Three years ago, Community Journals partnered with The Community Foundation to create the Charitable Giving Awards. In a special issue of TOWN magazine, we highlighted the individuals and companies that have made an impact through their goodwill and dedicated service to this community. We also acknowledged them in front of their peers at a special awards ceremony.
The success of the Charitable Giving Awards was on our minds when we launched the Upstate Business Journal in 2012. We began looking for an opportunity to create a similar way to acknowledge the people contributing to the Upstate’s business community.
When we looked at the way they have been highlighted in the past, we wanted to create a system that we thought was more inclusive and transparent.
From our very first conversations last year, we focused on the hopes that this process would uncover many of those in this community who do not already have walls full of awards and are always front and center in the headlines. But we learned an important lesson during the deliberation process: These folks win the awards for a reason. The consistent theme to our selection panel’s discussion was that they based their criteria on how each individual made an economic impact on the Upstate and what they did above and beyond their professional role or call of duty. At the end of the workday, do they go home, or are they out in the community making a difference?
Obviously, there were many individuals who we were not able to include. I’m sure many will jump to your mind, as well, and I hope you’ll let us know about them. Our plan is to continue to cover this ground going forward next year and continue to recognize those folks – the doers – who make our town special.
In addition to this year’s Who’s Who award winners, we have also created a “Ones to Watch” list of people who are also making a difference and that we want you all to know more about. We will be profiling some of them monthly over the next year, giving you an inside look into their contributions and ideas on how this business community can continue to evolve.
But this week, please join me in congratulating our inaugural Who’s Who class. Once you read their stories, I think you’ll agree that these are indeed some of the spark starters, noise makers and game changers who have helped to build the Upstate business community that’s becoming the envy of the region, the country and the world at large.
As for the future of that community, and of Who’s Who – that has yet to be written. We can’t wait to discover it along with you.
