The judges have chosen the 2010 finalists for Springfield Business Journal’s 2010 Economic Impact Awards, and Sam Hamra has been named the Lifetime Achievement in Business honoree.
The annual awards coincide with SBJ’s anniversary. This year, in celebration of 30 years in publishing, the Economic Impact Awards include the Decade Awards, which recognize companies for their overall positive effects on the southwest Missouri economy.
Categories are divided by the year companies are founded, and the finalists were selected based on essay answers that gauge their economic impact from the time they opened to present day.
The finalists in the Decade Awards, in alphabetical order, are:
• Commerce Bank, Empire Bank and Ozark Coca-Cola Dr Pepper Bottling Co., for companies founded before 1980;
• Central Trust & Investment Co., Penmac Personnel Services Inc. and Protel Systems & Supplies Inc., for companies founded in the 1980s;
• Husch Blackwell Sanders LLP, Liberty Bank and Trust Company of the Ozarks, for companies founded in the 1990s; and
• DermaHealth Laser & Skin Care Clinic LLC, Duck Creek Technologies Inc. and Jordan Valley Community Health Center, for companies founded in the 2000s.
A category for Philanthropic Business of the Year also has been added, and the finalists for that award are Kraft Foods Inc., Kum & Go LC and ServiceWorld Computer Center LLC.
The inaugural recipient of the Business Advocate of the Year award is Rusty Worley, executive director of Urban Districts Alliance.
Lifetime honoree Hamra is an attorney, and chairman and CEO of Hamra Enterprises Inc., a holding company for several entities, including Wendy’s of Missouri Inc., which has 28 eateries in the Show-Me state. In 2006, Hamra achieved senior counselor status with The Missouri Bar. That honor is given to attorneys who are least 75 or who have been admitted to the state bar for 50 years or longer. In 2008, he received Wendy’s International Inc.’s Wendy Award, recognizing him as the top franchisee in Wendy’s southern region.
The judges for the 2010 Economic Impact Awards are: Dawn Busick of Ozarks Technical Community College, Gary Cyr of Springfield-Branson National Airport, Dana Montgomery of Guaranty Bank, Norm Ridder of Springfield Public Schools and Dennis Wubbena of Evangel University.
The Economic Impact Awards banquet will be held at 5:30 p.m., July 22 at the Ramada Oasis Convention Center, 2546 N. Glenstone Ave. Tickets are $65 apiece and are available at
sbj.net/eia.[[In-content Ad]]
