The Santa Clarita Valley Chamber of Commerce’s 103rd annual Business Choice Awards and board installation ceremony was, to its president’s mind, a celebration of the Santa Clarita Valley’s impressive business diversity.
From an ambitious yoga studio to the city’s historical society, Ivan Volschenk, president and CEO of the SCV Chamber, said the breadth of Santa Clarita industry was on full display on stage Friday.
“They represent a big swath of the community,” Volschenk said. “It just shows the breadth, and how many different businesses there are in Santa Clarita … (and) how diverse and vibrant our community is.”
This year’s ceremony had an atypical staging area: while the SCV Chamber typically holds the annual event at the Hyatt Regency Valencia, this year, dozens of local business leaders gathered at a California Institute of the Arts auditorium, accompanied by an assortment of the valley’s government representatives, including Rep. George Whitesides, D-Agua Dulce; State Sen. Suzette Martinez Valladares, R-Acton; and Assemblywoman Pilar Schiavo, D-Chatsworth.
In a slightly artsier environment than in past years, Di Thompson, Realtor and chair of the SCV Chamber board, emceed the proceedings alongside the chamber’s chief advocacy officer, John Musella.
Several of the night’s Business Choice Awards honorees paid tribute in their acceptance speeches to the relationship between local businesses and Santa Clarita’s government agencies, and it was a theme of the night’s opening remarks.
“Over the past year, the chamber has continued to strengthen its role as conqueror across industries, sectors and public partners,” Thompson said at Friday’s ceremony. “Increasingly, the chamber is where business leaders, educators and policymakers come together to solve problems … Our impact is not measured only in participation or membership, but in the strength of the relationships and collaborations formed through this organization.”
Case in point: The Nonprofit of the Year award winner, the now 50-year-old Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society, was congratulated for being both a springboard for valued heritage tourism as well as carefully protecting the valley’s cultural materials and stories.
After crumpling up his prepared speech, SCV Historical Society Secretary Leon Worden spoke to the audience about how the organization’s mission can change a resident’s relationship to their community – both economically and socially.
“I really believe that it’s only when people realize that they are somewhere different, somewhere special, somewhere interesting … they flip that switch, and they start to become contributing members of the community,” Worden said. “And that is our role. That’s why we’re here. And honestly, with or without us, a historical society needs to exist for another 50 years.”
Volschenk said the spread of businesses represented at this year’s awards was also a reflection of how much the chamber has evolved with the city’s business outlook, as well as what it’s weathered, particularly in the wake of COVID-19.
“We’ve gone through COVID, we’ve gone through economic uncertainties and a whole bunch of different things,” Volschenk said. “The chamber is continuously evolving itself, making sure that it’s providing services and being relevant for the business community. Chambers have to continually be a service to the community, so that’s not something that’s just a static one-fits-all type of thing.”
After this year’s board was sworn in, the ceremony concluded – with a new slate of honorees setting the bar for businesses of all stripes in 2026.
This year’s Business Choice Award and individual honorees were:
• Business of the Year: Property Management Professionals.
• Rising Star: Koegle Law Group.
• Entrepreneurial Spirit: Thermal Horizons Yoga and Wellness Center.
• Non-Profit of the Year: Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society.
• Public Service Award: Frank Oviedo.
• Cheri Fleming Heart of the Community: Pam Ingram.
• Lifetime Achievement: Greg McWilliams.
