SBA announces business award nominees
The Schaumburg Business Association paid homage to its 20th anniversary with a Good Morning Schaumburg event on Sept. 14, presented by longtime SBA member and partner Daily Herald. The event included a slideshow featuring photos taken over the past 20 years, a pinning ceremony for founding members of the organization, followed by proclamations from both state Rep. Michelle Mussman and Schaumburg Mayor Tom Dailly, who also announced the inaugural Schaumburg Business Association Day to be celebrated in Schaumburg every Sept. 14.
The program began with an address from the current chair of the board, Kari-Ann Ryan, followed by a full tale of the start of the SBA from its first-ever chair, Brian Burke. The program ended by the release of the much-anticipated nominees of the SBA annual Toast of Schaumburg business awards. They are as follows:
• The Brian H. Burke Business of the Year award: Allstate Sundara Insurance Group, Blink Tees, Lavelle Law, Pulse Technology, Roti Mediterranean.
• The Laurie Stone Woman of the Year award: Allison Kozlowski, Allstate Sundara Insurance Group; Cathie Cook, Pinots Palette; Katie Berganske-Frank, Clearwater Capital Partners; Roxanne Parikh, Amita Health; Tina Alarcon, Paintegrity.
• Leader of the Year: Jason Stallard, Local Off 53; Kari-Ann Ryan, Mid-West Moving & Storage; Matt Frank, village of Schaumburg; Patrick Panayotov, Proceed Innovative; Raghu Sundara, Allstate Sundara Insurance Group.
Volunteer of the Year: Aaron Bondi, Edward Jones; Betsy Skibinski, Betsy's One of a Kind; Dave LoSavio, Mark Allen Realty; Julie Selof, Consumer's Credit Union; Tom Gosche, GLM.
• Rookie of the Year: Beth Whitley, Enlightened; Briana Reyes, Synegen; Gregg Brooke Koleno, IA Business Advisors; Melanie Santostefano, Vicarious Multi-Media; Ritesh Shah, JRS Group.
All attendees from the SBA membership and community began to share their favorite memories and photos from the event immediately after using the #SBADay hashtag.
"It was great having over 30 founding members attend, who believed in our pillars and association before it was the Schaumburg Business Association," said SBA President Lisa Gilbert. "They believed in the mission and vision of what we've become and will continue to strive to achieve.
"Having Mayor Tom Dailly share the proclamation of having Sept. 14 be Schaumburg Business Association Day within the village was the icing on the cake."
The Schaumburg Business Association has spent the entire year celebrating 20 years of expanding the landscape of business relationships. It will continue the celebration through the rest of the year, including at its Toast of Schaumburg event on Oct. 22, which will be presented by longtime SBA member Porte Brown.