Description

• Our Towns: Deborah and James Fallows
• Recognition of the 2022 - 2023 Chamber Board Chairperson
• Introduction of the 2023 - 2024 Chamber Board Chairperson
• Introduction of the 2022 - 2023 Chamber Board of Directors
  
• Ruder Ware Innovator Award in Memory of G. Lane Ware

Join us for this special program to be held at the Hilton Garden Inn.

Since 2013, journalists Deborah and James Fallows have traveled to small communities in every part of the country. These communities have faced economic shocks, political crises and other serious hardships. Each place they went, they talked with teachers, business creators, mayors, religious leaders, students, artists and architects, librarians and others involved in shaping their community’s future. As they traveled across the country, at low altitude in their small airplane, they viewed the patterns of river and hill from above. These features explain the pattern of American settlement. On the ground, they saw the emerging pattern of American reinvention.

These travels culminated in the 2018 national best seller Our Towns: A 100,000-Mile Journey into the Heart of America.

Watch the trailer for the OUR TOWN documentary:

OUR TOWNS is a 2021 HBO documentary, based on the Fallows' best selling book. The film features eight of the towns included in Our Towns: A 100,000-Mile Journey into the Heart of America. The documentary can be streamed on HBO Max.

About James and Deborah Fallows:

Deborah Fallows is a writer and linguist. She has written extensively on language, education, families and work, China, and travel for The Atlantic, National Geographic, Slate, The New York Times, The LA Times, and The Washington Monthly. She has been a fellow at New America and a senior research fellow at the Pew Research Center.

James Fallows is a longtime writer for The Atlantic magazine. He has reported for the magazine from around the world since the late 1970s, including extended assignments in China, Japan, and Southeast Asia, and within the United States in Texas, Washington state, and California. He has written 12 books and won the American Book Award, the National Magazine Award, and a documentary Emmy. He has also done extensive commentary on National Public Radio. He now hosts a Substack site, called Breaking the News.

Ruder Ware Innovator Award in Memory of G. Lane Ware

Established in 2015 by Ruder Ware LLSC, the Ruder Ware Innovator Award in Memory of G. Lane Ware honors the memory of G. Lane Ware, a distinguished attorney and consummate professional with a sincere drive to make the Wausau community a better place for life and for business.  Ware was tireless in his drive and support of entrepreneurship and innovation.  You'd often hear him quip, "If you're not growing, you're dying on the vine."  He realized that to succeed in business, you needed to innovate and differentiate, to remain relevant in a changing economy.  While Ware worked with businesses of all sizes, it was the entrepreneurs and small businesses that inspired and excited him the most.

The Ruder Ware Innovator Award in Memory of G. Lane Ware Award is presented to an entrepreneur and/or a small business owner (50 employees or less) with a proven record of innovation in business.  Businesses must operate within the region served by the Chamber, but do not need to be a member of the Chamber or a client of Ruder Ware.

• TBD

Special dietary requests must be submitted as the time of registration.  Every attempt will be made to accommodate requests, however, they cannot be guaranteed if they are not submitted a minimum of two weeks prior to the event.