The Sandy Springs Perimeter Chamber awarded Nothing Bundt Cakes with its Small Business of the Year award at its annual meeting.
Owned by Gloria Mattei, Nothing Bundt Cakes helps the chamber to advance its connecting, coaching, and community goals, chamber President Adam Forrand said.
“It’s not just that they feed us and celebrate us. It is that they also send their team out into the community. Their team has been a part of our young professionals’ gatherings consistently, and we know that they’re there at all our major events,” Forrand said.
Debra Cohen was named the Volunteer of the Year.
“We want to acknowledge that there are members of our ambassadors that are absolutely vital to us pulling off these events,” Forrand said about Cohen and other volunteers.
City Barbeque was named Restaurant of the Year. The restaurant has been gracious in hosting the chamber for many of its networking events, Forrand said.
Nominees for Small Business of the Year also included Southern Live Oak Wellness and Puttogo Global Group. The other Volunteer of the Year nominees were Linda Vu and Alan Smirin. Ray’s on the River and Colonial Kitchen filled out the Restaurant of the Year nominees.
Brian Bollins, a vice president for Choate Construction, will lead the chamber’s board of directors in 2024. He told the chamber members that the start of a new year is a great time to have a new perspective to determine if things should change. The theme they can expect in 2024 is a constant focus on the value proposition that is brought to its members.
“It’s going to be a continual effort over the course of the year so that every event that you attend, every service that we provide to you, provides the maximum potential for your membership dollars and your time and the energy that you invest,” Bollins said.
In return, he asked them to look at the engagement they had in the chamber.
“We’re going to provide a value proposition that makes you tell your friends that you’d be crazy not to join,” Bollins said.
Forrand said in 2024 the chamber will work on connecting, coaching, and the community. The chamber will help make sure the business community is connected with the events and resources it provides, like the young professionals networking, signature luncheons, and reminding its members the chamber offices are available.
Outgoing chamber Chairman Dennis Morrow of Kennesaw State University offered a look back at the organization’s accomplishments. Those included a net membership increase of 25 members. The chamber hosted 76 programs with approximately 2,500 registered participants, with Networking at Noon, Signature Luncheons, and the launch of its first Sandy Springs Wine Festival.
“And a really heartfelt thank you to Karen Trylovich and Tisha Rosamond for all of the work that they did to pull that together and for having the concept to build upon,” Marrow said.
