Annual Meeting & Awards Breakfast

Community is the driving force behind humanity, and the Oro Valley Annual Meeting & Awards Breakfast is totally centered around celebrating the Oro Valley community. The event features an expo exclusively for nonprofits and a program that honors award winners for outstanding service within the community.

Each year awards are given for outstanding small, midsize and large business, outstanding nonprofit, outstanding community leader, and outstanding legacy. After thirty years of the event, I added another award: the Lifetime Chamber Member. It was awarded to the previous Chamber President & CEO, Dave Perry after 11 years of service. The following year we awarded it to Bob and Cathy Workman who developed the first Oro Valley State of the Town event, the most successful recurring event in Chamber history.

The Annual Meeting & Awards Breakfast brings people together in a special way. They get to pause before heading into the office and think about all the people that have paved the way for Oro Valley to be what it now is.

Chamber staff gets to hand out the awards each year, and I love getting to pick out the winner’s face in the crowd. The moment when they accept the award and get to speak about all they’ve done for our community is so special. Lots of awards programs make winners pay for their recognition or nominations, but the Chamber’s has always been free. The lack of barriers to access the awards make this event one-of-a-kind in its humility and humanity.