The Boise Metro Chamber, the only five-star accredited Chamber in Idaho, held its annual Small Business of the Year and Chamber Excellence Awards Luncheon on Monday, June 5th, at Boise Centre West. Seven organizations and two individuals received prestigious awards. This was the largest event of its kind in the Boise Metro Chamber's 146 year history!

Three finalists in each of seven categories received recognition at the year's luncheon. Five industry excellence award categories include: financial services, food and agriculture, healthcare, nonprofit, and travel. Two additional awards were given: Small Business of the Year and Medium-Sized Business of the Year.
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Finalists for each category included:

• Financial Services Industry Award: D.L. Evans Bank, Idaho First Bank, Washington Trust Bank
  Financial Services Industry Award winner: Washington Trust Bank
• Food and Agriculture Industry Award: CS Beef Packers, FARE Idaho, Weiser Classic Candy
  Food and Agriculture Industry Award winner: CS Beef Packers
• Healthcare Industry Award: Boise Health Haus, Peak Chiropractic, RescueStat
  Healthcare Industry Award winner: RescueStat
• Nonprofit Excellence Award: Building Hope Today, Idaho Association for the Education of Young Children, NW Association for Blind Athletes
  Nonprofit Excellence Award winner: Idaho Association for the Education of Young Children
• Jim Moore Lifetime Legacy Travel Industry Award: The Arid Club, Enterprise Holdings, Skål International Boise
  Jim Moore Lifetime Legacy Travel Industry Award winner: Skål International Boise
• Small Business of the Year: Chillow, The Flicks, International Minute Press
  Small Business of the Year winner: The Flicks
• Medium-Sized Business of the Year: Allied Business Solutions, Graeber & Company, Hayden Homes
  Medium-Sized Business of the Year winner: Allied Business Solutions

In addition to the awards to these outstanding organizations, the Boise Metro Chamber names a “Government Advocate of the Year” and a “Hall of Fame Award Recipient” each year.

Wayne Hammon, CEO of Idaho Associated General Contractors was selected as the 2023 Government Advocate of the Year. Hammon has been a trusted adviser to elected officials and senior executives at various levels of government on a wide range of substantive policy issues. “Wayne has been an institution in Idaho politics for years,” said Bill Connors, Boise Metro Chamber President and CEO. “As a member of the Chamber's Board of Advisors, he has been a go-to on transportation issues for the Chamber, political leaders, and the construction industry. His support of our transportation expansion efforts makes him a natural for this award.”

​"I've been in government and around government for almost 30 years, and "advocate" is the nicest thing anyone's ever called me," said Hammon, as he accepted the award. He called upon attendees to "push back" against anyone who wants to take away our great quality of life and to "make Idaho the shining star it needs to be."

The Boise Metro Chamber previously honored Kelley Packer, of the Association of Idaho Cities, in 2022 with the Government Advocate of the Year Award, and Bruce Newcomb, former Speaker of the Idaho House of Representatives, in 2021.

The 2023 Hall of Fame Award recipient, Kent Oram, served as the CEO of Idaho Central Credit Union, from 2007 through his retirement in 2022. “Kent has not only been a supportive member of the Boise Metro Chamber Board of Directors, but he built his institution into one of the largest in Idaho and one of the most philanthropic enterprises in the state,” said Connors. “He joins an elite group of people who have made our organization and our state more resilient than ever.”

Oram introduced himself as a "former CEO and current farmer of hay, goats, sheep, cows, horses and grandkids." As he accepted the award, Oram said, "It's our job as leaders of the community to give back everything we can give and still stay in business so that we can give back some more tomorrow."

In 2022, the Boise Metro Chamber inducted Charlene Maher, former President and CEO of Blue Cross of Idaho, into its Hall of Fame. Dr. Bert Glandon, former President of the College of Western Idaho, received the same honor in 2021.

​In addition, the Idaho Small Business Administration announced its 2022 District Office Lenders of the Year:

• Certified Development Company 504 Lender of the Year: Capital Matrix
• Rural Lender of the Year: D.L. Evans Bank
• Lender of the Year (tie): Idaho Central Credit Union and Bank of Idaho
  
  

The Small Business of the Year and Chamber Excellence Awards was made possible by the support of presenting sponsors: Meta and Delta Air Lines; sponsors: Bank of Idaho, Boise Centre and St. Luke’s; airline sponsor: Southwest Airlines; and co-sponsors: Horizon Credit Union, Idaho Small Business Development Center, Regence, Stability Networks and Verizon. The Boise Metro Chamber wishes to thank these generous sponsors, as well as media partner: Idaho Business Review.

Please enjoy this video honoring 2023 Hall of Fame Award recipient, Kent Oram:

2023 Government Advocate of the Year Award winner:
Wayne Hammon, CEO of Idaho AGC

2023 Jim Moore Lifetime Legacy Travel Industry Award winner:
Skål International Boise
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2023 Food and Agriculture Industry Award winner:
​CS Beef Packers

2023 Nonprofit Excellence Award winner:
​Idaho Association for the Education of Young Children

Each year, a select few Chamber sales professionals are selected for the Dana Ketterling Lifetime Sales Achievement Awards. These prestigious awards are given at the annual Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives (ACCE) Convention.

This year, Sandy Anderson (who has been with the Chamber 4 years) is being honored in the Bronze category for reaching the monumental achievement of generating $175,000 in revenues.

Paul Fleming (who has been with the Chamber 9 years) is an honoree in the GOLD category for reaching the mammoth achievement of building relationships with more than 1,000 members. 

We're blown away by the genuine, lasting relationships that Sandy, Paul and all of our Boise Metro Chamber team  continue to build in this community.

We want to wish Sandy and Paul a heartfelt CONGRATULATIONS for recognition of a job well done.  Thank you, Paul and Sandy, for all you do for the Boise Metro Chamber, Idaho's only five-star accredited Chamber of Commerce. 

The annual ACCE awards show is a big deal in our industry, recognizing outstanding achievements of Chamber professionals nationwide for Chamber Executives, Sales, Communication, 40 under 40, Lifetime Member Awards and the Chamber of the Year Award.   
 
ACCE was established in 1914 with over 9,000 leaders from over 1300 chambers including 93 of the top 100 US metro areas. The combined membership of ACCE is close to one million businesses. Chamber Leaders look to ACCE for best practices, networks and new ideas that will help advance the interest of their communities.  

The 2023 State of the University Address was delivered by Dr. Marlene Tromp, who is beginning her fifth year at the helm of Boise State University. Speaking to the business community at the Stueckle Sky Center, Dr. Tromp highlighted the innovative work BSU is doing with the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) in the area of cybersecurity. She also mentioned the exciting launch of UPWARDS, a partnership between BSU and Micron Technology, which was announced earlier this month at the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Hiroshima, Japan, alongside industry CEOs, university presidents, the U.S. Secretary of State, the U.S. Ambassador to Japan, and the Japanese Minister For Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.

Boise State University is now home to more than 32,000 students, who are working toward the 5,500 degree options. Dr. Tromp highlighted the university's 20% growth in enrollment this year, in spite of decreased financial investments in public higher education. 

“We believe the courage, the strength, the tenacity, the innovation of these students tells our story,” said President Tromp as she introduced the University’s award-winning “Out of the Blue” marketing video. (See the video here.)

Dr. Tromp talked about the ways Boise State is increasing access to higher education to rural areas with the University’s Community Impact Program. She shared about this incredible effort in more detail in the Boise Metro Chamber's Higher Education Series episode on Increasing Access to Higher Education.

Boise State University was awarded $68 million in research grants, which was a highlight of Dr. Tromp's speech, as was the sizable increase in the number of graduate students at Boise State. 

Boise Metro Chamber Executive Board Odette Bolano shared her thanks on behalf of the business community for Dr. Tromp's exceptional presentation and for the university's diligence in preparing our community’s employees with the skills they all need to drive business forward. 

The State of the University presenting sponsor was Idaho Central Credit Union. Gardner Group was the event sponsor. Co-sponsors included Albertsons, Sparklight and Keybank. The Boise Metro Chamber is incredibly grateful to these dedicated sponsors who made this event possible.