On Jan. 14, 2020 businesses and community members will gather at the Owensboro Convention Center for an event honoring the 2020 inductees into the Owensboro Business Hall of Fame.
“The Owensboro Business Hall of Fame event motto is ‘saluting the best in business as we prepare the next in business,’” shared Dan Douglas, president of Junior Achievement of West Kentucky. “The event allows us to recognize those lifetime achievement awards as these are individuals that have made their mark on Owensboro not only from a business aspect but from a philanthropic standpoint as well.”
Earlier in the year, the organization had a call to the community for nominations, asking the public to nominate those they thought to be worthy. The selection panel, made up of community leaders, selected the winners along with the addition of a new category.
The 2020 inductees are Michael E. Horn of Horn Industrial Companies, Chris C. Reid of Independence Bank, and the late John Geoffrey “Pete” Barnard (1898-1982) of Modern Welding Company.
“We added a historical category this year,” explained Douglas. “We wanted to start capturing folks that had already passed away that had made an impact in the economic vitality of Owensboro and have added an additional category of historical.”
Individuals are nominated for their outstanding civic and business contributions to the Owensboro area and recognized for their business excellence, entrepreneurial spirit, courageous thinking and action, inspiring leadership, community impact, and service as a role model. Each inductee will be featured in a video on their life at the event.
“As we recognize these three individuals, we want people to be there to be present as they are inducted. It is a big deal for the community,” stated Douglas.
Tickets and sponsorship opportunities are now available with proceeds of the event benefiting Junior Achievement. The nonprofit is annually serving over 10,000 students just in Owensboro and Daviess county alone.
“German American Bank is our presenting sponsor. They signed on for a multi-year event that will be held at the Owensboro Convention Center in the German American Bank Ballroom,” Douglas said. “We ran out of room at the Bluegrass Museum and couldn’t add any more folks, so we are obviously moving it this year to the Convention Center, where we can accommodate more tables and reservations with the additional space.”
With the event being held in a much larger area, the nonprofit has already sold more tables and reservations than they did last year at this time with still plenty of time for community members to purchase additional tickets.
“All of the inductees were very humbled, and very thrilled to be nominated and chosen to be inducted into the hall of fame,” said Douglas, who will have students from JA present and active in the event’s lineup. “This year, we are going to highlight the four high schools we serve and will have student ambassadors there from all four high schools. A neat part of the event will be having a small panel of JA students that will be able to ask questions to both Chris and Mike to get to know more about these fine individuals in a unique setting.”
To purchase tickets or find more information, visit the event website.
