Bud Harris
2007 Chairman's Award presented by Sylvia Whitmore

"It is now my pleasure to present the Chairman's Award for 2006.  This Special Award is given to the individual who has, by far, exceeded all others in the amount of time, experience, knowledge, and talent given freely and unselfishly to the Corpus Christi Chamber of Commerce.  

As previously mentioned, the Chamber has many gifted volunteers, and we know we could not possibly accomplish our goals without them; but one gentleman stands above the crowd when it comes to his loyalty, steadfast attentiveness, and his ability to bring focus to an issue and get things done.  Before I ask the honoree, Bud Harris, to step forward, please let me share a little bit about him with you.

Bud, who has only been in Corpus Christi since 1996, is the Dean of Workforce &  Economic Development at Del Mar College.  Before that, he served in a similar capacity @ Austin Community College.    Bud is actually from Memphis, Tennessee, but he got to Texas as soon as he could.

In his short time in our city, he has become very involved in our community.  He was a graduate of Leadership Corpus Christi 25;   He is on the board of Worksource, South Texas Public Broadcasting System, Goodwill Industries, and of course, the Corpus Christi Chamber of Commerce where he was Chairman of the Board in 2005 and served as "past chair" last year.  To me, and to the others who know Bud, many things make him special; his strong faith, his integrity, his ability drive a great big motorcycle, and, last year, even though he was going back & forth to M.D Anderson for personal health issues, he always had time to give advise, be @ meetings, and be of enormous help to me during my year as Chairman.  He continues to show his dedication to the Chamber by serving as Chair of Governmental Affairs this year.  Ladies & gentlemen, my good friend, Bud Harris."

-comments made by 2006 Chairman of the Board Sylvia Whitmore