Small Business Person of the Year to be awarded at annual Chamber Spring Luncheon - May 29th

The Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce has a full agenda lined-up for its 2008 Chamber Spring Business Luncheon to be held Thursday, May 29th at Farmington Country Club. Chamber leadership will award the 2008 Chamber Small Businessperson of the Year; will recognize this year’s graduating class of the Chamber’s Leadership Charlottesville program as well as recent recipients of the Charlottesville Community Scholarships; and will feature an address by William C. Bosher, Jr., Distinguished Professor of Public Policy & Education, Executive Director of the Commonwealth Educational Policy Institute in the School of Education at the Wilder School of Government & Public Affairs at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Find information and RSVP here.

“Ethics in Organizations” at U.Va. School of Continuing and Professional Studies - May 13

This workshop will “explore what it means to be ethical, how to make ethical decisions, and how to muster the moral courage to do the right thing. Participants will also examine why good leaders sometimes end up doing bad things, and how good leaders can create good organizations - those with a healthy ethical climate … Participants will leave with a toolkit for enhancing ethics in their own work and organization,” so says U.Va. School of Continuing and Professional Studies about their May 13th, 2008 workshop, Ethics in Organizations: How to Lead and Live in a Workplace You Admire. Sounds good to me.

May 13, Zehmer Hall Conference Center, U.Va. School of Continuing and Professional Studies: 9am-4pm. $125 (includes box lunch).

Information and registration page or call (434) 982- 2779.

William McDonough to speak at CBIC Innovation Awards Dinner May 22

Charlottesville-based architectural visionary, Time magazine’s “Hero of the Environment,” “the face of sustainable design,” Mr. William A. McDonough, will be the featured speaker at The Charlottesville Business Innovation Council (CBIC) Innovation Awards 2008 Dinner on May 22 at Farmington Country Club.

The 10th Annual Innovation Awards honor individuals and organizations that have made noteworthy contributions to the marketplace and community in the past year through entrepreneurship and the creation, commercialization, or application of technology. McDonough’s address is entitled “Cradle to Cradle: Design for the Next Century.”

For more information about the Charlottesville Innovation Awards or to reserve a sport, visit CvilleBIC.org or call 434-817-6300.

Danville and Lynchburg to join US29 discussion at Chamber forum in Charlottesville

Follow-up, April 28: Charlottesville Tomorrow has a fine write-up on the April 23rd NCBC session. No surprises, representatives from Lynchburg and Danville want the 29N bypass — and they want it yesterday.

Laurie Moran, President of the Danville/Pittsylvania County Chamber of Commerce and Rex Hammond, President of the Lynchburg Regional Chamber of Commerce will be joining a discussion at an open forum luncheon April 23rd hosted by the North Charlottesville Business Council (NCBC) of the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce. The discussion will focus on US29 including the ongoing Places 29 study being undertaken by Albemarle County [see C-VILLE Weekly past coverage of Paces29]. US29 runs North-South through Charlottesville, Lynchburg, and Danville.

This open forum will be held at the Holiday Inn University Area in Charlottesville and run from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., with lunch beginning at noon. Seating is limited. The cost is $15.00 for members of NCBC and $20.00 for non-members. To reserve your seat, please contact Ms. Doran Tremblay at the Chamber offices at 434-295-3141 or desk@cvillechamber.com no later than Friday April 18th.

Cardinal Point Vineyard & Winery sets Summer Concert Series schedule

Cardinal Point Vineyard & Winery has announced its summer concert series schedule for May, June, July and August of 2008. The series opens May 10 with Catfish Jones. This year’s primary beneficiary of the series will be local food banks and food pantries. Entry to each monthly concert is free to each entrant that brings 5 nonperishable food items for donation. All other entrants pay $10.00 for admission. Concert dates in 2008 are May 10, June 14, July 12, and August 9. Concert times are 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

On May 3, Cardinal Point will be celebrating their fifth year in business with a concert featuring the Cashmere Jungle Lords. This event is free. The vineyard and winery is located at at 9423 Batesville Road in Afton, Virginia. The full schedule and more information can be found at www.cardinalpointwinery.com/events.htm.

Darden annual Career Transitions workshop June 16-18

UVA’s Darden School of Business will be hosting its 15th Career Transitions workshop June 16-18, 2008 at the Dolce Hayes Mansion in San Jose, CA. This year materials about the workshop note that it has been expanded and revised to focus on both life and career transition issues. “Whether you are in your 30s and facing today’s changing job market, in your 40s or 50s and facing mid-career decisions, or older and simply challenged by what to do with the second half of your life, this workshop offers you a time, a place and a process to tackle these issues.”
All University of Virginia alumni and their spouses/partners are invited to attend. All participants must have at least 10 years of work experience. The workshop fee is $2,095 ($1,895 for registrations before May 1), which includes tuition, room, board and all workshop materials.
Additional information, including recent testimonials and the registration form, may be viewed by visiting Darden’s “career transitions” web site. For more information, contact Darden’s Alumni Career Services office at (434) 924-4876 or alumnicareerservices@darden.virginia.edu.

Change in speaker for VA Book Festival Business Breakfast: Roger Mudd

Former newsman Roger Mudd has agreed to be the featured speaker at the Virginia Festival of the Book’s March 26 Business Breakfast, replacing Eric Abrahamson, who had to drop out due to a scheduling conflict.

Mudd was the documentary host and correspondent for The History Channel from 1995 until he retired in 2004. Between 1961 to 1992, he was a Washington correspondent for CBS News, NBC News and the MacNeil/Lehrer Newshour on PBS. He won the George Foster Peabody award for “The Selling of the Pentagon” in 1970 and for “Teddy” in 1979 and the Barone Award for Distinguished Washington Reporting in 1990. Business Breakfast attendees will be among the first to hear Mudd talk about his memoir, The Place to Be, due to be released the end of March.

Individual tickets for the event are still on sale.

Virginia Attorney General Robert McDonnell to speak at Chamber’s annual Commonwealth Breakfast

The Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce will host its 2008 Chamber Commonwealth Breakfast at Glenmore Country Club on Thursday, March 20th at 7:30 AM. This annual Chamber breakfast focuses on key Virginia public policy issues. This year, Robert McDonnell, Attorney General for the Commonwealth of Virginia, will be the featured Chamber speaker. Mr. McDonnell, a former prosecutor and member of the General Assembly, will discuss issues faced by the Virginia Courts and the 2008 General Assembly session. The Attorney General also will participate in questions and answers with Chamber members and guests after his remark. RSVP online.

Chamber to host annual business luncheon February 28th

The 2008 Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce Business Luncheon will be held on Thursday, February 28th at the Doubletree Hotel. At the luncheon, Christopher Lee, Chief Financial Officer at R.E. Lee & Son, who serves as 2008 Chamber Board of Directors Chairman, will join Chamber officials to issue the Annual Chamber Report and share the results of the 2008 Annual Chamber Member Economic Survey. The Chamber will also present its 2008 “Hovey S. Dabney Award for Corporate Citizenship.” Established in 2005 and named in honor of the late Hovey S. Dabney, the award recognizes outstanding examples of corporate citizenship in the Greater Charlottesville community.

Luncheon tickets are $40 per person. For more information or to register for the 2008 Annual Chamber Business Luncheon, contact the Chamber of Commerce at: cvillechamber.com or 434.295.3141.

NASA at the CBIC luncheon February 21

NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) representatives will speak at an Innovation Luncheon hosted by the Charlottesville Business Innovation Council (CBIC) on Thursday, February 21 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Omni Hotel on the Downtown Mall. The deadline for registration is Feb. 15.

NASA Astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria and NASA Assistant Administrator for External Relations Michael O’Brien will deliver a compelling presentation on the issues and topics currently facing the space industry and related fields in science and technology. They will discuss how lessons and techniques developed by NASA might be applied to businesses in our community.

“This is a great opportunity to learn about NASA’s work with 14 other countries on the International Space Station and their upcoming plans,” said Tom Thompson, Executive Director of CBIC. “Anyone considering international alliance partners will find this presentation particularly informative. Of course, the technology is just plain fascinating all by itself!”

Topics of discussion will include the completion of the build-out of the International Space Station (ISS), the replacement of the Shuttle with the yet-to-be-built Orion vehicle, the prospects of going back to the Moon and to Mars, and challenges of the future. There will be opportunities for questions, autographs and photographs after the presentation.

The event is sponsored by the University of Virginia School of Engineering and Applied Science. The price of admission is $35 for CBIC members and $45 for non-members and includes lunch, beverages, and parking at the Omni Hotel.  Tickets are expected to sell out quickly so CBIC suggests people sign up as soon as they can by visiting www.cvillebic.org or calling 434-817-6300.