
Longtime Hallowell resident and Augusta-area businessman Roger Pomerleau was selected as this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award winner from the Kennebec Valley Chamber of Commerce. Pictured are, from left, Chamber board member Earl Kingsbury, Executive Committee Vice Chair Lori Dube, Pomerleau, Chamber President and CEO Katie Doherty, and board members Karen Boston and Alec Rogers. Pomerleau will be honored along with other award winners Friday at the 2025 Kenney Awards at the Augusta Civic Center. Photo courtesy of Kennebec Valley Chamber of Commerce
AUGUSTA — Another year of the Kenney Awards, the Kennebec Valley’s most prestigious business honors, are to be celebrated Friday evening at the Augusta Civic Center.
Hundreds from the area’s business community turn out each year for the black-tie event, hosted annually in late January by the Kennebec Valley Chamber of Commerce. Three awards, for lifetime achievement, large business of the year and small business of the year, have already been decided by a chamber-appointed committee, which chose from dozens of community nominations.
The winners of the Presidents’ Circle, Community Service and CYNERGY Professional awards will be decided via text voting by the live audience Friday. The chamber committee chose three finalists in each category for the live vote.
“The winner gets announced right off, so nobody knows ahead of time,” Katie Doherty, chamber president and CEO, said. “It’s very on the spot and fun and exciting for the crowd.”
Doherty said the event sold about 850 tickets this year — similar to previous years’ totals. She said she expects many local businesses, representatives from Maine’s members of Congress, and several state legislators to attend. The event starts with a 5 p.m. cocktail hour and awards at 6 p.m.
ANNOUNCED WINNERS
• Longtime Hallowell resident and Augusta-area businessman Roger Pomerleau was selected as this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award winner. Pomerleau is a lifelong volunteer and entrepreneur, starting his volunteer efforts at the age of 13 and at one point being involved in 17 different groups in the area. The award honors former Chamber CEO Peter G. Thompson and recognizes winners for “significant and lasting contributions to the local business climate and the well-being of the community.”
• Hancock Lumber was chosen as the Large Business of the Year, an award for businesses with 15 or more employees who have demonstrated substantial community involvement, strong job creation, innovation and effective marketing. The seventh-generation, family-owned company sells lumber products and hardware and operates 7,500 acres of timberland across Maine and New Hampshire.
• The Small Business of the Year Award, for chamber-affiliated businesses with 14 employees or less, will go this year to College Carry-Out, a staple pizza and sandwich shop on Mount Vernon Avenue in Augusta. The restaurant has been a regular winner of Augusta-area business awards in recent years.
AWARD FINALISTS
• The finalists this year for the President’s Circle Award — for “exemplary business practices, leadership and positive influence” on the community — are the Capitol Area Recreation Association, which runs a sports complex in Augusta; Kents Hill School, a college prep academy in Readfield; and United Way of Kennebec Valley, a community advocacy nonprofit based in Augusta.
• The three Community Service Award finalists this year are Merry St. Pierre, a senior media consultant and marketing expert at Townsquare Media; Corey Vose, the vice president of operations at Performance Food Group; and Anne Lachance, the co-owner of the Quarry Tap Room in Hallowell. The award honors community members for “significant contributions to the community’s well-being.”
• The CYNERGY Professional Award recognizes the achievements of “aspiring professionals” in the area business community. This year’s finalists are David Farago, a Manchester-based financial advisor; Wrapped Up Coffee House co-owner Ryan Hill; and Emily Theriault, an Augusta Realtor.
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