Submitted by Lakewood Chamber of Commerce.
The largest online referral network for small businesses, Alignable.com, announced the results of its national search for leaders who’ve gone above and beyond guiding peers and supporting entire communities as they strive to recover.
Alignable’s network has chosen Linda Smith, President/CEO of the Lakewood Chamber of Commerce as Lakewood’s 2022 Business Person Of The Year!
The 2022 contest is the most popular competition Alignable has ever hosted, marking a 64% increase in participation over last year. In all, 2,400+ small business owners were elected by their peers to be their Local Business People Of The Year across the U.S. and Canada.
During the contest, which ran from Jan. 10 to Feb. 11, 2022, 160,000+ votes and 32,000+ testimonials were posted praising thousands of local leaders for helping their peers and communities through a turbulent year with many challenges: skyrocketing inflation, labor shortages, supply chain problems, and COVID variants.
Because of these issues, 70% of small businesses have yet to recover and recovery rates have declined 13% since December, according to Alignable’s latest poll of 6,305 small business owners. This recovery reversal highlights how important it is for the contest winners to continue their work helping even more businesses bounce back from pandemic-era hurdles.
Giving Is The Glue Holding Us Together
“In Chamber work, you do everything possible to give back,” said Smith. “And the challenges we’ve all encountered have compelled us to offer counsel, advocacy and other support to peers struggling to keep their businesses afloat. While I’m excited to receive this award, it’s really a testament to our entire community. And it reinforces my resolve to push toward a full recovery for everyone here in our community by the end of 2022.”
Driving Recognition Is Key
“This has been a fun and rewarding contest to watch unfold,” said Alignable’s President & Co-Founder Venkat Krishnamurthy. “Local business owners are the heart and soul of their communities and they ought to get way more recognition for all they do. Friendly competition aside, this contest generated some incredible peer testimonials (to the tune of 32,000+), showing exactly why small business owners are stronger together.”
About the Lakewood Chamber of Commerce
The Chamber is a voluntary, membership-based organization comprised of local business people who join together for the purpose of promoting the commercial progress of our community through B-2-B leads and referrals, marketing and advertising, education, leadership skills, advocacy, and networking opportunities.
About Alignable
Alignable.com is the largest online referral network for small businesses in the U.S. and Canada. With 7 million+ members across 35,000+ local communities, Alignable is the network where small business owners drive leads and prospects, generate referrals, land new business, build trusted relationships, and share great advice.
Well deserved, Linda Smith! Thank you for your steadfast work and support of our small business community.
Congratulations, Linda. Well deserved.
Thank you Connie! I appreciate you!
Thank you Jason! Your kind words are appreciated.
No surprise here. Linda is an incredible leader who has made a big difference in making Lakewood a better place to live. Kudos Linda.
Thank you for your kind words Eric. It’s thanks to our small, yet mighty team and our awesome volunteers who make our work possible. Yay team Chamber!