On Thursday, December 15, your Chamber hosted our 128th Annual Gala. It was an exceptional evening to celebrate a year of collaboration, service and grace; honor our members and volunteers; and reflect on the year's accomplishments.
The evening kicked off with a welcome and introductory remarks from former President and CEO Richard Perez. Richard thanked 2022 Chair of the Board Phil Green for his leadership and commitment to the Chamber and San Antonio. “Phil is exceptionally smart, compassionate, dedicated, and thoughtful, and he is a true champion for San Antonio and its business community,” Richard explained. Attendees were in for a surprise when Richard introduced Laura Srp to perform the National Anthem, accompanied by her father, Phil Green. Together, Laura and Phil comprise LP23. Following the National Anthem, Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller led the evening’s invocation.
Guests enjoyed the evening’s entertainment, which included the Children’s Ballet of San Antonio’s, who performed excepts from their recent production of The Children’s Nutcracker, and King William Jazz.
Representing our Presenting Sponsor Frost, Dan Geddes, Frost Bank’s San Antonio Regional President, gave short remarks, thanked the Chamber for the work we do for San Antonio, and reinforced Frost’s commitment to the community. “The Chamber and Frost are two organizations that are synonymous with San Antonio,” he said.
Following a dinner break, the program continued with 2023 Chair of the Board Phil Green taking the stage, reflecting on his year of leadership, and thanking everyone for an eventful year.
Phil recalled his speech at our 2021 Gala, where he emphasized the importance of leaning into San Antonio’s core competencies of collaboration, service and grace; supporting important initiatives; and looking inwardly to ensure the Chamber was structured to be the most effective advocate for business as a Force for Good. “It’s my belief that we’ve been successful in addressing these priorities,” Phil added.
Phil also highlighted the establishment of a Governance task force, the strengthening of our board structure, and the development of a Strategic Plan, all of which were reinforced in a short video.
After thanking his leadership team, the Chamber staff, Hope Andrade, Katie Harvey, and his wife Sandy, Phil shared a video introducing 2023 Chair of the Board Katie Harvey and welcomed her to the stage.
Katie began her remarks by commenting on the closeness of the business community and the realization that while businesses may compete with one another, at the heart of it all, we’re friends. “We come together to do hard things and to work on projects that lift not only our business community, but our entire community,” she said.
She discussed her three priorities for 2023, which are having a strong and successful State Legislative Session, continuing the discussion and further action of San Antonio and Austin coming together to form a super region, and building a strong Executive Board.
Following a brief introduction of her Council Chairs, Committee Chairs and Executive Board, Katie concluded her remarks by reminding attendees that our work is plentiful, and our community is depending on all of us to continue to build heathy businesses and invest in our community. She encouraged everyone to lean in and look for ways to do more to shape our community for future generations.
To wrap up the Gala, Phil and Katie invited Richard Perez to join them on the stage and shared a video featuring former Chairs of the Board thanking Richard for his 15 years of service as the Chamber’s President and CEO.
Please click here to view pictures from the event.
The Chamber would like to thank our Gala Sponsors, including:
- Presenting Sponsor: Frost Bank
- Cocktail Reception Sponsor: Valero
- President’s After Party Sponsor: Ubeo
- Video Sponsor: USAA
- Photo Booth Sponsor: CPS Energy
- Gold Sponsors:
- Alamo Colleges
- AT&T
- Methodist Healthcare
- Pape-Dawson Engineers
- PNC Bank
- Southwest Airlines
- Toyota Motor Manufacturing Texas
- Silver Sponsors:
- The Grand Hyatt
- Holt Cat
- NuStar
- Spurs Sports and Entertainment
- Wells Fargo
- Zachry Group
- Bronze Sponsors:
- Alamo Area Council of Governments
- Amegy Bank
- Bexar County Economic and Community Development
- BioBridge Global
- Boeing
- Bracewell
- Brooks
- Computer Solutions
- Endeavors
- Goodwill
- HEB – who provided the beautiful centerpieces at your tables
- IBC Bank
- Jackson Walker
- KGBTexas Communications
- Linebarger, Goggan Blair and Sampson, LLP
- OCI Solar Power
- RSM
- San Antonio Lighthouse for the Blind
- San Antonio Water System
- Silver Eagle Beverages
- SWBC
- Texas A&M University-San Antonio
- Wellmed
- Vantage Bank
- VIA