Daytona Regional Chamber’s 105th Annual Meeting presented by Halifax Health to Celebrate Business Community and Leaders
Honoring a transformational community leader and an innovative company whose work powers the region will be the key elements of the Daytona Regional Chamber’s 105th Annual Meeting presented by Halifax Health. The signature event will be held Thursday, February 6, at Daytona State College’s News-Journal Center with a theme of “Let Us Entertain You.”
Attendees will kick off the evening with a reception in the News-Journal Center lobby and patio. The traditional Daytona Regional Chamber business program will follow in the Davidson Theater, including the passing of the gavel from 2024 Chair of the Board Mike Sibley, James Moore & Co., to 2025 Chair, Mike Sznapstajler, Cobb Cole, plus the presentation of a pair of prestigious business awards, the J. Hyatt Brown Enterprise Award and the Glenn Ritchey Leadership Award.
Florida Power & Light will receive the J. Hyatt Brown Enterprise Award, while Cici Brown is honored with the Glenn Ritchey Leadership Award.
The event concludes with food, fun, and fellowship as attendees celebrate the achievements of the past year, look ahead to 2025, and renew and strengthen the connections that make the Daytona Beach region a vibrant business community.
Florida Power & Light Company to Receive J. Hyatt Brown Enterprise Award
The J. Hyatt Brown Enterprise Award recognizes honorees for significant contributions to the quality, vitality, and growth of our community. For their innovation and resilience in the face of numerous hurricanes to restore power to our residents, business interests, and millions of visitors plus their significant community support, Florida Power & Light Company will receive the J. Hyatt Brown Enterprise Award.
As America's largest electric utility, Florida Power & Light Company serves more customers and sells more power than any other utility, providing clean, affordable, reliable electricity to approximately 6 million accounts, or more than 12 million people. FPL operates one of the cleanest power generation fleets in the U.S. and in 2022 won the ReliabilityOne® National Reliability Award for the seventh time in the last ten years. The company was also recognized in 2022 as one of the most trusted U.S. electric utilities by Escalent for the ninth consecutive year.
FPL is a subsidiary of Juno Beach, Florida-based NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NEE), a clean energy company widely recognized for its efforts in sustainability, corporate responsibility, ethics and compliance, and diversity. NextEra Energy is also the parent company of NextEra Energy Resources, LLC, which, together with its affiliated entities, is the world's largest generator of renewable energy from the wind and sun and a world leader in battery storage.
Philanthropist and Community Leader Cici Brown Named Glenn Ritchey Leadership Award Winner
This year’s Glenn Ritchey Leadership Award honoree is Cynthia “Cici” Brown, community leader, philanthropist, and art aficionado.
The annual Glenn Ritchey Leadership Award is given to an individual whose contributions to the Daytona Beach region personify integrity, dedication, and hard work. Recipients have made recent and consistent contributions to their community, state and nation over a considerable period of time, and support the goals of the Daytona Regional Chamber.
Cici Brown graduated from Westbrook College (now the University of New England) and was a buyer for Saks Fifth Avenue in NYC prior to her marriage to J. Hyatt Brown in 1965. Active in civic and charitable organizations in the Volusia County area, she has worked with the Museum of Arts & Sciences in Daytona Beach continually since 1971 and served for three years as President of its Board of Trustees.
Brown has been a member of the Stetson University Board of Trustees since 1999. Before becoming a Trustee, she served the university as a member of the College of Arts & Sciences Board of Advisors, including a term as Chair. Brown was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree by Stetson University in 2007.
The Cici and Hyatt Brown Museum of Art opened in February 2015 and is home to the most extensive collection of Florida art in the world. The 26,000 square-foot Museum features a collection of Florida themed oil and watercolor paintings dating back to the early 1800's. The entire collection consists of more than 2,500 paintings. The size and scope of the collection lends itself perfectly to illustrating the many stories that can be told about the aesthetic movements, geography, and human and natural history in Florida.
In September, at the museum's annual Passport to Florida event, the Browns announced a surprise endowment totaling $150 million, the largest gift to be ever granted to the museum. The endowment will facilitate the construction of a new 60,000-square-foot, two-story building on the 60 acres owned by MOAS at 352 S. Nova Road in Daytona Beach.
Brown was a founding member of the Cultural Arts Council of Volusia County and served on that board for 12 years. She also served on the Florida Humanities Council Board for several years. Brown is a Sustaining member of the Junior League and a member of the Garden Club of the Halifax Country where she takes particular interest in Conservation and Scholarship.
Daytona Regional Chamber members receive discounted individual admission to the 105th Annual Meeting for $150. General admission is available for $200.
For information on sponsorships, group admissions, or individual admission, contact Ken Phelps, IOM, Vice President of Resource Development, at 386.523.3675.
The Daytona Regional Chamber’s mission is to advocate for a strong economic and business environment through which its members, and the entire business community, can thrive.
