The Knoxville business community celebrated continued success and growth in the region at the sold-out 2008 Pinnacle Business Awards held April 25th at the Knoxville Convention Center. The fourth annual awards gala, hosted by the Knoxville Chamber and presented by Regions Bank, honored nine Knoxville businesses and individuals for excellence in their fields and in service to the community.

The Knoxville -- Center of Innovation coffee table book is now available from the Chamber. The 264-page color pictorial book captures the essence of the region and portrays what it is like to work, live and play in the Innovation Valley.

Photographers from across America were commissioned to shoot thousands of images for this book. The best of these photographs are included in the coffee table book.

ORDER HERE

Gregg Morton, President of AT&T Tennessee told a group of Chamber Premier Partner members about the changing landscape of the communications industry Thursday at the Knoxville Chamber office.

Today, the Knoxville Chamber released the report detailing the ideas and strategies gathered during the Workforce Development and Education Summit, which was held on March 24th. The Summit was an opportunity for businesspeople, community leaders, elected officials, educators, students, parents, and the faith-based community to come together and discuss the important role that education and workforce development have on the future of our economy and society.

Here are the reports from the Workforce Summit:
Final Summit Report
Appendix 1: Summit Notes
Appendix 2: What to Do For Schools List

Today the Knoxville Chamber named finalists for the 2008 Pinnacle Business Awards presented by Regions Bank. The Awards gala is the business community’s marquee event and includes a celebration of business accomplishments and the honoring of the 2008 winners. The Pinnacle Business Awards event will be April 25th at the Knoxville Convention Center and will begin with a reception and silent auction at 6:30 p.m. The dinner and awards presentation will begin at 8:00 p.m.

Exedy America Corporation celebrated another expansion of its industrial facility located in the EastBridge Business Park in eastern Knox County on Friday, April 4.

SYSCO Corporation held a ribbon cutting Tuesday at its recently-completed foodservice distribution facility in Knoxville. The new company is Sysco Foodservices of Knoxville, LLC. Service will begin at the new 353,000-square-foot location on Tennessee Ave. on May 12.

One of the key themes throughout the Workforce and Education Summit today was that the East Tennessee community needs to embrace changing ideas towards learning and education and move steadfastly into the future.

The Knoxville business community has again been recognized by Forbes magazine in its 10th annual Best Places for Business and Careers list. Knoxville comes in 10th, a drop in ranking from previous years, but still in an elite group of cities with a pro-business and pro-career environment.

Over the past 18 months, the Chamber and the taskforce has attacked the following core issues: 38 percent of employers find today’s high school graduates deficient in reading comprehension; written communication tops the list of applied skills found lacking in high school and college graduates; one in five workers reads at a skill level lower than his or her job requires; remedial writing courses cost large corporations $3.1 billion annually.