The Paducah Area Chamber of Commerce’s 85th Annual Dinner and Business Celebration sponsored by Mercy Health and CSI was held at the Paducah-McCracken County Convention Center and Expo Center on January 26. 

2023 Board Chair Brent Housman, Senior Vice President and Financial Advisor at Baird, officially passed the gavel to Katie Englert, owner of Compass Counseling and Chicken Salad Chick, as the Board Chair for 2024.

The Chamber honored several area businesses and individuals with their annual awards:

• Business of the Year – Ingram Barge Company
• Summit Award – Paducah Bank
• Small Business of the Year – Window World of Paducah
• Citizen of the Year – Basil Drossos
• Entrepreneur of the Year – Jill Hobbs, HR Consulting Solutions
• Non-Profit Organization of the Year – Paducah Cooperative Ministry
• Chamber Volunteer of the Year – Lisa Lauck
• Leadership Paducah Alumnus of the Year – David Denton, Leadership Paducah Class #9
• Young Leader of Western Kentucky – Maegan Mansfield. This award was selected and presented by The Paducah Sun. There were 10 finalists honored. 
• Chairman’s Awards – Kenny Hunt and J.W. Cleary. These awards were presented by 2023 Chamber Board Chairman Brent Housman.

The Paducah Area Chamber of Commerce is the region’s largest business advocacy organization with approximately 950 member partners and one of the larger Chambers in the state. The Chamber is 5-star accredited by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and has twice been named “Chamber of the Year” in 2017 and 2011 by the Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives (ACCE), and was one of three finalists for ACCE “Chamber of the Year” (Category 2) in 2022.