The honors began by naming Jesse Haw as Builder of the Year. Jesse and his family are well known for their community development and generous support to local charities. Garret Gordon was named Associate of the year. Garret led the G&O task force, which revised our bylaws and association policies. He is also a new board member. Rachelle Goodness was named Spike of the year for her unwavering efforts in member recruitment and retention.
After dinner, Hall of Fame inductee Norm Diana, was welcomed with a standing ovation. Norm is known not only as an accomplished builder/developer but also as a strong supporter of the community.
About 18 of E.W. Hardesty’s family joined us to see their late family member be honored by the builders association he helped create. Hardesty volunteered to be the first president of the association that he formed with a few other builders in the 1950’s to help builders ban together as the voice of the industry.
Ray Pezonella was clearly emotional about introducing his dear friend, Bob Jones, as a Hall of Fame inductee. Bob was the Executive Director of The Builders for more than 20 years. He pioneered many of the non-dues revenue generating programs that are helping to keep us operating today. Bob also led the association from about 150 members to over 750 members when he retired in 2006.
After the Hall of Fame inductions, Senator Amodei swore in the 2009 officers and directors. As we all hope 2009 will be year of change, it brings a first to The Builders - our first female president! Pam Parenti was proudly sworn in as 2009 president with Joe Lopez taking the vice president seat, Curtis Rowe as secretary/treasurer and Pat Riley as associate vice president.
It was an elegant event where the respect and admiration for those who volunteer their time to fight for our industry, to help us create homes for people, was unmistakable.
No comments:
Post a Comment