By LINDA CHION KENNEY
Lisa Tackus has been named 2024 Citizen of the Year at a ceremony in celebration of small business strength and the good deeds of volunteers, including those from the community at large and the Central Hillsborough County Chamber of Commerce.
The chamber recognitions were presented Feb. 22 at YMCA Camp Cristina in Riverview.
Linda Chion Kenney photos
LIsa Tackus, 2024 Citizen of the Year
This is the first time the award has dropped the “Riverview” citizen of the year designation. That matters little in this regard, however, because the chamber, which last year changed its name to “Central Hillsborough County,” had been known for decades as the “Greater Riverview” chamber, which by definition allowed for people outside of Riverview to build a chamber for the greater good.
Tackus follows the 2023 citizen honoree, Eleanor Saunders, executive director of the Emergency Care Help Organization (ECHO), who, in turn, followed Betty Jo Tompkins, active for decades in community affairs and conservation efforts, including the Hillsborough 100 Conservation Challenge, Hillsborough County 4-H Foundation, Hillsborough County Fair, and Hillsborough Soil and Water Conservation District.
As for Tackus, the 2024 honoree, she sits on the board of the Emergency Care Help Organization (ECHO), which started in Brandon and has an operation in Riverview, in the old Riverview library on Riverview Drive.
Andrew Graves, 2024 Shining Star Award recipient
In its mission to bridge the gap between crisis and stability, ECHO addresses the needs of neighbors who are hungry, unemployed, under-employed and at risk because of emergency situations. The decades-old nonprofit, which serves multiple ZIP codes in unincorporated Hillsborough County, provides emergency food, clothing and access to life-stabilizing programs and resources.
Tackus is a “true community champion,” said event emcee Jason Britton, in announcing the award for Tackus, broker-owner of Align Right Realty Riverview. Britton said Tackus, a “band mom” at Riverview High and active in both the central Hillsborough and greater SouthShore chambers of commerce, is “continuously working to strengthen connections between businesses and the communities” in which they operate.
Also issued Feb. 22, at the chamber’s Family Celebration and Awards Day event, were internal awards, including the Margie Watkins Volunteer of the Year Award, which in 2023 went to Daisy Vega of the Freedom to Walk Foundation. She was not in attendance, so Britton announced the 2024 honoree, Joe Nichols, a CHCC Ambassador team member. An account executive of business development at Trax Credit Union in Winthrop, Nichols was recognized in part for his 10 years as a chamber ambassador, including three year’s as the team’s treasurer.
Joe Nichols, 2024 Margie Watkins Volunteer of the Year recipient
The Joe Eletto Ambassador of the Year Award went to Melissa Canfield; she and her husband Joe are franchisee owners of Grease Monkey, an automotive service center. They formerly owned and operated Hi-Tech Automotive in Brandon. The 2024 award was presented by Lisa Jordan, the 2023 recipient, who has received the honor three times. Jordan is co-owner of Accent American, which specializes in cleaning and disaster restoration.
Chamber Ambassadors are defined as “motivated and respected individuals in the business community who serve as primary liaisons to our members.” The award is named for Eletto, a Veteran and a realtor, who received the award six times.
Eletto was instrumental as well in helping to establish the chamber’s Military Affairs Committee. At a chamber luncheon last year, Eletto presented the monthly Veteran recognition to Andrew Graves, who served in the U.S. Navy. At the Feb. 22 awards event, Graves, a security specialist for MORSECOM, received the Shining Star award, presented by the prior recipient, David Lechuga, of Florida Executive Realty, who is a chamber board member.
From left are Lisa Jordan, Melissa Canfield and Tammy See, chair of the Central Hillsborough County Chamber of Commerce. Jordan and Canfield, respectively, are the 2023 and 2024 recipients of the Joe Eletto Ambassador of the Year Award.
Lechuga said Graves has been recognized for many efforts, including that “he has attended nearly every ribbon-cutting ceremony since joining [the chamber], many times volunteering to read the proclamation.” A member of the chamber’s Ambassador team, Graves is co-chair as well of the chamber’s Networking at Noon group.
According to chamber records, the Riverview Citizen of the Year award was first issued in 1994, to Kim Otto, followed by Gary Zirkler in 1996. After a six-year hiatus, the award was granted annually, starting with Kay and John Sullivan, longtime community advocates and co-founders of the neotraditional Winthrop community in Riverview. They received the award in 2003.
The only other pair to receive the award in one year, 2009, were Earl Lennard, former superintendent of schools and Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections, and his widow, Annabel, who remains active in church and community affairs.
The next year the award went to Robert “Bob” Heilman, then the long-serving principal of Riverview High, followed by Barbara Jones, a popular community officer with the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.
From 2004 to 2008, citizen of the year honorees were Sandra Murman, Frances Gegenheimer, Ron Proulx, Bill McMullen and John Johnson. From 2012 through 2021, the recipients were Dr. Bryan Thatcher, Tammy Holmberg, Jill Andrew, Joe Eletto, Jennifer Caskey, Kim Tyson, Marie Gilmore, Christian Beiter, Larry Brooks and Clifford “Cliff” Fletcher.