Greater Williamsburg Chamber & Tourism Alliance Blog

Williamsburg, VA ―The Greater Williamsburg Chamber & Tourism Alliance saluted outstanding members of the business community and recognized the organization’s outgoing chair and new leadership during its Annual Membership Meeting, conducted Wednesday, September 24, at the Williamsburg Lodge. The Alliance annually pays tribute to distinguished members with awards.  Honorees this year were:

• Small-Business Person of the Year: Ray Wright, Wright Sign Service, Inc., for his positive impact on the community, substantial employee growth, increased sales and excellent customer service.
• Corporate Citizen of the Year: Williamsburg SCORE, for the volunteer organization’s counseling services and many educational programs that help ensure area small businesses not only survive but succeed.
• The William Washington Customer Service Award:  this year’s recipient is Richard Tate, of the Williamsburg Inn, saluted for consistently providing high levels of service with grace and elegance.
• Military Citizens of the Year: Sgt Lawrence J. Taylor Jr., Ft. Eustis; Petty Officer Dorina Goetz, Coast Guard Training Center Yorktown; Petty Officer Brian N. Rusk, US Naval Weapons Station Yorktown
• Ambassador of the Year: Bill Forloine, CLU, New York Life Insurance Company

 The evening was the final Alliance event presided over by outgoing Chair John Bacon. Bacon formally passed the gavel to incoming 2009-2010 Chair James Golden, vice president for strategic initiatives at The College of William and Mary.  In accepting the gavel, Golden recognized the other officers for the next year:

• Vice Chair, Tourism Interests:  Joe Cantrell, vice president of finance, King’s Creek Plantation
• Vice Chair, Business Interests:  Brien Craft, general manager, Walmart Stores, Inc.-Distribution Center 6088
• Treasurer: John Hallowell, president, Colonial Williamsburg Company – Hospitality Group

Outgoing Alliance Board Chair John Bacon (left), senior vice president for External Affairs and secretary, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation hands over the gavel to incoming 2009-2010 Alliance Board Chair James Golden, vice president for strategic initiatives at The College of William and Mary.

This years Small Business Person of the Year award went to Ray Wright (left), Wright Sign Services, Inc. Ray was selected for his positive impact on the community, substantial employee growth, excellent customer service and his response to adversity.

Richard Tate (center), of the Williamsburg Inn was awarded the William Washington Customer Service Award for his commitment and consistent devotion to those he serves.

Volunteer executives from Williamsburg SCORE were awarded Corporate Citizen of the Year award for their excellence in providing quality counseling to the areas small businesses.  (Pictured from left to right Malcolm Hecht; Maloy Jones; Ken Carr; Alan Wonsowski; Gene McClure; Dick Garretson)

The July 2009 Tourism Statistics are now available online in the Members Only Section.  For member log-in or any additional questions call the Alliance at 757.229.6511

The Federal Trade Commission’s Identity Theft Rule, also called the Red Flags Rule, takes effect Nov 1, 2009.
If your business or non-profit organization regularly accepts deferred payment or provide goods and services and bill customers later you must design, put in writing and implement a formal identity-theft prevention program.
If you don’t, you could face fines up to $2,500 per ID-theft incident, not to mention the usual threats of lawsuits and reputational damage that sometimes result from a data breach.
These new rules don’t apply to all businesses, but they will pertain to many that collect and store information about others – names, addresses, Social Security numbers, bank account and credit card numbers and so on – either because the firms defer payments themselves or bill customers later for good or services.

The FTC said that by identifying red flags in advance, businesses will be better equipped to spot suspicious patterns when they arise and take steps to prevent a red flag from becoming a costly case of identity theft.

Every program, must include four procedures:

• How to identify red flag
• How to detect red flags that have been identified
• How to determine appropriate action to take when a red flag has been  detected
• How to re-evaluate the program to reflect ever-changing threats.

Visit  http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/business/alerts/alt050.shtm for more information.