SBJ honors major players, newcomers with Economic Impact Awards

Whether it was keynote speaker Jack Stack telling the audience to “pass it along” in regards to a difference each person can make, or honoree Matt O’Reilly’s definition of the triple bottom line – everyone has “an economic impact, a social impact and an environmental impact” – the audience of nearly 375 took home many nuggets of truth.

The event, which coincided with SBJ’s 27th anniversary, was held at Bass Pro Shops’ White River Room and drew its largest attendance to date.

Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce President Jim Anderson was honored with the Lifetime Achievement in Business award. He joins past recipients Stack, John Q. Hammons, Ralph Manley, Charlie O’Reilly, Larry Wallis, Edwin C. Rice Jr. and Tom Finnie.

Butler, Rosenbury and Partners Inc. took home the award in the architecture category. Other finalists were Creative Ink Architects LLC and H Design Group.

In the banking category, Commerce Bank was honored, among fellow finalists Guaranty Bank and Ozark Mountain Bank.

Council of Churches of the Ozarks was named Charitable Organization of the Year. Ozarks Area Community Action Corp. and United Way of the Ozarks were other nonprofits up for that award.

Green Circle Shopping Center, led by Matt O’Reilly and sister Lindsay, was named Innovator of the Year for its use of green-building techniques. Other finalists were 1984 Arcade and U.S. Photonics.

Downtown art-house theater Moxie Cinema and its owners, Dan and Nicole Chilton, took the Entrepreneur of the Year honor. JT Restaurant Group – led by Tom Dapp – and Hammer Collections – owned by Mike and Charlotte Dawley – were other finalists for that award.

A special publication featuring profiles and photographs of every finalist and honoree will be inserted in SBJ’s Monday issue. To read it online, click here.

Watch sbj.net and see SBJ’s Aug. 6 issue for more photos from the event.[[In-content Ad]]