By Dave Ongie
You’d be hard-pressed to find anyone with as much faith in the future as Ballad Health Chief Experience Officer Tom Tull, who served as the keynote speaker of the inaugural Regional Business Excellence Awards luncheon at the Millennium Center.
“I’ve never passed up on an opportunity to get excited about something,” said Tull. “It really is a brand new day for our region.”
Neil Poland, chair of the Johnson City/Washington County Chamber of Commerce, opened the proceedings by characterizing the new regional business awards as an expansion of the Faith in the Future program. Awards were given to area businesses in a variety of categories.
In the Excellence in Community & Culture category, businesses were separated by size. Preston Construction (small), Tri-Cities Behavioral Therapy (medium) and Advance Financial (large) were all winners while the Tri-Cities Military Affairs Council, Greater Eastern Credit Union and A.O. Smith were named runners-up in their respective divisions.
Appalachian Resource, Conservation & Development Council won the Excellence in Environmental Support award while Nuclear Fuel Services finished runner-up. Tennessee Hills Distillery took top honors in the Excellence in Customer Experience Category and was named runner-up in the Excellence in Marketing & Innovation category, which was won by Creative Energy.
