H.B. chamber honors 11 with Business & Leadership Awards

Terry Rose thought she was being pranked by her friend Sue Gordon when she was told last month that she had been chosen as this year’s recipient of the International Athena Award given by the Huntington Beach Chamber of Commerce.

Rose, founder of Soroptimist International Huntington Beach, a women’s organization, was in tears Thursday as Gordon, a Chamber of Commerce board member, handed her the honor during the chamber’s annual Business & Leadership Awards luncheon.

More than 100 business leaders and government officials gathered at the SeaCliff Country Club to recognize Rose and 10 other honorees for their charitable work and other contributions to the community.

“Sue called and said, ‘Congratulations.’ I thought I had a baby,” Rose said with a laugh during the luncheon. “I said I didn’t have a baby and she told me that I was the Athena Award recipient. … I didn’t believe it.”

Rose thanked the members of Soroptimist and compared winning the Athena Award, which honors female leaders, to winning the lottery.

Bob Hoxsie, owner of Hoxsie Builders Inc. and Mangiamo Gelato in downtown Huntington Beach, was a man of few words when he accepted his award for Outstanding Citizen of the Year, an honor bestowed on Huntington Beach residents since 1939.

Hoxsie has been volunteering with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Huntington Valley since 1986 and has served four terms as president of the organization. He currently is overseeing construction of the club’s new branch at Golden West College.

“This is stuff that we all should do,” he said after the luncheon. “I get so much more out of volunteering than I put into it.”

Other honorees included printing company HB Digital, which won the Excellence in Business award for a small business. Owner Dominic Iorfino said the honor is an indication that his company is “doing what it should be doing, which is taking care of the customers.”

This year’s Business Person of the Year, Jeff Snow, received a loud ovation when he accepted his award.

Snow, senior municipal services manager for Rainbow Environmental Services, is involved in several local organizations, including the Rotary Club, the Huntington Beach Educational Foundation, the Bolsa Chica Conservancy and Compassionate Huntington Beach.

This year, he helped with fundraising for the Special Olympics Host Town Committee and helped organize the Huntington Haunt Experience at the Newland House during Halloween.

Snow’s selection for the award drew criticism from some community members who are upset over odors and dust from Rainbow’s trash facility in Huntington Beach.

“Huntington Beach is a city that’s on the rise, and I believe that we will continue to rise,” Snow said. “Tomorrow will be brighter than today, and the divisiveness in this community will be eclipsed by the continuing spirit of collaboration and collectivism and working together to achieve more for all.”

Other award winners are:

• Excellence in Business (large): Orange Coast Memorial Medical Center

• Sustainable Business Award: Duke’s Huntington Beach restaurant

• Robert Mayer Educational Partnership Award: Assistance League of Huntington Beach

• Entrepreneurship Award: Alicia Whitney, SeaLegs Wine Bar

• Innovation Award: Night Optics USA Inc.

• Chairman’s Member of the Year: Matt Liffreing, Marketworks Video

• Ambassador of the Year: Victoria Alberty, TheLocal HB information publication and website