Video: Chamber dinner returns to newly renamed Greystone Event Center
By Jack Rooney Staff Writer
Jan 24, 2019 at 4:33 PM Jan 24, 2019 at 10:41 PM
Ted Bogner, RBB Systems honored among others
WOOSTER — The Wooster Area Chamber of Commerce annual dinner returned home Thursday night.
"We are now back home, here at Greystone Event Center, with the largest formal gathering in the venue's history," Chamber president Justin Starlin said to open the 119th annual event.
The venue, which until recently had been known as the Greenbriar Conference and Party Center, had been the longtime home of the Chamber dinner, before the event moved last year to the GOJO Industries building on Akron Road, where the dinner was held on an empty manufacturing floor.
Last year's dinner set a Chamber record with 965 attendees. Thursday's event set a different record: The 820 available tickets sold out within two weeks of the invitation going out, Chamber director of events and programs Samira Zimmerly said. Those 820 guests made Thursday's event the second-largest Chamber dinner on record and the largest ever at Greystone/Greenbriar, Zimmerly added.
After a social hour and dinner catered by Buehler's, Thursday's festivities included honoring the Chamber's 2019 Business of the Year, RBB Systems. RBB president Jim Tennant, who was also celebrating his birthday Thursday, accepted the award on behalf of the company.
"This award is, overall, humbling more than anything else," Tennant said. "... This is just a phenomenal thing that's occurring for us at RBB, and I believe for the community as well."
RBB celebrated its 45th anniversary in 2018 and moved to a new 37,000-square-foot facility on Old Mansfield Road. That facility, Tennant said, will allow the company, which specializes in small-batch electronic parts production, to keep growing and serving its clients and employees.
"What we've been doing is trying to grow, not for the purpose of growing, but to make our business more reliable, more robust and a better service to our clients as well as our team members," he said. "And we've worked pretty hard at that."
Tennant noted that RBB's 45 years in business is great, considering most businesses only last an average of seven years.
"Unless you're in Wooster. If you're in this area, 45 years is a good start," he said. "So that's a great thing, and a great place to be."
This year's Wall of Fame inductee, Ted Bogner, knows a bit about longevity in local business. Bogner at the end of 2018 stepped back after 40 years as president of Bogner Construction Co., which his grandfather Theodore Bogner founded in 1897, allowing the fourth generation of family ownership to take control of the company.
Starlin introduced Bogner as "a longstanding community leader that has literally left his mark on the brick and mortar of businesses and institutions throughout Wayne County and beyond."
"It's safe to say that the Wooster area is stronger because of (Bogner's) efforts," Starlin added.
And Bogner said he considers the award an honor for all four generations of his family that have worked at the company.
"No one, not one person, was selected to join the Wall of Fame based solely on his or her individual achievements," Bogner said. "Ted Bogner is no exception. For that reason, I consider this to be a four-generation family recognition."
Bogner noted that the construction company has maintained relationships of at least 100 years with nine local business, government or educational entities: the College of Wooster, PNC Bank, the city of Wooster, Wooster City Schools, Wooster Brush Co., ArtiFlex, the Wayne County Commissioners, the Wooster Area Chamber of Commerce, and the OARDC. Bogner Construction Co. completed projects for all of those organizations in 2018, Ted Bogner said.
Other award winners included: Bret Defibaugh, the Jack O'Donnell Award for Community Service; Fred Troyer, the Mike Lezak Award for Volunteer Service; the Wooster Glass Co., Board of Directors Award; Dr. Sharon Marcanthony, Leadership Wooster Alumni Award; Pregnancy Care Center, Worthy Works Award; Canaan Meats, Small Business of the Year (15 employees or fewer); and Friendly Wholesale, Small Business of the Year (more than 15 employees).
Starlin also reviewed a year in which the Chamber grew to more than 700 members, making it the largest small market chamber of commerce in the state, he said. The Chamber grew its social media presence and saw all-time high attendance at several of its events, Starlin added. At the end of the night, Starlin also thanked Kelly and Christian Silva, who recently relaunched and reopened the Greystone Event Center, and encouraged Chamber members to host events there in the future. (Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect that Kelly and Christian Silva do not own the Greystone Event Center.)
Starlin also introduced Bill Sheron, president and CEO of Wooster Community Hospital, as the 2019 chair of the Chamber's board of directors. Starlin said Sheron "is known nationally as an innovator, a strategist and a professional operator."
"To say that we are bringing in a superman is not out of line," Starlin said of Sheron.
— Reporter Jack Rooney can be reached at 330-287-1645 or jrooney@the-daily-record.com. He is on Twitter at twitter.com/RooneyReports.