Amid the festive trappings of a “Passport to Progress … Multicultural Celebration,” the Statesboro-Bulloch Chamber of Commerce saluted its best and most innovative businesses, employee-positive workplaces and influential leaders and mentors Tuesday evening.

The Chamber Annual Meeting and Awards event looking back on 2024 and forward into 2025 was held inside The Market at Visit Statesboro. About 285 people reportedly registered and about 260 dinner seats were available. So it was, Chamber President Jennifer Davis announced as it concluded, the current staff’s first sold-out annual meeting.

Among the top awards, Bubba Golf – the golf services, gear and gadgets shop and website launched by serial entrepreneur Bubba Hunt with his family and friends – was named 2024 Start-Up of the Year; Three Tree Coffee was named Small Business of the Year; and Shea Tractor and Equipment Company, the local Kubota dealership, was named Employer of the Year.

Easily the chamber’s most prestigious award for an individual, the Bruce Yawn Lifetime Achievement Award, was awarded to Lowell Mooney, Ph.D., director of graduate programs and professor of accounting in the Parker College of Business at Georgia Southern University.

“Tonight, I’m fortunate to present the Bruce Yawn Lifetime Achievement Award, and I’m fortunate to give it to someone who has spent his life in service to others. His visionary leadership and community impact distinguishes him,” said Development Authority of Bulloch County CEO Benjy Thompson.

Mooney is the third person to receive the award since it was renamed for Bruce Yawn, a longtime Statesboro business leader who was still serving as chair of the Development Authority when he died suddenly in January 2022.  The previous recipients were Roy Thompson in 2023 and Ray Hendley last year.

As this year’s presenter, Benjy Thompson also read from a letter, written by a colleague of Mooney’s, nominating him for the award.

“His visionary leadership and dedication to service have not only transformed the university but have also created lasting, positive change in our community,” the nominator wrote. “Throughout his career, Lowell has consistently inspired others to take on leadership roles and actively contribute to the betterment of society.”

Among other accomplishments, Mooney created the Apprenticeship Master of Accounting Program to address a critical shortage of CPAs.

“By widening access to this field, Lowell has helped break down barriers for those traditionally underrepresented in accounting, embodying the values of diversity and inclusion celebrated by this award,” the nominating letter stated.

Thanking him for “that marvelous letter,” Mooney identified its author as Benjamin Tankersley, the Parker College of Business graduate coordinator. Mooney also thanked his wife, Paula, who was with him for the ceremony, their children and “countless friends and colleagues.”

“I want to thank them all for their unwavering support and encouragement throughout my journey, and to this remarkable community, thank you for being the foundation for so much of the things that I was able to accomplish during my career.”

When Lowell and Paula Mooney arrived in Statesboro in 1989, he promised her they wouldn’t  stay more than two years before moving back to Atlanta, he recalled.

“Well, here we are, almost 36 years later. We found Statesboro to be … far more than just a stop on the way. … It became a place to raise a family and build our lives,” he said.

Hot startup

Bubba Hunt brought family members and business associates active in Bubba Golf forward with him to accept its Startup of the Year Award. He credited Director of Operations Caroline Britton, whom he met a year ago through his real estate business, with the startup’s strong web presence.

“It was a dream that turned into something more, and my vision of this is not just Statesboro; it is a vision of a national brand and a vision of international brand,” Hunt said. “That’s  my thought process. It’s how can I make something bigger and better. It’s always been that way, and it doesn’t always work, but at least I try.”

Valued small business

Three Tree Coffee, founded in 2014 by husband-and-wife team Philip and Anna Klayman, was recognized as Small Business of the Year after a decade in business. Required criteria for the award include being a chamber-member business with fewer than 50 employees that shows revenue or job growth, provides innovative products or services and demonstrates exemplary community service and community involvement.

Three Tree also pursues a service mission larger than the local community, as Charanne Pittman of Juve noted in presenting the award.

“They are dedicated to ending human trafficking and have donated an incredible $34,000 toward this vital cause,” she said.

The company sets aside a portion of each sale for this purpose.

Philip Klayman thanked employees by name, saying “Y’all believed in this when it was risky, and you took a risk, and I am grateful.”

Successful employer

Chris Shea, owner and CEO of Shea Tractor, struck a similar note of appreciation after accepting its Employer of the Year award.

“You’re only as good as the people you surround yourself with,” he said. “The reason why we’re successful is the people I’ve been able  to hire.”

Sharing the moment at the microphone with his wife Alexandra and company Chief Financial Officer Gayle Humpries, Shea announced that they had also found out Tuesday that Shea Tractor racked up Kubota’s “second in the nation” unit sales among dealerships its size.

Honored nonprofit

The Statesboro-Bulloch Chamber saluted Freedom Through Recovery, a Statesboro-based 501(c)3 nonprofit founded in April 2019 and “focused solely on peer support” for individuals in recovery as 2024 Nonprofit of the Year.

Newly renamed, the Steven Sanders Leadership Bulloch Alumni of the Year Award for 2024 was presented to Mary-Lynn Pennington, a Synovus Bank employee and member of the Leadership Bulloch Class of 2023. Leadership Bulloch is an annual program of the chamber.

Sanders, a Synovus employee who was a Georgia Southern University graduate with a degree in finance and a graduate of the Leadership Bulloch Class of 2011, died last August of cancer at age 47.

The chamber’s Ambassador of the Year award for 2024 went to Maggie David for her enthusiastic work as a Chamber Ambassador, a volunteer promoting member participation in chamber programs and events.

New award

With the 2024 Annual Meeting (held Jan. 14, 2025), the chamber also presented a brand-new award, CTAE Instructor of the Year. “CTAE” means career, technical and agricultural education, and the chamber’s first such award went to Josh Hall, Statesboro High School construction and carpentry teacher.

In the chamber business portions of the meeting, 2024 Chamber Board Chair Michelle Davis looked back on the year, and 2025 Chair Joel Hanner addressed the other officers and chamber membership. Davis, as president the chamber’s lead employee, gave a brief annual report.

The Market at Visit Statesboro is the venue where the Main Street Farmers Market operates with the big doors open in warmer months. But those side doors were rolled down tight and the heat working Tuesday night. The three dining and cocktail stations, one with “Latin cuisine,” one with “Asian cuisine” one with “European cuisine” (or American finger-food interpretations thereof) helped create the festive mood.

So did “dueling pianos” entertainment provided by locally based, widely known musicians Michael Braz and Jerry Roberson, in an earlier-evening sample of the tag-team keyboard rivalry they often conduct at Gators & Gypsies pub on Tuesday nights.