Bellevue Chamber Gala a Game Changer

The Bellevue Chamber of Commerce hosted the ‘Game Changer’ Gala last night at the Beardmore Event Center. Over 200 people attended, including many local business owners and nonprofit leadership.

“The name Game Changer holds a couple of different meanings for us,” Bellevue Chamber President and CEO Diane Bruce said. “Business owners know that things happen, both good and bad, that could be considered game-changing for our business. We want to stress how it is MORE important how people handle those moments than the moments themselves.”

Bruce elaborated on a recent time when life threw the Chamber a curveball, and they had to pivot. “When planning this event, our team had to laugh because we had to move the originally scheduled date due to the East/West Football GAME,” Bruce said. “A GAME changed the date of our Game Changer Gala. However, the outcome is better as we have had time to gather more auction items, allowing us to raise more money.”

Bruce stressed that business owners, managers, and all team members should take a deep breath, come up with a game plan, and then continue to move forward when life throws the unexpected at us. Quitting is an option, but it is rarely, if ever, the best option.

Omaha Supernovas President Diane Mendenhall was the keynote speaker for the evening. She spoke about several game-changing moments the Supernovas organization experienced during its first year of organized play. “I told the team we’re flying the plane while we are building it,” Mendenhall said during her presentation. There’s going to be some turbulence.”

Mendenhall also reminded the crowd that, although they are called the Omaha Supernovas they are Nebraska’s Pro Volleyball Team, and they love the support they’ve received from all of the communities in Nebraska, including Bellevue.

During the evening, several businesses and individuals received awards and recognition as leaders in the Bellevue community.

Bellevue Chamber 2024 Awards

• Ambassador of the Year: Christine Lowery
• Breaking Ground Award: Dip Cravers
• Small Business Award: Royalty Roofing
• Best Non-Profit: Lift-Up Sarpy County
• Distinguished Service Award: Joel Dighans
• Large Business Award: Courtyard Marriott Bellevue at Beardmore Event Center

The Bellevue Chamber is in the process of developing events and projects for 2025, and it plans to carry the game-based themes into the new year. Bellevue-opoly will return next year and a new ‘I Spy’ event is also in the works!

The Chamber encourages people to like and follow its NEW Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/BellevueChamberofCommerceNE for all the latest updates on the Chamber and local business happenings.