Knoxville Chamber honors nine at “Pinnacle Awards” event
The Knoxville Chamber handed-out its annual “Pinnacle Awards” for business excellence on Friday night in a gala attended by hundreds at the Knoxville Convention Center.
The top recognition – the “James A. Haslam II Leadership Award” – was presented to Larry Martin, a long-time banker in the community who more recently served as a top deputy to two former city mayors.
Pershing Yoakley & Associates, host of teknovation.biz, sponsored the “Innovator Award” that was given to Aqua-Chem, a company that moved to the city in 1989. Aqua-Chem produces water-purification equipment.
Other winners were:
- “Young Entrepreneur Award” – Parker Frost, founder of local software company Gigmark whose client base includes Ford, NASCAR and General Motors.
- “Small Business Excellence Award” – All Occasions Party Rentals, a company that supports a variety of events.
- “Mid-Sized Business Excellence Award” – Consolidated Products, a company that provides services ranging from flexographic labels to Radio Frequency Identification.
- “Large Business Excellence Award” – Cellular Sales that has becomes the nation’s largest Verizon premium wireless retailer in nine years.
- “Impact Award” (companies supporting the community and its programs) – Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, a recent addition to Knoxville, whose “Brewing a Better World” grant program has contributed $350,000 to local organizations.
- “Minority-Owned Business Excellence Award” – Always Moore Janitorial, an Oak Ridge-based company that provides professional cleaning services.
- “Woman-Owned Business Excellence Award” – The Trust Co., founded by Sharon Miller Pryse, and manager of about $1.6 billion in assets.
