YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – During its annual meeting, the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber will honor four guests with special awards that recognize their contributions in the Mahoning Valley and beyond.
At the meeting from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. April 10 at Waypoint 4180 in Canfield, the Regional Chamber will present Valley Champion Awards to Wally King and Gary Wagner, its Spirit of the Valley Award to Dan Rivers and Spirit of the Chamber Award to Shelley Murray.
Wagner also will be the keynote speaker at the breakfast and participate in a fireside chat-style discussion with Mike McGiffin, vice president of engagement and investor relations with Lake to River Economic Development, which is the keynote sponsor. The discussion will focus on workforce and economic development and the importance of Trumbull, Mahoning, Ashtabula and Columbiana counties having their own economic development region in the state.
The Valley Champion Award Recipients
King is co-founder of HBK CPAs & Consultants, which has grown into a business consulting and accounting firm with 17 offices in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, New Jersey, New York and Delhi, India.
King, a World War II combat pilot, flew 74 missions before he was shot down over Germany and captured. He spent his final weeks of the war injured and in captivity before he was reunited with Allied forces.
Wagner, a Warren native, is a professor of economics at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and editor-in-chief of the Public Finance Review.
Wagner served as vice president and senior regional officer for the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland from 2016 to 2018.
The Spirit of the Valley Award Recipient
The “Voice of the Valley,” Rivers is the former longtime host of “The Dan Rivers Show” on News Radio 570 WKBN. A transplant from northwest Ohio, he learned carpentry as a teen in his uncle’s home construction company. His trade led him to two tours in Vietnam with the U.S. Naval Seabees, constructing bridges and housing.
Upon returning home, he followed his dream of broadcasting. After graduating from Youngstown State University in 1981, he joined WKBN, where he remained until stepping away in November.
The Spirit of the Chamber Award Recipient
Murray is chief executive of Youngstown Area Goodwill Industries. A lifelong resident of the Valley, she worked for more than 20 years in education in various leadership roles, including principal, vice president and head of schools at Valley Christian Schools, before coming to Goodwill Industries in October 2023 as interim CEO. The role was slated to end at the end of 2024, but she was asked to stay permanently and accepted.
Murray’s career also included teaching adult GED classes at a community corrections facility in Youngstown, as well as two terms on the Youngstown City School District Board of Education.
David McCreary and Alissa Henry, hosts of the Ohio Lottery Cash Explosion television show, will also join the annual meeting to stage a scaled-down version of the popular game show. Attendees will be selected from the crowd to play, have some fun and win Cash Explosion swag.
To attend the meeting, register HERE.