richeson told the crowd. “It was a year of growth.”
One of the big things the Chamber did, he explained, was merge with the New Tampa Chamber of Commerce.
“That makes us a two-county, regional chamber,” Richeson said. “It gains us respect at both the state and the local level. (The merger) also led to the signing of a ‘Memorandum of Understanding’ with the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce to establish a closer working relationship.”
Richeson added that the Chamber welcomed 270 new business members in the past fiscal year and conducted many grand openings and ribbon cuttings.
“Wesley Chapel’s the place to be,” he said. “All you have to do is look to your left or right…. Almost everywhere you look, there’s dirt turning.”
Pasco County supervisor of elections Brian Corley introduced the new Board, which included Lorrie McGovern of St. Leo University, Tracey Clouser of Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel, Mercedes Hale of the Law Offices of Mercedes Hale and Zacharias J. Kalarickal, DDS (aka “Dr. Zack”), of Wesley Chapel Dentistry.
“There are no recounts or hanging chads, you just have to say ‘I will,’” Corley said as he swore in the new Board.
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