Pleasant Hill chamber brings back its Business Person of the Year award

The Pleasant Hill Chamber of Commerce is bringing back its Business Person of the Year award on Thursday, Aug. 20, at a dinner at Back Forty Texas BBQ on Coggins Drive.

The chamber's own honor roll shows why that matters locally. It runs from Len Shapiro in 2000 through Zachary's Pizza in 2017, and then stops. The chamber says the evening will "restore valued traditions paused during the pandemic," the award among them, and its event listing calls the award one of the chamber's most distinguished traditions, returning after close to a decade.

Three nominees are up for it, and the chamber has published all three by name: Angela Kalinowski of WiseGirl Restaurant, Bar & Live Music and Back Forty Texas BBQ Roadhouse & Saloon; Gerardo Wence of Wence's Restaurant; and Karen Trinh of Nurture Path Development Center. Nominations are closed. The chamber says the winner will be announced at the dinner.

Kalinowski is listed in the chamber's member directory as the contact for WiseGirl at 1932 Oak Park Blvd., in Poet's Corner, a restaurant that bills itself as a woman-owned Italian American kitchen and live music room. Back Forty, at 100 Coggins Drive, is the other business the chamber lists beside her name, and it is hosting the dinner.

The evening is built as a close to the 2025-26 chamber year rather than as an awards show. The program runs a cocktail hour and networking reception, a seated dinner with remarks, a year-in-review presentation, and then the board business: outgoing directors recognized, incoming leadership welcomed, and the Business Person of the Year presented last.

Ticket and sponsorship information is on the chamber's event listing at business.pleasanthillchamber.com. The chamber office is at 2255 Contra Costa Blvd., Suite 307, and is open Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.; the phone is (925) 687-0700. Jeremy Carlson is the chamber's executive director, and Alex Khodadad of Delphi Realty Group chairs the board.

The chamber has not published the recipient's name on its own site or in its news feed.

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