Pyramids Awards Dinner Celebrates and Honors Chamber Members and Ambassadors

By Robert Haugh

Honoring Dick Johnston as Individual Member of the Year, Owens Corning as Business Member of the Year and Dan MacNaughton as Ambassador of the Year, the 5th Annual Santa Clara Chamber of Commerce & Convention-Visitors Bureau Pyramid Awards Dinner & Casino Night was held in the brand-new Mission City Ballroom at the Santa Clara Convention Center on June 25.

Chamber President and CEO Steve Van Dorn also presented a recap of the past year, while Mayor Patricia Mahan installed the 2009/2010 Officers and Directors for the Board.

2008-2009 Officers and Directors include Outgoing Chair of the Board Barbara Ratcliffe (Biltmore Hotel & Suites), Vice Chair of the Board Richard M. Johnson (Graphic Packaging International), Vice Chair of the Board Ernie Solis (Mission City Community Fund), Vice Chair of the Board Jim Stellmack (California’s Great America), Vice Chair of the Board David D. Tobkin (David D. Tobkin, CPA), Chair-Elect of the Board of Directors J.P. Rollet (Plaza Suites), Immediate Past Chair of the Board Maria Edmonds-Zediker (Foothill Securities), Treasurer Angie Christensen (Owens Corning), Miles Barber (Santa Clara Weekly), Chris Citti (Citti’s Florist), David Delozier (Peterson’s Insurance), Andy Dolich (SF 49ers), Pankaj Gupta (Amtel, Inc.), Lou Mariani, Jr. (Mariani’s Inn & Restaurant), Valerie McCarthy (Kaiser Permanente), Harlan McHugh (Frontier Infiniti), Mary Primm-Scott (Intel Corp.) and Harriett Robles (Mission College).

Presenting sponsors of the event include Aramark (catering), J. Lohr (wine), PSAV (audio-Visual), Santa Clara Convention Center (venue). Pyramid of Leaders include American Airlines, Applied Materials, Hilton Santa Clara, Intel Corporation, Kaiser Permanente, Marvell, Nvidia, Santa Clara Valley Water District and Yahoo! Pyramid Awards Triple Pyramid sponsors were Kaiser Pemanente and Intel.

Don Von Raesfeld sponsored the Roulette table, Owens Corning sponsored the Blackjack table, Nvidia sponsored the award recipient’s reception and Citti’s Florist provided the centerpieces.

The evening began with no-host cocktails and casino games, including blackjack, roulette and craps.

Dinner was a delicious Surf & Turf (gulf shrimp and beef filet) or a vegetarian ratatouille stuffed hothouse tomato.

The Santa Clara Chamber of Commerce & Convention-Visitors Bureau is a non-profit California corporation. The Chamber is a membership-based organization with more than 580 members. Membership revenues and other Chamber projects fund Chamber activities. The Chamber is contracted by the City to manage and operate the Santa Clara Convention Center. For more information on the Santa Clara Chamber of Commerce & Convention Visitors Bureau, visit www.santaclarachamber.org or call 408-244-8244. The Convention Center’s Web site is at www.santaclara.org.