People who receive awards from their local chamber of commerce are almost always “team players,” but in bestowing its Bruce Yawn Lifetime Achievement Award on Dr. Don Aaron, the Statesboro-Bulloch Chamber chose a literal team doctor for multiple teams.
The occasion for this and a slate full of other awards — Start-Up of the Year, Small Business of the Year, Employer of the Year, Nonprofit of the Year, CTAE Instructor of the Year and several others — was the chamber’s 2026 Annual Meeting and Awards Celebration, Tuesday evening, Jan. 13, inside The Market at Visit Statesboro. Some 288 people signed up to attend, and the place was packed.
Leaders of various chamber member businesses and organizations took turns introducing honorees and presenting the awards between remarks about sponsors and the chamber by its 2025 Board Chair Joel Hanner, 2026 Chair John Roach and continuing President Jennifer Davis.
Blaine Paul of Bulloch Solutions, leading or “presenting” sponsor for the event, took on the role of presenting the culminating award, the Lifetime Achievement Award named for the late Bruce Yawn.
“This award recognizes a distinguished individual who honors visionary leadership, who has made a tremendous impact on those in the community,” Paul said, and went on to share some of what the person nominating the 2026 honoree had said about him.
“A long-time Bulloch County resident,” Dr. Aaron “has dedicated his career to improving lives in Bulloch County through exceptional orthopedic care, mentorship and community leadership…,” the nominator had said.
“Beyond clinical care, he is dedicated to mentoring young athletes and fostering community engagement,” Paul related.
A board-certified orthopedic surgeon practicing in Statesboro, Aaron serves as a team physician for Georgia Southern University and as the main team doctor, working with athletic trainers, for the Tormenta FC soccer franchise and several area high schools, including Statesboro High School, Southeast Bulloch High School and Bulloch Academy.
As such, “he helps ensure that student athletes remain healthy and supported and continue developing into confident, disciplined young adults,” Paul continued.
He also stated that Aaron, in his professional practice leadership role, had “led the Optim Orthopedics team in developing a state-of-the art orthopedic, imaging and therapy center, ensuring Bulloch County residents have access to the highest level of advanced healthcare close to home.”
Aaron and his wife, Lisa, moved to Statesboro in 2007, which is when he started his medical practice after his previous extensive training. After graduating from the Mercer University School of Medicine in Macon, he did his orthopedics residency at the Campbell Clinic in Memphis and then his sports medicine training with Dr. James Andrews in Birmingham.
Upon learning of the award, Aaron’s first reaction had been to be “very, very surprised,” he said.
“But more than that, I’m incredibly humbled and honored and grateful,” he told the chamber crowd. “This community has truly been a blessing to us. When Lisa and I returned many years ago after the years of training in Birmingham and in Memphis, this community just embraced us, and we’ve had the distinct honor of raising our children here, raising our family here.”
The Aarons have three sons and a daughter and are anticipating the birth of their first grandchild next week.
Dr. Aaron said he also “had the distinct honor” of getting to know the award’s namesake, Bruce Yawn, and his family.
“Of all the many attributes that Mr. Bruce exhibited, the things that always stood out to me were his integrity, his humility, his selflessness,” Aaron said. “He was truly a pillar of this community, and his impact’s unparalleled, so for me to receive any award of any type named after him was truly an honor and a blessing.
Start-Up
The Start-Up of the Year award, for a chamber-member business that while still in the startup phase of development “has demonstrated innovative products or services, exemplary customer service and community involvement,” went to Savannah Age Management Medicine. Amber Stewart of Renasant Bank presented the award, which John Halbert, Savannah Age Management Medicine company president, came forward to accept.
Small Business
The Statesboro-Bulloch Small Business of the Year for 2026 is Word of Mouth Therapy. This award goes to a business with 50 or fewer employees that “has experienced revenue or job growth, has or provides innovative products or services, demonstrates exemplary customer service and community involvement while encouraging and providing for professional development of staff.”
John Roach of Morris Bank presented the award to Word of Mouth Therapy owner and speech therapist Shalli Lewis, who came forward with several of the now 20 employees of the children’s therapy clinic.
Employer of the Year
One of the basic requirements for the Employer of the Year award is that it go to a chamber-member business that has been in operation for at least three years under the current ownership. But the 2026 honoree, Brodie International, is one of the longest established manufacturing businesses in Bulloch County.
Additionally, the recipient of this award is expected to exhibit “dynamic diversity, equity and inclusion policies, community involvement, staff learning and development opportunities, employee-focused feedback programs and a positive workplace environment,” according to the summary in the script provided to the presenter, Matthew “PK” Huling of Citizens Bank.
He presented the award to Brodie Production Manager Bryce Davidson, who noted that the Statesboro plant that is now Brodie International has existed, through several incarnations in different names, since 1928. Brodie makes flow meters and other fluid flow control and measurement devices used around the world, mainly in the petroleum industry.
Top 2026 Nonprofit
The Statesboro-Bulloch Chamber started honoring local and area nonprofit organizations with a new award a few years ago. The 2026 Nonprofit of the Year Award went to Statesboro Family YMCA. Hannah Beggs, the YMCA’s executive branch director, accepted the award presented by Tess Stuart of Georgia Power.
Top CTAE Instructor
Another recently created award, CTAE Instructor of the Year, signals the chamber’s support for career, technical and agricultural education.
“This year’s winner has been recognized several times by the Bulloch County school district and the community because of her dedication to her students and their experiences inside and outside the classroom,” said presenter Harley Smith, from the Georgia Southern University president’s office.
That winner, the chamber’s 2026 CTAE Instructor of the Year, is Elizabeth Hartley, Allied Health and Medicine teacher at Southeast Bulloch High School.
“Because of instructors like her, our students continue to be successful long after they leave her classroom,” Smith said.
A few additional award winners will be identified in an update of this story for the Thursday print edition.
