Tompkins Chamber announces 2023 award recipients

Each year, the Tompkins County Chamber selects local businesses and individuals from the community to receive recognition for their accomplishments and dedication to local well-being. The Annual Celebration & Award Ceremony will be held Wednesday, March 29 at The Statler Hotel on Cornell’s Campus.

This year’s recipients are Kevin Sullivan of ITH Hospitality, Ithaca Community Childcare Center, Gimme Coffee, Greg Hartz of Tompkins Financial, and Gary Ferguson of the Downtown Ithaca Alliance.

Sullivan received the Entrepreneur of the Year award for his work with ITH Hospitality. ITH manages eight brands across six locations: Luna Inspired Street Food, Catering by Luna, Ithaca Ghost Kitchen, Beacon Events & Catering, Jack’s Collegetown Grill, Pronto Craft Pizza & Artful Salads, Revelry, and Purity Ice Cream. 

Food service has been Sullivan’s focus for over 15 years. His role with ITH is what he describes as a company operator, dealing mostly in administration and leadership.

“It couldn’t possibly be done by one person. I’m surrounded by an absolutely incredible team. And if there’s one thing that I think I’ve always considered my true best skill, it’s helping people get the best out of themselves,” Sullivan said. “That’s a lot of why our organizations have grown. It’s because I have a lot of people that care deeply about this and have put in a tremendous amount of effort every step of the way for the last 15 plus years.”

The award also recognizes ITH Hospitality  and their uniqueness, which Sullivan has worked hard to establish. ITH, with the help of their skilled staff, is able to operate in a way that no other local hospitality business has achieved.

Ithaca Community Childcare Center (IC3) is recognized as the Not-for-Profit of the Year.

IC3 has been an important part of the community since 1976 and recently completed a facility and program expansion. 

“For the past year, we’ve been focusing a lot on our staff and appreciation as we try to recover from the effects of the pandemic. We have been working to help them in various ways, one of them being focusing on their own well being,” said IC3’s executive director, Sherri Koski. “There’s just been a lot of burnout and this, right now, is the first time that we’ve been fully staffed since 2021 and we’re really happy about that.”

In addition to their main campus on Warren Road, IC3 also has a facility inside Kendal at Ithaca on Triphammer Road. The Kendal daycare area is for children 8 weeks to 3-years-old. Children and their families have the option to move their child to the main center as they age out of the Kendal center.

“We are also working back to featuring children’s talents and hobbies and holidays in our classrooms again. We want to have the classrooms being more reflective of what’s going on within the families of the children,” Koski said. “Family style meals is another thing and I think some classrooms are doing this again. There were just some things we had stopped for safety measures that we want to reintroduce.” 

The Distinguished Business of the Year award went to Gimme Coffee, a staple in the local coffee scene since 2000. 

Like many small businesses during the pandemic, Gimme Coffee faced difficulties. Employees had a choice to make: purchase the business or it would close permanently. Gimme Coffee employees have worked hard to create an employee co-op model, which was finalized in 2022. 

They were able to re-open all five locations due to their co-op efforts with almost 50% of their employees joining as full members of the co-op. 

“I think with just how much work we’ve done over the past few years and still being in our first year of conversion to a cooperative, to be acknowledged by our community is just beyond exciting,” said Kate Smith, the bakery director and founder of the cooperative. “That other people see that we’re trying to do better is just amazing because we’re really trying to do something here.” 

Another community member who has made a significant difference is Greg Hartz, the Chamber’s Noel Desch Key Person of the Year.  Hartz, who is currently the Central New York President at Tompkins Financial, is retiring after 40 years in community banking. 21 of those years have been with Tompkins Financial. 

Hartz has always been a part of the community from growing up in Ithaca and graduating from Cornell University, to today where he is involved with various volunteer services, nonprofits and economic development organizations in addition to his leadership role with Tompkins Financial. 

“I had known Noel for a long time and he was just an upstanding human being and a great leader,” Hartz said. “To receive this award named after him is just an amazing honor.”

Hartz plans to stay involved with the community and various organizations he works with following his retirement.

Gary Ferguson is also retiring from his role as the executive director of the Downtown Ithaca Alliance (DIA). Ferguson has been with the organization for 24 years and is the recipient of the Howard Cogan Tourism Award.

Under Ferguson’s leadership, the Downtown Ithaca Alliance has led numerous revitalization efforts to increase economic impact through tourism and community support for local businesses. He has helped lead projects such as the Ithaca Commons rebuild and the Ithaca Downtown Conference Center, which has a projected completion in 2024.

“It’s been an effort to grow the organization, to advance downtown revitalization, improve foot traffic and have more visitation and to see investment happen in the community to really make it a better place,” Ferguson said. “It’s oftentimes been difficult to do and this award is great, wonderful. 

Ferguson added that tourism is such an important part of our community and it is something that we as a community are constantly looking at and checking on. To have the Chamber acknowledge that is very important to him. 

All of the individuals and organizations that are recognized by the Chamber this year, and years prior, reflect the hard work of local people and their dedication to the community. The Chamber said they are proud to consistently recognize outstanding people and organizations to give thanks and applause for their hard work.