Lynn area Chamber of Commerce to present business excellence awards

The Lynn Chamber of Commerce 97th Business Excellence Awards will be unveiled Thursday, Jan. 22, during the annual meeting at Spinelli’s on Route 1 south in Lynnfield.The nominees for the 2009 awards as well as for seats on the chamber’s Board of Directors. The winners will be announced at the meeting, which begins at 6 p.m.Maria Deacon, newly-named Lynn Area Executive and General Manager of GE operations in Lynn, will be the keynote speaker.Nominees for Business Person of the Year are Dennis Cataldo and Rob White from Atlantic Ambulance; Lucy Dearborn of Lucia Lighting & Design; Rod Deland Jr. of R & R American Service Station; Shawn Potter of the All Care Visiting Nurse Association; Ralph Sevinor of Wayne Alarm; Brian Strasnick of Willow Laboratories; and Gary Weisberg of A-1 Exterminators.Nominees for the Multicultural Business Leadership Award are: Fitzroy Alexander of Traditional Breads; Norma Delgado of Tatiana’s restaurant; and Vinnie Williams of Jazzy Sports Wear.Nominees for the David Solimine Sr. Community Service Award are: Pat Driscoll of Girls Inc. of Lynn; Richard Kessel of Lynn Lumber; and George Markos of Brothers Deli.Nominees for Rookie of the Year are: Maryann Blatsos of Blatsos CFO Solutions; Jay Duchin of Duchin Productions; Peter Mikedis of Sidekim Foods; and David Spaulding of Velocity Printing.Nominees for the Buddy Fennell Hall of Fame Award are: Thomas Demakis of Demakis and Demakis; Charles Gaeta of the Lynn Housing Authority and Neighborhood Development; and Robert Gaudet of the Porthole restaurant.Nominees for the City Pride Award are:Larry Donahue of the city’s Department of Public Works; Ann-Marie Leonard from the city’s Department of Community Development; and Lisa Nerick, the city’s director of Parks and Recreation.Nominees for the Town Pride Award, which includes Lynnfield, Nahant and Swampscott, are: Police Detective Francis “Ted” Delano from the Swampscott Police Department; William Gustus, town administrator for Lynnfield; and Rosamond Puleo of the Nahant Police Department.The chamber will also recognize the longstanding service and dedication of the following members of the Board of Directors who are stepping down: Chris Bibby of Bibby Real Estate, Eric Ciccone of Beden Hardware and Maura Lynch of the A..James Lynch Insurance Agency.Tickets to the event are $50 per person and include cocktail reception, full dinner and cash bar. To reserve a seat, call the chamber at (781) 592-2900. When doing so, be prepared to select a dinner choice: New York Sirloin or Breast of Chicken with Herb Stuffing. Tables of 10 are also available. Seat and table reservations are due by Jan. 16.Today is the deadline for reserving ad space in the program booklet. JPEGs and PDFs are acceptable via email to JoAnn Power, the chamber communications manager, at [email protected] Credit Union is the event gold sponsor, with All Care Visiting Nurse Association, GE, Eastern Bank and Sovereign Bank the silver sponsors.Bronze sponsors include the Lynn Housing Authority and Neighborhood Development, the Nahant Police Department, North Shore Community College, One World Real Estate, and Traditional Breads.The event will also include the inauguration of new members of the chamber’s Board of Directors, including Dr. Ghazi Darazalli, persident of Marian Court College; Pauline Spirito of Infinity Boutique; Susan Halter, executive director of LynnArts; Rosalina Sweeney of One World Real Estate; Andy Giller of New Angle Glass Co., and Fitzroy Alexander of Traditional Breads.