OTC selects hotelier for business award

Ozarks Technical Community College will honor hotelier Gordon Elliott with its annual Excellence in Business Award.

The CEO of Elliott Lodging Ltd. and Oak Ridge Real Estate Co. is scheduled to be recognized April 26 at White River Conference Center. An interview is slated for the event, during which Elliott will discuss his career, according to a news release. Elliott joins past honorees including Johnny Morris, Jeff Schrag and Jim Anderson.

Through his companies, Elliott owns and operates 22 hotels and 15 apartment complexes in southwest Missouri and southeast Kansas.

Elliott’s civic service has included stints as a member of Springfield City Council, chairman of the Board of Public Utilities, chairman of the Missouri State University Board of Governors, member of the Springfield-Greene County Park Board and founding member of the Springfield Apartment Association. He founded Springfield’s first Adult Day Care Center and has served on the Leadership Springfield board, among others, according to the release.

His work led to him being named the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce’s 2013 Springfieldian. Elliott also was a member of Springfield Business Journal’s inaugural class of Men of the Year in 2011.

In the political realm, Elliott has served as treasurer for multiple campaigns, including those for U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt and former Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt, according to the release.

His hotels include the established Best Western Route 66 Rail Haven and the millennial-focused Vib that’s well underway. Vib had been set for a March completion, but an update to the hotel’s Facebook page yesterday shows work being conducted in the lobby.