2021 Annual Meeting Awards

by | Aug 17, 2021 | Events | 0 comments

Erie County Economic Development Corporation (ECEDC) gathered over 250 partners, investors, and guests at Cedar Point’s Lakeside Pavilion to celebrate the extraordinary growth and development of Erie County over the past year.

Each year, ECEDC acknowledges the county’s most remarkable business achievements in investments, entrepreneurship, job creation and retention, with special nods to noteworthy leadership and professional accolades.

On rare, deserving occasions, ECEDC presents its Lifetime Leadership Award – Recognizing advocates who have made extraordinary contributions toward the vision of a vibrant Erie County over the course of their career and have exemplified dedication, integrity and honorable service to our community. In his 30 years of public service, Mr. Steve Poggiali has lived these ideals.

A new award this year was the “Pivot of the Year” award, which recognizes a business’s exceptional response to change during the pandemic. The Pivot Award was given to Katie Korobkin, Chef & Owner of Sweet Potato Catering, for her ability to transition her products and service delivery while maintaining high quality and superior client focus – a highly valued cornerstone of her business.

The “Deal of the Year” was awarded to Ardagh Manufacturing, for their $411 million commitment in new machinery, equipment, building expansion and improvement which promises to create hundreds of jobs and incredible economic growth for the county. 

In honor of a young leader this community lost too soon, this award will be known as the Talon Flohr Young Professional of the Year award going forward. It will be presented to YPs who valued what Talon did – service & building a better commnunity. Blake Anthony, Spencer Anthony, & Jarvis Cole were selected as our 2021 YPs of the Year! Each of these busy bees wear many hats in our community, but we’re particularly excited about the leadership they’ve shown co-chairing the Minority Business Empowerment Team.

2021 Entreprenur of the Year Award: Mark & Julie Schnieders and the Stride Mobility team are embarking on their next adventure with a new 14,000 sq ft facility in City of Huron – Government. This facility will accomodate the company’s rapid growth and surely lead to more with its helpful customer driven amenities. 

Beth Maiden, Executive Director of the Erie County Community Foundation was awarded the Visionary Leadership Award, which recognizes outstanding efforts in economic development – a leader whose visionary contributions have broken social, political or economic barriers, thereby opening doors and setting a new course for Erie County.

“Although this past year was incredibly challenging for everyone, I’m beyond proud of the extraordinary achievements by the people and businesses in Erie County,” said Abbey Bemis, Executive Director of ECEDC. “These accomplishments, plus the continued growth and expansion of our workforce development arm, Firelands Forward, have me very excited about things to come for our Firelands community.”

“Erie County has come such a long way over the past decade, with more and more businesses investing in – and growing – our local economy, said Ted Kastor, President of the ECDEC Board. “The Firelands community’s trajectory is bright and promising, and we can’t wait to see what we can achieve over the next year.”