The Albany Area Chamber of Commerce tonight hosted its 112th annual meeting on the Bricks at Thronateeska in downtown Albany. The event is one of the most important of the year for the Albany Area Chamber and celebrates accomplishments, shares how the Chamber will continue to move businesses forward throughout the year ahead, and shines the light on the Chamber’s most engaged leaders and those who have worked to make a positive impact on Albany and the Albany Area.

The Albany Area Chamber was founded in 1910, when business leaders saw the need for an organization that would represent the interests of job-creating businesses, harness the assets of the community and bring partners together for the economic and social prosperity of Albany and the Albany Area. Its success through more than a century of work lies in the support of its members and investors, strategic partners, dedicated staff, visionary board of directors and the hundreds of volunteers whose commitment to a vibrant Albany is unwavering.

“For 112 years, the Albany Area Chamber has been at the forefront of Albany’s evolution as a regional leader for industry, commerce and connection,” said Bárbara Rivera Holmes, president and CEO of the Albany Area Chamber, the largest business advocacy organization, and its 501©3 affiliate, the Albany Area Chamber Foundation. Through implementation of our future-focused strategic plan, #ImpactABY2023, we will continue to accelerate Albany’s economic advancement through promoting business investment and job growth by advocating for pro-business policies such as workplace diversity, modern infrastructure investments and work force development initiatives and partnerships.”

The 2022 event, presented by Colony Bank and Procter & Gamble, included the transfer of the chairman’s gavel; the announcement of the 2022 Albany Under 40 Young Professional of the Year; and honored the Chamber’s 2022 Lifetime Service Award recipient.

Matt Reed, 2021 chairman of the Albany Area Chamber Board of Directors, and owner of Georgia CEO and The UPS Stores at 2021 N. Slappey Blvd. and 2800 Old Dawson Road in Albany, formally presented City of Albany facilities director and retired Marine Corps lieutenant colonel Don Gray as the organization’s 2022 chairman. As is precedent, Reed assumes a new role as chair of the Board of Directors of the Albany Area Chamber Foundation. Chandu Kuntawalla, program manager at defense contractor Booz Allen Hamilton, assumes the role of chair-elect, and will take reigns in 2023.

“The annual meeting of the Albany Area Chamber represents the culmination of work completed throughout the last year, and the beginning of a new era of leadership and advocacy,” said Gray. “I have always taken pride in serving the Albany community; and now, through the chairmanship of the Albany Area Chamber, I will have the opportunity to maximize that passion for service, working side-by-side with other passionate business and nonprofit leaders to advance our community’s most renowned advocacy organization.”

“Over the last year, the Albany Area Chamber, and through it, the Albany community, has continued to
distinguish itself as innovative, effective and resilient,” Reed said. “It’s been an honor to serve as chairman during this unique and challenging time, and to have the opportunity to represent the community in this capacity.”

The Albany Under 40 Young Professional of the Year was announced as Dr. Koosh Desai, originally nominated for the awards in the “Youth & Education” category, for his work with the Medical College of Georgia’s Albanybased Southwest Campus.

The Albany Under 40 program is an initiative of the Chamber’s Talent Education and Leadership Committee, and honors the Albany Area’s emerging leaders and professionals in a variety of business sectors, each representing a component of the area’s diversified talent pool and economy.

Category finalists were selected from within the applicant pool by a volunteer committee, and category winners were announced at the Albany Under 40 reception in December 2021. The AU40 Young Professional of the Year is selected from among category winners.

Sonny Deriso, 1990 chairman of the Albany Area Chamber, was honored with the Chamber’s prestigious
Lifetime Service Award.

Deriso practiced law with Albany’s Divine, Wilkin, Deriso, Raulerson & Fields from 1972-1991 before assuming the role of president and CEO of Security Bank and Trust Co. of Albany, a role he held from 1991-1997, and subsequently served as the bank’s chairman until 2006.

Deriso is a staunch community advocate, having served on a vast variety of local and state boards, and has stood alongside the Chamber in its mission to foster and further the economic prosperity of the Albany Area.

Deriso was most recently chairman of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, a partner of the Albany Area
Chamber and Georgia’s leading statewide business advocate.

The 112th annual meeting is further sponsored by the Artesian Alliance; the City of Albany; Turner Job Corps; Flint AG; Molson Coors; Draffin and Tucker; Georgia Power; Jim Boyd Construction; Marcus, Inman and Daniels; Mars Wrigley; Mitchell EMC; Southern Point Staffing; WebstaurantStore; Georgia CEO; the UPS Store and Albany Area Primary Healthcare.