(Seguin) — The Seguin Area Chamber of Commerce is wrapping up another successful year and looking forward to what happens in Seguin next year. The chamber held its annual meeting and awards banquet last week in the Seguin Coliseum.
Incoming Chamber Chairman Marcus Bigott says the chamber accomplished a lot during the tenure of outgoing Chair Nicole Bruton. He says they expect to continue those efforts during the new chamber year.
“We’re so grateful for Nicole’s leadership and her consistency, not only as the board, but to drive us to be better, drive the chamber to be better as we find out how to be the chamber in this brand new, crazy, changing Seguin world. She has brought diligence and patience and meticulous oversight, and I’m so grateful to have learned from her as we have continued to this pathway and gotten to this point. I’m looking forward to this new year.
As we all know, Seguin is growing at an unbelievable rate with newness coming in almost every single day, whether it’s families relocating or businesses looking at coming in. The wonderful EDC appreciation lunch really showed us what that new Seguin is going to look like. And so, I want the chamber to be a part of all of that as an advocate, not only in the legislative process, but for businesses that have questions and people that want to do business here and to live here. I want folks to know that there’s a resource in the chamber to make that possible. My theme for this year is prosperity through partnership, knowing that we are indeed better together. So how can the chamber partner better and be a better connective tissue between businesses and schools and all of the think tanks that exist within not only our city, but the city itself? How can we better tomorrow for the neighbors we have now and the neighbors that we know are coming,” said Bigott.
Chamber President Chester Jenke also sang the praises of Bruton and the leadership that she helped to provide over the last year.
“She’s taken the chamber from some of those areas that needed improvement to excellence. We’ve also got some things that we’ll talk about in the message tonight, such as a chamber foundation. So that is one of the things that we had put together that we think that we can make an impact inside of our workforce with a foundation that helps us put those students through career and technical education, some scholarships and et cetera. And Nicole was kind of the mastermind behind most of that project,” said Jenke.
Rev. Bigott says the chamber already has a solid foundation of volunteers and supporters. He says they’ll look to continue to build even more partnerships in the future.
“I think part of it is understanding how important the history is, that where we have come from helps us shape who we will become. So working with those businesses to find out what is important to them, what makes them tick, but also helping them think through how do we be a business for tomorrow, knowing that technology is moving at an unbelievable rate, that we’re having to learn brand new skills, but also at the same time, some of the soft skills of knowing how to talk to people, knowing how to visit with people, how to connect and build relationships are also extremely important. And those workforce development skills, those workforce pieces are right at the heart of who the Chamber hopes to be, of bringing people to the table, bringing educational institutions to the table, but helping to shape the new businesses of the future. So, I truly see it as bringing those seasoned voices, as I would call them, they’re kind of like leather, they get seasoned and they become beautiful, but helping them understand their value at the table of shaping a new generation of business leaders while also helping them remain completely a part of all that we’re trying to do,” said Bigott.
Bigott says while they will build on what they already have, they also will be looking to attract new voices to the chamber and to the community.
“And those new voices mixed in with those that have been here for a long time help us remember who we have been so that as we grow forward, we don’t lose some of that.
We can maintain what it means to be a person of Seguin. Why do we have a pecan? Why is this here? Why is that there? Why are these buildings called what they are? But then who are the people behind them that built the foundation of what Seguin is? So, all of that married together creates a very blessed and holistic partnership that means prosperity happens. And prosperity doesn’t always mean numerical growth. Strengthening of what we already have. And I think that’s what we’re going to be able to do, especially as chamber grows as we know it will, but also as we lean in on the partners we already have.,” said Bigott.
Jenke says the chamber has big plans for the new chamber year, including a chamber foundation and more.
He says part of looking for new partnerships will be an effort to attract more volunteers to help the chamber accomplish its mission.
“We’re one of those growing chambers where I joke about it all the time that I work in an office with two ninjas because the three of us accomplish more than most chambers of our size do throughout the state. And we hear that all the time when we go to conferences about there’s only three of y’all and they’re looking at the list of items that we’re able to accomplish. So, we’re always looking for help. One of the things that’s on our priority list tonight that you’ll see is ambassadors. We’re looking for new ambassadors. Not new ambassadors to replace the ambassadors we have, but new ambassadors to help share that load of what our ambassadors are doing right now,” said Jenke.
The banquet also included a number of awards handed out to individuals and businesses in the community.
The list of the 2026 Seguin Area Chamber of Commerce award recipients include:
- Small Business of the Year – Masters Electrical Services
- Large Business of the Year – GVEC
- Education Service Award – Glenda Moreno
- Ambassador of the Year – Lisa Hernandez
- Community Hero Award; Clinical Healthcare Worker – Dr. Jonven Attia, MD
- Community Hero Award; Guadalupe County Sheriff’s Office– Deputy Tommy Simmons
- Community Hero Award; Seguin Police Officer William ‘Clay’ Collier
- Community Hero Award; Seguin Fire Department– Jessie Calderon
- Community Service Award – Charles Villeneuve
- Community Service Award – Robin Roark
- Rising Star Community Impact Award – Amber Fletcher
- Rising Star Professional Leadership Award – Lee Roy Loredo
- Chair of the Board Award – Robert Haynes
