On Saturday, February 8th, The Osceola Chamber celebrated our 100th Annual Meeting at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort with the theme “Boots to Suits – 100 Years of Osceola Heritage.”
We filled a ballroom with 500 Chamber members and community partners who gathered to watch the gavel officially pass from 2024 Chairman of the Board Carlos Velez, Vice President of the Osceola Magic, to our 2025 Chairman Tim Weisheyer with Dream Builders Realty. Under the leadership of Chairman Velez, an Innovation Committee met regularly to review and make fresh the Osceola Chamber membership and maintain the Chamber’s status as an “Accredited with Five Stars” Chamber.
Prior to the evening’s formal program, guests gathered in the foyer for a cocktail reception that included opportunities for souvenir photos with Woody and Jessie from Disney’s Toy Story franchise, as well as photos with a themed backdrop or AI Photobooth sponsored by Orlando Health and HCA Florida Healthcare, respectively, and administered by RTW Photography. Themed bars in the foyer and ballroom served an “Osceola Old Fashioned,” sponsored by Suncoast Credit Union, as the evening’s specialty cocktail.
Inside the ballroom, themed centerpieces assembled by Kissimmee Florist and sponsored by AdventHealth brought the “country-elegant” theme to further life, along with decorations and lighting designed by Disney. Attendees reflected the night’s theme with their fancy cowboy and cowgirl-inspired attire. Micky Mouse even got in on the theme when he joined Elizabeth Watkins, Government Relations Manager at Walt Disney World Resort, onstage to welcome everyone to Coronado Springs. She then shared some of the exciting things we can expect from the Walt Disney Company this year.
Chair Velez kicked off the awards for the night by presenting the 3rd annual Chairman’s Award to Shawn Savage with ABC Paving & Sealcoating. The Chairman’s Award is presented by the outgoing Chairman to an individual they believe has gone “above and beyond” in service to the Chamber, especially throughout the past year.
In honor of our 100th Annual Meeting, tribute was paid to our history throughout the night. A record number of past-Chairs participated in this year’s gavel pass, and they were assisted by none other than Mickey Mouse! A video highlighting the Chamber’s initiatives 100 years ago in 1925 – a year of change much like 2025 ahead of us – played early in the evening as Chamber President/CEO John Newstreet shared facts about the “Kissimmee Chamber of Commerce” in 1924-25. A series of video’s highlighting Osceola County’s commercial and community history over the past 100 years played throughout the evening. County residents and business people shared their memories and experiences with Osceola’s early years in agriculture from 1924-1970, tourism heyday from 1970 to around 2010, and the amazing changes coming as part of technology and industry diversification in places like NeoCity at present.
The Chamber also took the opportunity to honor long-term members. Representatives from member businesses who have been a part of the Chamber for 45 years or more were surprised to be brought up and recognized on stage with a plaque. This award of longevity was sponsored by HCA Florida Healthcare – themselves a 50+ year member of The Osceola Chamber – and HCA Poinciana‘s CEO Cullen Brown also helped us recognize all members with 20 years or more of Chamber membership. They will receive a certificate in the mail in coming weeks. The longest-tenured member was found to be Conrad & Thompson Funeral Home.
The Linda Goodwin-Nichols Service Award is named after Linda Goodwin-Nichols, two-time Chairman of The Osceola Chamber Board of Directors, and a stalwart of Osceola’s Business Community for 50 years. Throughout her career, Linda has epitomized community involvement and giving back selflessly, and this award honors an individual who will carry on her legacy. This year’s finalists for the Linda Goodwin-Nichols Service Award were Samantha Giel with AdventHealth, Martin Levert with Florida Technical College Kissimmee, Angie Rench of Hope Partnership, and Vicky Santamaria with AdventHealth. Sponsored by Orlando Health, the award went to Angie Rench, who as co-founder and Chief Development Officer of Hope Partnership has impacted the lives of over 100,000 of our most vulnerable residents.
To recognize the importance of the Chamber’s core values of “Embracing Heritage,” “Creating Opportunity,” “Building Unity,” and “Membership Value,” and our partners who promote them, in January of 2018, Chairman Tim Finkenbinder announced the creation of an award to emphasize these values – particularly “Building Unity.” The very first Unity Award was presented to Guillermo Hansen and last year the award was renamed in his honor. Finalists for the award this year were Leslie Fletcher, owner of Wide World of Adventures, Inc.; Danny Ruiz Manrique, founder of Total Industrial Supplies; and Hans Steinbrenner, President of the Osceola Magic. Presented with support from AdventHealth, the Unity Award went to Leslie Fletcher, who extolled the importance of always infusing fun into work and service.
Throughout the night, including during dinner, the crowd was entertained by the band Hayfire, whose appearance was sponsored by Strategic Advantage Consulting and whose lead singer is herself a graduate of Osceola High School. After the formal program, attendees took part in a line dancing lesson sponsored by Kissimmee Utility Authority, then put their skills to the test as Hayfire took the stage again. The one-man Sleight-of-Hand Magic Show, sponsored by ABC Paving & Sealcoating, also made the rounds around the ballroom to entertain guests who preferred to stay off the dance floor, which was a perfect way to cap off a completely magical night!
Additional sponsors for the evening were Comcast Business, Osceola Magic, Valencia College, Toho Water Authority, Addition Financial, Florida Technical College, Sunbridge, Bank Florida, Austin Commercial, City of Kissimmee, City of St. Cloud, Overstreet Law, and the University of Central Florida.
Find more photos of the event from RTW Photography here.
Find more photos with Woody & Jessie here.
See the videos that played at the 100th Annual Meeting below:
The Kissimmee of 1925 – “A Nice Place to Live”
Agriculture, 1924-1970
Tourism, 1970-2010
Innovation & The Future, 2010-Present
