Photo: (l-r) Chandra Dillard, recipient of the Burdette Leadership Award, and Sue Schneider.

During Ten at the Top’s Celebrating Successes Brunch on November 14, South Carolina State Representative Chandra Dillard, City of Greer Mayor Rick Danner, and City of Anderson Mayor Terence Roberts were recognized for their record of servant leadership and contributions to enhancing the Upstate region. Dillard received the Burdette Leadership Award while Danner and Roberts were recognized with the Welling Award for Regional Collaboration.

This marks the third year of the Burdette Leadership Award and is given in recognition of Carol Burdette, the first female chair of Ten at the Top. It honors women who have both served and led across the Upstate. Previous recipients of the Burdette Award are Minor Shaw and Dr. Becky Campbell.

The Welling Award for Regional Collaboration, named after Ten at the Top founding chairman Irv Welling, recognizes individuals who have demonstrated longstanding involvement in encouraging collaboration across jurisdictional and stakeholder boundaries. Previous recipients of the Welling Award include Erwin Maddrey, Phil Hughes, GSP International Airport, Dean Hybl, Minor Shaw, Carol Burdette, and Bobby Hitt.

In addition, Ten at the Top recognized companies and organizations celebrating milestone anniversaries in 2018 by issuing a celebratory toast sponsored by Blue Ridge Electric Co-op during Wednesday’s event. These companies and organizations are an integral part of the Upstate’s rich history and have each played a role in making our regional community a great place to live, learn, do business, and raise a family.

Celebrating Successes is an annual event presented by BlueCross and BlueShield of South Carolina. Ten at the Top annually hosts public forums, workshops, and other events across the Upstate on issues of regional significance with the overarching goal of building consensus, encouraging regional thinking, and enabling leaders to set aside parochial priorities in order to address critical challenges and visualize opportunities for the future.